DO I WANNA KNOW? II wilbur soot

X.

contrary to the previous morning, i woke up early. i had set an alarm because i wanted to catch breakfast. it was currently a little after 9 and i was making my way to the dining area, where i spotted mark and zoe.

"morning," i said when i sat down with the breakfast goods i had acquired. they both said their good mornings and we proceeded to eat our breakfast while making casual conversation, will joining us a few minutes later.

zoe immediately went into matchmaker mode. once she was done with her food, she made up an excuse about needing to get ready early and got up to leave. mark wasn't taking the hint, so she elbowed him on his shoulder, looking at him threateningly. he too made an excuse and they both left me alone, with will sitting opposite me. apparently he was amused by this, because he was grinning when i looked up at him. my anxiety started to rise, so i started messing with my food with my fork. thankfully, will finally spoke. "hey, you know what i was thinking?"

"no. tell me." i place the fork back on my plate and put my chin in my hand, balancing it on the table with my elbow.

"we should start those guitar lessons."

"oh, definitely," i said, flashing a smile. "do we have anywhere to be this morning?"

"not until noon," he responds. "so..."

"so we can start today," i continued for him, now smirking.

"that's such a good idea, tiana," he said, his tone laced with fake surprise, earning a chuckle from me.

"wow, thanks, william. that means a lot," i went on with his joke. he didn't say anything witty back, instead smiling at me. "what?" i said softly, after a few seconds of silence.

"nothing."

"clearly, it's something." i couldn't hold in a smile of my own. his was contagious.

"you called me william." i could see a slight pink tint on his cheeks, my cheeks immediately mirroring the action. i tried to play it cool.

"i've called you william before."

"yeah," was all he said. i decided not to push it, but i made a mental note to call him will more often. a comfortable silence fell between us, during which i hyper analyzed his words, and everything i said back.

"are you done?" he asked suddenly. i realized he was talking about the food, so i quickly spoke.

"yeah, yeah."

"good. ready to be taught guitar by the best guitarist in the world?" he asked as he got up, me following suit.

"definitely! when is the best guitarist gonna get here, because i kinda have to photograph some other guitarist, you know," i joked as we walked out of the dining area.

will stifled a laugh. "you're so mean to me."

"sorry," i said, still messing around. i paused for a second. "william." i can confidently say he was blushing the whole way to his hotel room.

when we entered his room, i was met with an unmade bed, his acoustic guitar out of its case and lying on the bed, and a bunch of things like keys and a wallet lying on the desk. "sorry for the mess," he said when he caught me looking around.

"don't even worry about it." he sat on the bed with his back on the bedframe, picking up his guitar and patting the spot in front of him. i took my seat and watched as he strummed his guitar like he's done so many times before. "do i have to learn, like, every bit of theory there is, 'cause that sounds exhausting," i said honestly.

he chuckled. "no, no. we could start with a song, if you'd like. a simple one," he offered.

"that sounds nice." i smiled. "any recommendations?"

"would you be open to trying one of my songs?" i raised my eyebrows, half in surprise, half in excitement.

"definitely!"

he smiled warmly at me. "i have an easy one. it's called 'maybe i was boring'."

"i like the title. alright, teach." i readjusted myself on the bed, getting comfortable. the next two hours were spent with will teaching me how to play his song on his guitar and me getting the hang of it after a few failed attempts.

i ended up learning a small part of the song, but could only play it slowly. will insisted that it was good for my first time playing an instrument. i bid him goodbye and went back to my room, immediately face timing liam. i got ready as i told her the latest news, while he squealed about it. same old liam.

***

at noon, we all met at the lobby to go out for lunch and a little exploring before we had to be at the venue for sound check. we were walking around, after having lunch, and i went up to leandra and zoe to walk next to them. "good job at matchmaking, zoe," i told her.

"no way, what happened?" so i told them. quietly of course. i didn't want the others to overhear.

"just kiss already," leandra said once i was done. i laughed a little too loudly, causing the guys' heads to turn from where they were walking ahead of us.

"what are you all laughing about?" joe asked.

"very intellectual stuff. you wouldn't get it," i joked, to which he put his head down, pretending to be sad. soon enough, we were laughing together.