New Band
By Sandy Paris
This story is a lesbian romance. All characters are fictitious, over eighteen and all sex is consensual.
This is a stand-alone story, however, the two principal characters in this story made a brief appearance in one of my Milly Scott stories; therefore Milly, Fiona and Jane also appear here briefly. It is most definitely not necessary for you to have read any of that series.
Please remember that this is fiction and I self-edit using various spell checkers and Grammarly. Apologies if there are errors in my Spanish
I love reading comments.
"Every bloody light!" I slammed my hand against the steering wheel and shoved the gear stick into neutral. I seemed to have caught every red traffic light, just when I was running late. Just another shitty thing, to add to a shitty day. I knew the sequence of these lights, so I closed my eyes for a moment and cursed the dickhead that I called my husband.
I'd met Paul about the same time that I started my first job out of university. I'd got a position as an analyst for a bank and he was working there for a tech company who were doing some computer upgrades. He asked me out for a drink and I wasn't going to refuse a tall dark handsome guy. We dated for almost two years before we married in a civil ceremony. After all my parents are Spanish and therefore Catholic, Paul was raised in the Church of England, although he wasn't in any way religious. To be honest neither was I, despite my mothers' best efforts, the logical side of my brain struggled with the whole idea of religion.
It was great for a while, but then instead of spending time with me, Paul wanted to go to the pub every night with his mates and football became his number one priority. It was odd; he'd hardly seemed very interested in it when we were dating.
When the chance of a job with the police as a Crime and Intelligence Analyst came up it excited me, it was what I'd wanted to do since before graduating. Paul hated the idea of me working for the police or 'The Feds' as he called them. I'd told him to grow and stop acting like some damn gangster, 'The Feds' indeed!
He didn't like the idea of me trying to prevent and detect crime, but I loved every second of it. I liked the people and the challenge of the work. It caused a widening in the rifts that had already started appearing in our marriage.
He'd blown a gasket when I told him that I was heading out and that he'd need to sort out dinner for himself. I'd been invited to meet some people who wanted to form a band and I missed playing. When I was a kid, I learned to play the guitar, starting with classical and then, to my parent's delight, I'd also learned Flamenco. In my late teens, I began playing more contemporary stuff and loved the blues. I'd played in a band at University and one night found that I had a voice as well.
I pulled up outside the address I'd been given by Fiona. She was a computer geek and we'd met a couple of weeks ago when she'd been at our office trying to recover data from a laptop that had been seized by the police. Over coffee, she'd mentioned wanting to get a band together with her sister, Jane. I told her that I was interested.
The woman who answered the door had to be Fiona's sister because she looked just like her. Jane took me through to the kitchen and offered me a drink. I followed her and asked for a coffee, just as Fiona joined us. "Maria, hi, nice that you could come. You've met my sister Jane and this is my wife Milly. Milly this is Maria."
The woman standing at the fridge turned and smiled, she was drop-dead gorgeous, slim, short dress, amazing blue eyes and long very red hair. I was a bit shocked, not only at how beautiful she was but the fact that she had to be close to twice Fiona's age.
"Hi, Maria, nice to meet you. Go through to the lounge and I'll bring your coffee."
Fiona, Jane and I chatted for about five minutes before the doorbell went and Milly showed another woman in. Jane stood up to greet her, "Hey Ally, glad you could make it." She turned towards us, "This is Allison, that's my sister Fiona and this is Maria who arrived a few minutes in front of you."
We exchanged greetings as Allison sat in a chair opposite me. I'd guess that she was my age and an inch or two taller than me. Slim, nice legs, shoulder-length dark hair, hazel eyes, a nice smile, but she was pale when compared to me with my darker Spanish heritage.
"Allison, I detect a slight accent, Irish?"
She smiled at me, it was warm and kindly. "I'm from Dublin originally and thought that I'd lost the accent."
I smiled back. "My parents are from southern Spain originally, not far from Malaga. I grew up speaking Spanish and English, I seem to have an ear for accents. I like the Irish accent. I spent a weekend in Dublin a couple of years ago and loved it. But I don't like Guinness anymore. I drank so much of it that it put me off."
"That's okay I hate it, always have. A good Bushmills is my Irish tipple."
An older woman appeared with her daughter, Dani, who was supposed to be the drummer but seemed painfully shy. She was tall and skinny, I've seen drumsticks with more meat, and I'd have guessed her to be younger than eighteen. She looked terrified and I wondered if she would be any good.
The five of us spent the next hour talking about our preferences and came up with a list of songs that we wanted to try. For a first meeting, it'd gone well, but maybe things would change when had instruments in our hands. We arranged to rehearse in a couple of days.
As we were collecting our coats Allison asked if Jane knew the number for a local taxi. "Where are you heading to?" I asked.
"I live on the other side of the city, in Sherbrook. My car's in for a service, but won't be ready until tomorrow."
"I can give you a lift. I'm in Westdale, it's hardly out of the way."
We chatted as I drove across the city. She was funny and by the time I dropped her off, I was smiling. But that didn't last long. Paul was in a foul mood, maybe even worse than before I'd left.
"Where the fuck have you been?" He snarled.
"You know where I was going, I told you. Don't take that tone with me, I have a life as well you know." I was clipped as I snapped back.
He looked as if he was about to burst and was struggling to keep most of his rage inside. "It's the fucking police. You've changed since you went to work there and now this band shite. I don't like the idea of you standing up playing in front of people, making a fool of yourself."
I took a deep breath and counted to ten before replying. "Working for the police is what I want to do and I like it. As for playing in a band, well I don't want to make a fool of myself either, so I'm going to work hard to make sure that I don't. And I don't care what you like, I'm doing it."
I stormed off and slammed the bedroom door behind me. I curled up on the bed and cried. This was awful and something had to change. I didn't want to give up on Paul, but he was making it hard.
Rehearsals
Paul had gone to the pub to meet his mates before lunchtime and no doubt they would go back to the house after the match. Things had been tense for a couple of days, but I was determined to have my own life. I'd done my usual Saturday chores; laundry, cleaning and picking up Paul's mess. Now I changed into a pair of jeans, a sweater and some heels. I did my hair and checked my make-up before heading out.
When I pulled up outside Fiona's house, I saw that the garage door was open and Dani was busy setting up her drums. Her Mum was talking to Milly. Jane and Allison were fiddling with an amplifier. Fiona came over to greet me and asked if I was okay.
"Yes, I'm good and looking forward to this, but a bit nervous as well." It was just then that there was a clatter; Dani had knocked a cymbal as she sat down and it made us all look in her direction. She checked her seat and then started pounding out a beat. Her hair flew wildly as she threw herself into playing with a huge grin on her face. Fiona looked at her Mum, "Not so shy, now is she?"
An hour later we were meshing together well and Milly called a halt to feed us. I managed to find a seat next to Allison and we all tucked into huge bowls of chilli and rice. The food was great, we washed it down with a bottle of beer and chatted away before going back to practice.
By the time we were done, things had improved even more. I was nervous about my singing, but the others told me that I was doing well.
*****
The next few weeks passed quickly. I was working hard on a complicated drugs case and, along with rehearsals, didn't have much spare time. Paul seemed to take advantage of the fact that I wasn't around and that made things easier, even though it wasn't exactly conducive to a happy marriage. After each rehearsal, Allison and I went for coffee or a drink and once a week, we went out for dinner. Spending time with her and rehearsing was great fun and made me very happy.
When I asked about her work one day, I was stunned by her reply.
"I'm a PA, there isn't much more to it. It's interesting and pays well. My boss is great and the people are nice, apart from a few guys, who don't seem to understand that I don't want to jump into bed with them, or worse."
