“Yeah, that's fine for me,” Claire replied. “I'm not working this weekend.”
“No problem here,” Paige added. “9am is fine. I'll get my dad to give me a lift to the station. He's working at the factory on Saturdays.”
“See ya then,” Jack said and waved them off at the door. Paige looked up and saw him, watching them from the window of his recording studio as they skulked the thirty metres to the gate and then out down the exclusive road towards the village and the railway station.
“He's nice,” Paige told her friend as they reached the end of the road. “But fuck me, is he spoilt?” Claire laughed.
“Yeah, he is. You should meet his family. If you think he's bad, wait 'til you see them.”
Paige shook her head. “I don’t want to. But why’s he doing this? What’s he want? It can’t be money.”
Claire sighed. “I dunno. I guess, I think he’s lonely,” she suggested. “He’s a nice guy and, it’s just a feeling, but I think he just wants something different to do.”
Paige giggled. “Is that something, you?” She teased and Claire shook her head, blushing.
“I think it's you he likes. I mean, he wanted the kiss off you.”
“Better not be,” Paige snarled. “I can't deal with posh bastards!”
“Yeah, but he's a posh, rich bastard,” Claire teased and Paige's face remained unmoved.
“So?” Paige snapped. “He's still a posh bastard, and he better not be interested in me. I could never go out with him in a million years. We've got nothing in common.”
* * * * *
“I've got us some lunch in the fridge,” Jack announced, the moment he opened the door. “And some beers, there's Pimms and Lemonade, all that sort of stuff.” Paige smiled and gulped.
“Right. How much do I owe you?” Jack dismissed her with a wave of the hand, but Paige crossed her arms and glared at him. “I can pay my way,” she spat. “I'm not a charity case.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jack offered in defence and smiled at the fiery girl as she took off her coat. “This is for me too!” He took a moment to admire her slim body in her pale yellow T-shirt and pale shorts that showed off her toned legs. Paige cocked her head and gestured with her hands.
“What?”
“Sorry,” he apologised quickly. “I was just thinking how pretty you looked. Sorry.” Paige raised her eyebrows at Claire and hesitated as her host walked into the small recording studio.
“He's sweet,” Claire whispered to her friend, but Paige shook her head; there was something that didn't feel right about Jack and it made her feel uneasy.
“Right,” Jack cried as he clapped his hands. “What are we doing?” He saw Claire put her electric guitar on the floor and then Paige hover by the door. “What do you want? I'm here to help if you want me to. I mean, I want to, but I'll go if you want or … what?”
“I'd really like to get our version of Hot N Cold in and … er … one of my own,” Paige told him. “I don't know how long this takes.”
“We did several songs in a day once,” Jack boasted and then smiled. “But, it's your day. I am totally sick of Physics and Maths, making music is an awesome break, so I'm yours. All day. Do what you want!”
Paige smiled. “Tempting,” she teased, and Claire unstrapped her guitar.
“I need to tune mine, give me ten minutes.”
“Do you want to borrow mine?” Jack offered and opened the cupboard to withdraw a black leather guitar case. “I never play it, although I tuned it last night. Just in case.” Claire carefully undid the zip and cooed at the teal guitar.
Her eyes sparkled like she was a little child on Christmas morning. “Wow. It's … it's … how is this not used every day?” She asked, a little aggressively. “If it was me, I would go to bed and sleep with it. This is … what's wrong with you?”
Jack gulped. “Yeah … well … it's, just a guitar. Right?”
“It's a Les Paul.”
“Yeah, but it's not a five grand model. It's just a …”
“One of the best guitar makes around. Oh man, it's …” Paige smiled at her friend; she was not used to seeing her so excitable, and Jack gestured towards the nervous Paige.
“I got another one around. That's not a Les Paul, but I got another one.”
“How much did this cost?” Claire asked.
“Oh, a grand, maybe. Perhaps two. I can't remember. The whole studio came to seventeen or eighteen I think. I don't actually know for certain. Dad just got a local firm in who had just done one at his mate's house and gave 'em a blank cheque. It's no more than twenty.” Claire's eyes bulged at the amount and she looked at Paige with a curious expression. “OK, Paige. Let's get your track down first. Without Claire and then do Claire afterwards.”
“Me? Don't we play together?”
Jack hummed. “You can do,” he said slowly. “But we don't. It's a bit raw if you do it all together. Best to do the vocals separately and then each instrument separately. But we always used to do the vocals first. I don't know if it's the right way or not, I never had much help in using it, but it used to work for us.”
“Christ!” Paige hesitated and looked at the microphone Jack had set up for her. She took a few breaths and looked at Claire. “This is … fuck me, I'm shaking.”
“It's only us here,” Claire soothed.
“Just relax,” Jack suggested and Paige put on the headphones that were lay on the floor, waiting for her. “We can do a hundred takes if you need to.” Paige nodded, and started singing a more up-tempo version of Katy Perry's classic. Her voice trailed off as she reached the chorus and apologised. “S'fine. Try again. We got all day.”
He pressed a few buttons on the computer, and gestured towards Paige, who started singing, but trailed off after a few seconds. Paige gulped and swore at herself, before messing up again and taking the headphones off.
“I'm sorry,” Paige told Claire and took a few deep breaths. “I can't do it like this,” she muttered. “It's too formal. It's …” She coughed and walked out of the room. “Give me a minute.” Paige strode into the reception room and looked out over the driveway and gate. She sighed and talked angrily to herself. “It's just singing, we've done this before. It's fine. Oh shit!” Paige muttered to the room, and took a few deep breaths to calm herself, but she still felt tense and put her hands on the back of the sofa.
“You OK?” Claire asked, and Paige nodded.
“I'm sorry Claire, I just …” She waved her arms around and put her hands together resting them on the bridge of her nose. “I gotta do something.”
Claire bit her lip and watched as Paige removed her T-shirt and shorts, throwing them onto the sofa. “Paige … what you are you doing?”
“I'm sorry, but I need to be naked.”
“What about Jack?” Claire panicked. “There must be some other way.”
“It's fine,” the underwear-clad girl snapped.
“I think there is a screen somewhere, we could put that up for privacy. I can look for it or maybe if Jack and me move into the other room and …”
“Don't worry,” Paige said dismissively and took a few deep breaths. “It doesn't matter if he sees me. Loads of people have.”
“Paige ... umm … are you sure 'bout this?”
“I can't sing any other way,” she explained and added her underwear to the pile. “I'm sorry if I scare your friend, but I need to do this naturally. I never sing with emotion with clothes on and I can't start now.” Claire watched as the red-haired girl gestured forcefully and sniffed. “I had a disaster when I was sixteen at a school talent show when I tried to sing with my clothes on, and I just can't to it properly when I'm dressed. It feels all wrong.”
“It'll make for some great gigs,” Claire teased. Paige muttered an apology, opened the studio door and walked in, causing Jack to squeal in shock.
“What the …?”
“Yes I know, I'm naked, I'm a natural red-head as well as you can see, and I've got a birthmark on my lower back. But I c
an sing naked. I can't sing clothed, but I can sing naked. Trust me.”
Jack scampered to the end of the room to close the blinds and looked at Claire as she entered the room behind the naked singer. “Did you know about this?”
“Of course she knew about this! I'm a naturist, and we met on holiday. And I thought we told you, we won the karaoke competition and …” Claire stared at Paige, and shook her head, but Jack understood their secret before Paige stopped talking.
“Oh my God, you two are both naturists. Do you …”
“No we probably don't,” Paige snapped. “Apart from singing naked, which we did and won. That's it. I can't sing with my clothes on. Now are you two joining me textile or bare?”
Claire whimpered. “Not in front of Jack.”
“You were going to before,” Jack teased her with a grin.
Paige coughed to interrupt Jack's teasing. “Let's try again. And please, treat me as if I was dressed,” Paige asked. “And I will be able to sing. I feel free and relaxed when naked.” Paige waited for the signal from Jack who stared at his screen and waved his hands in front of him, without turning to look at Paige. “Is that start?”
“Yes,” Jack said, still staring at the screen and Paige giggled.
“Then do it properly,” she snapped. “I don't care about you seeing me naked. Just don't be a twat and stare!” Jack turned around to face her with his eyes closed and gestured. Paige laughed, but composed herself and sang into her microphone, pitching the song perfectly and singing the track with energy and emotion. She beamed at the two other occupants in the room as she finished. “How was that?”
“Perfect,” Claire cried. “Oh, I can't wait to add a backing track to this.”
“Yeah,” Jack muttered. “Could we do that again?”
“Why?” Claire asked. “That was perfect!”
“Ummm … a small technical problem,” he admitted and withered under Claire's questioning look. “OK, I forgot to start recording. I had other things on my mind. It's been a long time since I've seen a naked girl in the flesh,” he explained and Paige giggled.
“I didn't realise I had that effect on you!” Jack blushed as Paige crossed her arms and she took a deep breath. “Can we go again now?”
Jack nodded and gave her the cue to the start. Paige performed her vocals three times before Claire added her guitar track alongside the powerful voice of Paige. The guitarist openly admired Jack's expensive guitar, but had to keep re-recording as she kept making mistakes.
Jack also made a few rudimentary errors that he blamed on the length of time from when he last used the set, but Paige kept seeing him sneak sly glances towards her as she sat next to him, and got a pleasure out of leaning across their host to touch things on his computer or mixing deck so that her bare skin touched his body.
They listened to the completed track, and Jack suggested that Claire should add some backing vocals which was met with a scared look by his friend. “Give it a go,” he encouraged her, and she reluctantly sang into the microphone. “You're too powerful,” Jack interrupted after a few notes and Paige got up from her seat to stand in front of the dominant vocalist. “Sing with her, not against her.” Claire watched Paige as she mouthed the song, but Claire shivered and stopped singing.
“OK, get naked!” Paige demanded and Claire's eyes bulged.
“What?”
“Come on,” Paige ordered and Jack shrugged. “You are all over the place and you weren't at the karaoke. All you need to do is get out of those clothes.”
“I'll look away,” Jack promised.
“On holiday we won the karaoke competition. We can nail this, we need you to be comfortable.” Claire shook her head and looked longingly at her friend. “You liked it at my flat.”
“But …” She pointed towards Jack and Paige snorted.
“On holiday dozens of people saw you.” Claire bit her lip and turned away from the demanding girl.
“OK. But for you. I hope you know that! This is to get you a record deal.”
“Yeah,” Paige said with a smile. “I love you loads. And Jack, no peeking!”
“Sure,” a nervous voice came from the other side of the room. Claire folded her clothes and passed them to Paige who stacked them on the floor next to the door, and Jack started the tracks through the headphones as Claire sang a soft set of accompanying vocals.
Paige cheered as they finished and put her arms around Claire as Jack turned to face them and then apologised. Claire retrieved her clothes after they listened to the completed song and got dressed, although Paige was happy to wander around the recording studio naked.
Jack supplied the three of them with alcohol, sandwiches and quiche for lunch. Paige asked why she had “leeks in her egg custard” only for Jack to stumble as he answered. “What?” She asked. “Oh you really think I am so poor I've never seen a quiche!”
“Well …” Jack suggested and then sighed. “Well, you sort of make it so difficult for me when you say things like that!” Claire laughed at Paige's irritated face, and she took a couple of pages from her coat pocket.
“It's the song I'd like to record. It's … about my sister. Umm, I don't want to go into detail,” she said as she looked at Jack. “But Claire, you've seen the guitar tab I want?”
Claire gulped and nodded. “Yeah, I'll give it a go,” she promised, and Paige got up to use the toilet.
The second half of their song recording session started with Paige delivering her own song about her sister's attempted suicide. Although she didn't explain all to Jack, it was clear that the song meant a lot to Paige as the teenager had to wipe her eyes after each take. “It's called Don't Leave Me,” Paige explained as she finished her eighth attempt, managing to hold her long, high notes perfectly with powerful emotion.
Jack stopped Claire from getting up and looked at Paige. “I know this is your song,” he started. “And I know it means a lot to you, but I don't think you want a guitar.”
“Why?”
“Your voice is too perfect to have a guitar over it.” He sighed for a moment and closed his eyes. “Try a keyboard.”
“But I can't play the keyboard,” Claire moaned loudly, and he smiled.
“But I can.” He looked at Paige and bit his lip. “If you want me to.”
Paige nodded, and he retrieved an electric keyboard and looked at the guitar tab. He ran through several combinations of the music as Paige and Claire watched before taking over twenty attempts to add a backing track to Paige's exceptional vocals.
“Do it naked,” Paige suggested. “It's easier.”
Jack snorted, but continued to be unable to get something he was happy with and got frustrated by his own inability to perfect his track. “Give me a minute,” he asked. “I just need a quick breather.”
Paige looked at Claire as he left the room. “Shall we try with a guitar? I mean, at least we can do that!”
“Keyboard’ll be great. Think Sinead O'Connor and that was piano or keyboard.”
“And a guitar,” Paige added. “Trust me. And I don't think my voice is Sinead O'Connor territory.” Her eyes met the door as Jack burst in and she squealed.
Apart from his socks, Jack was naked, and he smiled. “It worked for you and it worked for you,” he said nodding towards the two girls in turn. “And it better work for me,” he said as the girls laughed at him.
“How much beer and Pimms did you have at lunchtime?” Claire asked mischievously.
“And I know I am blushing. I always do, but I want to get something good down for you and keep messing it up, so this is to stop that.”
Paige raised an eyebrow as the muscular and well-toned man sat down at the computer and she whispered a question at Claire. “It's the rugby,” Claire told her in response.
Jack was nervous, and the naked Paige teased him with a gentle shoulder massage as he went to play. He smiled at her, and took two further attempts to get his attempted keyboard track right, but was happy with a piano sound and Pa
ige nodded appreciatively. “Much more powerful,” Claire agreed as they played the completed track back to the room.
He looked at Paige for approval, but all three of them jumped out of their skins when the front door to the little self-contained flat slammed. “Fuck,” Jack cried. “My clothes are in the lounge.”
“Yeah, mine are too,” Paige added. “Claire, go out there and get them.”
“No,” Jack shouted. “No.” Their eyes were fixed on the door to the studio as it opened and a middle-aged woman squealed.
“Oh my God! Jack!”
Jack covered his manhood as Paige turned away from the shocked woman. “Aunty,” Jack cried.
“I was going to tell you, I'm going to the shops and did you want any more booze?” The woman rubbed her eyes and grinned. “But I see you are busy.” She cackled and the flamboyant woman smiled at her nephew. “You are so like your father,” she said as her eyes focused on the naked Paige. “Ahh, he loved redheads as well. 'Til he met your mother, of course.”
Jack gulped and sniffed. “Please don't tell him.”
“Ahh, I won't,” Aunt Lucinda promised. “He's a fucking joyless cunt these days.” She looked at her blushing nephew with glazed eyes and giggled. “Next time lock the door,” she advised, and shut the door with a chortle.
“Bollocks,” Jack moaned. “She's got a mouth like a foghorn when she drinks.” He looked at Paige and apologised.
“Shall we get dressed?” Paige suggested with raised eyebrows, and when her friends nodded, she left the room to get reacquainted with her clothes.
Jack burned her and Claire a copy of their finished songs to CD as Paige got ready. “Same time next week?” Jack suggested, and the two girls looked at each other. “I've enjoyed today more than any day in, like, months. Years, even. If you want to, I'd love to do it again.”
Claire nodded. “I can do next week if you want to. Paige?”
“I can do Sunday,” Paige replied and rubbed her eyes. I can do Sunday but not Saturday. If we aren't going to cause a problem …”
“No,” Jack said quickly. “Oh Aunt Lucinda. She's easy enough to deal with. You can bribe her with any alcoholic beverage you can think of.”
“OK,” Claire agreed and looked at Jack. “Sunday?”
“Sure. Do you want picking up from Croydon?” Paige shook her head and held her hands out.
“No, I'm fine,” Paige muttered and leaned in to give Jack a kiss. “As promised,” she whispered. Jack smiled at her, and they carefully opened the door and made their way to the station.