Playing the Blues Ch. 03

The first half of their set went without a hitch and left Jenny feeling good about playing again. She spotted the girl from the music shop in the crowd and gave her a smile, receiving a smile and a wave in return.

As they sat down for their break the girl came over to them.

"Hi you're great again tonight." She said as she shook Jenny's hand.

"Thanks, I'm still not as good as I used to be, still a bit rusty. I'm Jenny by the way."

"Kate," The girl smiled. "I would have to disagree with you though, you're playing as well as ever."

Jenny raised her eyebrows at this and indicated the girl sit down. She couldn't quite see how this young girl would know what she used to sound like.

"I haven't seen you here before." Kate said quietly.

"Well its not one of my usual hangouts that's for sure." Jenny laughed.

"So how do you know that I play as good now as I did a few years ago?" Jenny asked curiously.

"Well I heard you playing a few years back at the university hall." Kate was blushing furiously and rested her hand on Jenny's thigh as she spoke.

Here we go again. Jenny thought. As she picked up Kate's hand.

"Sorry Kate. I'm not inter..." Jenny was interrupted as the girl jumped to her feet with a sob and ran to the exit. " ... ested in girls, what the fuck!"

Jenny got up quickly and went after the girl. "God I didn't intend to hurt anyone's feelings." she muttered as she hurried through the crowded club.

When Jenny got to the foyer she saw Kate slumped across two chairs crying loudly, Nicky was just making her way over to the girl to see what was the matter with her.

Jenny quickly caught up with Nicky and whispered, "Just give us five minutes can you Nicky."

Jenny pulled the girl upright and hugged her as Kate tried to pull away.

"Leave me alone, please." she cried.

"Kate, please, I was trying to tell you I'm not into girls, it wasn't personal."

"What do you mean." Kate was looking confused.

"Just what I said, I wasn't trying to say I am not interested in YOU, I'm just not interested in girls, at least not that way. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

"Um, you do know what sort of club this is don't you?" Kate smiled slowly at Jenny.

Jenny laughed, "Of course I do, I've been hit on enough times this evening that I would have been able to work it out even if I hadn't known before."

"So why are you here?"

"Well I'd forgotten how much I love to play. The girls reminded me last night and I couldn't pass up the chance of two more nights, it didn't really matter where."

"D'you know when I was fifteen some of my friends heard of this really great band that were playing up at the Uni, I begged my dad to let me go and see them, eventually he agreed. When the band came on the Bass player came to the front of the stage and I could have sworn that she smiled at me. Soon after she began to play she started to sing. I've never heard anything quite like it, her voice was perfect like the finest crystal."

Kate looked shyly at Jenny. "I fell in love with her, with her voice, with her playing, just with her. I went to every single gig they played. Then about two years ago they just stopped. Why."

"I had a new guy, he didn't think it was appropriate for his partner to be onstage most nights when she should be home with him."

"He was a dickhead, couldn't he see how good you were?"

"No, he couldn't, and yes I found out later he was a dickhead. I found out last night that he was screwing around on me most of the time we were together."

"Is that why you went back to playing?" Kate asked.

"Hah, I went out to get wrecked and forget about him. I met Kes and she mentioned that their Bass player had legged it, so I ended up helping out. I haven't had as much fun in years."

"I'm glad for you. You weren't singing last night are you going to tonight." Kate asked eagerly.

Jenny looked down at the floor.

"I don't really sing any more." she said quietly.

"That's a shame."

Jenny smiled as best she could. "C'mon, I need to get back. Give me a hug and a kiss and we'll go back in." Jenny pulled Kate into a hug and held her for some time, they kissed, it wasn't a passionate kiss but it was somehow more than just friendly.

When they parted Jenny was surprised at how nice it was to hug and kiss Kate. Kate was left hopelessly confused, Jenny said she didn't like girls but kissed her in a way that said she did.

After a moment Jenny pulled Kate to her feet and put her arm around her to lead her back into the club. Jenny could see Nicky watching them, a small smile on her face.

"Of course you're not gay are you?" Nicky whispered to her as she went past.

"Be nice Nicky" Jenny whispered back.

"What was that about?" Kate asked her.

"I think Nicky reckons we're a couple, I told her earlier it wasn't my scene but I don't think she's convinced." Jenny said and started to giggle.

Kate couldn't help giggling as well but her mind was racing. "Somehow I'm not convinced either." she thought.

When the band got back on stage Julie once again introduced Jenny and asked her to play Peter Gunn, she was happy to oblige, in the past it had been her signature piece and had always opened the show.

This time the six string gave her a fuller range and Jenny played the piece as she always used to. About half way through the track she almost lost her place when Amy started playing the keyboard sample for the track. She half turned and saw Julie grinning at her.

Jenny was in her element, she had a live audience who were crowding the dance floor, her favourite guitar playing and best of all a group of girls playing with her who were happy to encourage her to play to her limits. The rich deep tones from Boris swept the room before dying at last and leaving the room in silence.

Once again Jenny was given a rapturous applause before the band started playing the second half of the set. Unlike last night the entire second half was made up of soft and hard rock ballads. They were all songs that Jenny knew but she had never played one or two of them and had to take her queues from Chris.

During songs that Jenny knew she was able to take in the dance floor. Earlier from the stage it looked like a lot of clubs, there were only women dancing but that was not that unusual, the guys usually crowded the bar until they had soaked up enough alcohol to dance anyway.

But now the dance floor was filled with couples. At first Jenny felt uncomfortable watching the women kissing and holding each other close as they danced. Gradually as she got used to the idea it occurred to her that there was a beautiful gentleness to most of the dancing couples.

Try as she might Jenny couldn't quite put her finger on why it looked so right, until she focused on one couple dancing right in front of the stage. They were dancing close to each other, one girl who had the most lustrous mane of copper hair was resting her head on the brown haired girl's shoulder as she was held almost protectively. It was when the first girl lifted her head to look into the other's eyes as they kissed that Jenny saw it.

She had dated several men and lived with two of them over the years, but no one had ever looked at her with such a look of complete adoration as these two women. Moments later they seemed to have swapped around and it was the brown haired girl who was being protected from the world.

Suddenly the brown haired girl must have sensed she was being watched. Her head raised and she locked eyes with Jenny, her faced was graced with the most serene smile Jenny had ever seen, she held Jenny's gaze for a few moments before returning her head to her partners shoulder. Here was a couple who loved each other unconditionally and to Jenny it seemed like it was a relationship of equals that you could never have within a male/female coupling.

Jenny watched the couple for two more dances before they moved off the dance floor. For most of the rest of the set Jenny was people watching and saw several similar couples. She saw some seemed to be new to this and held their partner like they were in a man's arms. Others she could easily see that one partner was easily the more dominant in their relationship. But whenever she found a couple that looked like that first couple she had spotted she watched them closely for as long as she could.

Once again the set wound down to Albatross for the closing number, and once again Jenny lost herself in the mournful sounds. Eventually the song came to a close with Jenny feeling everyone was watching her, she was trying to look through tear filled eyes and had to wipe them firmly before she could focus on the dance floor. Jenny was right, almost the entire club was crowded at the front of the dance floor and every eye was turned towards her.

Jenny spotted Kate at the front of the crowd and she smiled broadly as the girl gave her a thumbs up. That smile seemed to release the crowd and their applause was deafening. Kate jumped up onto the stage and hugged Jenny, their lips touched for just a second before Jenny's mouth opened to Kate's tentative tongue. The kiss deepened as both women explored the others mouths, they were oblivious to the room full of people until one of Kate's buttons caught on a guitar string making an odd sound.

As they broke away they looked at each other, both blushing furiously, before looking around them. The girls of the band were staring at them, Julie looked to be about to burst into laughter. The audience were making a lot of noise calling for an encore.

Jenny had an idea of how to make up for upsetting Kate earlier and went over and whispered to Julie.

While Julie was talking to the rest of the band Jenny got Kate to sit down on the edge of the stage. Although the band was usually finished now the audience quietened down as they saw the group getting ready to play again.

Jenny took off her guitar and walked over to Julie's mike.

"Um, hi, a few years back I used to play in a different band. A friend who is here tonight asked me earlier if a was intending to sing, and well if you can excuse me for being a bit rusty I'd like to."

The band started playing and Jenny began to sing. Her voice rang out clearly with a rich Timbre that couldn't help but move everyone in the audience.

"Shall I tell you about my life They say I'm a woman of the world I've flown across every tide And I've seen lots of pretty girls

I guess I've got everything I need I wouldn't ask for more And there's no one I'd rather be But I just wish that I'd never been born

And I need a good woman To make me feel like a good woman should I don't say I'm a good woman Oh, but I would be if I could"

Jenny took the mike off of its stand and walked over to where Kate was sitting. Standing in front of her Jenny sang the last lines.

"I could tell you about my life And keep you amused I'm sure About all the times I've cried And how I don't want to be sad anymore And how I wish I was in love."

At the last line Jenny took Kate's hand and softly kissed the back of it.

Jenny received a mix of whistles and claps from the audience and a kiss from a very red Kate at the end of her song.