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Another failed attempt at running through the entire song had Scott ready to smash his guitar across their carpeted ground. He’s been able to do it when he takes it at half tempo, but the minute he tries to do it at the actual time it all falls apart. Scott could barely move his fingers along the fretts he was so upset.
It was definitely time for a break. Maybe a good sandwich too.
Scott was lathering a slice of bread in peanut butter when Wallace came back from whatever he does during the day. Immediately after walking into the apartment, he tripped over the guitar case Scott accidentally left lying wide open.
“God damnit , Scott!”
After taking a bite of his newly made sandwich, Scott said, “Oopsie. Sorry.”
“Oh, like you’re actually that sorry” Wallace shook off some of the lingering snow from his jacket before hanging it up on the coat hook. “If you’re not playing the thing, at least put it off to the side.”
Taking his sandwich along with him, Scott sat back down in his spot next to his guitar. “I was playing it. But I had to take a break because it was making me angry.”
It was already late when Scott started his practice and it took a good while to work himself to getting that upset. That made it around the time that Wallace usually gets ready to pass out in their bed. Right on time, Wallace shuffled over to the bathroom and started mucking around with his products.
Scott figured he still needed that break, so he decided to pluck along to something a little easier. Rubbing along the top frets, Scott about what he should play.
From the bathroom he could hear Wallace humming a random tune. A legit song or made up, Scott couldn’t tell. No matter what though, it could turn out to be a fun exercise. It had been a while since he tried to improv a tune. When Wallace picked up on Scott’s strumming, he stopped.
“Hey! Keep going. You’re giving me free practice.”
Mouth full of toothpaste foam, Wallace poked his head out of the bathroom. “You don’t even know what I’m humming right now.”
“No, I don’t.” Scott grinned. “Keep going.” It surprised Scott that he had never done this with Wallace before. He wasn’t terrible at keeping a melody and it definitely worked to ease Scott’s frustrations. Maybe he could convince Wallace to include this into their nightly routine. Or at least into a weekly one?
All the humming stopped once Wallace emerged from the bathroom. He shucked off his jeans and crawled underneath the blanket. Wallace yawned, “You know, I never asked why you picked up guitar in the first place.”
The question caused Scott to falter a little, but after only giving a soft hum in response, he went back to mapping out the chords on his guitar.
“I know it might not have sounded like it, but that was an actual question, Scott.”
“No, yeah. I knew that.” Scott cleared his throat and refused to look Wallace in the eye. “It’s just embarrassing…”
As soon as he said that Scott regretted it. A great big grin grew on Wallace’s face. “Now, don’t tell me that, Scottie. That’ll just make me want to know more.”
Scott mimed zipping his lips closed.
“Fine. Whatever. I’m sure Stacey would know though.” Wallace began to reach for his phone.
“No!” Scott pushed his arm away and held it there. “She’ll just make it sound worse than it is.”
“And that is..?”
After a big dramatic sigh, Scott mumbled out, “I thought girls would fall for me if I played good…”
Surprisingly there wasn’t a single laugh from Wallace. “Huh,” A tired smirk grew on his face and he smoothed out an invisible wrinkle on Scott’s sleeve. “Yeah I think it worked pretty well, Scott.”
“Uh, what? On you? Or did you mean like…” Somehow Scott’s voice cracked more in those three sentences than they did during his entire time as a teenage boy.
Wallace sighed before he laid right back down in bed. “Whatever. Why do I even try?”
“Wait, no. What did you mean?” Scott started to shake Wallace now. “If you don’t tell me I won’t let you go to bed. Come on. Tell—”
A hand shot up from under the blanket and yanked down Scott’s head down toward Wallace’s lips. It was a simple press, barely even a brush. “Now, go to sleep, Scott.”
How was he meant to go to sleep now?