Under the Table(35)
After sending a text to Tristan asking if she could stop by and seeing his warm reception to her text, Zoey grabbed her purse and left, without another word.
Chapter 14
Zoey made one stop before getting to Tristan’s. When he answered the door, he was back in his goofy golf clothes, this time red plaid knickers that tucked into his white knee-high socks and a white polo shirt. Given the recent turn of events, they, and he, were a sight for sore eyes.
“I didn’t want to miss you, so I was waiting to clean up until you got here,” he said, reaching for the shopping bags she carried. “I was starting to think you had changed your mind.”
“Not a chance,” Zoey replied excitedly. “I just got an idea and made a pit stop. To thank you for the other night. Take those to the living room.”
On the way over to his apartment, she had thought about telling him about Ruth’s latest escapade, then decided against it. She was tired of Ruth. She needed a break from the stress of it. After remembering how Tristan released stress, she got an idea. Zoey made a small detour to the GameStop.
“Zoey,” Tristan said, pulling the guitar out of the bag by its long neck. “I think your guitar is missing some strings. Like all of them.”
“No, it’s not.” She laughed. “I remembered what you said about Sonic the Hedgehog. I figured it was time to get your gaming into the twenty-first century.”
And if he was going to like it as much as she was thinking he would, it would curtail some of his television watching. She pulled the used gaming console out of the box, complete with cables already plugged in. “This is a PlayStation Three. Sorry I had to buy one used. The new ones are a little out of my budget. And if you hate it, then I can say I tried and not feel awful.”
“I’ve heard of these,” he said with fascination, still staring at the black plastic guitar with its colorful buttons on the neck and lever used to strum. “But all the commercials have them being used for games where you shoot people. Or steal cars while shooting people. Then you team up with other players and shoot people. They look too violent for me.”
“Not all of them, my friend,” she replied while pulling the final object out of the bag, a DVD case. “This game is called Guitar Hero. And don’t worry, you can play it alone without being noticed by anybody else’s system. There are a whole bunch of versions, but I picked out the one that is all Aerosmith.”
“You didn’t.” They exchanged grins, remembering the night they met.
“Don’t get too excited. I’m not sure ‘Walk This Way’ is on the playlist.”
Their grins turned into full-blown smiles.
“Come on, techno guy, let’s figure out how to plug this thing into your television and get to rocking.”
Between the two of them, they were able to hook up the console without directions. When they were done, he picked up the guitar and held it out to her. “You want to do the honors?”
Zoey shook her head. “No way, this is your toy. But I’d be willing to pick the song.”
Excited to get started, they skipped the tutorial. She chose “Sweet Emotion.” “Now remember, the colored stars coincide with the colors on the frets. You push the colors and strum with that lever where the hole in a normal guitar would be.”
Tristan flicked at the thin metal arm that extended out from the guitar. “What the heck does this thing do?”
“I think that’s called a whammy bar. It’s for when you want to riff like crazy. But one thing at a time, okay?” She pushed the button to start the game and raced to the couch for a front-row seat to his first concert.
“What am I supposed to do about all those people standing in front of the stage?” He pointed to the television as the music keyed up.
“They’re your crowd, waiting for the show to start.”
“Amazing.”
And in his plaid golf knickers, he proceeded to butcher “Sweet Emotion.” He started out well enough. When he blew that first chord, he winced like he’d been electrocuted. The virtual crowd let out a yell of discontent. Then it turned into pure torture to her ears. His fingers struggled to keep up as the stars moved faster across the television screen. Some of his sour notes created such a screech, Zoey waited for the glass in the windows to shatter. By the time the game labeled him a total failure and the crowd rained down their disapproval, the other players in his band throwing down their instruments to walk away in disgust, Zoey and Tristan were both laughing so hard, they were wiping away tears.
“That was awful!” He fell down onto the couch beside her.
“Cringe worthy,” she agreed when she finally caught her breath, still clutching her sides.
“I think that audience called me a lot of things. Hero wasn’t one of them.”
“Yeah, they were a tough crowd. I think your bandmates stormed off to have a meeting and fire you.”
Tristan refused to be daunted. Zoey kept picking songs and he kept trying to play them. Her attempts fared no better. Plus, it was much more fun to watch him. He was so engrossed, he never bothered to change out of his golf attire, which added to her overall enjoyment. Somewhere around midnight, they had a pizza delivered, another first for him.
“You know,” he said sincerely, after tearing into his third slice of Ray’s Works, “Guitar Hero and pizza may be the best things that ever happened to me. Next to you, that is.”