Chapter Text
Me and Nina ended up having to run to the shop due to the rain that immediately began pouring as soon as we got off the bus. Once we arrived we gave each other a glance and began laughing uncontrollably.
"Good day to you two" a voice spoke up from the left corner of the room.
We quickly turned to see a woman in about her 60s with long blonde hair, a long black dress, maroon glasses and a bunch of bracelets that rattled when she moved.
"Hi Ms. Belmont!" Nina greeted as she began walking straight to the vinyl section.
"Good afternoon Nina," Ms. Belmont greeted, fixing her glasses before turning to me "and just who might you be young man?"
"Oh- uhm…I'm Tob-Tobias Rogers ma-ma'am." I said and quickly walked over to offer my hand.
"Well aren't you well-mannered," Ms. Belmont gave me a smile as she shook my hand as she lowered her voice, "Unlike this one here." She scoffed and gestured to Nina
"I heard that!" Nina called out from the other side of the room, "Tobbes get over here!"
I let out a small laugh and quickly walked over, "Is th-that my new-new nickname no-now?"
"Well I'm supposed to call you something," Nina replied as she looked through each vinyl as if searching for something specific.
"S-So…What ar-are—Fweet!— are we looking ff-for?" I asked after a while of silence.
"The newest album of Clairvoyance got a vinyl version" Nina replied
"…Who's Clairvoyance?" I hesitantly asked causing Nina to gasp in realization
"you seriously never heard of Clairvoyance?! They're the best band in like all of history!" Nina said, quickly searching her pockets before shoving her MP3 player in my hand with her headphones.
I hesitantly put on an earbud as Nina pressed play. The music was actually pretty good, the lead singer had amazing vocals and the drums in the background was really good. The song ended I gave Nina her stuff back.
"Soo, how was it?" She asked, trying to hide her excitement but mostly failing.
"I-It was actually pr-pretty good, ki-kinda— Fuck you!— reminds me of a-a band I us-used to listen to back whe-when I was— Bam!— little" I replied causing Nina's smile to widen, feeling proud of her music taste.
"Really? What band?" Nina asked as she went back to looking for her vinyl
"I don't really re-remember what it was cal-called, I just remember hear-hearing the song-songs at the corner store nearby my house when-whenever I didn't wan-want to go h-home just yet."
"Well…Maybe we could find it! Do you remember any distinct lyrics or the type of music they were playing?" Nina suggested
"I guess…Th..They had a lot of gu-guitar solos that felt…isolated, I'm not sur-sure how to des-describe it but the guitars ha-had these echo e-effects—Fweet!— effects that made them ff-feel lonely…" I stopped for a moment, trying my hardest to— Bam!— remember the band that I remember loving so much, "I'm pr-pretty sure they wer-were rock though."
"Hm…I think I know of the band you're talking about…" Nina said as she messed with her MP3 before handing it to me, "I think it might be this one?"
I put on the earbud and immediately recognized the first few guitar chords, "Yeah! I-it's th-this one!" I said causing Nina to let out a small cheer, the name of the band was Late Night Spring.
"I can't believe a store played LNP! They're usually not well known…I think we could find a few albums here if you like!" Nina suggested And I quickly nodded in agreement.
We began looking through the albums, unlike me, Nina actually had a clear idea of what the album looked like, I was just going off the names on the side of the albums.
After a while of no luck me and Nina and asking Ms. Belmont and getting no clear answer we eventually decided to give up hope, "Liking underground bands is such a pain…I'm sorry we couldn't find what you wanted Tobbes." Nina said, her face showing her defeat
"I-It's fine, we tr-tried and hey no-now I kn-know what the name of th-the band is." I said, giving her a comforting smile that made her light up a bit.
"Yeah, I guess that's a win…So you want to head over to the burger place? It's really good I promise" She suggested
"Sure but a-aren't you su-supposed to be—Whoop!— to be lookin' f-for your v-vinyl?" I asked, pointing at the un-searched vinyl collection
"I can search another day, plus the day is coming to a close and I am really hungry" Nina replied, "Aren't you hungry?"
"uhm…Sure"
"It's settled then, by Ms. Belmont!" Nina said as she waved at Ms. Belmont goodbye
"Goodbye Nina, goodbye Tobias, take care you two!" Ms. Belmont called out as we walked out of the store and ran over to the burger place which was across the street.
We settled ourselves into a booth and fell into a small conversation, asking each other the basics and whatnot after we gave our orders to the waitress.
"So what brought you to Denver?" Nina asked as she sipped her strawberry milkshake
"Well..If…If I'm really hon-honest, I'm— Fweet!— I'm not ex-exactly sure why we move-moved here in the first pl-place…" I looked down at my soda as I mindlessly stirred it with the straw, "My sister just t-told me we wer-were leaving one-one day— Bam!— and I did-didn't really quest-question it." I explained.
"Well that's a bit…Strange, isn't it?"
"Guess so.." I agreed.
The burgers came and we moved on to lighter topics, to my surprise and shock the burgers came was as good as Nina had described.
"So, what do you like to do?" Nina spoke up
"I mean, I-I like— Fuck you!— like photo-photography and ad-adventuring in nature, that c-counts as a h-hobby right?" I answered
"Hmm" Nina hummed in understanding, "I never really took you for a nature guy, guess you learn something new every day"
"I-I get that a l-lot" I gave her a small smile before turning to the window, the rain was still pouring and most of the surrounding stores were closed.
Denver didn't seem so bad.
My thoughts were interrupted by the unexpected sound of the entrance bell followed by two male voices
"The rain nearly ruined my new jacket." A voice scoffed
"Maybe you should've brought an umbrella, like a normal person would." A sterner voice replied.
"Like hell I would, it would ruin the whole outfit!" The first voice argued
By then I just kinda tuned them out as they seem to bicker about wether if the importance of an outfit was greater than the importance of avoiding getting pneumonia.
"So, how do you like the burger?" Nina asked
"hm? Oh- uh- it's pr-pretty good—Fweet!— good actually…th-thanks again for br-bringing me h-here Neens" I replied, causing Nina to burst out laughing
"Seriosuly? Neens?" She said between laughs
"W-Well it's m-my turn to c-call you something!" I playfully argued
"I know you can come up with something better than that!" Nina let out a sigh after finishing her laugh, "I need more lemonade, I'll be back, think of something better!" Nina said as she walked off with her cup
As I waited for her I noticed something on the corner of my eye, a small keychain of a deer with its nose pointed up at the key ring, someone must've dropped it. I hesitantly picked it up before I noticed one of the guys that came in earlier was seemingly looking around in a bit of a worried manner.
I looked around, trying to make an idea of how to give the guy the keychain without having to interact with him but couldn't come up with anything else. I held my breath, gathered up my last bit of courage before hesitantly walking over to the guy who seemed to be alone.
I hesitantly tapped the shoulder of the guy who was what I assume looking for the keychain.
"E-Excuse me, i-is this y-yours?" I asked, holding out the deer keychain and internally dying out of embarrassment due to my stutter.
The guy stared at me for a moment before finally grasping what I had said, "Oh! Uh- yes, th-thank you." He said, quickly taking the keychain.
I gave him a nod before beginning to walk back to me and Nina's table.
"Uh- hey uhm…" The guy spoke up, causing me to suddenly stop and turn to him, "Are you new in town? I don't think I've seen you before." He said, now that I was closer I managed to identify a few features of his.
The guy was a bit taller than me; no more than a few inches, he had dark brown soft eyes and a silver piercings on his eyebrow, lips, and nose bridge which honestly fit amazingly well with his dark oak skin, he also styled his locs half-up half-down which fit with his what I would assume to be private school uniform.
"Oh- uhm y-yeah I just arrived a d-day ago actually.." I replied, I honestly wasn't expecting him to actually attempt an actual conversation.
"Oh, that's pretty cool…So, do you like it so far?" He asked
"Y-Yeah, it's a pr-pretty good city fr-from what I've seen." I replied and he gave me an awkward smile which I hesitantly returned.
"Well, I'm glad you like it."
"Jack come on! Liu hates it when we are late and I am not trying to walk home after practice!" The other guy said as he stood by the door.
"I'm coming!" Jack called out, "Well- uhm- it was nice meeting you…uh.."
"Tobias."
"Tobias…It was nice meeting you, Tobias" Jack said, giving me a warm smile before walking back to the other guy who I could've sworn I heard snicker.
I brushed it off, twitching and whistling a little before I realized I was holding back my tics. I decided to walk back to the booth in which Nina was already waiting for me with a teasing smile on her face
"Not even a week in and you already have someone swooning over you." Nina teased and I gave her an odd look.
"S-swooning? As in r-romantically?" I asked before sitting down.
"Yeah, well, duh." Nina said as I began to chuckle, "What's so funny?"
"T-Two guys ca-can't—Fweet!— can't like each other, that's un-unnatural." I replied causing Nina's smile to falter slightly.
After a moment of silence I decided to speak up, "M-Maybe we sh-should head home, it's time we head h-home." I said while getting up and leaving my side of the payment on the table.
"Yeah you're right, today was surely eventful." Nina said, giving me a smile as she stretched. We both ran to our bus stops after saying our goodbyes, today I can say with confidence wasn't halfway as bad as I expected it. I consider that my biggest win for what I can safely say the next ten years.