GuiTara

🎵~8

🎶We live in cities you'll never see on screen ~ Lorde

●Tara Afua Henrie●

Crunch, crunch, crunch. The footsteps drew closer and closer to the bench. My clammy hands tightened around my guitar. Crunch, crunch, crunch...

3...

2...

"Stay where you are!" Turning around, I shot out of my seat, gripping my guitar like Thor's hammer.

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down, ok!" He yanked his hood off, exposing a mop of dark hair and the most attractive features I had ever seen on a guy. "I'm not a bad guy, ok." He held his hands up in surrender.

"Then why are you dressed in black?" I asked, hoping he didn't sense the tremble in my voice.

"What? This?" He gestured at his clothes. "This was just a coincidence, ok? I just picked them out."

Still not convinced, I probed further. "What were you doing behind that tree?"

"Umm..." Along with hesitation, a wave of uneasiness hit his face. "You... you don't wanna know that."

"If I didn't want to know, I wouldn't ask, creep!" I attempted to swing the guitar, and he took a step back.

"Ok, I'll tell you." His Adam's apple bobbed up and down. "I erm... I... couldn't find the bathrooms around here, so..." his eyes refused to meet mine.

I quirked up an eyebrow, wondering why he didn't finish the sentence. Then it hit me. "Eew!"

His cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "Told you you didn't wanna know."

There was a slight pause.

"Look, I'm sorry if I scared you, but it wasn't intentional," Dark-haired boy apologized. "I just wanted to tell you how beautiful that song was. So... so can you please put the guitar down?"

I shook my head. "No. I want proof that you're not some thug or robber."

The look he gave me read, 'are you serious?' and when I attempted to swing the guitar again, he backed up.

"Ok, ok! As you can see, I'm completely unarmed..." He pulled out all the lining in his hoodie and pants pockets, then lifted his hoodie, revealing a bit of his flat stomach and that V shape that led to his...

"Pull your shirt down!" I quickly yelled, face warming up to the heat of embarrassment.

"What? I thought you wanted to see if I was armed." His full lips made way for an irritating smirk.

"Shut up." Rolling my eyes, I brought the guitar down and settled on the bench.

For some reason, dark-haired boy wouldn't take that as a hint to go away. Instead, he toured round the bench and sat down, running his fingers through his thick mass of strands, which I would have found attractive if he hadn't creeped me out earlier.

Bending over to pick up my guitar case, I gently placed my damaged instrument in its housing, wondering where I could fix it until dark-haired boy broke through my thoughts.

"You know, there's an instrument shop about five blocks from here. I bet you can get some help with that broken string over there."

My gaze flitted over to him, meeting nothing but metallic gray wrapped in genuine sincerity. They took me aback for a moment, making me wonder why I even thought he was a bad person. His eyes... they were the eyes of someone who had been through a lot these past few days, so much so that sleep wasn't enough to restore the energy he'd lost.