Chapter Four: What You Own
Josh headed upstairs after working that afternoon at the Premiere. Drake still wouldn't be home yet because of his rehearsals, so why did he hear music coming from their bedroom? Josh opened the door and had to do a double take to see Aiden sitting on the loft, as Drake and Aiden looked a lot alike, playing Drake's most prized guitar, his cherry red fender stratocaster signed by Devon Malone that he'd won from a radio station which Josh had to replace because he accidently set fire to it. Drake cherished that guitar. And Drake wasn't exactly on friendly terms with his older brother, so how would he respond to this? Not in a good way.
"Hi," said Josh, wondering what Aiden was doing in the room in the first place.
"Hey," said Aiden, glancing up from his playing.
"Uh, you know, that's Drake's favorite guitar for obvious reasons. I'm just wondering how he'd feel to see you playing it."
"Hmm," Aiden smirked. He continued to play. He stopped for a moment and jumped down from the loft.
"I just figured, he might not be very happy."
"Maybe not," said Aiden. He began playing again. He was good. He definitely knew what he was doing. He began to play again.
"Wow," said Josh. "You're good."
"Thanks."
"Could you play something you wrote?"
"Hmm? Oh, I never wrote anything. It took too much time. It was easier just to play the songs I liked. Besides, I never really wanted to do much with the guitar anyway. Maybe when I was younger I had silly little dreams of being a rockstar, but I matured fast, and I decided I didn't want to do that anymore.
"I see," Josh responded.
Drake was ready to deck Hewitt. If he complained about his blending one more time, Hewitt's lip was going to meet Drake's fist. Then the student director of the holiday pageant...Drake knew if he started on her, he wouldn't stop.
He climbed the stairs to his bedroom. He had to get his guitar before going to band rehearsal, but wait. Did he hear someone playing guitar? Josh couldn't play. As much as Drake tried to teach him, Josh just couldn't play. He did like to mess around and pluck the strings sometimes, but that was all he was able to do. So when Drake heard a Led Zeppelin song, he knew there was only one person who could be playing that at the moment. He frowned and opened his bedroom door.
"What are you doing?" he asked, staring at Aiden.
Aiden stopped playing. He smirked again.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" he asked Drake.
"Playing my guitar," Drake replied.
"Now was that so hard?" asked Aiden.
Drake's eyebrows came down. What was he doing?
"Just put it down," Drake responded.
Aiden frowned, but he set the guitar back down.
"Funny because you wouldn't have any interest in it if I hadn't played it in the first place," Aiden said.
"Whatever," said Drake. "Just don't touch my guitars. You quit anyway."
"But even you have to admit, no one could resist not playing that guitar," Aiden said, raising an eyebrow.
"Why do you think I don't want anyone to touch it?" Drake asked bitterly.
"Well, we're not in a good mood today, are we, little brother?"
Drake growled in his throat.
"Just leave it alone," said Drake. "It doesn't belong to you."
"Didn't we learn about sharing in kindergarten, little brother?"
"I'm not going to talk grade school etiquette with you."
"Oh, really?" asked Aiden. "Big word etiquette."
"Would you just get out?" Drake responded, growing more and more flustered by the moment. He glanced over to where Aiden's cell phone was sitting on his bed. "Were you up on the loft?" Drake asked.
"Maybe. Does it matter?"
"Kinda. That's my bed!"
"Whatever," said Aiden, grabbing his phone. "You just lucked out because I moved out." Aiden left the room and shut the door behind him.
"What did that mean?" Josh asked.
"Nothing," said Drake.
"Nothing?"
"That's right, nothing. Don't bother me about this now." Drake sat down on the couch and kept a blank stare. Finally he spoke again. "I don't see why he has to touch my guitar. His old one is still around. The one I use to rehearse. He could have used that, but no, he touches my baby."
"Drake, it's just a guitar..."
"You know very well what that guitar means, Josh," said Drake, jumping up from where he sat. "You freaked and replaced it, remember? And it's not just the guitar itself, it's the principal. That's my guitar." Drake sighed and kept his head turned away from Josh.
"You're right. I know what it means to you."
"Not entirely," said Drake. He kept quiet after that. He didn't speak again for a while.
"So, Aiden played first?" Josh asked.
Drake was quiet for a moment but soon responded, "Yeah. He quit playing after a while, but I was always still interested in it." Drake was silent for the next few minutes. Josh soon decided Drake wasn't going to speak again, so he headed for the door. As he placed his hand on the doorknob, he heard Drake's voice. "Aiden used to sleep on the loft. I used to want it, but it was his place. That's why he said I was lucky. Because he moved out and I finally got what I wanted. That's what that means."
