Chapter 16

"So, what did you end up choosing? You were over there long enough."

Bucky poked Ella in the side as he verbally teased her. He was not expecting a high-pitched squeal to erupt from her. She grabbed his hand, hard, and looked him dead in the eye.

"Do not poke me. You try that again and I'll break it." Indicating his index finger.

A realization washed over Bucky. He smiled a smile the Cheshire Cat would have been envious of.

"You're ticklish, aren't you?"

Ella ignored him and threw him a smile that screamed 'I know something you don't know.' Before she responded to his first inquiry.

"It's a surprise. You'll see soon enough. You only have to wait through another three songs."

Bucky gave her a look expressing his displeasure in the surprise and the fact that he had to wait.

"Have some patience."

Bucky scoffed and rolled his eyes at her.

"Fine then. In the meantime, what are some things you like to do for fun?"

Ella, however, was preoccupied with taking her phone out of her jacket pocket and looking at something on the small screen.

"Outside of work you mean? Most, if not all, of my interests fall under the umbrellas of my degrees. Or are work-related."

Bucky scrutinized her messing with her phone, intrigued as to what could be so important. Ella didn't seem the type to constantly have her face in a screen. This was the first time he had seen her even use it.

"What are your hobbies that are not connected to what you do for a living?"

"Photography and modeling are two, but you already knew that."

Bucky's eyes widened. He knew about photography, but not modeling. Ella then held up a finger.

"Can you hold that thought? I really need to brush up on these lyrics. It has been quite a few years since I've done this song and I really do not want to make myself look like a fool."

"Oh, I highly doubt you'll make yourself look like a fool. If you do, you'll look amazing doing it."

Bucky cocked a smirk at Ella who looked up at him from her phone and returned one of her own while shaking her head.

"You have entirely too much confidence in me. I hope you know that."

Ella seemed to have found the page that she was looking for. Her brows knitted together in concentration on what she was looking at. She began to silently recite what he assumed were the lyrics to the song she had chosen. Her lips were moving quicker than Bucky's lip-reading skills could keep up with.

He tried to angle himself closer so he could get a look at the screen to see what Ella was focusing so hard on. This only left him a backhanded smack to the shoulder in admonishment as she turned away. Ensuring that his view was more than obstructed.

Bucky made an affronted noise and acted theatrically insulted. Which only earned him a quick and sharp look out of the corner of Ella's eye and a tongue poking out from between her lips as she turned her eyes back to the screen in her hands.

As the last few people finished their song selections, Bucky became increasingly anxious. Every time he went to say or ask something, he was silenced.

With each pass through the lyrics Ella was studying with such rapt attention, her pace hastened. At one point she started counting quickly on her fingers while bobbing her head slightly to a non-existent beat.

"What does that do?"

"I'm counting beats. Now be patient; and quiet! I promise this will be worth it. If I don't mess up. I'm so sorry for being rude. I really am trying hard not to fuck this up."

Bucky perceived that Ella seemed to be just as nervous as he was. Only maybe more so considering she was the one about to get up on that stage and perform god knows what song. He still couldn't figure out how counting beats would help any. But before he could give it much thought, the final few notes of a song filled the air.

Ella put her phone back in her jacket pocket with a serious look etched into her features. As she got up from her stool to make her way over to the stage, she leaned in close to Bucky's ear and whispered.

"Watch this."

Then she was off towards the other side of the bar, towards the stage.

The entire joint was watching Ella move across the bar and up to the stage. Bucky was alarmed for a moment until he remembered that she had been in the middle of a bar fight, for everyone to see, not an hour earlier. He was too preoccupied at the time to see who else had been watching their confrontation.

A knowing smile appeared on her face as she was handed the microphone. Ella stepped up onto the small stage.

Bucky looked from Ella over to the host who was watching Ella with the same disbelieving look as before. Bucky looked back at Ella just in time to see her nod at the host.

A few moments later a beat suddenly poured from the speakers. Electronic and staccato. Unlike anything that had played so far that night.

Almost as soon as the music started, Ella began speaking into the mic. Not singing, speaking. Bucky was beyond confused. What the hell had she done?

"May I have your attention, please?"

Ella looked around at the crowded bar. Everyone who had looked away from her had begun to turn to look back at her beckoning.

"May I have your attention, please? Will the Real Slim Shady please stand up?"

This earned a few laughs from some people which confounded Bucky even more.

Ella went to shield her eyes as she continued to search the crowd as if she were looking for someone.

"I repeat, will the Real Slim Shady please stand up?"

The whole bar was now facing Ella, giving her their undivided attention. Bucky had not seen a single person perform that night with this much consideration. Someone in the crowd let out a singular whoop which was drowned out by Ella's voice over the mic.

"We're gonna have a problem here."

Ella made eye contact with Bucky, gave a quick wink, and she was off.

'Ya'll act like you've never seen a white woman before…"

In one hand, Ella held the mic close to her mouth. While the other gestured wildly as she effortlessly danced through a series of complicated and tongue-twisting lyrics.

Now Bucky understood why she had been going over these lyrics and counting beats. If she even breathed wrong once it would have thrown the whole thing off.

Bucky was not familiar with this type of music. Though he did recognize it from what Sam sometimes listened to, or what Sam had tried to make him listen to in order to catch him up on the more than half a century of pop culture that he had missed.

Bucky kept wracking his brain, trying to remember what the style of music was called, but he kept finding himself getting distracted.

It was more than apparent that Ella had done this before. Her gestures and other movements went perfectly with the beat and the lyrics of the song.

Even the more rude and crude motions and lyrics didn't seem to phase her. It only seemed to spur her on even more.

Bucky watched as she fell into an almost rehearsed performance. One thing was certain. Ella was meant for a much larger stage. Her presence was bigger than a small stage in some dive bar. With the energy she was exuding, she belonged in a goddamn stadium.

It was only then that Bucky thought to tear his eyes off of her and scan the small crowd of people to gauge their reaction to her.

Every pair of eyes were trained on the woman up on the stage. Expressions ranged from awe, to shock, and to utter disbelief and bewilderment.

There was one consistency throughout the room: Every game of darts and pool had been abandoned. Every drink sat unattended. Everyone's attention was held by the immensely complicated series of lyrics that were so eloquently and effortlessly delivered. And at such a high rate it seemed almost impossible that she was able to keep up.

A lightbulb went off in Bucky's head. Rapping. That was the style of music this was. Although pretty much entirely unfamiliar to him, he could not help but be, not only thoroughly enthralled but also amazed. He couldn't help the smile that snuck its way onto his face.

This was a faster, and much more lyrically complicated, song than he had ever heard associated with this genre. Even though he had not heard very much. It was still a giant tongue twister that Ella seemed to have absolutely no problem navigating.

No, Ella dominated it.

Bucky's attention kept bouncing between Ella and the crowd that she had totally transfixed. By this point, nearly everyone, even the staff of the bar, was as enthralled with Ella as he was. He had no idea why he felt pride welling up in his chest. The new voice in the back of his head wanted everyone to know that that woman was his.

Bucky shook that last thought out of his head swiftly. He had to get a grip on these new thoughts that seemed to center around Ella.

As the song started to come to a close, Bucky kept his eyes on Ella. She seemed to be giving it her all now.

"So will the Real Slim Shady please stand up." Ella punched her fist high into the air.

As she said this next line, she closed her eyes and put up one finger at a time until her open hand faced out towards the small crowd.

"And put one of those fingers on each hand up. And be proud to be out of your mind and out of control."

Ella dropped the mic from her mouth down to her side and yelled the next line instead.

"One more time, loud as you can! HOW DOES IT GO!?"

To Bucky's vast wonder, more than half of the onlookers joined in on the last cycle of the chorus with her.

As the beat and music faded Ella raised the mic above her head and dropped it. Catching it with her other hand before it hit the floor.

A vast majority of the crowd started cheering, whooping, and hollering as she stepped down off of the stage.

Ella successfully handed off the mic to the next guy in line, who looked like he thoroughly did not want to follow up a presentation like that.

Bucky watched with curiosity as Ella received various praises and compliments graciously. And gracefully avoided more than a few advances by men with the same star-struck look in their eyes that he would have seen in his own as well.

When she was finally through the throngs of admirers, she came out the other side with an infectious, glowing smile. Bucky couldn't help but mimic it as she smugly beamed at him.

"Let's blow this popsicle stand before they all start buying me drinks. I don't feel like being rude or getting smashed tonight."

Bucky got up from his stool and grabbed her jacket for her, and helped her into it. He couldn't keep his eyes off her. Even though most of the bar was still staring, he didn't care. He wanted them to stare and see that it was him that would be leaving with Ella. Not them.

Who the hell was this woman and where had she been hiding? What else did she have up her sleeve that Bucky still had yet to uncover? Bucky was determined to find out and answer all of these new questions.

"Whatever you say, Doll."

He realized as he was putting on his own jacket what he had just called her. So far, she had had no problem with him calling her 'sweetheart'. She either didn't notice or didn't mind. If he was being perfectly honest, he suspected the latter as her smile now had a different kind of self-satisfied quality to it.

As they headed for the door Bucky caught Ella looking over her shoulder at something with a big smile on her face and a roguish sparkle in her eye. He followed her gaze and saw the line of people in front of the karaoke host.

Everyone waiting to put their name and song down.

When they stepped out into the chilly night air, Ella burst out in a fit of laughter. Earning her a questioning look from Bucky.

"Whenever I do that, it seems to give all the closeted rappers confidence to try their own hand at it. Never gets old. That place is going to be hip-hopping for the rest of the night."

"I highly doubt that any of them could even hold a candle to what you just pulled."

Bucky caught her slight blush as well as the small smirk his comment caused. Ella turned away to hide it while pretending to look down the street.

"Speaking of…" Bucky said lowly, getting quite a bit closer to Ella.

"I believe you just pulled a fast one on me, Doll."

Bucky tried the name again to see what kind of reaction it brought out of her. She looked back at him with a big smirk, a challenge in her eyes, and an eyebrow arched.

"How did you manage to come to that conclusion, Sailor?"

Ella spoke equally as low. Bucky felt her words resonate in his chest like a bell, catching him off-guard. Almost making him forget his point. He hurriedly recovered and continued, trying to not let on what had just occurred to him. Simply by her just speaking to him like that.

"We had a deal, and I believe you failed to uphold your end of the agreement."

Bucky took a step forward, closing the gap between them. They were now barely a foot or two apart. He smelled her perfume. She smelled like pine trees, a campfire, and another scent he could not pinpoint. It was almost sweet. An unusual choice for most women. It somehow fit her perfectly. Bucky inhaled deeply, savoring it.

Ella tilted her chin up and gazed up at him, obviously considering not just him, but his accusation as he observed her formulate her response. Her eyes were light and bright with something that Bucky couldn't put his finger on. It was extremely playful, yet ominous. Like he should be worried, but he wasn't.

"I did no such thing." She said defiantly, suppressing a chuckle.

"As I recall, our agreement was if you won, I would pick a song. You won, so I picked a song. The type of song, the genre of the song, nor whether or not I would actually sing or not was never discussed. Therefore, the agreement was fully upheld. It's not my fault you're shit with the fine print."

Ella raised her hand and put a finger to his chest and pushed him backward. He let himself fall back a step, but no more. She smiled what should have been considered a criminal smile, and continued.

"Maybe you should think it over and look a bit closer at the details next time you consider making a deal with the devil."

The smirk now tugging at her lips was nothing short of sinful as Bucky's mouth popped open slightly as he considered her. She was right. There had been no mention of any conditions. He returned her smirk at this realization.

"You may have gotten yourself out of it this time, but next time will be an entirely different story."

"Next time? You sure there's going to be a next time? You sound awfully confident on that declaration."

"You will find I am relatively confident when I dance with the devil, Doll."

Bucky closed the gap between them again, and this time he felt an electric charge fill the air amongst them as they looked at each other.

After a moment of them just looking at each other, Ella spoke in a very low tone that resonated again.

"Are you sure you want to dance with this devil?"

Bucky did not miss the serious undertone, her eyes reflecting another sinful spark. He measured her question, and gazed into the deep fathoms of her eyes, before answering.

"I'm not sure I can answer that, but I sure as hell am going to find out."

Bucky could tell that Ella was obviously not fazed by their close proximity. Being this close he could see her sharp wit dancing in her eyes, preparing what she would say next.

He felt another ravenous smile tugging at his lips. Just itching to release the full force of his charm on her. He was not used to falling short in this arena. That had always been Steve.

Bucky may not have as much of his desired effect on this enigmatic woman, but he certainly had some. He just knew it. He could feel it. He was looking forward to respectfully pushing that particular boundary as far as he could.

Where the Winter Soldier had once been, a new voice had made its presence fully known. What was just a whisper until now, was a tempest of a force. And it was currently more than happy at the thought of dancing with this particular devil.