The Second Catch

Chapter 19: Finally On Pitch

Anthony had only been gone for a half an hour before making his way back home.  When he made his way inside his apartment, he noticed that Melanie had fallen asleep on the couch, and made sure he was more quiet as he brought the rest of the groceries in so not to wake her.  He had been aware that she was growing tired with everything that had been going on.  Anthony had grown quite concerned for her, but was afraid to comment on it.  Things had been going good for them the past month, and if he said anything out of sorts that could trigger Melanie's mood.  He didn't want to ruin things again.  They were finally back in the stage of talking, where it was possible they could at least be friends.

He decided that it was best to leave Melanie sleep, so she could finally have some proper rest.  The food could wait, it was still early enough yet where they could start getting dinner on later after her nap.  Anthony put the groceries away quietly then made his way into his room, closing the door.  Taking a deep breath, he made his way over to his closet and opened it, grabbing his guitar that he had stashed in there for quite a long time.  He was a little bored with Melanie not being able to entertain him.  Since he hadn't played for awhile, Anthony thought he'd give it a try.  However, Anthony would be surprised if it even worked properly, even if he did tune it.  But since he didn't have nothing better to do, Anthony decided that he'd give it a try.  See if he could still remember how to play.  Once he shut the closet door, he placed the guitar case on his bed and opened it taking out the guitar.  Anthony then sat on the ledge of the bed and began to strum some tunes he remembered.  He gave a small smile surprised at how easily it came to remember playing the songs, and even quietly began to sing along to them.

Melanie slowly stirred awake as she heard the small sound of the strumming of the guitar, then got even more curious as she heard Anthony singing.  Is Anthony singing?  Melanie slowly got up off the couch and wandered over to Anthony's room.  She slowly opened the door peeking through, smiling a little as she watched him.  He seemed to be in his own world as he was playing.  She opened the door a bit wider and stayed standing at the entrance of the room.  After awhile, Melanie leaned her back against the door frame.  "I didn't know that you could play."  Anthony jumped not having seen her coming in and glanced at her with a small smile.  "Hey, I didn't hear you coming in."  He said as he stopped playing and set his guitar down.  She watched as he did then walked over closer to him.  "You don't need to quit playing just because I am here."  She said somewhat in a shy tone.  He gave her another small smile.  "Oh..  I, I wasn't planning to.  You just surprised me is all."  Melanie nodded.  "I am sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you, and ruin dinner."  Anthony shook his head.  "It's okay.  You needed the sleep.  We can still cook the dinner and get the meal eaten."

Melanie chuckled.  "I have been living here for a few months now.  You never told me that you played guitar."  She said.  Anthony gave her a small shrug of his shoulder.  "It's been a few years that I have played anything.  I didn't say anything because I quit playing.  I sort of forgot till recently that I even still had the guitar.  Guess it sort of just slipped my mind."  Melanie studied Anthony closely.  He didn't have to say it, but she assumed that the reason why he quit and stashed the guitar away for so long was because of the passing of his sister Greta.  If she had to take a guess, she assumed that he had quit playing the guitar longer than just a few years.  Probably around the time of his sister's death.  "What were you playing?"  Melanie asked to change the subject.  So she didn't accidentally say something stupid.

Anthony cleared his throat a bit.  "Oh, I was just playing some old songs that I remembered to play when I was in lessons in school."  Melanie managed to find a comfy way to sit down on the ledge of the bed glancing at Anthony.  Sitting across from him.  "What kind of songs?"  She asked curiously.  Suddenly Anthony grew a little nervous.  He was fine playing by himself in his own room when nobody was paying attention.  But he got nervous whenever anyone watched him.  Anthony was more nervous with the crowd being Melanie.  And not having played in awhile.  He cleared his throat again to try and hide his nerves.  "Well.  All sorts of genres.  I mostly like the eighties though."  Melanie raised her eye.  "But you took me to a country band our first date."  She smirked.  Anthony laughed.  "I did.  It's not that I don't like country, it's just not my favorite.  But I knew that you did from Levi."  Melanie smiled at the comment.  He really would do anything for me.  She thought.  "I've learned quite a few songs.."  He kept his eye on Melanie hesitating before saying the next sentence.  "Name any song and I can probably play it."  He smirked.  Melanie smirked back.  "This sounds like a challenge Clark."  She teased.  Anthony kept the smirk on his face.  "Maybe it is."