Who: Vonnie/Eli
Where: His house
When: Sunday, January 16, 2011
What: Killing time
Rating: PG (Nothing bad, innuendoes and a few mild cuss words.)
Status: Complete



As she pulled her coat tighter against herself, Vonnie quickened her step as she walked toward the house that Eli, Noah and Rachel lived in. It was a route that Vonnie knew well; after all, it was the way she walked nearly every day. Either it was to see Rachel or to catch a ride from Eli before work, or walking home from there after work.
Vonnie walked slowly up the sidewalk, she knew by heart what parts would be icy and slippery and avoided them. Another thing she knew by heart was where not to step and make noises on the front porch. Vonnie didn’t want Rachel’s super hearing to hear a creek on the porch and interrupt anything she may or may not be doing with Noah at the moment. Resisting the urge to knock or ring the doorbell, Vonnie opened the door entered the house and closed the door, trying not to make a sound. After getting inside, Vonnie removed her jacket and shoes so she wouldn’t track snow into the house.
“Eli?” Vonnie said softly, hanging up her jacket on a hook. Vonnie looked around the living room with caution, half expecting to be the end of another of Eli’s pranks.

Eli heard the door and exited the kitchen where he had been procuring them some snacks and beers. "Hey." he replied with a nod, followed by a frown when he saw her face "Everything all right? They are upstairs don't worry your not going to walk in on anything..."

Vonnie watched Eli come from the kitchen and glanced around the living room one more time. "You tell me... Is everything alright?" She asked with a smile. Eli always had a look on his face when he had a prank in the works. Luckily he didn't have it at that moment. Vonnie walked slowly to the couch and looked at the ceiling. "Are they finished yet?" Vonnie asked before sitting down and tucking her cold feet under herself to warm her toes.

Eli shrugged "As far as I know...you just have that kinda frightened look on your face..." he chuckled a little and followed her into the living room, setting down his bowl of Oreos and the two beers, then he looked up and listened for a few minutes "Sounds like it to me...I've been purposely not paying attention.." he shrugged and took a seat next to her before reaching for a smaller acoustic guitar sitting beside the couch, then handed it to her. "Be careful with her...I've had her for a good while...I broke my guitar cherry on that old girl..."

"After the blue slushie, I've realized that I'm not immune to your pranks." Vonnie mumbled. As Eli handed her the guitar Vonnie got off her feet and sit properly on the couch. Vonnie gave Eli a confused look as he said his last sentence. "I have no clue what you just said, but I promise I'll take good care of... Her..." Vonnie said, running her hand over the guitar, making a note to accidentally on purpose to leave this behind and buy her own first thing tomorrow to leave at her house to use for practice.

He laughed and shook his head "Would it help if I told you that it wasn't meant for you but the person it was for didn't show and you were just kinda there?" he turned away to grab his own guitar, setting it lovingly in his lap "It was my first guitar." he explained "My first foster parents bought it for me when I was ....just a little guy. I figured it's got a smaller neck, and it's less wide so it won't be awkward for you."

"No, not really. I find it a little insulting that I was nothing but a second choice for you. I think that I and my ruined shirt deserved to be the target, not in the wrong place at the wrong time." Vonnie joked, watching how Eli treated his guitar and looked back at the one she was using. "Are you sure you want to put something that important in my hands? With the way I trip over air?"

He sighed "I have a feeling I will not win with this argument so I am just going to shut my mouth and move on to guitar talk." He laughed and nodded at her question "Yeah it's what's best for you size wise and she's a tough old bird, already been through tons..."

"Yes... That will probably be the best thing to do." Vonnie mumbled. "On too the guitar talk." Vonnie put her hands on the fret board like she had seen artists do many times. "Okay, now... One of my foster fathers tried to teach me a few things, but I think I forgot it. I'm hoping that eventually it will come back to me and make these lesson things easier."

He laughed again and nodded "Well I'm glad you forgot, it's better to work with a clean slate...some people think they are guitar gods when really they are just lazy pickers...lets start easy with a g chord..." he set his guitar aside again and moved closer to her, fixing her fingers so they were on the appropriate strings, then he handed her a pick, picked up his own guitar and did the same with his own fingers. "Okay now put some pressure on the strings...it'll hurt the first few times but play enough you'll develop these cool calluses...now once your pushing down, with the pick strum softly."

Vonnie did as she was told, putting pressure on the strings and strumming the instrument, too hard at first but after relaxing her fingers holding the pick a little, the sound came out sounding better. "I don't want to be a guitar god..." Vonnie pointed out. "I just would like to have something else to do when I'm bored."

"Well I don't go half assed so when we are done your not going to be some casual lazy ass player...I don't deal with those kind of people." He nodded, completely serious, as laid back and hilarious as he could be at times, he took music and guitar especially very seriously and held a no tolerance policy.

"We'll we ever be done?" Vonnie asked. "You're constantly learning, getting new ideas. You'll never learn everything there is to know about an instrument. That... In the run you teach to me. Not to mention what you know now, you've learned over many years." Vonnie released the strings on the fret board and shook her hand. Eli was right, her fingertips were already starting to get sore.

"Nope, there is always more to learn but once you have the basics down if you want to walk away that's fine but until we get there, I'm not going to go easy on you." He strummed gently as he spoke

Vonnie focused on her fingers, trying to get them back on the frets again from memory. "You act like I would expect something less." Vonnie mumbled, wincing from the pain in her fingers as she pushes on the strings. "The old lady would say I have lady hands... Much to delicate to be of any use." Vonnie mumbled, looking at the tips of her fingers, hoping that the so called cool calluses hurry up and develop.

"Just saying...keeping you informed so you can't bitch at me later on because I know we had this conversation." He continued to strum softly, it was bugging him a little that he was staying on one chord but it would help her hear what it should sound like. "Please, your hands are just fine like I said, it just takes some getting used to...." he watched her struggle a little, but continued to strum, this time making up a small pattern which he would teach her once she perfected the first part. "Vonnie Vonnie, don't let your lady fingers hold you baaaack....." he sang with a laugh

Vonnie's watches Eli, with her eyebrow raised. "You.. Are a dumbass..." Vonnie mumbled, putting her fingers back into the position for the G-chord. "Is this right?" She asked, looking back up at Eli. "I would like to get it right and move on if you don't mind..."

He grinned and nodded, not saying another word just continuing to strum away. He looked down at her fingers and shrugged "I donnnnnt knoooow struuuuum and finnn ouuuut." he sang to her

"Stop singing..." Vonnie said, as she strums the strings, finding out she had her fingers in the right places. "What's next?" Vonnie asks, starting to get impaient.

"Neeeeeevvvvvveerrrrrr" he sang purposely stretching out the word so it was extra annoying. "Are you sure you've mastered the G chord now?" he added, still singing "If you think you are ready we can move on to the..." he moved his fingers along the fret to the d chord "D chord...."

Vonnie rolled her eyes and positioned her fingers to make the D-chord. When she strummed the chord it sounded off. Vonnie double checked with Eli's fingers and her own then fixed them, making the D-chord sound better, not perfect but better. "D..." Vonnie returned her fingers back to the G-chord. "G" Back to D "D..." Vonnie sighed. "It'll take practice... Lots and lots of practice." Vonnie shook her hand again, fingers still hurting from pushing on the strings. "What's next?"

"Lets stick to those for now...." he said, dropping the whole singing bit, deciding it might work better that way and, would make her want to stab him in the face a little less. "I'll show you a basic strumming pattern..." he strummed out a small tune using the two chords, what she didn't know was it was a song he had written when he was little about his foster sister Ari, nor was he going to tell her, that was still a little too personal for him.

Vonnie wrinkled her forehead as she tried to keep up with the small tune using the two chords, but with the strumming with one hand and pushing down the strings with the others, she kept getting confused. "Damn it..." She mumbled to herself and started over. "Maybe this was a bad idea. I don't have a musical bone in my body."

He chuckled a little "It's okay, just takes practice...slow it down if you want to, if you think it will help..." he slowed his own pace, almost to a crawl hoping it would help her hear it better "Just relax, listen to the sounds, turn off your brain and feel the music..."

Vonnie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. For a second or two she focused on her breathing. The old lady had told her many times, when she was trying to teach Vonnie how to meditate, that turning off her brain was key. After 10 years of doing these meditation exercises every morning, her brain seemed to go into relaxation mode almost instantly. After doing what Eli told her to do, she listened to the music. Vonnie could feel her fingers starting to make small little movements the second they were supposed to move. Vonnie opened her eyes and tried to copy what Eli was showing her to do. This time she didn't get it perfect, but the improvement was noticeable. Vonnie grinned at Eli, even though it wasn't perfection, with a little practice it could be close to it, giving her a feeling of accomplishment.

He smiled widely as she did as she was told and nearly nailed the transition. "See I knew you could do it...." he said happily, stopping his own strumming so he could pat her on the back. "I believe this calls for a celebratory beer." he set his guitar aside gently and grabbed the beers from the coffee table, opening them both before he handed one over to her.

Vonnie very carefully leaned the guitar in her hands on the coffee table and accepts the beer from Eli. "Thank you..." Vonnie found herself feeling more then a little happy about learning someone so simple. As simple as it was, it was the first real accomplishment she had managed to earn in the past few years. Something that wasn't learned by reading a book or using logic. Anyone could learn something from a book, music... That was something that either you could learn it or you couldn't. Of course the same could have been said about magic, but that was something she wished she never had learned, the guitar lessons were her choice.

"Hey you deserve it. May have just been a simple little thing but you didn't quit and that is what's important." he nodded and took a swig of his beer, for the first time since meeting her, he wasn't thinking about how to get Vonnie into bed for a change, but he was thinking about what he could teach her next, what was an easy song to learn for a first timer that she could practice whenever they weren’t together. "So anything specific you want to learn?" he asked, trying to get a starting point in his head

Vonnie thought for a moment. "Not really..." Vonnie looked at the guitar and shook her head. "I never thought I could learn it. I mean... I really thought I would try, you would get fed up and we would end up playing video games or something. I didn't think learning anything was actually a possibility." Vonnie grinned and looked at Eli. "Where would you start if I said everything?"

"Well as long as you have an open mind and the actual want to do it I don't see you having any problems. As for everything well...that may take some years to do but if your game, I'm game/ I was thinking more you know a specific song you maybe wanted to learn or something along those lines..."

"I don't know... Can I think about that and get back too you?" Vonnie asked taking another drink from her bottle. "There are so many songs that I really like, I need time to think about it."

He nodded "Of course, no rush or anything if you think of something just let me know and I'll attempt to find or make sheet music up for it..." he took another sip and then reached forward to grab a cookie from his bowl "Cookie?"

"Thanks!" Vonnie shook her head when asked if she wanted a cookie. "No... I don't eat those things remember?" Vonnie reminded him, smiling. Vonnie leans back on the couch then glances up at the ceiling again. "I think they went to sleep."

"You don’t eat oreos?" he asked with a frown, clearly not remembering that discussion "Oh, is it because of the cream in the center? I'm sure its not real milk in there...probably fake stuff some guy made in a lab somewhere..." He followed her lead and leaned back against the couch, setting his beer down so he could twist the top half off his cookie and lick the white center. "Mmmhm certainly seems that way....for now anyway..."

"Well there is also eggs and gelatin in them." Vonnie pointed out. "I've been thinking about giving up on the vegan part though. I read that there is organic milk and eggs where these animals aren't really tortured... I don't know. All this food out there that looks really good."

Eli laughed and turned on his best emperor impression "Yes Vonnie come to the dark side we have tasty things...high in fat, low in morals..."

Vonnie pressed her fingertips into the beer to try and smooth the pain from her tips away by numbing them a little. "Your Star Wars impression needs a lot of work." Vonnie mumbled. Vonnie set her beer on the coffee table and picked up the guitar once more. The strings still hurt her fingers, but she wasn't going to let that stop her from trying out the two chords Eli had just taught her.

He chuckled again "I know, that’s why I'm a musician not an actor." he finished his beer and turned his attention back to her and her guitar/fingering. "Good good...see your already improving now try to speed it up a little..."

Vonnie nodded and tried to do what Eli told her, speeding up just enough just to the point where she was sure she wouldn't make more mistakes then she would get the tune right. As Vonnie concentrated more on the tune, she found the pain in her fingers lessened. The pain was still there, but as long as she didn't focus on it, the pain went away

"Sounding better every time you play isn't it? He asked with a smile, really proud of her for her progress in only a few minutes of picking up a guitar, she definitely had potential which excited him a little, there was nothing hotter to him than a rocker chick.

Vonnie nodded, still paying attention to her fingers. "A little... I guess... How long will I still sound like a beginner? Will it be one of those things I pick up one day and realize I'm playing better? Or one day I'll realize what I'm doing wrong and fix it?"

He chuckled a little and shook his head "It'll be a little while and sort of gradual but you will notice, every day every time you practice you will hear the difference as long as you keep up with it." he replied, then turned to pick up his guitar once more, stopping when he heard a loud bang from upstairs. He closed his eyes and sighed "Guess who woke up...."

Vonnie instantly stopped playing and her head shot up when she heard the loud bang. "What was that?" Vonnie asked. Vonnie looked at Eli, not sure if she was more worried about disturbing Rachel or someone coming downstairs not knowing they were in the living room.

"Don’t worry, they aren't going to come down here that requires pants and the ability to be away from one another..." he shook his head and sighed "Do you wanna go grab a beer or something? I know a place downtown good beer, great wings, pool tables...open all night."

Vonnie put the guitar down very carefully. "That sounds great..." Vonnie said, "I have to warn you... I've never played pool that wasn't on a computer before though." Vonnie stood up and looked at the ceiling again. "Are you sure they are alright? That was pretty loud."

"No problem, it's another thing I can teach you how to do, and it's a lot easier to learn than the guitar." he chuckled a little and rose from the couch, offering her his hand to pull herself up as well. "They are fine, sometimes they knocks tuff off the nightstand, or get a bit too into it...I don't think Rachel knows her own strength...don't know whether I should feel sorry for Noah or be jealous.."

Vonnie takes Eli's hand and pulls herself off of the couch. "Why would you be jealous? She could really hurt him. Sure, his face that would earn him some kind of credibility, as long as no one realizes who did it. He could always lie and say something about three huge men trying to rob him. But what if she hurt his hands? Then your band would be out of luck for a while." Vonnie commented as she walked toward the door to put on her shoes and takes her jacket off the hook. "Unless pain is a fetish for you... Which is alright, I guess. I've been called out to some interesting calls because people had even more weird fetishes then that."

"Common, what guy doesn't a hot attentive girlfriend who likes it hard and rough?" he replied with another laugh. "Besides, it's Rachel we are talking about, as much as she may not know her strength I doubt its possible for her to ever hurt anyone..."

"I guess..." Vonnie put her jacket on and opened the door. Vonnie took the steps like a pro, then turned around and walked backwards. "What if she forgets how weak humans are? Lets face it she could break him in half with out even trying. I've been on more then a few call where a vampire or were said they just got caught up in the mo..." Vonnie didn't finish before she stepped on one of the patches of ice she usually managed to avoid and her feet slipped out from under her, causing her to land on her back in the snow on the front yard. For a moment Vonnie just laid there and watched the snowflakes fall from the sky wishing, again that she wasn't such a complete klutz.

Eli quickly slipped on his boots, grabbed his coat and followed her out the door, about to answer her query when he saw her start to fall. He wasn't quite fast enough to catch her but he did quickly move to her side, kneeling down and giving her a concerned look "You all right?" he asked

Vonnie nods, but remains laying in the snow. "Oh yea... I'm fine." Vonnie folds her hands over her belly. "Apparently gravity feels that there is something here I should be looking at... I figured if it's that important, why not just... I don't know, humor gravity?" Vonnie voice shows a hint of sarcasm.

He laughed and nodded "Works for me..." he laid down beside her in t he snow and copied her by folding his hands over his own stomach and staring up into the night sky for a few minutes before he made another observation. "Uhm...do you think fate is just being perverted and wants you to look in Rachel and Noah's window?" he asked, pointing to the window just below their line of sight. "Cuz it's right there..."

Vonnie looks at him confused. "What would that accomplish? You can't really see anything from this angle. And I'm not a complete idiot, I can pretty much guess what's going on in there. Also, I hope to hell they have the common sense to close the window shade." Vonnie grabs a hand full of snow and tosses it on Eli's chest.

He laughed again and flung snow back at her "You never know, they get too into it might...move around some, forget to draw the shade...it's fate's plan not mine remember?"

"Well of course not..." Vonnie said as she brushed snow off her. "How would you have planned for me to step on a patch of ice I managed to avoid several times a week? And if it was fate... What would fate be trying to tell me? I need shoes with better traction?"

"Or that you need to watch your friend get down and dirty with her boyfriend." he teased, nudging her with his elbow and letting another loud laugh "Fate works in fucked up ways sometimes so, you never really know..."

Vonnie started to get up. "Yea... Well I have Wi-Fi and an internet full of porn that would be less embarrassing then that." Vonnie got into a standing position and started to brush the snow off herself. "Not only would I be a pervert, think of what Rachel would think if she ever found out." Vonnie offers her hand to Eli to help him up.

He laughed again and accepted her hand, pulling himself to his feet. "Who knows, maybe you have a crush on Noah he is a handsome guy...or, maybe you secretly want a piece of Rachel....best friend turned something more..."

Vonnie walked carefully toward Eli's car. "Yes... You've figured me out. I'm secretly madly in love with Rachel." Vonnie replied dryly. Vonnie stomped her feet to shake off the snow. "Why else would I not just jump into bed with you every chance I get?" Vonnie paused as she thought about Noah's good looks and then shook her head. "I don't think Noah is all that... Sure he's attractive but beyond that... Nothing."

"See I knew there was a reason that didn't involve me!" he exclaimed, helping her to the car and making sure she didn't hit any more icy parts. "Also explains why your not fawning over Noah like the rest of the girls....learn new things everyday." he opened the door for her and swept his arm to motion her inside. "Shall we?"