The Middle | ✔️

Chapter 11

Jamie

Friday morning, Guitar Class, and I am struggling big time between being a nice person and telling John McDermott to fuck off and sit at another desk.

"Please, Jamie, please. You're so good, it'll be easy for you!" John continues pleading with me.

I roll my eyes for the tenth time this morning and put my acoustic guitar down on the desk in front of me. "John, it's not that I'm not willing to help you, you know I am. I'm just saying, it cannot be done by next Thursday!"

"I know, I know, I just thought if you showed me most of the basics again." He's really not letting this go. "or I thought maybe we could pick a song and I could learn that and rehearse it?"

I sigh and fold my arms across my chest. I don't wanna teach him how to play guitar in less than a week. I have my own life, you know? And besides, Aubrey might find John and I spending so much time together weird.

"John, what do you think Aubrey would think if I suddenly started spending all of my free time with you, huh?"

"Wh-what? Why would Aubrey..." He says nervously.

"Dude, I know you like her." I look at him seriously. "And please, let's just skip the part where you try to deny it. It's so obvious."

He blinks at me a couple of times then sighs. I smile at him, poor guy, he really is totally besotted with her.

"Please don't say anything." He says, "If she ever finds out about this, I want it to come from me, no one else."

I consider telling him to relax, because she clearly likes him too. But, I'm not meddling. They're gonna get together, I just know it. These things just takes some time, that's all.

"So you wouldn't want Aubrey getting the wrong idea about us, if we started hanging out all the time, right?" I ask him.

"She doesn't need to know!"

"Well, that sounds bad..."

"You know what I mean." He sighs again.

He looks so cut up about this. But it's his own fault. He should never have told Aubrey he'd sign up for the next open mic night. But I do feel bad for him. He really wants to impress her.

"Okay, this is what I can offer." I say, and his eyes light up. "We get a song ready for the next open mic night, not the one next week, the one after."

"Okay, so that gives us an extra week to get it down." John considers this. "Yeah, okay, awesome!"

"I think focussing on one song is the best plan. We don't have enough time for anything else. You have anything in mind?" I ask him.

"Yes, Aubrey is a huge fan of Steve Tyler, so I was thinking Aerosmith?"

If he says he wants to play I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing, I'm gonna shoot him.

"How about I Dont Wanna Miss A Thing? I know she loves that song."

Fuck my life.

"Fine, it's a crowd pleaser for sure, it'll guarantee a sing a long at least. How's your voice anyway?" I ask him.

"Not bad, I'm not worried about singing, it's the guitar part I need to focus on." He tells me. "Thank you so much for this, Jamie! You're the best."

"Yeah, well, you're buying me a latte after class." I give him a small smile and he laughs.

"Absolutely!" John agrees. "It's the least I can do."

Just then, Professor Strum addresses the class. "You guys, before we finish up for today I wanna let you know about the new student Drum teacher on the faculty this year."