Chapter Text
Four girls stumbled into a bar on a cold night. The wind blew the door shut behind them. Alexa loosened her scarf just a touch. She looked around the bar, noting a lot of punk jackets and vests.
“Where are we?” She asked Lottie.
“Only the best bar this side of town.” Lottie replied. “Or, well, one of them. It seemed up your alley, anyway.” The Australian bombshell had a mischievous glint in her eyes.
“Wow! Look at all these beautiful men!” Chelsea squealed. Alexa rolled her eyes. Ever since she’d let it slip that punk rock boys were her usual type, Lottie wouldn’t let it go.
She pointed out some guys at the bar, and Alexa just rolled her eyes and opened her phone, searching for something. She found the app with ease and grinned, before realizing what was already playing over the speakers. Toto’s Hold the Line blared through the bar, and she wondered vaguely how she hadn’t realized it as soon as they walked in.
After some clicking, she finally found a song. “Man, I Feel Like A Woman,” by Shania Twain would play just after Hold the Line. As they bellied up to the bar, Alexa surveyed the crowd. It seemed pretty typical, aside from the obvious punk vibe. She laughed inwardly at how much she was about to shake things up. Well, Toto wasn’t exactly punk rock, either, but she wasn’t sure yet if that was just a one off.
“Hey, Alexa!” Hannah called across the bar. “What’re you drinking?”
“Whiskey coke!” Hannah grabbed the drink and brought it to Alexa.
“You’re really going to be obnoxious tonight, aren’t you?” Hannah teased, but there was a twinkle in her eyes.
“Oh, you’d better believe it.” Alexa winked back at her. Her song was playing, and the bar was already in an uproar about it. She noticed two men at the bar in particular, one taller than the other with dark, swept back hair, and the other had a freckled face and wore his hair in dreads. The freckled man appeared to be frowning at his friend, gesturing to the jukebox.
She imagined he was trash talking her choice in music, and that warmed her heart. He was cute , she thought, but let her gaze continue wandering the bar. Chelsea snapped her out of it by literally snapping in front of her face.
“You were zoning out so hard, hun!” Chelsea told her, and Alexa laughed sheepishly.
“Sorry, I was just thinking about what song I should torture this bar with next.”
“Oh my god!” It was basically one word coming from her mouth. “Play Barbie Girl for me!” She beamed, and Alexa punched in the song.
“Anything for you, bestie.” Alexa threw an arm around Chelsea lazily, and they snapped a selfie together. Then, she realized that ‘Hold The Line’ was playing again. “Who keeps playing Toto, I wonder?” She mused, before her gaze fell on the two men from before. The freckled one was belting out the song to his mate, who sat staring into his drink. Alexa couldn’t figure out if he was pretending not to know his friend, or if he was upset about something.
Finally, Barbie Girl blasted over the speakers, and a bunch of guys at the bar groaned. Alexa snorted into her drink, and Chelsea hopped up, dancing enthusiastically. With the attention off of her, MC punched in a few more songs. Mostly just random country songs. It was her favorite pastime whenever she got dragged to bars.
Before her songs could play, Keep On Loving You by REO Speedwagon started playing, and yet again she watched one grown man serenade another. Several more love songs from that era played before hers, but once hers did, she was satisfied with the groans and protests surrounding her.
Alexa pored over her phone, trying to find yet another perfect song to mess with Mr. 80’s love songs serenading his boyfriend over there. At least, that’s what it was starting to look like from her vantage point. This must have been the sixth time Hold The Line had played, and even if it was Toto’s best song, enough was enough.
But what could she play?
She punched in Tom Jones’ ‘What’s New Pussycat’ and followed it up with ‘It’s Not Unusual.’ If she ended up spending her entire paycheck on jukebox plays, it’d be worth it.
“Hey, Alexa! Priya just texted me. She’s at that nightclub down the block.” Lottie’s voice broke into Alexa’s concentration.
“Yeah, cool,” she said, and Lottie realized quickly the curly haired blonde hadn’t caught a word. Her focus was very clearly divided between her phone and the freckled boy down the bar.
“Are you even listening to me?”
“Huh?” Alexa snapped out of it briefly. “You’re going to the club down the block.”
“No, we’re going.”
Alexa shoots a look at the boy down the bar. Lottie knows that look all too well, but it’s been so long since she last saw it. “I uh, have some unfinished business to attend to.”
“Oh, babes, I can see that.” Lottie shoots her a cheeky wink, and Alexa rolls her eyes.
“Not like that !” She protests. Just then, Hannah and Chelsea appear.
“C’mon, Alexa will find us when she’s done here. Or maybe she won’t.” Lottie tells them, grinning.
“Don’t you think one of us should--” Chelsea is cut off by Lottie grabbing her by the elbow and dragging her off.
“Didn’t you see her face? She’s doing just fine on her own.” Lottie grins wider, and they leave Alexa to her phone.
She settles into a seat just within earshot of the two men she’s been watching, and realizes they’re actually with a third man, who sits in a corner booth with a curly haired Irish lass.
“Best if we don’t interfere in that.” The taller man told his dreadlocked friend.
“Yeah, sounds like drama. Not our problem he can’t decide between Jo and Shannon. He’ll have forgotten all about it by Monday, anyway, Noah.”
Now she had one of their names, but Noah wasn’t exactly who was getting her goat at this moment.
“You’re right, Bobby.” Noah told him. And there she had it. Bobby was the devil in disguise who was inspiring her to order a double shot of whiskey.
“Who keeps playing these damn songs?” Bobby muttered. “I’ve been trying to figure it out all night!”
Alexa smirked to herself. So she’d been doing a great job of blending in. She downed her shot and typed something in her phone.
“I Will Always Love You,” by Dolly Parton played shortly over the speakers. Bobby and Noah turned to each other in disgust.
“Who did this?” Bobby wrinkled his nose. “It’s got to be the same person.”
Alexa stifled a giggle behind her hand and turned back to the bar, ordering another whiskey coke. She was getting good and drunk, far drunker than she’d intended when she’d agreed to come out, but she couldn’t deny that she was having fun.
“Can you consider this a hate crime?” Bobby’s voice broke her out of her thoughts, and she snickered under her hand. “At least she thinks I’m funny, Noah!” Bobby indicates Alexa, who hides behind her hands.
“Maybe she’s the one playing these songs.” Noah offered. Shit, Alexa thought, I’ve been compromised.
“Her? No way. She looks like more of a Bruno Mars type.”
Oof. Alexa rolled her eyes and turned back to her drink. At least she lived to play another hour of out of place songs.
“Hold the line! Love isn’t always on time!” Bobby belted out for what had to be the thousandth time that night. Alexa had to dig deep within to keep herself from outwardly face palming. Instead, she discreetly typed into her phone.
“Friends In Low Places Garth Brooks.”
At this point, she’s well on her way to becoming a jukebox VIP. As the song starts playing, she watches as Bobby looks around.
“Alright, who did this?” He turns to the table behind them, a group made up of a few couples. “It was one of you, wasn’t it?” He demands. Alexa hides her giggles behind her hand, and manages, miraculously, to be inconspicuous. Or maybe it’s more that Bobby is getting drunker by the minute and has no idea that the curly haired blonde sitting six chairs down from him has been the culprit all along.
She realizes suddenly that Bobby has a Scottish accent that’s grown thicker as the night wears on. Glaswegian, perhaps, she thinks. At first, it was a toned down lilt, but as he goes in a circle asking who the hell keeps playing country songs at a punk bar, he becomes more and more incoherent.
“Right Beside You, Sophie B. Hawkins,” Alexa types in, deciding to try and communicate with him. Maybe he’ll take the hint, but her guess is that he won’t. She watches carefully from the corner of her eye, and somehow, through the din and commotion of the bar, she can still hear their conversation as though they were right beside her.
“Noah, do you think he’s trying to tell me something?” Bobby points at the screen, which shows the song. Noah chances a look in Alexa’s direction, and her eyes widen as she catches his gaze. She puts a finger to her lips, and he smiles slowly, conspiratorially.
“What makes you so sure he’s a he?” Noah teases. Bobby’s eyes widen, and he shakes his head.
“There’s no way. I don’t know any girls who would hold onto something like this for so long.”
Noah, despite himself, snorts with laughter.
“Oh, right. Forgot about Hope.” He shakes his head, laughing softly. “Mate, you’re far better off without her. Was it really worth fighting all the time?”
“She got in a right fit about Priya, didn’t she?” Noah rolled his eyes. Alexa tried hard not to look over, but at the mention of Priya’s name, her heart had taken off running, leaving it pounding in her chest. Was it possible he was talking about her Priya? Glamorous Priya who was only in town every other month or so? There were plenty of people named Priya, she thought, but who knew?
Alexa typed “Come Over’ into the jukebox app and played the first song that popped up, a Kenny Chesney song. Almost as soon as it came on, she heard Bobby exclaim “Oh my god! Why?!”
He fired back with “Where Are You?” by J. Mascis. Alexa countered with “Hello, I’m Right Here” by Tegan and Sara.
“Noah, who’s doing it?” Bobby finally demanded in a fit of frustration. Noah only shrugged. “I know you know who it is!” Bobby pouted, but played another song. “Tell Me, Tell Me...Baby” by N’Sync.
Alexa’s phone vibrated in her hand and a message from Priya flashed on the screen.
Where ARE YOU??????!!!!!!
I’m having a jukebox battle, I can’t leave now.
A what? Are you crazy? You’re joking!!! Big T is DJing tonight!!!!!!
This is more important!
Ugh! You ARE crazy! LOL! Whatever, we’ll see you at yours for brunch tomorrow!
Priya’s message was punctuated by a ton of eye roll emojis. “He better be the hottest guy we’ve ever seen!”
“OMFG what did Lottie tell you?” Alexa typed, but all Priya replied with was a winking emoji.
“Bobby, I gotta drag Rahim out of here. Thanks for taking me out to forget about the break up, but I really gotta go. You coming or?” Noah asked.
“Not till I find out who this jukebox bandit is!”
“Good luck, Bobby.” He told him, before going to drag Rahim away from a woman who looked rather angry. It almost looked like they might fist fight, but Noah seemed to have the right words to calm them both down. The next thing she knew, he was leaning over the barstool next to hers.
“I know it’s you.” He told her quietly. She felt Bobby’s eyes on them, and she felt herself flushing.
“Oh?”
“Keep doing it. I haven’t seen him look so happy in ages. Like…” Noah glances over, and realizes Bobby is staring.
“Are you sure? He seems pretty angry about it.”
“Trust me.” Noah turns and leaves, and as soon as he’s gone, she realizes that Bobby has taken the empty stool next to hers.
“So.” He’s flushed from the alcohol, and she perks a brow at him, before typing in “you got it” and playing the Ray Orbison song.
“So.” She locks her phone and sets it face up on the bar. He checks his phone and sees what the next song is.
“It is you, isn’t it?” He demands. Alexa throws her hands up in defeat, huffing.
“You found me.” She laughs, and he curls his lip at her.
“Why are you torturing us with country songs?”
“Why won’t you stop playing Toto over and over again?” She demands.
“Fair point. How about I buy you a drink to make up for it?” Captain B. Smooth is back. He thinks.
“Oh? Well, that would be a start.” She taps her chin thoughtfully.
“What are you drinking?”
“Whiskey coke.” Suddenly, she realizes that her stomach is filled with butterflies just from his proximity. He doesn’t notice her face reddening as he flags the bartender down. Once her drink is in her hands, he turns back to her.
“I don’t even know your name, Jukebox Bandit.” He muses, and she laughs.
“It’s Alexa.”
“Like…”
“Yeah, like Amazon Alexa. The Echo. That’s exactly what my parents named me after.” She rolled her eyes.
“Really?” He let his mouth fall open.
“You’re not really that gullible, are you?” She doesn’t realize that he’s typing into his phone because she’s also typing into hers.
“No, I’m not.” While he was typing in “Hold The Line” for the nth time that night, she was typing in “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen.
They both see the songs in the queue and collapse into laughter.
“And what’s your name?” She asks, acting as though she hadn’t picked up on it already.
“Bobby, but you can just call me Captain B. Smooth.”
“Uh. Okay, Bobby. ” She gives him a huge grin, and he facepalms inwardly. Real smooth.
“Or not, I guess.” He shrugs, and she playfully chucks him on the arm.
“I’m just messing with you. You kind of deserve it.”
He rolls his eyes before belting out Hold The Line to her.
And even though she’s laughing harder than she’s laughed in a long while, she takes note that he has a strong (and good) singing voice. When she finally catches her breath, she takes him in. He has an expressive face, and there’s a dimple on one cheek. He’s absolutely gorgeous, she thinks. His eyes are golden, and she realizes she’s never seen such eyes.
“Where do you come from?” She asks.
“Glasgow.” He tells her. She pounds her fist on the bar.
“I knew it!” She exclaims gleefully.
“What?”
“Oh, I was on to you from the beginning, Mr. Smooth.” Alexa grins. “So once my friends left, I came and listened to you and...Noah, was it?” She realizes that by admitting all this, she’s taking a giant risk, but it pays off when she realizes Bobby is laughing.
“So you’ve been stalking me all night?” He teases.
“No! More like...investigative...journalism.”
“Is my face going to be in the paper tomorrow, then?” He asks, and she laughs, this time.
“No! But when you were going around questioning everyone, your accent just got thick to the point of being incompri--incomp--incomprihen--hard to understand.” She leans against the bar, and she’s not sure if it’s the alcohol, but right now, she’s face to face with the most beautiful person she’s seen in her entire life.
“Hey, can I--” She’s interrupted by a bartender yelling “LAST CALL!” and she throws her hands to her face. “Oh my god, is it that late already?” Her eyes widen, and Bobby looks just as shocked.
“Wow, I’m going to regret all this tomorrow.”
“Ouch!” Alexa frowns, and he shakes his head.
“Well, except for meeting you.” He grins. “Even if your music taste is highly questionable.”
“Who says I like any of those songs?” She teases, before leaning in a little bit more. “I’ve never done this--but--there’s something--” she cuts herself off, rolling her eyes. “I’m so smooth. Your place or mine?”
“Mine.” He’s blushing even harder than before, and she wonders if he’s ever invited someone back from the bar.
The next thing she knows, he’s got his arms wrapped around her waist, and she’s kissing him in his kitchen. It’s a hot, angry kiss, as though she’s still feigning fury over their jukebox war.
“Alexa, are you thirsty?” He asks, and before she can answer, they both hear ‘I don’t get hungry or thirsty, but thank you for asking.’ from the other room. Alexa collapses against the counter in helpless laughter, and Bobby looks completely bewildered.
“Alexa, are you ok?”
‘I’m feeling super productive, I’ve set a gazillion timers, and now I’m brushing up on my Klingon.’ There’s the voice from the other room again. Alexa laughs even harder, doubled over on her knees on the tile.
“Oh my god, Bobby, you should have said my place.” She manages between wheezes of laughter.
“We just have to change your name.” He tells her, and she bursts into laughter again. By this point, she’s sobbing, and Bobby looks concerned. “What?”
“I’m not changing my name for someone I’ve just met.” She tells him, before turning to root in his refrigerator. Even though they’ve known each other for maybe a few hours, he already feels like she belongs here. It’s like she’s a missing piece that he didn’t know he was looking for.
“What are you looking for in there?” He asks, and she pulls out a bottle of wine.
“Vino!” She exclaims, and he laughs.
“Are you trying to take advantage of me?” He jokes, and her eyes widen. “I’m kidding.” He looks around the kitchen awkwardly. “I’m not prepared for that in the slightest.”
“No, I just felt like…” She frowns, swaying slightly. “I wanted one more drink, and I didn’t want to leave you yet. I know we just met, and this is weird but…” She takes a deep breath. “There’s a spark there, isn’t there?”
So she did feel it , he thought.
“I think so.” And when he looks at her again, he feels like he’s on the verge of something big. He’d never felt this comfortable with a girl, period, let alone within the first day of meeting her. He needed to rein in his rampant emotions, his strong urge to beg her to move in with him right on the spot.
“And I don’t even have your number in my phone.” She teased him, and he took her phone from her so he could type in his number. Before he gave it back, he opened up youtube to play Hold The Line yet again.
As she took her phone, she nearly threw it right back at him.
“Are you ever going to stop?” She demanded, laughing softly. He shook his head.
“It’s not likely.”
“Give me your phone.”
“Only if you’re going to put your number in it.” He tells her, flushing a little.
“Obviously.” And she does just that, but when she hands him back his phone, Loving You Is Fun by Easton Corbin is playing on it.
“You know what, Alexa?”
“What?”
“I like you.” And maybe neither of them would admit to it, but they both feel happier and more relaxed than they have in ages.