"An Old Guitar Is All He Can Afford"

Start from the beginning
                                    

"Well, I could sense that you liked them by the way you looked at my guitar." He chuckled. She couldn't help but smile at his chuckle. It was so sad that he didn't even have money to buy something to eat, her smile turned into a frown. She would love to bring him to her apartment and let him stay there. But she didn't want to be dumb. She didn't even know him. 

"You don't talk much, do you?" She quickly came back to real life. This guy had certainly been trying to communicate with her, but all she had said to him was 'yeah'. "Yeah, well... I'm sorry, I..." She was never good at socializing, so when she couldn't find anything else to say, she just didn't say anything at all. Realizing that she wasn't able to just talk to him, he decided to ask questions. "Are you waiting for someone?"

She immediately looked around when she remembered that she was. But still, there was no one in sight. "Well, yes. But he was supposed to come at 8." She looked at her watch. It was quarter past 8, and she was going to be late if Collin didn't arrive in a few minutes. She decided to keep on talking since she actually had some things to say. "Today is gonna be my first day at work, and this guy I've met via letters told me he was gonna pick me up."

He raised his eyebrows. "Why have you been sending him letters?" He looked like he was about to burst into laughter. "He works at the UN. I wanted him to help me get a job there. Now he is my colleague, I guess." He stayed completely silent for about ten seconds, then he suddenly cracked up and started laughing like crazy. He almost hit his head to the building, and he was having a hard time breathing. She couldn't understand why he was laughing, so she just patiently waited for him to stop. But also, she found it kind of rude. "So..." he managed to spit out between chuckles, when he was finally calm, he said: "So you believed that a guy you met via letters will give you a ride to work?"

She still didn't know why it was funny. "Yes..." was all she said. He laughed one last time. "Honey... You are so fuckin' naive, you know that?" She was shocked when she heard him swear, she never swore. And she wasn't used to those kind of words. It just made him seem ruder in her eyes. "But okay, sorry, sorry. I guess you are new in New York." he said, this time seriously. "I moved here a month ago." she replied. He nodded, then smirked and shook his head. "You have a lot to learn, darlin'"

She turned her head back to the road. She was kind of offended. She decided to sit down again. After a few minutes of listening to the cars noise again, he started strumming his guitar. This time, he was playing a blues tune, which she really liked. He played a few chords and looked like he was choosing them randomly, but it sounded beautiful. Then, he suddenly stopped playing. She turned to him to understand why. He was looking directly at her. "Do you always get offended this easily?"

She lowered her head. Yes, she did. She was always offended very easily. But of course, she couldn't say that to him. "Hey, I'm sorry if I offended you." She was surprised by his apology. "I can be kinda rude now and then." She smiled sincerely. "It's okay." She really thought it was okay. It was very kind of him.

"I'm Dustin." He held out his hand. "Call me 'Dust'." She took his hand without doubt and shook it. "I'm Aryl." He didn't let go of her hand for a few more seconds, and she didn't pull her hand back. She had liked his touch. "What kind of a name is Aryl?" He raised an eyebrow. "What kind of a name is Dust?" She replied without thinking, and made him chuckle again. He looked into her eyes as he slowly let go of her hand. "By the way, you can take a bus from that way," he pointed a direction, "I guess it goes somewhere near the United Nations building." She smiled again, looking into his eyes. "Thank you." He grinned at her.

Just at the moment she decided to take the bus instead of waiting for Collin, a white car stopped right next to her apartment's entrance. Both she and Dustin looked at the man that came out of the car. He was quite tall, he had brown hair and he was wearing an expensive suit. He was about to get inside the apartment when she shouted "Wait!" He turned to her and rushed towards her. "Hello, might you be Aryl Raine, miss?" He spoke in a formal tone. She quickly got up. "Yes, I am. You are Collin Linwood, right?"

"Yes. I am so sorry, the traffic..." She cut him off. "It's okay." They shook hands. "Nice to meet you." He genuinely smiled at her. "Nice to meet you too." He stepped back to allow her to go first. But she took a glance at Dustin, who had a strange emotion on his face. He was either shocked, or happy or something else... "Bye sweetheart!" he yelled and waved. She couldn't help but quietly giggle when he called her sweetheart.

Suddenly, she remembered. She quickly zipped her bag open and pulled out a tuna sandwich. It was supposed to be her lunch, but she didn't really care. She felt like helping this interesting man she met. "I think I have something for you!" she yelled and quickly walked towards Dustin. She handed him the sandwich then pulled out her wallet, pulled out 50 dollars and put it inside his cowboy hat. She started walking, or running, to Collin's car, before Dustin could even decide what to say, so he ended up yelling "Thank you so much!" behind her.

She smiled to herself as she got inside Collin's car, and he sat on the driver's seat. "You are so fuckin' naive, you know that?" Dustin's voice echoed in her brain. No, she wasn't naive. She trusted people, and she loved making people happy. Just like how she made Dustin happy that day.

For the first time in a long time, she knew what she wanted. And she was going to have it, she knew it.

_____

What do you think she wants? By the way, the guy in the photo is Travis Fimmel, and he represents Dustin. I hope you liked this chapter because I haven't written anything like this before. And, the first 4-5 chapters might be boring, but then GN'R members will start to become a part of the story, as well as some other rockstars like Sebastian Bach, Vince Neil, etc. So keep on reading ;) Please vote and let me know what you think in the comments!

 


Blackbird (ON HOLD)Where stories live. Discover now