“Come on, honey, we’ve done this a million times. You know how it goes – da-da-da-DA-da-da-ta-da-da-TA. Simplest thing in the fucking world. Just pay a little attention and get it right this time, okay? Then, I promise, we can go to bed.”

It’s the fourth playthrough of “Visions” tonight for Karen, and her fingers are starting to give up. She’d never heard the song before she started dating Tim – and she’s still not quite sure she knows what it sounds like. She knows the drum part – or what she can hear over the odd, plastic slapping of Tim’s Rock Band drums – but the guitar part is a mishmash of the flubbed-note sounds and the atunal chords she does manage to hit. Oh, and Tim’s helpful sing-along suggestions.

“Seriously, you can do this on Hard. Hard Bass, at the very least. Do it on Hard, so I can get the achievement.”

Karen’s not quite sure why Tim keeps going on about Achievements – he’s unlocked all the songs, and when he has his friends over to play Rock Band, it seems like they just play whatever they want. But on nights like this, he opens up the bottle of whiskey above the fridge, starts twirling the drumsticks, and starts yelling at her for not scoring over 90% on the last guitar solo.

“Seriously, honey, this would be a really fun way for us to spend a little more time together, if you’d just take it seriously. I mean, think how nice it would be if you were really great at Rock Band. And, I think, with a lot more practice, you could be. But you’re going to need a lot more work before you get there. A lot. So… Maybe while I’m watching the game at the bar on Sunday, you should do that.”

She flubs another riff and swears.

“Maybe I should try singing,” she asks.

“No, I cleared out those achievements with Amber.” His ex-girlfriend. “She had a great voice.”

She looks at her shoes. Maybe an hour or two before work tomorrow would help her figure out this tricky bit – and Tim’s right, she didn’t have big plans on Sunday. Rock Band could be a lot of fun if she put her mind to it.