Teaching Nostalgia [Gumlee]

Chapter 11: The Date

Part Two
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Marshall and I decided to walk back to the car after a while, and made sure to take the long way through the park back. We talked about silly, random things while swinging our hands, taking slow steps as we strolled along the sidewalk. I would watch and laugh as Marshall would run ahead of me to chase a butterfly occasionally. We received weird looks from many passerby's, but Marshall didn't seem to care, nor notice. He was just like a child sometimes. Whether it be cute and funny, or whiny and annoying, he was definitely still a kid at heart.

Just up ahead of us was two young men playing guitars with the cases open, probably to earn some cash. They didn't seem very confident and most people who passed by didn't even seem one bit interested. Marshall, however, was all the bit interested. He walked faster, pulling me along, until he approached the two. I instantly noticed that there wasn't much change in the cases, only about a dollar at the most.

"Excuse me," Marshall began, catching the attention of the two guys. "Sorry, I don't mean to sound rude, but I noticed that you haven't really been attracting that much of a crowd here..." The two guys looked to each other in confusion. "Would you mind if I played along with you? To help you out, possibly... I'd need to borrow one of your guitars, though."

The two guys share a reluctant look at first, but after a second, one of the guys give up their guitar. "Thanks," Marshall smiles, pulling the strap over his shoulder. "Now, there's two ways to attract a crowd: One, by impressing the people with your mad skills. Or two, by playing a fun song and getting really into it. And by the looks of you... I think we should stick to the fun song. So, what do you want to play?" Marshall asks the other guy with the guitar, who in turn simply just shrugs, most likely feeling awkward by Marshall's confident presence taking over their little show. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Um..." He clears his throat. "A-Alex. My name's Alex." He says, fumbling with his guitar. He looks down, his blonde hair falling in front of his freckled face.

"And you?" Marshall asks the other boy, whom he took the guitar from.

"Ryan." He said, flipping is dark brown bangs. His voice is a tad deeper than his friend's. They both look pretty young, probably only 15 at the most.

"Well, Alex and Ryan, I'm Marshall Lee, and this is my man, Barnaby," he announces, pointing at me. I wave awkwardly at the two boys who just glance at me in return. "Okay, so since you won't pick a song, I'll just have to decide for you," Marshall says while checking the guitar to make sure it's tuned. "I'm thinking... Counting Stars by OneRepublic, what do you think?"

The boys shrug their shoulders.

"Alright well... Just follow my lead," Marshall nodded at the blonde haired boy. He then plays with a few chords before actually starting the song by strumming fast on the guitar.

"Lately, I've been, I've been losin' sleep.
Dreamin' about the things that we could be.
But baby, I've been, I've been praying hard,
Said no more countin' dollars,
We'll be countin' stars,
Yeah we'll be countin' stars," Marshall's heavenly voice sang out.

Alex and Ryan looked very confused still, but soon enough, once Marshall starting attracting people, the short blonde joined in on his guitar. Marshall acknowledged this and turned his head and gave Alex a smile while he sang. Alex smiled back shyly.