All Rubber Duckies Go To Heaven

Chapter Fourteen

[Little House-The Fray] [Yesterday-The Beatles]

“She doesn't look, she doesn't see

Opens up for nobody

Figures out, she figures out

Narrow line, she can't decide

Everything short of suicide

Never hurts, nearly works

Something is scratching its way out

Something you want to forget about

A part of you that'll never show

You're the only one that'll ever know

Take it back when it all began

Take your time, would you understand

What it's all about

What it's all about

Something is scratching its way out

Something you want to forget about

No one expects you to get up

All on your own with no one around

Something is scratching its way out

Something you want to forget about

No one expects you to get up

All on your own with no one around.”

I sprinted up the staircases to the third floor. By the time I reached room 315 I was out of breath. I all but collapsed into the door.

Aerin stared at me blankly. His body was frozen, his right arm still holding a neck strap over his head. After I shut the door he started moving again. The simple black acoustic he held had no brand.

I sort of fell into the couch. My chest moved in exaggerated rises and falls, underlining my exhaustion. Aerin smirked before he took off the guitar and approached me. He eased into the couch beside me, keeping an eye on the instrument.

“How…did you…get here…so…fast?” I asked, the words coming between ragged breaths.

“Uh…elevator.”

I scowled. “The elevator?”

He nodded.

“But I thought that was for handicapped kids only.”

“Yeah.” He scratched the back of his head and smiled apologetically. “I convinced that freshman who broke his leg to let me help him to his class on this floor. Why? What’d you do?” He only asked for the amusement of the answer.

I was slowly steadying my heart rate. Damn I was out of shape. “Stairs. You suck, in case you didn’t already know.”

“Ah,” he held up a finger. “You’ll love me in a second.”

I rolled my eyes. “And why do you think that?”

“Because,” his word had the same pointed tone as the ‘ah’. “I’m going to teach you how to play guitar.”

Those words washed all negative emotions from me.

I’d always wanted to learn how to play guitar but my dad was against it. I think it hurt him too much because my mom had played the guitar.

“Really?”

“Nah,” he sarcastically contradicted. “I just like to state that which is untrue. It’s refreshing.”