Alone Together {Patrick Stump}

Chapter 24

I told Patrick the address to my grandmother's house. Veronica had told me she hadn't moved since I was young, but seeing as I was three last I was there, she texted me the address. I didn't plan on ever talking to her, it just felt nice to have her number. When we arrived at the house, I look at it. I didn't move to get out of the car.

"It looks exactly how I remember it," I said out loud. "I used to play with Jessie and Grandpa over by that swing set. And I would help Grandpa grill out in the summer. Although, I couldn't do much at such a young age. Jessie helped him a lot, though." Patrick placed a hand on my shoulder and I looked over at him. I got out of the car and Patrick went with me. The others thought it'd be a good idea if just Patrick went with me. I knocked on the familiar door and Grandma opened it. She let us inside without a word and we walked into the living room. She handed me a copy of Grandpa's will and I found my name. The living room was full of boxes.

"Find what you need and put it in an empty box," she said reluctantly. "Just hurry up and get away from here." I nodded and went through the boxes. There weren't any pictures of me and Jessie on the walls. Before Grandpa died, you would have found tons of pictures of us. Now, there were none.

"What did you do with all the pictures of me and Jessie Grandpa had?" I asked.

"They're in a box somewhere," she said. "Take them if you want. I was just going to burn them." I nodded and added those to the list of things I would take with me. I found everything Grandpa left me in his will and the pictures except for one thing. 

"Where's Grandpa's guitar?" I asked. "He wanted me to have it, but I don't see it."

"Oh, I don't know," she said nastily. "Probably upstairs in the office where he kept it. I haven't gone through there yet. Nothing but the guitar, hear me?" I nodded. I led Patrick upstairs and went into the office. Grandpa's guitar hung on the wall where it always did.

"He played for us a lot, you know," I said to Patrick, taking the guitar off the wall and examining it. "This was his favorite possession of his. He always said he'd either leave it to me or Jessie, and when Jessie died, everyone knew he'd give it to me in his will. He sure did love this old thing."

"It's a beauty," Patrick said. I nodded, holding the guitar. I noticed a note slid into the strings of the neck. I took it out and slid it in my purse to read later. It did have my name written on the front in Grandpa's scrawled writing.

"Of all the things he owned, his guitar was the most important," I said. "He took such good care of it. We were all taught at young ages not to touch Grandpa's guitar. He always liked to have it in perfect condition. He loved to play for us. We lived off his lullabies."

"I'm glad we found it, then," Patrick smiled. "We should get going. Don't want to keep the guys waiting too long." I nodded and I made for the door. I picture on the desk caught my eye. It was of me, Grandpa, and Jessie. It was taken at a fair. I was on Grandpa's shoulders, laughing, with cotton candy stuck to my fingers and face. Grandpa was smiling, laughing almost. Jessie was laughing so hard, she was nearly on the ground. I couldn't remember what we thought was so funny, but it was a beautiful picture.

"I don't think she'll miss this," I said, picking up the picture frame. I gently took out the picture and set the frame down. I slipped the photo into my purse and picked the guitar back up. We walked downstairs and Patrick grabbed the box of Grandpa's things I had been left.

"And don't come back!" she called as she slammed the door behind us. I had a smile on my face, despite having just been to his funeral. I got in and lay the guitar gently across my lap, taking the box from Patrick and putting it between my feet on the floorboard. I ran my index finger gently across the smooth surface of the pure white guitar. There wasn't a smudge of dirt on it, but it was a little dusty after being there on the wall for god knows how long.