Did You Get What You Deserve?

I fiddled with a knob on my guitar. James was tuning his guitar to mine, while Lindsay set up her drum kit. Matt and Sasha were yet to arrive. The door opened and I turned around to see Alec standing there.

“Mind if I listen to you guys?”

I nodded.

“Go ahead.”

He picked his way through the piles of equipment and sat down beside James on my bed. About five minutes later, Matt and Sasha arrived. Matt hugged James and politely kissed my hand. I was quickly learning that whatever Matt did, he did it whole-heartedly. He was extremely polite, extremely affectionate, and extremely enthusiastic. He also seemed to enjoy acting old-fashioned. Sasha rolled her eyes at me behind Matt’s back, and I grinned. She quickly bent down to set up her guitar as Matt whipped around suspiciously.

I stood up and pushed the amps out of the way. Then I turned to Matt and Sasha.

“You guys tune your stuff to James’ guitar. I’m gonna go talk to my dad for a sec.”

I pushed the door closed behind me and walked along the hall to the lounge. Dad was sitting on the couch looking out the window at next door’s kids playing in the yard. I slipped my arms around his neck and he jumped.

“Hey Alec.”

“What you looking at?”

“I think it’s Clara’s birthday today. They’re having a party. I remember when you were that little and cute.”

I looked at him. He suddenly looked old, even though he was only 38. I kissed his cheek and the cloud moved from his eyes. He blinked and looked at me, suddenly looking younger again.

“Sorry, sweetie. I just...” he rubbed his eyes. “Did you want something?”

I shook my head.

“Not really. Just thought you should know we’re about to have a practice so the house is going to be really noisy.”

He grinned.

“I hope your practices are more productive than ours ever were.”

I laughed.

“I hope so too.”

I kissed him again and went back to my room.

“I’m back.”

James handed me my guitar and I sat down beside him.

“We should probably try some covers first. What do you guys know?”

We all looked at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing.

Alec stood up and took Sasha’s guitar from her.

“This is a fairly easy song that Alec and James should know unless they have been very poorly brought up.”

I glanced at James. His expression was as puzzled as mine. Alec grinned at us.

“Don’t worry, you should know it.”

He started playing. Suddenly I recognized the song, and joined in with the melody. Alec grinned and stopped.

“See, Alec’s got it.”

James shook his head.

“I’m still clueless.”

I tapped him on the head.

“Early Sunsets Over Monroeville, dumbass.”

“Oh!”

Sasha and Lindsay looked at each other bemusedly, but Matt was bouncing up and down in a state of positive excitement.

“That’s a My Chemical Romance song!”

Sasha nodded slowly and Lindsay rolled her eyes.

“Trust you guys.”

Alec grinned and handed Sasha her guitar.

“Shall we call in the expert?”

I sighed and nodded. Alec stuck his head out the door.

“Oi, Frank! Come teach these kids how to play history!”

I rolled my eyes at James, who was giggling. A moment later, Dad walked in.

“Which piece of history is he trying to teach you now?”

“Early Sunsets.”

He laughed.

“Trust you, Alec.”

Alec grinned.

“Well, it is! It’s history.”

“Not really. History is more like Elvis or Queen.”

I grinned and held out my guitar. He took it and sat down beside me.

“So, you want to know how to play the whole thing? Well, the vocals are easy, you know those. Bass, ask Mikey, I can’t remember the whole thing. Drums, ask Bob the bits you can’t quite figure out. But guitars...”

He looked down at the guitar on his lap.

“Well, Ray’s bit starts off like this...”

**Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to crank out. I was heavily occupied with the last part of term. But now I am free! Free, until the end of January! Yay for summer holidays.

Love to Critical_Lemon, Friday; I'm In Love. and Bellkura for commenting.**