Someone Out There Loves You (Adopted by Frank Iero)

63

ALEXA

"UGH!"

"It's okay, you can get it," Frank encouraged.

"No, I can't." I groaned in frustration.

Frank decided that today would be the day where he would start teaching me scales on guitar, insisting that I'd need to know the minor pentatonic scale for when I wanted to 'solo'. I told him I could do no such thing, to which he laughed and essentially shoved a guitar into my hands, obviously thinking I was joking. It felt like I was back in the art and music therapy room trying to play something and messing it up, although instead of Andy's light hearted heckling I had Frank's encouragement.

I tried again, stuffing up for the sixth time in a row- not that I was keeping count. Frank was determined I would learn all the places I could play the same scale across the fretboard so I could 'use the entire thing and look like I know what I'm doing.'

"It goes open D string and then second fret D string," he gently reminded me.

"I know," I grumbled. "My hands don't do what I tell them to."

I glanced up at Frank to find he was trying to conceal an amused expression. "Come on, you can play the first four positions. I know you can."

I rolled my eyes, the ticking of the metronome feeling like it was mocking me.

"UGH, I keep forgetting the second fret on the G string when I'm coming back down, I keep fuckin' hitting the open string."

"I can see that," Frank chuckled.

I glared at him, took a slow inhale, and tried again.

"That doesn't look like alternate picking to me." I could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Oh my go- I'm never gonna get this," I groaned. "And so much for encouragement!" I shot him a playful glare before laughing.

I was honestly surprised that I wasn't getting upset with my failure to do it though. Normally I would beat myself up for not picking something up immediately. I hated struggling and making mistakes and failing - especially right in front of someone - but not being able to play the scale perfectly on my first try wasn't getting to me the way it should have. While it was a little frustrating, it wasn't hurting my self esteem in any way. I think it was because Frank was very relaxed about it, it taking the pressure off me feeling like it had to be perfect.

Frank snickered before shooting me a reassuring smile. "Come on, yeah ya can."

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay."

I began playing it through in time with the clicks of the metronome, willing myself to get through it without making a mistake, nodding my head with each pluck of the string.

"That didn't happen," I muttered, moving on quickly as if I didn't skip a note. I justified it by my finger still hitting the right spot on the fretboard, the note just didn't ring out.

I was vaguely aware of Frank snickering and shaking his head.

"Aye, I did it," I giggled, finishing up with the positions we had covered so far.

"Not including that one note you missed," Frank laughed.

"Shh, you didn't see that," I grinned.

He shook his head. "Okay, what do you reckon the next position's gonna be?"

I glared at him again - mostly playfully, but I also wished he would just tell me. "How the hell would I know?"

He giggled and waved his hand. "You know that the positions overlap, right? So the notes, uhh, the ones on the 9th and 10th frets that you just played are gonna be in the next position, so you already know half of it."