Clumsily Strummed
Part eighteen of the Foolish Games series. Dedicated to the OzMIAn Halloween Chat crew, for freaking me out, making me blush and inspiring me to write this and "Somebody Who."
"Oh!" Willow jumped as she heard the key turn in the lock. "Oz!" She flushed.
Oz slowly let his bag slip from his shoulder as he tried to figure out Willow. She was doing the guilty-pose but he didn't exactly know why-- "You were playing my guitar?"
"A little," she confessed, her hands slowly sliding away from the neck of Oz's acoustic guitar -- a bit beat up from wear and tear -- and under her seat.
" 'A little'?"
"Uh huh."
"Hmm."
Willow looked up at him from under her lashes as Oz came nearer. They were going to have their first argument, she knew it. She shouldn't have been playing with his guitar. And Oz had never given her his permission. But hey, it was just a stupid guitar. It wasn't like she was trying to be Jimmy Hendrix or, or, Slash or that old guy who wore a schoolboy's uniform even though he had, like, grandkids and--
"Are you any good?"
"Huh?" Willow blinked twice, coming back to herself.
Oz was crouched in front of her, watching her face intently. "I asked if you were any good."
Her "righteous" indignation, and a small part of her ego, deflating, Willow shook her head no. "Just kinda, you know, clumsily strumming along. I figured it'd be better than my singing."
"You have a beautiful voice."
With a snort and a kind of pshaw hand motion, she told Oz, "You're just saying that because you love me."
"You're right. I do. And I love to hear you. Say anything."
"Oh. Oh that's the prettiest thing I've ever heard."
Oz's knowing smile said he could think of prettier things, but he kept the comment to himself. "Will, play for me," he said instead.
"But. . .but I can't play!"
Oz shrugged. "Everyone starts somewhere. It doesn't matter if you know the notes, if you . . .feel them." He got up and leaned over Willow. Whispering in her ear he said, "I want to hear you."
Willow looked down a her boyfriend as he settled himself at her feet. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. She willed her fingers to move but they were still. Oz looked up at her with his earnest eyes and her world went into motion again. "Okay."
She ran her thumb along the guitar-strings.
Finn[ish]
