Suzie’s House 194: Everlong

She started off quiet, but that’s the way the song is supposed to go, so he probably wouldn’t even notice that she was kind of feeling her way into it. Tracy stopped to adjust the guitar.

She had an electric at home with a strap and amp and everything. It felt weird to do it with an acoustic, and she had to put one foot on Gene’s bed to hold it at the right height while she was standing, but that was all right, too.

He probably didn’t think she knew how to play at all, but she did. Maybe, if she could get her mom to send her guitar to her here in Madison, the two of them could be in a band together. She tossed her hair like a rock star, even if it didn’t have any streaks anymore because she’d gone in and had a professional turn it all red.

She stopped to look, but Gene wasn’t grinning. At least, not until he saw her looking at him. Still, he kept his arms crossed, being busy with being pissy.

She started up again from the beginning, strumming fast, playing the part that ran under everything. Really, Everlong by Foo Fighters needed a second and maybe a third guitar to sound right to her even if the acoustic version was probably just the one.

At first Gene looked at her like he wasn’t so sure she knew what she was doing, but pretty quick she got the admiration she wanted from him. Only it didn’t last all that long, just like his smile before.

Something was wrong between the two of them, their whole relativeness with each other. Maybe because she took the guitar right out of his hand? She tried playing better, putting more heart into it, and getting kind of louder too, but she couldn’t get the frown off his face.

He flopped down on the bed, but at least his head turned toward her. He watched her fingers on the frets, even though she didn’t really have to do that much with them.

She finished up with one last strum, letting the note ring for as long as it would.

His eyes were closed, but she didn’t think he was savoring the glory of her geniusness.

“Do you know the other parts,” she asked. “I could borrow another guitar and we could…”

He shook his head, sitting up. “I don’t know anything. I’ve never really played before.”

“I’ll teach you.”

He shrugged.

She plopped down next to him. She tried to play and have him watch, but that didn’t go, so she handed the guitar over. He caressed it like he was glad to get it back. When he didn’t start playing right away, she reached over and showed him where to put his fingers on the frets.

She stayed leaning against him, even when he played a little. he stopped, draped one arm across the top of the guitar, and gave her an annoyed look.

“Sorry,” she muttered, though she wasn’t sure what she’d done wrong.

“Just… stop teasing me.”

“Teasing? What do you mean?” She was sincerely trying to teach him to play. What did he think she was doing? “I’m not teasing.”

“You aren’t?” His eyes narrowed.

“No, of course not.”

It happened so fast her mind couldn’t follow. One minute they sat side by side. The next he had her pinned to the mattress with her feet still hanging over the edge. To her mortification, she squeaked in surprise.

He lay on top of her. His mouth came down on hers and took a kiss that made her head spin. Both of them started breathing hard. She would have kept going like that, too, because she liked the way it felt, then she realized what she was doing and made herself stop.

Making Gene stop took a little more work. She had to shove him hard. Once she got the message across, he rolled onto his back, flung an arm across his face, and groaned.

“I knew you were teasing,” he grumbled.

“Not teasing,” she said, swallowing hard and struggling to catch her breath. “Just innocent.”

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