The Golden Boy

14

KADEN

"Do you still have your guitar?" I asked. We were sitting on her bed after I had tried to explain football to her.

She nodded, getting up and walking to her closet. She pulled out a case and set it down next to her bed, then pulled the guitar out.

I stared at the guitar, it was beautiful. "You have a Taylor guitar and you don't play it? Do you know how expensive these things are?" I asked, grabbing it and strumming the strings. It was badly out of tune.

She stared at me then shrugged. "My dad bought it for me, he used to watch me play all the time. I may have lied a little about why I stopped playing. After he died, I couldn't play. I had lost all reason to."

I strummed the strings, tuning it by ear. After it sounded good enough, I held it out to her.

"Play something for me," I said.

"I don't remember anything," she replied.

"Bullshit, play something," I said, forcing it into her arms.

She looked at the guitar and took a deep breath. She began playing chords and strumming lightly. I recognized the song pretty quickly.

She then began to sing lightly.

"All I am is a man, I want the world in my hands," she began. "I hate the beach, but I stand in California with my toes in the sand. Use the sleeves of my sweater let's have an adventure. Head in the clouds but my gravity's centered."

She continued singing lightly until she finished the song. She didn't look up at me, or speak at all. She sat silently, staring at the guitar.

"I knew you could still play," I said.

She placed the guitar down and walked into her bathroom, shutting the door behind her. I quickly followed, standing outside.

"Mak," I said.

"It was too much," she said from the other side of the door.

"It was amazing though," I replied.

"I haven't played in so long," she spoke.

"Maybe you should start again," I said.

She muttered something to herself, but not loud enough for me to hear. As I was about to say something, my phone started ringing.

"Hello?" I said answering.

"Sup little bro," a voice said. 

"Cam, what's up?" I said.

"Well, I'm at the airport and I was wondering if you could pick me up. I'm gonna be home for awhile," he said.

"Yeah, I'm a little busy right now though. It might be a while," I said.

"I'm not going anywhere, see you when you're here," he replied, then hung up.

I put my phone in my pocket and knocked on the door.

"Mak? That was my brother, he's at the airport and he asked me to pick him up," I said.

The door opened slowly. I expected to see her face tear stained and her eyes red, but all I saw was an empty stare.

"Go, pick up your brother, we'll talk later," she said, kissing my lips lightly then walking past me.

"Are you sure? Do you," I began, but hesitated. "Do you wanna come with me?"

"No, go get your brother, have some fun. You and I shouldn't spend every waking moment together anyway. I fear that we've turned into the couple that can't hang out with friends without one another," she said chuckling.