Head over Heels || book one.

Curiosity killed the cat

Stef’s POV

“What are you doing in here?” The extremely feminine voice asked me. I let go the breath that I hadn’t realised I’d been holding. 

I turned to see Sarah, Sarah, Louis and Cass standing in the doorway. I shrugged. “I was  just curious, so I thought I’d go looking around.”

“Curiosity killed the cat.” Sarah murmured, going over to the back wall, examining the guitars. 

“Determination brought it back.” Louis responded, surprisingly.

“What?” Wardy and Cass asked in sync.

“The cat. Determination brought it back to life. It’s the next part of the saying.” Louis explained.

“A cat only has nine lives.” Sarah replied.

“Touché.” Louis said, sitting down on the armchair opposite me. Wardy and Cass looked around the room; Wardy stopping by the piano momentarily, then continuing on to the guitars, Cass going straight to the guitars. Sarah, meanwhile had stopped in front of one guitar: it had a beige neck and the body was a pale wood with dark wood edging. 

“Am I allowed to-”

“Yeah sure.” Louis finished before she could even end the sentence. Sarah nodded to herself, then very gently picked up the guitar as if it was most fragile, then came over and sat next to me on the couch balancing it on her legs. She played a couple of chords almost instinctively. “You play?” Louis asked, almost to no one.

“Hmm? Yeah, I play.” Sarah said.

Louis frowned, then looked at me. “Do you play?”

“Sort of-” I explained.

“Stef, you can either play or not.” Louis directed.

“Umm, like I said: I can sorta play. Cass and Sarah are trying to teach me, but I’m not a pro.” I explained. He sort of stared at me for a moment, then got up, grabbed the guitar nearest the left wall and came back over. “W-what are you doing?” I asked as he sat down right next to me.

“Are you gonna learn or not?” He asked me.

“What? Here? Now?” I asked quickly. I looked up at the two of them standing casually in front of the piano and then to Sarah who was mindlessly interchanging chords without actually playing them. I looked back at Louis and he nodded. Why was this such a big deal anyway?

I let him slide the guitar across to my legs, then he told me how to hold it. I could almost feel some sort of tension(atmospheric(vibes)), but saw nothing of the sort. 

Somehow, I couldn’t quite get my hand around the neck of the guitar properly, no matter how hard I tried; Louis reached around behind me, pretty much pulling me onto his lap: held my hand in his, wrapping it around the guitar. 

“Better?” He asked, letting my hand go. I nodded and took a glance at how my fingers were positioned. 

There was a semi-intense staring competition between the two of us for a moment, before I looked away awkwardly. “Um...what...ah...what chord is this?” I asked.

“C.” He replied simply, then reached over again a changed it. “D.” He switched them. “G. Gotta be the easiest chords known.”

“Don’t forget E minor 7.” Sarah put in, not even looking up form the guitar perched in her lap.

Louis rolled his eyes. “She’s right. E minor 7 is the easiest.” And he took one finger and placed it over a chord. 

I smiled softly; ok: Louis’ teaching me how to play guitar equals sweetest most cute thing ever!

“So, you gonna teach me a song?” I asked rather impatiently.

“I’d-”

“Sorry to break the peace, but lunch’s ready.” Liam announced as he stuck his head around the door.

“Uh, yup, we’ll be out in a minute.” Louis cleared his throat and took the guitar off my lap. I opened my mouth to say something but Sarah shushed me. I glared at her and she raised her eyebrows. Too bad I don’t speak “Sarah’s eyebrow’s language”. I gave her a confused stare and she rolled her eyes and mouthed ‘Tell you later.’ I nodded and followed Louis out, with Wardy, Sarah and Cass trailing behind.

Author's note:

Was something supposed to happen? o.O