Book Smart, Romantically Challenged (Wesley Stromberg/Emblem3 FanFic)

Chapter 8

*Sofia's POV*

During our session, Wesley did as he promised. He stayed on track the whole time, never complaining and all of his work was done quickly. To say I was surprised is an understatement.

"Wow, I'm proud of you Wesley, you exceeded my expectations," I say with a small smile when he starts to pack his things.

"I told you, I'm a man of my word. Now let's get these guitar lessons going," he says and stands up. He reaches out, offering me a hand up. I take his hand shyly, letting him pull me up. "And call me Wes, by the way. When you call me Wesley, I can just imagine my grandma smothering me," he says and shivers, like the image creeps him out.

I laugh at his actions, "Okay, Wes." He smiles and nods. "Just let me check out so they don't send any other students to my table," he nods again and I walk to the sign-in sheet and check out. When I come back, everything's gathered up and Wes has my backpack in hand. I smile at him in thanks and take my bag.

We walk out to Wes' car and get in, he soon pulls out of the parking lot and we're on our way to his house. When we get there, Keaton's no where to be found, only a note on the counter, telling Wes that he went to the skate park.

"Looks like it's just us. Keaton's at the skate park, Drew works after school on Wednesdays, and my mom is visiting my sister," he explains.

"Oh ok," I say awkwardly.

"Well do you want to do the lessons in my room or down here, whatever's more comfortable for you," he says, which kind of throws me off a bit. Since when did he care about my comfort?

"Uh whichever, it doesn't really matter," I say.

He smiles back at me and says, "My room it is then." He starts up the stairs and I trail behind him, setting some distance between us.

"Sa diha nga wala siya magsugod kaayo nindot?" [When did he start being so nice?] I whisper to myself quietly.

We reach his room and he grabs two guitars from their stands. He hands one to me and sits on his bed. I pull up the desk chair and sit opposite him.

"Okay, so why don't we start off with some simple chords?" he begins. He moves his fingers to demonstrate the first note. "This is a D chord," he says and strums once. "Try it."

I look at his hand placement one more time before my fingers to copy him. "Like this?" I ask.

"Good. Now just strum." I do as he says and the magical sound flows through the room. He applauded and then continues on to show me more chords.

The entire lesson, a wide smile is stretched across his face. I study his face while he speaks, his eyes sparkle with passion and he laughs more now than I've heard since I met him. I'm sort of awestruck by how handsome he is when he isn't so caught up in the social scene.

At some point the teaching stops and he just begins to play his own songs. "Matahum nga," [Beautiful] I say.

"Huh?" Wes asks when he hears me.

"Oh uhm, I just said it's beautiful, the way you play," I answer, my words coming out a little flustered.

"There's beauty in everything," he says, his eyes piercing through me. My breath hitches as I hear his words, but my eyes stay locked on his like some sort of trance.

It's in that moment that I understand why he is so popular, his charm mixed with his enticing good looks are a powerful weapon against anyone. And now, I'm one of them.