Unplugged((Open))

[``vincent gates]

Vincent Gates decided to practice his acoustic guitar. It was a very long time since he had played an unplugged guitar. He walked around the tour bus and found it in a closet towards the back. He pulled it out and listened to the noise coming from the living from part of the bus. She sighed and walked out of the bus carrying his acoustic guitar with him, inside of its case. It had multiple stickers and logos. This was his actual first guitar and his first case. The logos where band logos. World famous bands such as Alkaline Trio, Ramstein, Metallica. Atreyu, and of course his own band While She Sleeps was on there in big black and purple lettering.

Vincent decided to go to the park to get his practice in. As he entered the park the fresh morning air hit his face. He walked around the park and put his sunglasses on. He soon found a bench underneath a tree that had no bird shit on it and sat down placing his guitar down on the bench. He then pulled out the key for the lock on the case. He unlocked the case and looked at his guitar.

It was a perfect oak acoustic guitar, a metal bridge, it was his first guitar. It had costed his parents over a thousand to custom make this guitar. Vincent picked it up and placed it on his lap. He looked inside the case and looked around for a pick. He found in the bottom corner was his favorite black and red pick he had lost a few years ago. He also found piece of crumbled paper. Vincent picked it up and looked at it and uncrumbled it. It was a sheet of music. It was entitled "I Love You", by Vinny G. Vincent looked at the hand writing it was his alright. Sloppy, and crooked. Vincent looked at the various erasing. He looked towards the side he saw erased writing. Vincent removed his sunglasses to get a better view.

I think the song should be called I Love You, one of the erasing spelt out. He looked towards were more erasings had been. I hate you.... Vincent, you broke my heart..., Another had spelt out. Vincent had remembered now that he had a girlfriend back in highschool who his first kiss was with. Vincent had dumped the girl because she had started to hang out with the wrong crowd and Vincent decided to stay away from it.

Vincent then looked down to his guitar and picked it up and started to play going from A-G and back again on a line. A few people had started to gather around him. Vincent then said to the crowd. "Does anyone have any requests?"[/color] He asked as a women had asked him to play happy birthday to her daughter who had realized who he was. "Mom, thats Vinny G from While She Sleeps!"[/color] She had told her mother. Vincent just smiled at her and started to play happy birthday on his guitar.

[``emily moore,,]

outfit

Emily had been pretty damn bored. Really, it wasn’t totally her fault though. She had a reason. You see, she wasn’t the band, so she didn’t have as much to do as them, thus leaving her bored and laying on her bed. A terrible reason, yes, but she made it fit in her mind. The fact that she’d been up for 24 hours didn’t help much either. When Emily was tired, she was lazy. Most of the things she enjoyed doing required some type of work, as most things do, so they really weren’t going to happen. Something had to change that though. There had to be something she could do. And then it hit her. If she had a Monster, it would wake her up, and then she would want to do the things she liked. And didn’t she have a few around here? She was sure she did, so Emily rummaged around in her bag to check. Yeah, she kept them there for some odd reason.

Finding it, the girl smiled to herself and opened it. Taking a sip, her eyes closed for a second to relax. No, she wasn’t going to fall asleep. That was a fact. She hadn’t fallen asleep yet, so she never was going to. Especially not after drinking the energy drink. About halfway through it, Emily felt like doing something. Maybe a walk to the park. There was one pretty close. Being dressed already, it only took her minutes to get ready and walk out the door. It was nice outside, so the short walk to the park was enjoyable. The only bad thing was that she finished her Monster halfway through. But hey, something had to happen at the park to keep her occupied, especially since she was awake now.

Once the can was in a nearby trash bin, Emily took a walk through the park. Her eyes wandered as she walked, looking at all the people and the surroundings. Bleh, at least they all seemed well-rested and happy. She looked up ahead to see a crowd, and she thought she heard music. Hm. It caught her attention. She picked up her pace as she headed in that direction. Emily went towards the front of the crowd, but off to the side so she wasn’t really getting in anyone’s way. The girl recognized the musician right away. He was in the band she was in the crew for. She smiled, watching him play liked the others. It would be way rude to interrupt his playing to say hi. It also wasn’t her. So she just waited for him to finish, listening in the mean time.

[``vincent gates]

Vincent finished play the song. He looked up at the girl and gave a grin. "Thank you so much!"[/color] She had said trying to give Vincent a twenty, but vincent put his hand up. "No reason to tip me, It was my pleasure."[/color] He said as the girl smiled wider. He looked at the girl who he had just realized was atleast 16 years of age. She was pretty and all. But, it wasn't right to even think about it. Vincent looked around the crowd, people where clapping. And some saying how good he was. Vincent turned his head to look at his guitar case, when he noticed, a crew member of the band. Her name was, he thought, Emily?

"Alright folks, thanks for the applause and all. But, truly, I was just practicing with my acoustic guitar. So thanks again."[/color] He said thanking the crowd that had formed around him. Vincent put his guitar on the case careful as not to scratch it. The crowd had started to disperse and he looked towards Emily. "How long have you been standing there? You could've just came over and said Hi,and I hope to god I'm not that big of an asshole to you."[/color] He said remembering if he had been an ass to her before.

[``emily moore,,]

He seemed to not take all the fame seriously, which relieved Emily. There was nothing she hated more than people thinking they were so damn amazing because they were famous. She really wanted to punch those kinds of people. It was like, you don’t have any superhuman powers or anything, so you’re no better than anyone else. Cocky people in general pissed her off, but when they weren’t famous it was easier to deal with. It was easier to tell them they weren’t extremely special or different. But really, if it came down to it, Emily would just throw a few punches to set them straight. She didn’t like to do that anymore, but if she had to fight, she would.

At his words, Emily giggled a little. He’d never been a huge jerk to her. Everyone had been mean at some point, even she’d been mean, but not to the point where it’d cause fear. Besides, she wasn’t easily scared. She had been through too much to be scared by a bad attitude. “No, I was just watching,” she told him, her British accent gracing her words. Ever after living in the US for almost ten years, she still had it. “A bad attitude couldn’t scare me off.” Emily was sure just about everyone knew that she had been in quite a bit of trouble, though the details never really got out. It wasn’t something she wanted everyone to know either. It was actually pretty embarrassing to her.

[``vincent gates]

Vincent was relieved as she said that he wasn't such a jerk to her. Vincent looked at his guitar and smiled. He then looked back at Emily. And moved his guitar and case down next to him on the floor. Guitar rested on top of the case. "Ah well, thats a good thing. And you can sit down, I don't bite."[/color] He said as he laughed. He looked up at the sky as the sun had came into view, from the behind the clouds. Vincent pulled his sunglasses out and slipped them on.

"Well,Emily, since your the only person I have yet to ask, do you have any requests for me play?"[/color] Vincent asked flexing his fingers. Looking at Emily he took in her features. She was pretty, and he was also happy that she had never really talked to him before. Well, partially because he never needed someone to mess with his hair, because he does it himself while he is sleeping. And on his eyes he just uses eye black.

[``emily moore,,]

Really though, a bad attitude wouldn’t keep her from trying to be friends with someone. A few years prior it might have, but not now. If they really made it clear they didn’t like her, then she’d back off. It wasn’t like her to piss someone off because she wanted something. But there was no issue of hard feelings, so she didn’t even have to think about what she would do. Emily laughed slightly at his words, taking a seat near him. “Okay, but if you lied and you bite me, I’ll bite you back.” Her lips curved into a smile as she spoke, obviously joking. Why would she, the germaphobe, bite someone? Yeah, it wasn’t gonna happen.

Requests? Hm. Well, she just wanted to hear music, really. It didn’t matter the song. “Surprise me. Let’s see if I can guess the song.” Emily knew a lot of music, mainly because it was what she occupied herself with when she was younger. Sure, it slowed down once she hit ten, which was when she started fighting and all, but it still was important. It was what calmed her down a lot for the time, and when she wasn’t out partying and getting into trouble, she was at a concert. And now she was always at a concert, and she was doing something the loved.

[``vincent gates]

Vincent laughed as she said that she would bite him back if he did. "But don't worry I won't"[/color]. Vincent said leaning back where he was sitting. He pulled his guitar into a comfortable position. He made the strings a little tighter. "All right then I'll play 3 songs for you. The first will be easy to guess and the last 2 will be a little harder then the previous."[/color]

Vincent said collecting his thoughts. He felt like playing something a little easy to warm him up. The Adam's Family theme song was the first to come to his head. He brought his fingers on the low part of the strings and started to play the simple little song he learned when he was just a child.

It was a simple little song. He finished playing and looked up at her. "Hopefully you can guess which song that was."[/color] He said.

[``emily moore,,]

“Okay, good. I feel safe now,” she told him, mock seriousness in her voice and a smile on her face. Honestly, she felt if someone had the urge to bite someone else for no reason, they needed a lot of help. Being friends with the person was somewhat an exception to that, because Emily knew she was a very odd person around her friends. And she wouldn’t be looking to hurt them. “Hm. Sounds good.” It was a game of sorts, and she loved games. She just loved fun, really.

Emily waited for him to start, paying close attention. As soon as she heard the music, the name came to mind. Simple. Not all of them would be this easy though. Unless he just picked songs she knew, which would have to be by pure coincidence. They never really spoke, so he wouldn’t know what she did and didn’t listen to. Even though she listened to just about every kind of music, there were songs she didn’t know. She wasn’t a music dictionary.

He finished, and she smiled at him. “Of course. The Adam’s Family theme, right?” Emily was pretty sure of herself. If she was wrong, then she’d be really confused. Her whole world would be turned upside down. But not really. That had already happened. Emily was done with all that life changing shit. It was annoying.

[``vincent gates]

Vincent smiled as she guessed correctly. "Yep that is correct. Its one to zip."[/color] He said picking up his guitar from his lap. "Now for something a little harder. I'm gonna change the rules a bit. You have to name the band and the song."[/color] Vincent said.

Vincent searched his mind for a harder song. He found one. Shake It, by Metro Station. He hadn't played this song in a very long time. And he never played it on an acoustic before. "This is probably gonna sound like shit. This song wasn't meant to be played on a wooden guitar."[/color] Vincent said as he started to play the song like he did on his plugged guitar. It didn't sound entirely the same. But it was extremely close.

He finished up the song putting the guitar back on his lap. "And this one is?"[/color] He asked smiling.

[``emily moore,,]

So she had been right. “Yay, I was right!” Emily said, laughing a little at her silliness. Only that time though. Basically, she was silly all the time. Being serious all the time was annoying. Life doesn’t last forever, so you better make the best of it. “Okays. This should be fun. Or difficult.” Emily could remember a song name and the band who played it’s name, but sometimes she didn’t pay much attention to what she was listening to name-wise. The song could turn out to be by a band she didn’t like or know too. Then she wouldn’t be able to name it.

Wasn’t meant to be played on guitar? Emily figured it was safe to assume it was an upbeat song, or along those lines. Most songs could be played relatively easily on any guitar, but ones made by a computer of sorts weren’t. As he played, the girl tried to place the name, but couldn’t. Metro Station wasn’t a band she liked all that much, so she didn’t know the song very well at all. Really, she had only ever heard it once or twice, so it didn’t stick out very much in her mind.

Vincent finished, and Emily still could not think of the name. “Ughh, I know I’ve heard it, but I can’t think of the name.” She made a fist and tapped it lightly on her leg, like it would help her remember or something. Emily didn’t even know why she did that all the time, but didn’t other people do stuff like that too? They hit themselves on the forehead and things like that. At least that she’d seen. “Bah, I can’t think of it. What is it?”

[``vincent gates]

Vincent smiled. As she had said that she didn't know the name of the song. "Its Shake It by Metro Station. And also they use synthesizers and plugged guitars, reason why I said it wasn't meant to be played on the wooden guitar."[/color] He said picking up his guitar from his lap.

"Now for, a much harder song. And I'll admit that it is hard for me to play this song. This song takes skill to pull off. And I'll give you a hint. The album this song is on is called, ".....And Justice for All"."[/color] Vincent said remembering the single on that song. He picked up his guitar and turned the tuners. He went up and down on the strings for a few moments to make sure everything was in check. He nodded.

Vincent made one last check and made the strings a little looser. He picked up his guitar and put it in a comfortable position and started to play And Justice for All by Metalilca.

((That is the name of the song if you don't know.))

[``emily moore,,]

“Oooooh,” Emily said, nodding her head. It was by a band she didn’t like. “I don’t like them much, so I really haven’t heard the song a lot. But whatever,” she told him, not really caring she didn’t know it. It wasn’t the end of the world. He didn’t seem to care much either, so it was all good. If he did care, then, well, she’d be confused as to why it mattered so much.

He told her the next song would be much harder, and Emily’s hands went up to her cheeks. “Oh noes. I’m scared.” A few seconds later she dropped her hands and giggled at herself. She was awfully weird. “But I know that album.” She listened to all kinds of music, different genres and different times. She listened to The Beatles and Motorhead and bands that half of the people she had known didn’t even know existed. Of course, she used to hang out with the stoners and the alcoholics, so that explained a little. They didn’t exactly care much for music.

Once the guitar was set up, Emily listened to him play. She knew the song. Once he finished playing, the girl nodded to herself before speaking. “I know that song. It’s by Metallica. And Justice For All.”

[``vincent gates]

Vincent smiled and placed his guitar in his lap. He looked up to her. "And you are correct. And that also means you win. Some one has finally beaten me. I'am one for five."[/color] He said putt his guitar on his feet, trying not to scratch it. Vincent pulled up his case and opened it and put his guitar in the case. He pulled out a little beaded chain from a pocket on the top portion of the case and put it threw the hole at the end of the pick and put it over his head.

"Just to make sure I never loose my lucky pick ever again.[/color] He said putting the case down next to him. "So what would you like to since we are out. I for one I'm starving, I haven't eaten since lunch time yesterday. The roadies stole my wallet from me and I found underneath the bus this morning.[/color] He said.

[``emily moore,,]

“Woo!” Emily clapped softly for a few seconds. “I feel special now,” she teased, grinning a little amusedly. It was kind of cool she was the first person to beat him. She remembered the first time she had been beaten at something she was good at and did often. It just so happened to make the statement literal. The first time someone had actually won a fight against her Emily felt horrible. She felt weak. Of course, it was nothing like this situation. This situation had more to do with knowledge than anything else, since only one person was playing.

She noticed he put his pick on a chain and put it on, and she became a bit curious. But then he explained without her even asking. “That would suck. I’d hate to lose my lucky pick.” She never played on stage or anything, since she wasn’t in a band and didn’t want to be, but whenever she used a certain pick she played better. “I’d hate for that to happen to me. That’s why I hide my wallet or keep it in my pocket.” Which was where it was now. Emily wasn’t sure if she’d need it, so she brought it just in case. Her phone too, because she didn’t know if anything was going to happen. “Hm. Well, we could go somewhere so you can eat. I’m not hungry, but that’s okay.” She never was hungry much. She just didn’t eat a whole lot naturally. Eating disorders weren’t cool.

[``vincent gates]

Vincent nodded and got up from where he was sitting ttaking his guitar up with him. "Well, I'm in the mood for pancakes. And luckily enough I was born in this neighborhood, and I hope to god that the place is still open."[/color] Vincent said remembering what it was like growing up in Las Vegas. He had liked in particular this one little diner that was close by. He knew the owner pretty well, and he had worked there before he joined a band.

"Its not far from here. we could walk if you'd like."[/color] He asked.