No Strings Attached

Mike was the center of more urban legends than Ozzy.

He was older now and retired from managing bands, but that hadn't mellowed him much. The thing that pissed him off the most? If anyone let it be known that he was actually the nicest guy they'd ever met. There was a local father and daughter duo that played charity gigs around the area. The girl played the violin, the father played pretty much anything else; guitar, another violin, bass, etc. Big Mike was visiting his mom at a senior center they played at when he saw them playing for the residents. They sold CDs after the shows and donated the money to homes for homeless vets.

The quality was crap. Mike had to fix that. So that day, he had them in a studio and they were playing as we went over the books. Gratis. He also paid for the engineer and the artist who worked on the cover. His only condition was that they never, ever mention his involvement. He'd disappeared from the studio a number of times over the years for up to two weeks at a time. No word, no notice; just gone. I was the only one who knew it was to take a musician to rehab and stay by their side until they got over the initial hump.

How did I know? I saw the books. Our studio paid for most of it and I was fine with that. I'd be a hypocrite not to be, as Big Mike was the person that picked me up from the gutter and had been my sponsor ever since.

Glasses on the end of his nose, one hand rubbing his greying beard, Mike spoke up. "Black Soul Records is paying for last week's cleaning. All of it. Aroldis Gomez thought it would be a good idea to try to get some chick's vocals while she was cumming and was banging her on the floor next to the mic. Fucking degenerate. That shit was overplayed when Guns and Roses did it." He paused without looking up. "Don't. I'm telling ya, Alex, don't fucking touch it."

My finger had been headed towards his little hula-girl statue that he kept on his desk. If you flicked her hips she moved back and forth, grass skirt swaying. He hadn't even glanced my way.

"What?"

"Seriously, don't 'What?' me. Just don't touch her."

Smiling, I went back to my laptop. He preferred using a print-out. We spent another hour going over end-of-month reports and when we were done, he hit a button on a console and the recording session from the father and daughter came on.

"Think you can play something?"

"For them? No, why? The father's got it."

"Yeah, but his name won't sell copies."

I stared at him before speaking. "You know I'm not into that. I don't want my name out there. Just let all that shit die."

"It's been, what, twenty-five years? Get over it and grow a fucking pair. The money goes to vets, you fucking commie."

My neck and ears were growing hot and I was sure I was turning red. "Look, just make a donation. I'll cover it. It... You don't know..."

Mike interrupted me, speaking softly, voice laced with anger. "I don't know? Me? I was there, Alex. Every day and every night. Out of rehab, back in rehab, meeting after meeting after meeting since then. Don't tell me I don't know. It wasn't my family and I respect that, but you don't get to say I wasn't there. You paid your debts. She wouldn't want you to keep hiding. You know that."

Standing, I clenched my fists. "I said no."

**

Em

"Listen, Ms..."

"Em. Just Em is fine."

"Ms. M, unless you have an appointment—"

"No, Em. E-M. No Ms. Just Em."

Mike's beard almost twitched with a surly annoyance and whatever modicum of politeness he'd managed to muster fell.

"Listen, lady. I know you were here yesterday, but people don't walk in here and demand to see Alex without some sort of..."

I waited for the rest of the sentence, but his eyes had left my face and were staring somewhat behind me. I followed his gaze to see Leia had finally walked up with her case of Girl Scout cookies.

"Isn't that a little heavy for you?" he asked.

"She insisted," I muttered. Leia could be as stubborn as they came sometimes and had insisted on hauling the case of cookies by herself from the trunk of the car.

"It won't be if you buy some Girl Scout cookies from me, Mister."

Mike's beard twitched again. His lips pursed slightly. Then he smiled, noticed that I saw him smiling, and the surly annoyance returned to his face.

"Why'd you need to see Alex again?"

"When we were here yesterday, he was... teaching her. And you said he gave her the guitar."

He nodded, then shook his head.

"That means this is Reilly's niece. He's been banned."

"So her uncle was a dick and that means we're banned, too?"

"I wanna be in a band!" Leia said brightly. "Mom, can I be in a band?"

"No, banned as in not welcome here," he said.

I watched the moment Leia wrapped him around her little finger. Her shoulders drooped just slightly, her lower lip curled beneath her teeth, and she made the tiniest sniffling sound before he caved completely.

"Of course you're welcome here," he grumbled. "C'mon in. Let me grab that case, kid."

I tried not to laugh. Leia's reaction had been completely genuine. She had no idea that most people would do anything just to see her smile. One glance of her big, innocent eyes could melt even the coldest of hearts. My life was going to be hell the day she figured out how easily she could manipulate people.

We followed Mike through the studio. When we got to the office area, he pounded on a closed door.

"Alex. You got a drop-in."

He looked at Leia and jerked his head to the other door.

"Got your money in here, kid. Let's see how many boxes I can afford."

"...the fuck you talking about, a drop-in?" floated through the door as it opened. Alex was frowning, but it changed to an expression of confusion as he saw me.

"Uh..."

"Hi. We met yesterday, sort of."

"Yeah." He stared at me. "The kid I was teaching."

"That's my daughter. Leia. She, um... well, I wanted to say thank you, you know, for showing her how to play, and more importantly giving her the guitar. I've never heard 'Happy Birthday' so many times in my life."

Alex laughed, his face brightening as a smile spread across it. That trace of something familiar, something tempting, was there. A small glint in his eye, maybe. I couldn't quite put a finger on that or on the way it made me feel before it faded away again.

"I, um, also wanted to apologize. My brother's an asshole. He has that rock star syndrome and it's... something."

He shrugged, waving it off. Alex didn't seem to be much for words, so I continued.

"Anyway, I wanted to thank you, apologize to you, and then ask a favor."

"What's that?"

"It's when you ask someone for their help with something, but that's not important right now."

The quip was out of my mouth before I could stop it. I cringed, but Alex started laughing again.

"Yeah, all right. So kind of—what'd'ja call it, fay-vurr—are you looking for?"

I couldn't stop myself from smiling, but I did shake my head.

"Her uncle said he'd teach her but... well. I'd rather he didn't. So I thought, maybe it wouldn't be too expensive to just... I mean... do you have any recommendations? People who might be willing to take Leia on as a student?"

Alex rubbed the back of his neck. The sleeve of his golf shirt fell back slightly, revealing even more of the tattoo on his bicep. I tried very hard not to stare, and even harder not to wonder if he had more tattoos hiding under that clean-cut look of his.

"I'm sure I can think of someone. Let me think on it a bit."

"Sure. No problem. I mean, it's not the—"

I was interrupted by a squeal of delight coming from the other office. Alex raised an eyebrow and stepped past me, going to the other door. I followed him and poked my head in.

Leia was watching a dancing hula girl sway her hips back and forth, giggling madly. Mike was sitting behind a desk, elbow resting against it and hand covering his mouth. It did nothing to hide the smile in his eyes as she played with the hula girl.

Alex, on the other hand, looked completely flabbergasted.

"What are you doing, sweetie?" I asked.

"Mom!" She hustled away from the hula girl on the desk, eyes sparkling. "Mister Mike bought all the Thin Mints!"

"Yeah, well..." Mike coughed gruffly.

"She touched the doll," murmured Alex, slightly awed.

"What?"

As if she had just noticed him, Leia turned to Alex. She grinned wildly, a dark splotch between her white teeth gaping through. She'd lost a tooth just last week, and the change in her smile tugged at my heart the same way she tugged at everyone else's.

"Hi, Alex!"

He almost fell over when she rushed up and hugged him. Leia was slight so I doubted it was from the force of her hug, and more from the shock that washed across his face.

"Thank you so much for the guitar, thankyou-thankyou-thankyou!"

He patted her shoulder almost uncomfortably before smiling as Leia let go of him. There was almost a sadness in his eyes as he looked at her, hidden just so, replaced by the usual look of reluctant adoration that people got when they looked at Leia.

"No problem, kid."

Leia managed to sell the rest of the case of cookies to staff around the studio, though true to his word, Mike had bought all the Thin Mints she had. Alex walked us out after she shoved a handful of money into my purse, telling me sternly that she knew exactly how much was there and it had to go into her envelope at home.

"Can I leave you my number?" I asked Alex.

He smirked. "That's pretty forward of you."

I laughed in spite of myself. "I meant for the recommendation."

"Oof. There goes the ego boost."

He grinned, that smile brightening his entire face again, and I noticed again just how good-looking he was; not just for a guy who was years older than me, but actually really good-looking.

"Maybe I was just trying to be subtle about it."

Alex's eyes met mine for the briefest of moments and I knew, right then, there was an unmistakable spark. I knew he must have realized it too, and for a moment I thought he was going to continue flirting with me.

Instead, he cleared his throat and chuckled before taking his phone from his pocket. "What's the number? Oh, and... your name, I guess. I never did get it from you."

"It's Em."

"Next letter?"

"No, just Em. E-M."

He looked up. "What's it short for? Emma?"

"Don't push your luck," I laughed. "Just Em."

"Last name?"

"Reilly."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's..."

He started laughing and I realized he was joking.

"Give me a couple days. I'll see if there's anyone good in town."

**

Alex

"Alex? Knock, knock."

Startled, I looked up. I'd been staring at my laptop but not seeing anything for a few minutes.

"Yeah, sorry, Lini. What's up?"

"Just wanted to go over the schedule for next week if you have a minute."

"Sure."

Lini was our office manager. Part of a pretty good church choir, she was the one who organized the singers when they all came in to use the studio. We must have been pretty messed up that week because she came back a few days later, told us how we were screwing everything up and presented us with a five-page typed up document about systems we could put in place for scheduling and sharing space and half a dozen other problems she saw. Then she told us we should hire her and let her take care of it.

Big Mike looked at me, I nodded and he told her she was hired. That was more than fifteen years ago and it was the best decision we've made. I don't care how good we were as a collective of engineers, studio musicians, and assorted staff; if we couldn't book enough hours, we wouldn't make money. Within a month Lini had us running like clockwork.

"Anything for today?"

"Uh-huh. You have a meeting at noon with Bryn. He likes what you did on what he sent over and he has some new material he wants to run by you. Sort of unfair for you two to be working together. Maybe you'll give it a rest for a while and let someone else win a Grammy."

Bryn Lake was one of the best songwriters working. Labels paid the two of us astronomical amounts of money and a piece of the back-end when they wanted sure-fire hits for someone new they wanted to push. He specialized in pop and I focused on rock. We balanced each other out and worked well together. To be honest, he was the more talented of the two of us, but he couldn't play guitar, so I had that going for me.

I'd kept writing after I dropped out of the band and had gotten enough acclaim and awards after giving the songs to old friends that I was offered gigs as a song doctor. Bryn and I would write together or fix someone else's work. We both moaned and groaned to the labels about how hard it was to write in someone else's style, but it was all bullshit. We could fix something within a couple of days.

He was always either back home in England or traveling, so we did everything via teleconferencing. It was another way for me to keep my toe in the industry water without actually playing gigs. Those days were long gone. I could BS with Bryn, exercise that creative muscle, make some damned good money and live my quiet life.

When we were done talking, Lini left and I went back to staring at my laptop. There was just something off about that little girl and her mom. It kept poking around at the edges of my brain. Eventually, I sighed and picked up my phone.

Her voice was slightly raspy like Amy Winehouse's had been. It sounded oddly warm and as if it was from someone who had truly lived life.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Ms. Reilly. This is Alex from Afterglow Studios. We, uh, well, you know who I am."

"Oh, hi Alex. You can just call me Em, you know."

There was a hint of teasing in her voice, a flirty kind of undertone that I liked. As much as I liked it, it also made me nervous.

"Uh, listen, I put some thought into it and I'd be happy to teach Leia."

"Oh. That's... Look, I wasn't trying to get you to do it yourself, I just wanted recommendations or to see if one of the people there were looking for a side gig. No offense, but are you... There's no right way to put this, so I'll just say it. You any good?"

I chuckled. "I think I can handle it."

"Okay. Are most of your students advanced?"

"No, I, uh, I haven't taught in a while. Quite a while."

"Yeah? And something changed?"

"Actually, it's been too long. I enjoyed it when I taught. Immensely. I sort of put that behind me when... Well, I changed my life a lot and gave up teaching. I think I'd like to get back into it."

"Yeah, okay. I don't really know anything about this. How often should she get a lesson? Once a week? And... You know, I really should have opened with this. Um, I appreciate the offer and everything, but how much do you charge?"

"It's on the house."

"No, seriously. I can't accept that. How much?"

"Really, if I want to get my chops back as an instructor I need a beginner student and it wouldn't be right to charge you when I'm not on top of my game. How about $25.00? And twice a week? My schedule is pretty flexible. Let me know what days and times work for you."

"Tuesdays and Fridays? Say, four-thirty or five?"

"Four-thirty works. Do me a favor?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"If she brings any more cookies to sell, be careful where you unload your car. The red zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in a white zone."

She laughed.

I looked at the time on my laptop. It was still early. "Do you guys have an hour free now? Might as well get started."

"I think so, but we have to leave right after so I can head over."

"Over where?"

"Over Macho Grande."

It was my turn to laugh.

"No, I don't think I'll ever be over Macho Grande."

They arrived in less than half an hour, Leia clutching her guitar. She was a hugger and I was definitely not, so I turned as if we were going to walk back to the studio to forestall any full-on hugging attempts. As I turned to her, she looked almost hurt and I felt like shit.

She grabbed my forearm, which was a little weird. "Where's Mr. Mike?"

"His office. We have to pass right by it." I turned to her mom. "Em, did you want to join us? We can pull in a chair from the snack room or grab mine."

"Sure."

When we got to Big Mike's office Leia walked in and stood there patiently as Mike spoke on the phone, his back towards us. I cleared my throat loudly and he turned around.

Looking down at Leia, he almost smiled and continued. "Hey, I gotta call you back." He paused. "Yeah? Well, what if I don't give a fu... crap, dammit... a darn. What if I don't give a darn? Don't like it, I'll find someone else that wants our money." He paused. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

He hung up.

"Hey, darlin'. Here for a lesson?"

"Yup, and I brought these for you." She handed him a brown paper lunch bag.

"You did? What is it?"

"A sleeve of Thin Mints, but I froze them. They're the best that way and you like Thin Mints, so... And I put them in the bag to keep them cold."

"Well, that was really, really nice. How much do I owe you?"

She looked surprised. "No, those were from my own cookies. I bought some with my chore money."

"You... No, let me give you something."

"It's... I wanted to just do something nice. I didn't want any money."

She sounded hurt and it was like something broke inside Mike.

"Oh, sweetie, that was... um, okay. Ah, thanks, that was really, uh, nice. I, uh, listen, don't start crying or anything, okay? I really like them. I'll have some now. It was nice'a you to think of me."

He opened the bag and then the plastic sleeve of cookies and popped one in his mouth.

"Delicious."

"Okay, see you later! Today's my first lesson!"

She pushed his hula-girl again, starting it swaying. The crotchety old fuck had a smile on his face. What was the world coming to?

I'd forgotten how tedious it could be to teach beginners. I'd also forgotten how contagious their excitement was when they heard themselves do something the right way and produce the right tones. Leia was nothing if not passionate. She'd clearly practiced Happy Birthday and Shake it Off.

She put her hand on my arm again. "Where did you get your tattoos, Mr. Alex?"

"Just Alex is fine. A bunch of places. I used to travel a lot when I was younger. I'd find the best in whatever city I was in and go there."

"I like them. They're different than Mom's. This one looks sort of scary."

She'd pointed to one on my left forearm. "It's a Japanese Oni. They're supposed to be scary. I got it done in Osaka."

"It's sorta cool. I want to get one when I get older. When did you get your first one?"

"Uhm, wow. I guess I was eighteen. A long time ago."

"EIGHTEEN! That's... That's so old!"

Em stifled a giggle. It wasn't quite so funny to me.

"Yeah, real old. Let's get started."

We spent our time going over some basics. She was studiously watching her fingers as we went through repetition after repetition. I was able to talk her through it and simultaneously fish my phone from my pocket and text Em.

Invest in earplugs.

A minute later she checked her phone and snorted with laughter. I got a quick reply back.

I thought I had a good poker face. That obvious?

Sorta.

I thought I was done with this after I went through it w Jimmy.

I smiled. Sorry. Two in one family. Brutal.

She snorted again. It was sort of cute.

When we were done, I walked them to the front door. Leia wanted to give me a hug and this time I didn't turn away. I'd rather feel uncomfortable for a few seconds than like an asshole for the rest of the day.

I turned to Em. "So, you'll be back on Tuesday?"

She grinned. "Unless Leia learns how to drive in the next few days, yeah."