It had been probably an hour since Annie had left to roam. How big was Steven’s place anyway? Definitely not big enough to walk around for an hour. Adam thought it’d be best if he went to go check on her, which took no time at all. She couldn’t have been in Steven’s room. Yeah, they’re practically siblings but that’d be kind of weird if she had just been chilling there all by herself. She hadn’t been in the bathroom, either. The door had been left open. The only other place Adam could possibly check was Steven’s basement garage. It was a pretty huge space, even when the car was in it. With the remaining space, Steven managed to deck it out with a couple of old couches that just barely held themselves up together and some other junk he’d thrown in to make the space look snazzy. But no matter how cool one basement garage can look, it’d still be relatively more humid than the other rooms in the house. Gross.

Going down the stairs, Adam realized there was noise coming from the basement. More than just rain. No, not noise. Music? He couldn’t really tell, but it was definitely more melodic than gallons of water bulleting themselves into the ground from the sky. Adam stopped to listen. Indistinguishable melodies. Silence. More melodies. More silence. Frustrated sigh. Okay, yep, that’s definitely Annie. Adam quietly slipped into the room, as to not disturb what was going on. Not to say Adam was shocked, but he was greeted with an interesting surprise. There, Annie sat on one of the arms of the couches, holding an acoustic guitar and singing a song Adam had never heard before. His curiosity had instantly peaked as he stood there, just silently listening and admiring the never before seen talent. How long has she known how to play? Where did she learn how to sing? Does she know how to play other instruments too? The thoughts were cut off when Annie abruptly stopped her song with another frustrated sigh. As she stood from her seat, about to put down the guitar, Adam caught her attention.

“Wait, what were you playing?” Annie almost dropped the guitar in shock, not realizing Adam had been there.

“Oh jeez, uh, hey.” She said, lowering the guitar as to not damage it. “It was uh, just something I wrote. Or at least trying to write.” Adam walked over to her, glancing at the guitar.

“This’s Steven’s?” He asked, picking it up. It was pretty old, but in the most charming way. Patches in the wood were discolored and the strings looked frayed at the top, as if they’ve broken and been replaced dozens of times.

“I think Ryan lent it to him? Gave it to him? Not really sure,” Adam looked at Annie. Her face was flushed and he couldn’t tell if she was embarrassed or if it was from the thick humidity in the room. “Do you play?” Adam shook his head.

“Guitar? No, not really. Andrew tried teaching me once but got pretty frustrated,” Adam chuckled, remembering how frustrated Andrew’d gotten at his poor skills. “You’d think for someone who played drums, it’d be easier to learn a second instrument.” Annie didn’t say anything. She just watched as Adam examined the guitar. Then, she had an idea.

“How about I teach you?” Adam looked at her. She had that look on her face that meant she was determined to go through with what she just said. “I promise I won’t be as hard on you as Andrew was.”

And she wasn’t. Instead of trying to cram everything into one go like Andrew had done, Annie decided to teach Adam little by little. In no time, Adam could play A, D, and E chords and can, albeit poorly, play Elvis Presley’s Hound Dog.

“See?” Annie said, beaming at Adam. “Am I a better teacher than Andrew or what?” Adam chuckled, passing her the worn guitar.

“Maybe it is pretty easy to learn a second instrument. You make it easy.” He smiled. Annie felt her face heat up and if anyone were to ask, it was definitely just from the humidity. He looked at her and Annie almost turned away if Adam hadn’t had the same flush on his face. “So…what exactly was that song you were writing earlier?” Annie sighed. To Adam, it was a sigh of frustration again. To Annie, it was a sigh of relief, Adam hadn’t caught her blushing.

“I’ve been trying to work on it all summer,” She rested the guitar in her lap, considering whether or not to try again. “I thought a day like today would help me out but, ugh, I don’t know…” Adam nodded, he’s known this type of creative block before. He’s seen it in Steven and Andrew, and himself too.

“Would it be alright if you played some for me? Maybe I could help?” Annie almost seemed to hesitate but nodded in agreement, taking the instrument into her hands.

A slow, steady tune. Not like the type you’d hear in heartbroken ballads, but a very relaxing melody. Pretty much a slow, rainy day compacted into a little tune. Lyrics about childhood and whimsy. Carefree attitudes and optimism. It was a sweet song, one that sounded like she had put her own experiences into it. A personal song, but not in the negative way. A song that celebrates youth? Or being lively and carefree? The song seemed to be complete, until Annie gradually comes to a stop.

“It’s the bridge.” She says, quieting the guitar strings. “I have the chords for it, but I don’t have words.” Adam stops to evaluate the song. Brows furrowed, he hums the tune of the bridge again, just to have it in his head.

“Well,” he starts, after some thought. “So far, the song is about a childhood and all of the liveliness that came from it. How about in the bridge, the lyrics can be about when it ended. Or why it ended. The lyrics you have so far are all positive, I think if you add something a little more low, it’ll give the chorus more of a meaning.” Annie paused. Adam couldn’t tell if his idea had struck a nerve or was just a bunch of BS coming out of his mouth. But before he could worry any longer, Steven and Andrew come from around the corner and park in the garage.

“Hey!” Steven says, coming from his seat. “I see you two have been using the Bergara guitar-a!” Annie rolls her eyes and Andrew audibly groans.

“Sorry we took a while, Steven couldn’t make a decision on what chips he wanted.” Andrew said, grabbing the bags from the back. “But we bought Clue! And some knockoff Cards Against Humanity that Steven said looked cool.”

As Steven and Andrew walked and argued up the stairs, Annie followed them, leaving the guitar on the old couch. She turned to face Adam, who had a vaguely confused look, probably wondering if she’d finish the song, or if he had actually helped her in doing that. She just chuckled.

“C’mon, we’ve spent enough time with Bergara guitar-a.” Adam laughed along with her and followed suit.

The humidity finally let up, as well as the rain. Luckily for the group, the living room managed to stay cool even without the air conditioner. They’d played 2 round of each game and gone through about nearly 3 bags of different types of chips. Maybe they day had started out slow, but the end of it came pretty quickly. Before the others could get up to get their stuff set up to go, Annie stops them.

“Wait! Before we go, I have something to play for all of you.” As Annie runs down into the basement, Adam perked up. He didn’t see her sing or write anything down since they’d been down there, right before Steven and Andrew got back. Has she finished the song already? Steven and Andrew look at her quizzically as she comes back with the worn guitar.

“I’ve been writing a song for the past few weeks and I want everyone’s input on it. Adam helped me finish it today.” She gives him a fond, thankful look and he can’t help but feel his face flush, and this time, he can’t blame it on the humidity.