Playing to Win

My entire body flared with heat. He kept singing and I had to bite my lip to keep from grinning.

I’m gonna keep singing this ridiculous song

Until you come outside and sing along.

“Come on, Jordan!” he shouted.

I closed my eyes. Someone would hear him. No part of me wanted anyone in my house to hear him singing to me from the backyard. But how to get him to stop?

Jordan, Jordan.

I know you can here me.

But what about your dad?

Don’t you think he’ll be mad?

For goodness sake! I moved to the window. Asher stood under my window, grinning like a fool.

“Do all your songs rhyme?” I called down.

“You know they don’t, you little eavesdropper. Now, come down here!” He kept plucking at his guitar, watching me.

I bit my lip and his smile widened.

“You know you want to!”

He was right. I did want to. What could possibly go wrong in my own backyard? I’d just go down there, hang out for a few minutes, and then make up some excuse to leave. Like I had to finish my homework. Or wash my hair.

“Alright, alright. I’ll be down in a second. Just be quiet.” Using both hands, I closed the window. I’d thrown on leggings and a fitted tee after my shower, so I tossed a hoodie over my head, then slipped into a pair of flip-flops. My hair was a hopeless mess after my shower. I settled for running a brush through it then taming it into a ponytail.

“Where you headed?” Dad asked as soon as I rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs. He sat on the sectional in front of the television, Mom curled at his side.

“Just out back,” I replied, praying he wouldn’t ask anymore questions.

Dad frowned a little but he didn’t say anything. I decided to hurry before he changed his mind. Or went to investigate.

Outside, Asher paced the grass between our houses, his guitar hanging around his middle as he picked different notes from the strings. He mumbled words and phrases, but when he turned and spotted me, a happy grin split his handsome face and he laughed as his fingers played the melody I’d been humming earlier when he caught me.

“Oh, stop!” I called out playfully, but his smile only grew.

“What? I thought you liked this song,” he teased me.

“I never said that.”

He laughed again. “Whatever. You know you do.”

It would take a lot more than his teasing to get me to admit it, thought.

“If this is just going to be you fishing for compliments,” I raised my voice to sound like a groupie, “Oh, Asher, you’re such a good singer, swoon!” I rolled my eyes and spoke in my normal voice. “Then, I’ll just go back inside.”

“No, no, don’t go.” He grabbed hold of my wrist, pulling me back around. “And please, don’t ever talk like that again. Let’s just go into my office and chat for a little while.” He pulled me toward a set of wrought iron patio furniture in a cluster of low bushes at the base of a shade tree in his yard.

I raised one brow. “This is your office?”

He dropped my hand and sighed as he glanced around. “I know. It’s a little sparse and the furniture makes my butt fall asleep, but it is what it is.” He pointed to the single chair. “Sit. Please.”

There was a single chair and a narrow loveseat. I took the chair he indicated while Asher sat in the center of the love seat, propping his guitar on his knee. His fingers plucked at the strings almost absently, his attention focused solely on me.

“I’m glad you came down.”

“You didn’t really give me much choice.” Glancing at the ground near his feet, I noticed a handful of guitar picks littering the grass. I bent down to pick one up, holding it in the space between us. “Lose something?”

His fingers squeaked on the strings before he reached for it. “All the time. I have about a hundred of them up in my room.”

“You don’t use them all the time?” I asked.

He shook his head as he began to play again, this time using the pick. “No. Listen.” He played and I did indeed listen, fascinated by the sound, even more beautiful close up than it had been drifting through my window. If that were possible.

“Now, listen to this.” He tucked the pick between his teeth and played using just his fingers. The motions were different and the difference was subtle, but I did hear it.