Chapter 25 - Guitar Lessons
Slipping behind the curtains in the main dining room, Kitten takes a look around at the backstage area where Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica's main controls are kept for the stage lights and music, as well as some shelves and bins of extra parts and supplies for the stage, animatronics, and instruments. The pirate had yet to visit this area since she wasn't sure if she was even allowed back here, but her curiosity got the better of her anyway. Thankfully for the cat, no one had seen her enter backstage, so, with a nervous but giddy smile, she begins to snoop around and explore the new area to her heart's content.
Looking around at the shelves of spare parts and the cords all hanging neatly on wall hooks, the pirate smiles at the newly discovered area. What catches the girl's eye the most are the instruments that the three musicians use on stage during their shows. Gazing around the backroom once more to ensure she's alone, Kitten walks over to Chica's keyboard and gently runs her fingers over the white piano keys. Upon pressing a few keys, thankfully, no sound comes from the keyboard or speakers. Guess the power to the equipment is off for the weekend.
Walking out of the storage room with his tuning pliers in hand, Bonnie lets out a sigh of mild annoyance. "I really wish the workers would stop touching my tools…" the rabbit mumbles as he shuts the door to storage behind him. While working on tuning his guitar, a misplaced item pulled his focus and forced the guitarist to leave his instrument for a minute to locate and retrieve his tuning pliers. Stepping up onto the stage again, Bonnie makes his way over to the door behind the main stage curtains. What he isn't aware of is the snooping pirate is right inside of the room near the door.
When he opens the door leading to the backroom, Kitten's ears perk up at the sound of the squeaky hinges coming from the door opening. Standing up quickly, the purple rabbit steps into the room to suddenly find himself face-to-face with the feline. Not expecting her presence, Bonnie yelps out in surprise and jumps back just to end up stumbling over his own feet. Falling back, he lands on the floor behind him. Kitten jumps a bit herself from his exclamation, but seeing him fall back suddenly fills her with concern over his well-being. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaims before rushing to his side, now kneeling down in front of him. "Are you alright?" the pirate asks the rabbit as he rubs his head tenderly.
Turning his attention to the voice of the concerned feline, his face quickly becomes dusty with a light pink blush from how close she is to him. "Uhh… Yeah! Yeah, I'm okay…!" he says with a smile and a slightly embarrassed chuckle. "It kinda hurts, but like I've said, I've been through worse."
Hearing this calms Kitten's worry and brings a smile back to her face. "Here, let me give ya a hand up." Standing up on her own two feet again, the pirate extends an open hand to the musician to help him up and off the floor.
Reaching up and grabbing her hand, he feels his heart skip a beat as he stands up with her aid. "Th-Thanks." Clearing his throat to get rid of his stutter, Bonnie decides to move past this embarrassing moment before it gets worse for him. "So… why are you in here?"
The redhead turns her gaze to the side with a tiny blush of embarrassment shining on her cheeks. "I was, umm… exploring," she chuckles sheepishly and rubs the back of her neck with a nervous smile. "Sorry."
Bonnie can understand her reasoning for wanting to explore. Kitten is still new to the pizzeria and with her feline curiosity, it's not surprising to hear that she wants to look around at every opportunity. Hopefully, her curiosity will settle down as she becomes acquainted with the place. "That's okay. You should explore little by little when you can."
"That 'when you can' part is the part I'm apparently not good at following," Kitten says with a self-jab. She chuckles a bit at her joke, but the laughter fades off as her reality sets in again. Her ears fold back slightly as a small wave of guilt overcomes her again.
The rabbit is quick to pick up on this sudden change in her mood and waves his hands back and forth to stop her train of thought. "Th-That's okay! Really! You learn fast, so you'll understand... right?"
Kitten is quiet for a moment as she thinks about what he said… and the feline is coming to an honest conflict. "I want to say 'yes'... But I can't promise anything," she says before putting her head down, not wanting to see the disappointment in his eyes.
However, Bonnie isn't disappointed; he's focused on trying to find a way to cheer her up. "H-Hey! Don't be sad…! Um…" Looking around frantically for something to assist him in this endeavor, the musician's red eyes land on his guitar sitting on its stand. "D-Do you wanna play my guitar?" he hastily offers. "You looked happy playing with the piano!" Bonnie's ears fold down a bit from embarrassment as he continues. "That is… until I got scared and fell... but I did get a glimpse of you smiling at it...!"
It's at this point that the pirate girl realizes that she got caught playing with the equipment. "Y-you saw that…?"
The rabbit isn't sure what answer will be the best one to give her to help lift her spirit. Swallowing, he decides to be honest. "It was brief... but... yes?"
"Oh." Figuring he's been on her side mostly the entire time she's known him, Kitten relaxes a bit figuring that Bonnie won't get her in trouble. With a shake of her head, the cat exhales. "Moving on, umm... No, it's okay." Kitten smiles softly. He really is a sweetheart to her. "I wouldn't want to accidentally drop it. Plus, I have no clue how to play guitar. But thank ye fer the offer."
"You sure?" Bonnie asks with a nervous smile. "I can teach you if you'd like? It's easy... once you get used to it."
The redhead is honestly taken aback by his instant offer and blushes. "You... You'd be willing to teach me...?"
The musician nods with a smile. "If you'll let me...?"
To this, Kitten smiles sweetly, if just a bit shyly. "I'd like that. Can't say I'll be good at it though," she admits with a small laugh.
Bonnie chuckles a bit along with her. "That's okay. It'll take a while to get better. I'm getting there myself," the guitarist says as he rubs his head, feeling slightly embarrassed to admit that.
However, the pirate is surprised to hear the lack of confidence come from his mouth. "Are you kidding me? You're amazing!" she praises him with a huge smile. "I watched one of your shows during a party and it was great!" Her happiness is quick to dull down as she remembers a little more detail about that same event. "Sadly, that was the one that I interrupted... but still," Kitten says with a small smile directed at him.
"Heh... It's okay. I did miss a couple of notes and my rhythm was a bit fast… but… thank you." Hearing her praise his performance really helps make him feel a bit better about the situation, but his lack of confidence wouldn't let him live down the flaws he knows he made. "Lemme get the guitar and…" Trailing off from his thought, Bonnie looks down at their hands and notices they're still entwined. His blush grows brighter as he finds he's unable to form the words to politely ask her to release her grip. "Uhh..."
Noticing his shift in attitude, Kitten follows his gaze down to their hands to see she's still holding onto him. Blushing from a bit of embarrassment, she quickly lets go of his hand. "S-Sorry...!" she apologies before swiftly looking away from him.
The rabbit moves his arms behind his back before looking back up at the feline. "I... It's okay... Really…" Mentally slapping himself for being so quiet, Bonnie gets lost in his thoughts until a joke pops into his head that he's sure Kitten will like. "Hey... want me to lend "a hand" for you?" he chuckles with a smile on his face.
Seems to have worked. The redhead chuckles at his little joke and brings her attention back onto him with a sweet smile. "Only if you want to."
"Maybe," he winks, which makes Kitten blush a bit and her smile grow. Passing by the pirate, the guitarist makes his way across the small room before picking up his guitar from off of its stand. Grabbing the shoulder strap, Bonnie hoists the strap up around and onto his shoulder and makes his way back over to Kitten. "I'll need to fix the strings, as well as the nuts on the head."
"Alright. You don't mind my company, do you?" the girl asks as she opens the backstage door for him.
Bonnie seems a bit surprised she would even have to ask him a question like that. "Of course not! I'd never mind your company! Your company is perfectly fine to be around!" Realizing the fact that he's rambling in an attempt to make Kitten feel better, he also finds that he's making a complete fool out of himself again and blushes brightly. To help hide his embarrassment, the rabbit's ears slide down and cover his face. "I-I'll shut up now…" he says quietly and shyly.
With a blush still dusting her cheeks, Kitten lets the door shut again as she walks up closer to the shy boy. Bringing her hands up, the feline gently moves his long ears to the side just like she does opening the curtain in Pirate's Cove. Behind the cover of his ears, she can see he's blushing as red as a cherry tomato, but she will not poke fun at him for it since he is trying to be sweet towards her. "Why would you shut up? You're fine, Bonnie," she reassures him with a kind-hearted smile.
His gaze moves up to meet the girl's own and a shy smile stretches across his lips. "Thanks…" He's just thankful that Kitten isn't like Chica when it comes to him acting this way.
"Now perk up…! Your face is too cute to hide," Kitten says as she takes her hands back. With a bit of peep in her step, the pirate girl smiles as she walks back over to the door and holds it open for him again. "Come on, Bon."
Not quite used to her energy yet, the guitarist stares at his friend for a moment before his brain mentally kicks him to follow her. "Y-Yeah…! S-Sure…" he stutters out before walking out of the backroom. Passing Kitten as she holds the door for him, Bonnie walks over to the edge of the stage, then sits down carefully as he hears the door shut and Kitten's footsteps behind him. Holding his instrument in his hands, the rabbit turns to look at the feline as she takes a seat on the edge of the platform beside him. "Ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be...!" she replies with a small giggle.
"Hehe... Okay… Umm…" It takes a moment for him to pull his thoughts away from the redhead and turn his attention back on the music lesson he's about to partake in. Taking the strap off of his shoulder, the musician turns and gently passes his guitar over to the pirate. "Hold it like I was before: your right arm…" Bonnie stops his instructions to think about something for a split-second, then asks her an important question, "Are you a lefty or righty?"
"Umm…" Not quite sure what he means by that, Kitten looks down at her hands, then holds up her right hand. "This one," she says with a smile looking back up at him.
Bonnie nods with a smile at how cute she's acting. "Alright. So, your left arm moves here..." He gently grabs her left arm as he talks, then moves it over to the strings on the body of the instrument. "...and your right hand grips the neck." Kitten lets him guide her hands with a smile, blushing at his gentle touch, and nods as she listens. "Now hold your fingers to the strings. You'll have to push hard on the strings for them to work," the guitarist explains, trying to put everything in as simple terms as possible for her.
"Got it," the feline nods in understanding. Looking down at the instrument, she positions her hand a bit better on the strings so she's comfortable. "Then... strum?" Kitten asks as she looks over at him again.
"Yep," he nods, then holds up his hand and wiggles his thumb a bit to show her the motion. "Use your thumb for better strumming."
A small idea pops into the pirate's head that causes her to smirk a bit. Bonnie is very shy, and she does enjoy being around and close to him. So, being kind of sly about it, Kitten blushes a bit with a playful, yet nervous, expression. "Well... Maybe… you should help guide my hands. Show me how to play a proper chord or two," she says before looking towards him with her sweet, chocolate brown eyes.
"Uhh…" The suggestion takes the guitarist by surprise, but he smiles bashfully nonetheless. "Y-Yeah... Sure." Bonnie clears his throat to try and help clear the stutter in his voice. Getting up from his spot on the stage, the rabbit moves to reposition himself behind the feline so he's now straddling her from behind. Kitten is more than happy being this close to him since his company brings her a sense of safety. A brighter blush crosses her face as he wraps his arms around her figure to hold onto her hands gripping the guitar. Mentally, he's screaming for joy, but physically, he's blushing like crazy being so close to the redhead. "Okay. S-So... move your hand up…" As he talks, Kitten watches as she moves her hand with his as he guides her fingers across the strings to their destination. "...then push down, and strike the strings with your other hand." With his left hand, the guitarist helps guide the pirate's thumb to hit each string making an E flat chord ring out from the instrument.
Kitten is more than amazed that she was able to make sound come from the guitar, of course, with Bonnie's help. "Cool...!" she exclaims before looking back at him with a cute and excited smile.
Bonnie's heart soars hearing how happy she sounds. Turning his head to look at her excitement, the rabbit freezes up for a moment when he realizes how close his face is to hers. Pulling his attention from her and putting it back on the guitar before his blush can get too much worse, he chuckles softly. "Yeah... Heh... Umm…" Trying to shift his thoughts now, he decides to move to a different chord. "H-Hold your fingers here... " he instructs as the guitarist shifts the pirate's fingers onto different strings. "This is called a G... Go ahead and try it out."
Looking back down at the guitar, Kitten strums the strings with her left hand as the guitar plays out the chord. "I did it...!" she says with a large smile and giddy giggle.
"That's great!" Bonnie smiles. "Now you can try it by yourself." Moving his hands off of hers, he moves them back to rest on the stage behind him so he can lean back without falling. Still sitting in front of him, the redhead carefully strums the same cord again, without his help this time. Hearing the same note ring out, Kitten smiles at this as her tail moves back and forth happily at her small accomplishment. However, she is unaware that, due to her position in front of his body, her tail is actually running across his chest and underneath his chin with every sway. The feeling of her soft fur against his skin begins to put Bonnie into a daydream-like state as he smiles and closes his eyes.
Her hands shift back to the string positions he first showed her before she tries strumming the strings again. Hearing the E flat chord ring out again, Kitten squeaks a bit excitedly that her memory is true. Her excitement pulls Bonnie from his daydream as he sits up straight again with a joyous smile. "You got it?"
"Well, I remember the two notes you showed me," she chuckles.
"Great! You're learning fast just like I said you would," he praises her. "Now, how 'bout I show you a harder one." Wrapping his arms back around the female's body to hold her hands once more, he moves their fingers gently onto a different set of strings. This time, her middle finger is far away from the rest which makes it a bit more uncomfortable. "This is called a bar chord. It's much harder to do, and you have to press on all strings for it to work."
"Mmm... Alright." Having some confidence, Kitten pushes down the strings her fingers are on the best she can before attempting to strum the chord, but even she can hear that it doesn't sound quite right as it rings out. "Dang it…" the pirate mumbles as her ears fall in disappointment.
Bonnie chuckles slightly to help assure her that everything is fine. "It's okay. That chord is almost the hardest to do. I should know, I play half those chords."
"How do your fingers not hurt all the time?" Kitten asks while wiggling her fingers around to stretch them. Pushing down on those strings is not the most pleasant thing one could do.
"As you play, you tend to grow calluses," the guitarist explains as he turns his hand over to show her. "Once you've grown some on your fingers, you can barely feel the pain 'cause your skin grows hard and used to them. Go ahead and feel if you'd like."
Moving her left hand off of the strings while gripping the neck of the guitar in her right, the pirate feels the musician's fingers to see that he isn't kidding about the calluses. "Whoa, weird." After a few moments, Kitten smiles as she gently holds his hand. "But your hands are still soft."
Her kind words and the feeling of holding her hand brings a light blush back to his cheeks. "Uhh... Thanks!" he says with a genuine smile. "Heh... You're doing good on your first try at the guitar."
"Well, " she smiles back at him as a bit of her pirate accent comes out. "I have ye ta thank fer that."
Bonnie can feel his face growing hotter as he finds their faces close together again. "Y-You're welcome."
After a few moments more pass, Kitten looks back down at the instrument when she starts to feel a blush creeping its way onto her cheeks as well from being so close to him. "W-Would you like your guitar back?" she asks with a small stutter as the grip on his hand tightens just the smallest bit.
The guitarist looks down nervously. "Well... d-do you wanna try some more cords? It's your call! Really!" he states quickly, hoping she doesn't think he's being too pushy.
Hearing the guy trying to pull her back into a good mood, the pirate girl smiles back at him. "Sure."
Both of them turn their attention back to the guitar as Bonnie starts explaining what he's doing next. "Well... H-Here's a C…" he starts, but blushes and smiles a bit bashfully when he tries to move his left hand to find Kitten still holding it. "Umm... C-Could I have my hand back now?"
Suddenly realizing she still has a grip on his hand, the redhead quickly releases her hold." S-Sorry...!" Kitten quickly apologies with a major blush crossing her face. "I didn't realize I was... still... holding it…" she trails off before looking away again to hide her embarrassment.
Bonnie simply snickers at this reaction. "It's okay. I really don't mind." Moving his hand back on top of her left, he guides it back to the strings. "Now, move your fingers here…" he explains while moving three of her fingers onto the three strings he wants. "Now, strum. This is a G major."
Kitten presses the strings and strums, just like she's told. "Oh, that's G, too?" she asks curiously.
"Yep, now strum that, then quickly change it to E," he instructs her before moving his hands off of hers again.
Kitten strums the note, then after a few moments of changing her finger positions, she strums the E note. "Like that?"
He nods with a proud smile. "Perfect. If you continue to change notes like that, you'll start learning to change them quickly. Like an E, then to a B major in half a second."
The feline looks at him for a moment, then turns back to face the guitar again. "Hmm. Cool," she smiles before glancing back in his direction. "I'd love to hear you play something."
Not quite confident in his skills, he starts to debate on offering to play a song for her or just to smile and accept her interest as a compliment. Not wanting to disappoint the girl, he decides to go with his first option. "Mm... I can try and play a little somethin'..." Bonnie looks back at the pirate curiously. "Would you like me to try?"
Kitten slides off the edge of the stage, then carefully takes the strap of his guitar off of her shoulder before handing it back to him. "I'd love to," she smiles kindly.
I'm so sorry for the wait! I know I keep saying that I'm going to get better about updates, but life does happen. Thank you again for all your support!
Hope you all like the new cover art for the book! Alyssa did a fantastic job on it!
We have also decided to open up a Discord to anyone who is enjoying this story!
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Thank you all again for your support! 3
