Chapter 19

Jonah

       I walked over to the living room where Reed had been strumming away at my guitar for about two hours now. He asked if he could borrow it and I let him since it gave him something to do instead of just saying he was bored.

       Though, I was starting to regret it because he hasn't taken a single break, and I had to admit I was about worried about him. Of course, there was nothing wrong with playing an instrument for two hours, but without a single break?

       "Hey," I said, trying to get his attention but it didn't work at all. He just paid no attention to me, continuing to strum away. "Hello? Reed? Are you there?"

       Nothing.

       Absolutely nothing.

       Even I never got this wrapped up in my music, and I've been a musician for as long as I could remember.

       I decided to leave him alone for a bit before taking a look at the time. It was almost five, and he hasn't eaten all day. Mom and Dad have been out of the hotel all day so they couldn't make sure Reed ate something. They said they had to go figure out what to do about the guy trying to get money from Reed.

       Dad had been, jokingly, saying he could pay someone to take care of the guy. Honestly, part of me was hoping Dad would actually go through with it.

       I had to admit, I did have anger issues at times and forgiving someone who beat the living crap out of Reed and expected him, a fifteen year old kid, to pay thousands of dollars that Reed had nothing to do with was just out of the question. I couldn't help but have part of me wish something bad happened to that man.

       I shook my head as I opened the fridge, seeing what food we had left from when one of us last went to the store. There wasn't much; only fruits, vegetables, and things to make sandwiches were here.

       Oh, well. A sandwich was better than nothing.

       I just hoped I would be able to take the guitar away from Reed long enough to get him to eat something. Then he could go back to playing to his heart's content.

       After I finished making the sandwich, I walked back to the living room and placed the sandwich on the coffee table in front of Reed. He was still strumming the guitar and didn't seem to notice I placed some food in front of him.

       "Reed," I said. Still nothing. The only way I could get his attention was by placing my hand on his to stop him from strumming. "Did you not hear me trying to get your attention for the past couple minutes?"

       "Nope." Reed moved my hand away from his before going back to strumming, not even questioning why I was trying to get his attention in the first place.

       I sighed and this time, carefully took my guitar away from him. "You haven't taken a break for two hours and you haven't eaten all day." I pointed to the sandwich. "Eat that if you want to continue using my guitar."

       "Don't baby me," Reed said.

       "I'm not babying you," I said. "I would have done this to anyone who hasn't eaten all day."

       "I'm not eating."

       "Fine. Then I'm putting my guitar away."

       "Wait, no, I need it."

       "Then eat."

       Reed scowled, but he picked up the plate so he could eat the sandwich. I rested the guitar against the armrest of the couch before leaning my arms on the back. "I've never seen someone with your level of concentration."

       "Cool."

       "You sound mad at me."

       "I've told you, Clive, and Whitney that I don't need looking after and I don't need to be babied."

       "And I've just told you that I'm not babying you. I'm just making sure that you eat something, and I would have done the same thing if it was one of my friends who haven't eaten all day. As soon as you're done the sandwich, I promise I'll leave you alone and let you play the guitar."

       Reed didn't object anymore, or told me to stop babying him. I really wasn't trying to. I would have been worried if Linnea, Ezra, or Madison were the one in his spot.

       Reed did eat the sandwich a bit too quickly and when he finished, he dropped the plate on the coffee table before picking up the guitar. "What time is it?" he asked.

       I looked at the time on my phone. "Five minutes until five."

       I would have just assumed Reed would have gone back to strumming the guitar, but he didn't. He looked up at me. "Five? Five PM?"

       "No, Reed," I said sarcastically. "Five in the morning."

       "Oh, shoot," Reed said, standing up from the couch. "I have to go somewhere. Hey, can I borrow your guitar? I don't know if they'll have one there..."

       "Where exactly?" I asked.

       "The diner."

       "Great. I'll come too."

       "For the love of... Can't I go to places on my own?"

       "Huh? Oh, I don't want to go just because you're going. I'm only going to make sure my guitar is taken care of."

       "So I can use your guitar?"

       "Yeah, if you tell me why, and if you don't complain about me going too."

       "The diner is doing this special donation night. Where people who sign up gets a certain amount of time to perform, and people can leave tips for them. I'm going to be helping Lyric perform. She got into Adagio as well, but she's struggling to make money for the tuition."

       "Oh, yeah, then you can definitely use my guitar. It's nice of you to help her out with performing."

       Reed started putting the guitar in its case. "Thanks, Jonah."

       "But I'm still coming."

       Reed glared at me.

       I lifted my hands in defence. "I swear, I'm not going to keep an eye on you. I honestly wouldn't be going if you weren't borrowing my guitar. I got your message about going places alone loud and clear. Now come on, let's get going. Surely you don't want to keep your friend waiting."

       Reed glared at me. "Don't emphasis friend like that."

       "Alright, I won't." For now. Can't say I won't do it later.

_____________________

woo an update after a year. i really need to get better at updating all my books and not leaving them hanging for over a year :( the problem is i have wayyyyy too many books in progress.