Lies

Confessed

Duff

When we get back to the house, I hand Ana the keys so she can open the door. 

DJ walks behind Ana and in front of me, not uttering a single sound. When he walks inside and notices all the awards and albums strewn throughout the place, his eyes go wide. 

"Woah! What is this one for?!" he asks, gazing at a framed vinyl hanging on the wall.

"That's from when our first album went platinum." I say, pointing to my signature. "See my name there?"

He nods his head and inspects it closely. "Where's all your guitars?" he says. 

I chuckle. He's to the point and no bullshit. 

"Follow me." I instruct, and I look behind me to make sure he's following.

"I only have a few guitars because I play bass." I tell him as I head to the closet, pulling out one of the first guitars I ever bought. 

"This was my first guitar." I say, handing it to him. 

He puts the strap over his small body, and I realize the guitar is much too big for him. Nonetheless, he puts his fingers on the frets and begins strumming a few notes.

It isn't long before I watch him fall into the very beginning piece of the opening riff of 'Wish You Were Here' by Pink Floyd. Although he struggles with it at first, he doesn't give up. I'm impressed when he picks it up quickly, moving on to the next piece. 

I guess he did have some pretty great genes. 

"Here, let me show you." I tell him. 

I sit down on the couch next to Ana and pull my son into my lap so I can guide his hands. 

"Like this." I instruct, moving his hands on the correct frets. 

"Just take it slow. Once you get one piece down, move to the next one." 

After going over it with him a few more times, he picks its up really quickly. By the time we're finished, he's got the opening riff down. 

He was a really quick learner.

"Alright, now take it from the top." I instruct, and he lights into the openings lines. 

I watch my son as he plays perfectly, not even missing a single note. My teaching helped him some, but the truth of the matter was that he didn't need much instruction. He was really talented. 

Nonetheless, I'm so proud of him. Seeing your kid doing something that you love to do so much yourself is one of the best feelings in the world.

I look over to Ana, who has a permanent smirk plastered on her lips as she watches our son play.  I smile at her and she just shakes her head, clearly amused. 

I was so happy.

Happy to have Ana back. Happy to have such a talented, amazing kid. Happy that after being such an asshole about the situation all those years ago, that she's still allowing me to see my son.

I was lucky to have such a great woman who raised my kid properly even though I wasn't there to help. 

As DJ closes out the opening riff, Ana speaks up. 

"That was beautiful, baby." she says to him, and I can remember when she said the same to me. 

She leans over and pulls him into her arms, kissing him on the cheek. 

"Come on Mom, cut it out." he complains, and I chuckle. He finds himself a seat right on the floor and begins to strum the chords again.

"Before you go back to playing, I need to tell you something." Ana says.

"What?" he questions. 

Ana looks at me and then looks back to DJ. 

Oh shit.

She was going to tell him.

"I thought I should tell you more about Duff." she says. 

He gives Ana a confused look, looks at me, and then turns back to her. "What do you mean?" he asks.

Ana takes a deep breath and begins to speak. 

"Well, once upon a time about 7 years ago, I moved to L.A to live with my dad-- your grandpa. When I came here, I met up with my good friend Axl who was in a band. Well what happened was, I met Duff because he was in the band too, and we dated for a pretty long time." she stops, and DJ looks at her confusedly. 

"After we dated for awhile, Duff asked me to marry him, and I said yes. He bought me a car and I was driving us home when we got into a car accident. We both got taken to the hospital and the doctors told me that I was going to have a baby--that was the day I found out I was going to have you." she says, smiling. 

"And then, a few months later, when you were born, my friend Axl was there and we took your little hat off. You had hair that looked exactly this color." she says, grabbing a strand of my now naturally colored hair.

"And your little nose was exactly this shape." she says, pointing to my own nose. 

"And your chin looked just like this." she says, pointing to my own chin.

"You looked exactly like Duff--And that's when we found out that Duff was your Daddy." she says finally, and I watch as he ponders the words she just said. 

Silence.

This was the moment of truth. 

This could go either really, really good, or really, really bad.

"You mean I have a real Dad?" he asks, looking at me. 

To my surprise, tears well up in my eyes and his as he looks at me. Before I realize what's happening, he runs towards me. I pick him up in my arms and he gives me the biggest hug his little arms can manage.

My son. 

The best parts of me and the woman I love all wrapped into one little person. 

I don't want to let him go, because I've dreamed of what this would feel like a million times. 

He pulls out of our hug first and looks me straight in the eyes with his blue ones-- the ones that belonged to his mother. 

"I love you, dad." he says, and I smile, hugging him once again. 

I look to Ana, and she's staring at us both with tears dripping down her face. 

"I love you, too buddy." I tell my son, and I really can't believe how lucky I am to have them both here with me, even if it is just for right now.