Two Sticks and a Band

Chapter 2- A Bit of Drums

-2 Weeks Later-

They've all practiced together some more, just about every other day. Kim barely ever doesn't stare at Seth. Whether out of love or a want of her death, Seth doesn't know. But Seth enjoys the band's company and the warm welcome they've given her.

The band, excluding Seth, is trying their best to get Kim to flirt with her. At this point, they might as well be called 'lessons'.

———
=Seth POV=
"I'll take you for a ride," Stephen sings into the mic. "On my garbage truck." He strums another 4 beats before I chime an "Oh no." Continuing, he sings, "I'll take you to the dump 'cause you're my queen. Take you to uptown, I'll show you the sites."
Together, we sing "On my garbage truck. Truck, truck, truck!"
"We'll pass the mansions by," he starts again. "Drive right through the needles eye."
"Oh, my," I sing. "My, my, my, my!"

We keep my lines simple for now, since the song was already written. Maybe we'll get to more once we write more.
"Dinner!" Young Neil yells as we just finish the song. Everyone drops their things and practically runs to the kitchen, except me and Kim. She sits at the drum set, tapping her sticks onto the drums for more ideas.
"Can you show me something?" I ask, walking over beside her. I can almost feel her tense up as I stand so close.
"Like... what?"
"I dunno, anything really," I smile.
She takes one stick and hits the cymbal to her right. "There's something."
"Oh!" I chuckle. Is this a sign she doesn't want me here? Maybe I should lea-
"Want me to teach you some?" She asks, looking at me in the eyes. I swear I could almost feel a spark, but that hasn't happened since I was back home in France. I nod my head eagerly. She hands me the drum sticks, standing up and motioning me to sit down. So, I follow her instructions.
"Like this," she says, grabbing my hands from behind me. Her hands, much bigger than mine, hold mine and her drum sticks tight. Her arms wrap around me, though not so tight since she's obviously taller than me. My face is probably red at this point. Maybe I do have a crush.
She takes one of my hands and hits one drum, then another.
"You know how music works, right, band kid?" She asks with a still expression on her face. I've never seen anything otherwise.
"Uh-yeah," I choke. Fuck. She smells heavily of cinnamon, probably from her perfume but I can't help but love the smell.
"Good," She continues. "Really anything can be played as long as it has rhythm and is practical. This is the mid tom," she says, hitting it with the stick in my hand. She continues this with the others. "Mid tom, floor tom, snare drum, ride cymbal, crash cymbal, hi hat," she says. She looks to the ground at the one drum left. "And that's the bass drum."

=Kim POV=

No fucking way i'm really doing this. Drums are the one thing i'm most confident about, so i'm glad she's wanting to learn. If not, I really don't know how I'd make a move.
My hands hold hers over the drum sticks. Her hands are so soft, I could hold them forever without letting go. And she smells of straight vanilla, too. I never want to smell anything else ever again.
And she's so... small compared to me. I'm like a solid 8 inches taller. But what if it turns out she doesn't like girls? I'm fucked then.

I look up from the drum set to see everyone peeking around the corner at us. Neil is at the top of the line... I don't know how, but he is. Stephen gives a thumbs up as they all simultaneously slide back as if they were never there. I guess i'm flirting correctly this time. Over the past weeks i've definitely developed a crush on Seth. I haven't dated anyone since Scott in high school, but maybe it's time to try again.

"What do you wanna play?" I ask.
She turns her head to the side, looking up at me. Fuck. We are only inches apart, I know my face is turning beat red. She's so pretty.
"Something simple?" She asks, looking at me in the eyes. My eyes meet hers. They're so blue, it's honestly really pretty. But after a second, I can't help but feel my eyes making their way down to her lips.
"Yeah," I say, still looking at her lips.
She quickly looks back over to the drum set.
I start off with a simple beat of the toms and bass. "A little walking pace is fine. Spice it up with the hi-hat if you want," I say. I bring her hand and stick over to the hi-hat, keeping the rhythm. At this point, I feel like I'm going to explode. If it continues like this, i'll do something i'll regret and she'll never come back. So, I take my hands off of hers. "You try."
She awkwardly holds the sticks, attempting to play what we just played. The rhythm is there... somewhat. I can't help but laugh a little.
"Did you just laugh?" She turns around to me with a smile on her face.
"No," I say, covering the smile with the side of my hand. "It's really good!"
"Don't lie," she laughs back.
"It really is! Drumming is hard at first and you're really good for a beginner!"
"Thanks," she laughs again. I could listen to that laugh all day. It honestly was good for a beginner. "It's only 'cause," she continues. "I have the best drummer in the world teaching me!"
"Oh, well, I wouldn't say world. Maybe all of Canada?" I laugh to her sarcastically.
"GET YOUR FOOD BEFORE ITS COLD!" Scott yells from the kitchen. "NEIL DID A REALLY GOOD JOB!"
"DONT LISTEN TO SCOTT HE JUST ORDERED PIZZA!" Stephen yells even louder.

———

As the night comes to an end, Seth grabs her stuff about to head out.
"Hey," I say. She stops in her path and looks up at me. "There's a party tomorrow night and the whole band's gonna be there. You wanna join?"
She smiles nervously. "I've never been to a party."
"What? Really?" I ask. "Well you should definitely come!"
I hand her a piece of paper with the time and place on it. She takes a look at it as if she's considering the pros and cons.
"I'll see you there," she says, opening the door and sliding out.
She's going to the party. I invited her. Seth is going to meet me there. Did I just really do that?
"You did great, Kim," Stephen sighs with a big smile as he places his arm over my shoulders. "You successfully flirted with her AND asked her to the party."
"I did," I mumble, staring at the closed door.
"You showed her your good side and she seemed to like it."
"She did?" I ask, turning to him. "You think so?"
"Oh I know so. But..." he laughs. "Your face was about as red as a tomato!"
"Stephennn," I groan. "What now?"
Stephen takes me to the kitchen where everyone else sits, arm still around my shoulders. I don't mind, we're practically siblings at this point.
"Guys, what should Kim do to bag Seth?" He asks them as they all sit around the dinner table still.
"Just kiss her, easy!" Young Neil chimes. I cross my arms, annoyed.
"Ask her out?" Scott asks.
I walk to the empty seat, leaving Stephen standing. I sit down and hold my head. Are they stupid? "Guys," I start. "Look, I haven't had a crush in, like, 7 years. This is serious!"
"How aboutttt," Stephen hums. "Ask her to smoke after the party? You guys could hang out at your place... alone."
"That could work," I agree, letting go of my head to look at him.
"Here," he says, walking to his room. Not 10 seconds pass until he's back with something in his hand. "Take this." I grab it from his hands. A card game... '21 Questions'. "It starts out slow, and if she doesn't want to, you guys don't have to get to the spicy stuff."
"I think this just might work."