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"This is so exciting! The last time I was backstage at a concert, I got kicked out!"

"Were you...supposed to be back there?"

"Oh, I wasn't supposed to be at the concert at all. I sneaked in. But that's impossible these days, now that they have cameras and security guys everywhere...Ooh, a keyboard!" Alex let go of Jerry's sleeve and practically ran to sit at the tiny bench behind the keyboard that had been set up in one corner of the room.

"Can you play?" Jerry asked as he followed at a slower pace, seeming amused at Alex's excitement.

"Only a few songs. I mean I don't know the notes or anything like that, just how to play some stuff. Here, I got a song for you." Alex looked up and down the keyboard and almost timidly placed her hands on it, taking a deep breath before beginning to play You Really Got A Hold On Me. "I don't like you..."

She stopped and Jerry asked, "aren't you gonna keep going?"

"No, that's it. I don't like you," Alex deadpanned. But she couldn't hold her poker face for long, and as soon as it melted away she resumed. "But I love you. There, that's it because I forgot the rest of the lyrics. Is there a bass around here? I wanna see if I remember Eight Days A Week."

Alex did not remember how to play Eight Days A Week, and the realization of that fact caused her to lose interest in the bass. Jerry noticed and immediately brought a guitar over. "What about this? Can you play this?"

"Uh, no. I wish I could." Alex looked up at him. "Teach me something."

Jerry blinked and nodded. "Uh...like what?"

"The easiest song you can think of."

"Alright, um...do this." He made an awkward shape with his hand, unsure of how else to go about teaching someone a chord.

Alex laughed. "What are you even doing? Come here." She reached out and grabbed his elbow, pulling him down to sit next to her on the bench. She put a hand on the guitar's neck, trying to copy what he'd done with his hand. "Like that?"

"Close." He hesitantly lifted a hand, proceeding to gently move the incorrectly placed finger when she didn't react. "There. Now you just--" He made a quick strumming motion with his right hand, making Alex laugh again.

"You should be a music teacher," she joked, strumming the guitar like he'd said. "Hey, I'm doing it!"

"Wow, you could probably take my place in the band," Jerry said with a grin. "Alright, next chord..."

Alex was almost done learning La Bamba when Sean and Mike came into the rehearsal room looking for Layne. Even though Alex was less than thrilled over the possibility of running into Charlie, she put the guitar down and offered to help look for him. Her methods included impatiently interrogating everyone she happened to see and checking every corner of the venue, and it should come as no surprise that she found him rather quickly. What was a surprise was the fact that Charlie was nowhere to be seen. Hm. "Layne! Sean and Mike are looking for you. They didn't say why, but it sounded important. You should come with me."

Layne rubbed his eye and nodded, following Alex out of the dim room she'd found him in after telling the guys he was with to save him some beer. "Did they say what this is about? Wait, shit, you just told me they didn't. Sorry."