Viper

Chapter 5: Guitar Lessons

Raven POV

Later that afternoon

I arrive at Bill and Tom's house with Georg and Gustav and knock at the door. I hear shouting in German coming from inside before Bill opens the door, inviting me in, "Hey Raven, come in!" Bill says with that big smile of his as Georg and Gustav invite themselves in. As this is my first time coming to their house, I politely slip my shoes off before I enter their home to avoid being rude. Bill leads me to the kitchen, where his mother stands, washing some dishes by hand.

"Mom, this is Raven, she's the one we told you about," he says, gesturing to me. She turns her head and walks over to me, kissing both of my cheeks as a greeting. "Hello love, thank you for being so kind to my boys. I've heard a lot about you." she says with a thick accent. I smile back at her politely. "I'm glad they met me instead of almost everyone else at school, some people here can be real jerks." I say with a chuckle. She gives an amused smile as Bill pulls me out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"Well, it's safe to say that our mom already likes you, especially after Tom told her about you," Bill says with a giggle. I laugh back as he opens the door to a large bedroom with two beds. Looks like they share a room, which is not too strange for twins. I take a quick glance and find Tom sitting at a desk against the wall, working on some notes for our test. I walk up behind him, looking over his shoulder at his work.

"This number actually goes here," I say, startling him as I point at the equation he scribbled out. He turns his head, his eyes meeting mine as they fill with an unreadable emotion. He smiles up at me and turns his chair around to face me. "I made flashcards," I say with a grin. He breaths out a small laugh, making my heart flutter, just a tiny bit. He pulls up another chair for me as Bill sits down on the floor next to him. We go through the flashcards one by one, stopping to refresh every so often, and eventually get through all of them. George and Gustav sit chatting with each other about their own classes as we go over the test questions.

As I stick my notes and flashcards back in my bag, I can tell they're both a little more confident about the test. Tom suddenly glances over at his guitar and his face lights up. He stands up and grabs it, and has me sit on the edge of his bed, setting it in my hands and wrapping the strap around my shoulder. "I remember you said you wanted to learn." He says softly. I used to play the guitar when I was young, had to stop when my strings snapped. I've forgotten how to play since then. He sits next to me and scooches in close as he takes my hand, wrapping my fingers around the neck of the guitar. I rest my other forearm on the base as my fingers habitually glide into the C major position.

Tom gives me a surprised smirk as he watches me switch between all the chords I can remember. I gently pick at the strings with my other hand, playing a couple of scales as my fingers move across the frets. Bill's eyes light up as I remember more than I thought, looking at Tom with a grin. "I thought you didn't know how to play." Tom chuckles. I turn to meet his eye and smile as my cheeks turn pink. "I used to when I was young. I didn't think I'd remember much." I respond, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear.

"I can teach you a song if you want." Tom offers. My face lights up as I smile widely. "You would?" I ask. He nods as his face turns as pink as mine. "What do you want to learn? I know a bunch of Metallica, KISS, and Avenged Sevenfold, stuff like that." He says excitedly. I think to myself for a moment and settle on a song. "Do you know Holy Wars by Megadeth?" I ask with a smirk, definitely not expecting him to know it. His eyes widen slightly as he moves his lip ring side to side with the tip of his tongue. "Yeah, actually, that one's pretty hard though," he says with a smirk. I smirk back, pulling the strap off over my shoulder, and hand the guitar to him. "Show me?" I ask with a shy smile.

He takes the guitar out of my hands and settles it into his lap, tuning it appropriately for the song. Suddenly, his fingers dance along the stings as he perfectly replicates Marty Friedman's riff. My jaw drops as he continues playing. Bill nudges me and gives me a grin, making me blush as I watch Tom immerse himself in the music like he's in his own world. Tom finishes the last few chords and looks up, his eyes finding mine instantly. Bill, Gustav, Georg, and I clap for his wonderful performance as he pulls his guitar strap off his shoulders. He hands it back to me, instructing me where to place my fingers for the beginning notes, and having me play them over and over until I can get it down without stopping. He repeats this method with the first half of the song, nodding his head along as I play.