Chapter Text
The fall air was crisp, and the leaves crunched under boots. Lara Raj was walking the path towards the back of the record shop that she and her sister owned. She put her stuff behind the counter and let out a heavy sigh before unplugging the wired earbuds attached to her phone. Lara took a moment to check her phone to see what was happening on her friends' stories.
Lara grimaced at all of the pictures of her friends on campus, now painfully aware she was stuck in a record store she didn’t want to be in, instead of on campus, focusing on school. She connected her phone to the aux and played Didn’t Cha Know before walking around to organize the various records.
Only a few customers came by in the hour it took to organize, and once it was clear, Lara sat down behind the counter and took her laptop out to watch one of her online lectures for one of her classes. The door opened, and Lara paid it no mind before she saw her sister come up to her with two cups of coffee.
Rhea put the cup down next to Lara’s laptop. The lack of a thank you didn’t faze her. She knew her sister was appreciative, even if she was quiet about it.
“You’re late,” Lara murmured as she sipped her black coffee.
“You’ll live,” Rhea said with a light smirk and sat down next to Lara. “It’s your turn tomorrow.”
Lara rested her chin on her hand and hummed, “I wanna go somewhere new. The barista at Starbucks is starting to remember my name and order. I don’t like it.”
“She’s being nice,” Rhea said with a shrug.
“She keeps complimenting me. I don’t like it.”
“Maybe she’s flirting?” Rhea suggested.
“Gross. Now I really need to find a new place.”
Rhea rolled her eyes playfully and sighed softly, eyeing her sister’s laptop. “Class?”
Lara nodded absentmindedly, “Yeah, but it hasn’t been busy, and I organized everything.”
Rhea nodded and sipped her tea. Her sister didn’t talk much, and Rhea didn’t blame her. She was lucky she had already finished college. She got a degree in vocal performance, so she spends her nights doing gigs with her band now, while Lara spends most of her days in the store, pretty much all day. Rhea felt bad, but Lara insisted it was fine.
“I can’t stay until close,” Rhea said as she walked through the small store to make sure Lara organized everything.
Lara nodded, “It’s fine. I might close early today. I don’t feel too great.”
Rhea continued to fix what Lara missed before helping the customers that came and went so that Lara could focus on her online class.
The hours seemed to tick by slowly for Lara. It was now seven pm, and nobody had come in for half an hour. Usually, Lara kept the place open until ten, but the store felt more suffocating tonight. Seeing all of her friends starting the new semester on campus bothered her far more than she wanted to admit.
Lara was doing the closing duties when somebody walked in. She sighed and took a seat behind the counter. She felt weird cleaning up when somebody was present. Lara watched as a curly-haired girl approached a section of CDs. The girl caught Lara’s stare, and she smiled brightly in greeting. Lara nodded in return and studied the girl’s features.
Lara’s eyes raked over the too-bright top, too-tight jeans, and curls that definitely took too much effort to look effortless. She rolled her eyes and scrolled through her phone awkwardly, trying to telepathically will this girl to hurry up so she could close.
Finally, the girl approached the counter with too much enthusiasm. Like it wasn’t seven in the evening on a random Monday. She put down a CD. It was ‘Red’ by Taylor Swift. Lara subtly scoffed before ringing the CD up.
“Why the judgment?” The girl asked with a curious tilt to her head.
Lara shrugged, “I have to restock her albums constantly. I don’t see the appeal.”
The girl smiled at that. “Do you think she isn’t good?”
Lara waved her hand dismissively. “Never said that. I just don’t see the big appeal. Everyone who comes in and buys her stuff rarely has good music taste. You can put your info in if you want an account,” She said as she swivelled the iPad around.
She typed in her information with a smirk, “I have excellent taste in music, you know.”
Lara looked up at her curiously and saw the name that popped up on the screen once the information was filled in. Daniela. “Go on then, who else do you listen to?”
Daniela thought for a moment, “Well, my favorite artist is Playboi Carti.”
Lara had no choice but to scoff at that. “Oh, never mind. Your taste is incredible,” Lara said flatly.
Daniela didn’t know the other girl was joking, so she beamed at that. “Thanks!”
Lara stifled a laugh as Daniela paid. She could not fathom that the other girl thought the pinnacle of music taste was Playboi Carti, and she really didn’t want another bad review, so she kept quiet and maintained the awkward silence. Daniela tilted her head and just studied Lara for a moment before leaving with a bright smile and a wave goodbye.
Once the girl left with her CD, Lara finally closed up and drove home. It was quiet in the house when she got there. Rhea wasn’t home. She was presumably at a band member's house practicing, so she made dinner for herself.
Lara carried the bowl of spaghetti to their dedicated music room and started to work on beats and tracks for her and her sister. Her dog, Bala, running in and yipping happily, was the only thing to make her smile that day.
The shower Lara took and the doomscrolling she did in bed after all faded together, and soon, Lara was sound asleep.
The next morning, Lara woke up early. It wasn’t out of obligation; her body just seemed not to be able to handle resting. It was her turn to go on a coffee run for her and Rhea, but she shuddered at the thought of interacting with the bubbly barista who began memorizing things about her. Lara pulled her phone out to research cafes she hadn’t been to before and settled on one near the shop.
Lara quietly passed her sister’s room, where Rhea was sleeping, and she got in the car. It was earlier than she usually left, so she figured she could go on a walk or something before settling down in the little store. She got in her car and quickly put a new CD she snatched from the shop in and tried to ease her loud mind.
Once Lara made it inside, her heart skipped. The barista behind the counter, smiling to herself as she restocked cups, was none other than the girl who came into the record store. She was about to turn around and leave, but Daniela had already noticed her.
“Oh, it’s you!” Daniela said happily.
Lara knew it was an invitation to tell the other girl her name, but instead she shrugged, “It’s me,” she said as she stepped to the counter.
“What can I get for you? A music enthusiast like you must have a good coffee order.”
Lara’s eyebrows lifted in amusement. “It’s pretty boring. I’ll just take a medium black coffee, and I’m getting a medium lemon ginger tea with extra turmeric for my sister.”
Daniela paused as she rang in the order, “Really? There’s no way you’re serious.”
Lara shrugged, “I like it that way.”
Daniela huffed dramatically, “At least let me have you try something new!”
Lara shook her head immediately, “No, no. You’re not about to break routine and ruin my tradition.”
Daniela huffed at that and grabbed the cups as Lara paid. “Can I have a name for the order? Can’t be mysterious about it now, y’know.”
Lara reluctantly let her name spill, bracing herself for how her name would feel coming from this girl. “It’s for Lara.”
“Lara,” Daniela repeated and paused for a beat before writing it down on the cups. Lara realized that she didn’t hate how her name sounded coming from Daniela. It sounded natural, like the name belonged there or something. She shuddered at the thought and tried to put an earbud on, but Daniela already began to talk her ear off. She did appreciate, though, that Daniela did most of the talking. Like she didn’t expect Lara to say anything back, and she was aware that she had to earn it.
Once the girl’s drinks were ready, Lara grabbed the cups and saw a little smiley face next to the cursive letters of her name and another little smiley face in the first ‘A’ of her name on the cup of the black coffee. She sighed softly and gazed up at Daniela. “I’ll see you around,” Lara mumbled and left before Daniela could respond.
The drive to the store was short, but surprisingly, Rhea was already there. Lara tilted her head curiously. “You’re early,” Lara murmured as she set the tea in front of her. “I went somewhere new today. Sorry if your order isn’t as good.”
Rhea glanced down at the cup and turned it slightly, eyes landing on the little smiley face. “Oh,” she said, a grin quickly forming, “They drew on it. How cute.”
Lara bristled and walked away to organize the shelves. “Stop making it a big deal.”
“Mmh,” Rhea hummed, unconvinced. “You went somewhere new and came back with art. I was just pointing it out.”
Lara scoffed, “You’re acting like this coffee run is the most interesting thing ever. We needed drinks.”
“And they needed to decorate your cup?” Rhea asked, sipping the tea with a delighted hum.
Lara shot her a look. “She probably does it for everyone.”
Rhea kept her smile. “You’re getting overly defensive of a smiley face.”
Lara paused for half a second before continuing to organize. “No, you’re making a smiley face weird.”
“What’s her name?”
Lara sighed. “Why do you care?”
Rhea smirked. “So you know it?” Which earned a shrug from Lara.
Lara was gonna let the silence that followed sit, but she couldn’t shake the feeling. “I asked you a question.”
Rhea shrugged. “Because you never go anywhere new, and now suddenly you remembered the name of a barista and she’s drawing smiley faces on your cup.”
“Your cup.” Lara corrected.
“I wasn’t the one there, though,” Rhea retorted.
Lara huffed in frustration and snapped, “It didn’t mean anything.”
Rhea raised her hands in surrender as her sister raised her voice. “Okay, okay, it didn’t mean anything.”
A pang of guilt shot through Lara as the silence grew louder and she cleared her throat awkwardly. “...She came into the store yesterday,” She muttered.
Rhea’s smile returned instantly. “Oh? Is that why you went to that coffee shop?”
Lara fixed her with a glare. “I didn’t even know she worked there. She just came in for a CD. That’s all.”
“What kind?” Rhea and Lara both judged people based off their music taste.
“Taylor Swift.”
Rhea pondered for a moment. “She’s bold then.”
“And her favorite artist is Playboi Carti,” Lara added, a little too quickly, though, as if she could never forget certain facts about this girl.
Rhea blinked. “And you didn’t walk away when you saw her again?”
“We needed drinks,” Lara repeated, sharper this time.
Rhea sipped her tea to hide her grin before adding a small “Sure.”
Lara groaned and went to snatch her own cup before Rhea could psychoanalyze the other smiley face.
By the end of the week, Rhea started noticing something she hadn’t pointed out. Lara began to volunteer to get coffee every day. She used the excuse “You always bring it too late,” but Rhea suspected that this was now a positive part of Lara’s routine. Whether or not it was about the barista or the coffee, though, Rhea couldn’t decide.
Lara was in the record store with her headphones on, attempting to make something that sounded original, but her slump persisted. It was quiet that afternoon. Six pm on a Sunday hadn’t ever been this quiet, but the rain explained it. She had barely heard the door chime when suddenly a voice snapped her out of her own world.
“Okay. I’m starting to think you actually live here.”
Lara froze. She didn’t turn around immediately. She told herself it was a coincidence and that it was someone else. Someone else who happened to sound like the last person Lara wanted to see.
Daniela was standing near the entrance, hands behind her back and bouncing on her heels like she’d been looking forward to being here. Everything was always the same. Same too bright energy, same big curls, but different day.
Lara stared for a bit too long before speaking. “Why are you here again?”
Daniela shrugged with a smile. “I asked somebody to point me to the gloomiest person in California, and they pointed here.”
“This did not happen.”
Daniela giggled. “It did. They pointed right over here.”
“Nobody pointed at anything,” Lara said with the whisper of a smile ghosting her lips.
Daniela shrugged. “You exist in a very specific radius. I’m not going out of my way.”
Lara exhaled through her nose and put one of the sides of the headphones back over her ear like she was reclaiming control of the situation. “Are you buying something, or are you just here to be a distraction?”
“I prefer ‘frequent visitor’.”
“Unfortunately, both are true. I see you more than I see Rhea,” Lara said with a sigh.
Daniela shrugged, “You’re the reason for most of our encounters.”
Lara opened her mouth to speak, but she had no rebuttal to that.
Daniela then leaned slightly against the counter, looking around like she’d never seen the place. “This place is so cozy, unlike the emotionally hostile person who runs it,” though, there was no malice in her voice.
Lara scoffed, “I’m not emotionally hostile.”
“That’s not what your face says.”
Lara pointed at her like it was a warning. “Don’t start.”
Daniela raised her hands slightly. “I’m not starting anything. I’m observing you.”
“You seem like you’re always observing something,” Lara pointed out.
Daniela smiled, “It’s how I win people over.”
Lara shook her head, “That is not a good strategy.”
“It’s working on you.”
Lara’s head snapped up. “No, it’s not.”
Daniela just smiled brightly as if the defensiveness made her claim more true.
There was a pause between the two. It wasn’t awkward, but it was overly present. Daniela looked like she wanted to say something, but instead she wandered over a section of CDs like she had a reason to be there.
Lara watched her for a moment longer than necessary before forcing herself to look back at her laptop.
That’s when the door opened again.
Rhea stepped in, carrying a takeout bag for Lara, before spotting the customer. She put the bag down and smiled at the girl.
Daniela smiled back, “You must be Rhea. I’m Daniela.”
Rhea’s eyebrows shot up, and she glanced at Lara, then back at Daniela, as a grin slowly formed on her face when she realized this girl met the name and description. “Oh,” Rhea said, far too amused. “So you’re Daniela. I’ve heard so much about you.”
Lara’s eyes widened, and she groaned, “No, she hasn’t. Ignore her.”
Daniela turned ever so slightly towards the CDs like she was trying not to smile too obviously.
Lara, unfortunately, had the instinct to hide her face in her hands, which made it worse.
Rhea giggled and turned back towards Daniela. “I’m happy to finally meet you.”
Lara sighed, “Stop encouraging her.”
“Hey, I’m not encouraging anything, I’m just being friendly.”
Daniela nodded in agreement before her, and Rhea talked happily while Lara went back to her laptop.
Daniela ended up at the counter again, not long after, not holding anything, which meant she was about to bother Lara some more.
“I need recommendations,” Daniela said simply.
Lara looked up. “You don’t need anything.”
Daniela huffed. “I do if I want to stop my friends from bullying my music taste.”
“That’s not a real problem.”
Rhea hit her sister’s shoulder and gave her a pointed look, earning a groan from Lara. She leaned forward and studied Daniela before speaking. “What do you listen to…besides Carti and Taylor Swift?” Lara asked, genuinely bracing herself.
Daniela groaned, “You’ll judge me.”
Lara nodded, “Oh, no, I for sure will.”
Daniela tapped her nails on the counter. “Just give me your recommendations.”
Lara sighed, “So demanding. I’m already drained at the idea of doing this.” In reality, Lara was already formulating playlists and albums for Daniela to listen to.
“Yet you’re about to do it,” Daniela said with an excited smile.
Lara rolled her eyes. “Unfortunately,” she muttered and got up and gently took Daniela’s wrist to lead her to a few CDs.
The touch was electrifying for both girls. Daniela visibly shivered, but Lara remained looking unfazed.
Lara let go of Daniela’s wrist like it had been an accident she didn’t plan on repeating. It wasn’t.
The aisle was quieter than the front of the store, stacked with rows of CDs that felt more like decisions than music. Daniela followed easily, like she trusted Lara with everything in this moment.
“So,” Daniela said, walking just slightly behind Lara. “You’re trying to change my entire music taste, right?”
Lara smirked ever so slightly. “You need me to.”
Daniela approved of this answer.
Lara exhaled and thought carefully as she scanned the rows. She knew Daniela would truly listen to her recommendations, so she had to pick carefully. She then finally pulled a CD out.
“Start with this.”
Daniela leaned in to look, resting her chin on Lara’s shoulder to see. Lara tensed up but brushed it off. “Frank Ocean.”
Daniela perked up as she took the CD. “Oh, I’ve heard some of his stuff. My friend said he’s the inspiration behind his music.”
Lara sighed and couldn’t help but smile. “I can assure you your friend sounds nothing like him.”
Daniela giggled at that and shrugged, “You’re probably right.”
Lara reached for another. “SZA,” she said simply, handing the CD over.
Daniela’s face brightened. “I like some of her songs!”
Lara nodded approvingly. “Good, at least I’m not starting from zero with you.”
Daniela huffed. “Am I being graded?”
Lara scoffed. “Oh, very much so,” she said before pulling out another CD, holding it out like she was extra proud of herself for this. “Erykah Badu.”
Daniela turned it over. “This seems like your favorite.”
Lara nodded. “Correct. So treat it well.”
“I like it,” Daniela said happily.
Lara’s eyebrows furrowed. “You haven’t heard it yet.”
Daniela shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
Lara shook her head. “This is how people end up liking bad music.”
“Well, that’s why I’m being open-minded and asking for help.”
Lara opened her mouth but closed it again at the fact that Daniela had a point. She reached for one more CD and paused, debating on whether or not she should actually give it to Daniela. Alas, she handed it over. “Radiohead.”
Daniela stared at it. “This one feels like you’re trying to humble me.”
Lara nodded, “I am.”
Daniela laughed under her breath, “Why?”
“Your favorite artist is Playboi Carti. I need to do everything to stray you away from that.”
Daniela furrowed her eyebrows. “I can’t believe you’re being so mean to a paying customer.”
Lara waved her hand dismissively. “Who said you’re paying?”
Daniela went silent, and she looked away to hold the bright smile back.
“But,” Lara added, turning back to the shelf like she didn’t notice the happy expression. “You’ll still like it.”
Daniela hugged the stack of CDs to her chest. “So what I’m hearing is you think I have good taste potential?”
Lara didn’t look back at Daniela. “What you’re hearing is I want you out of this aisle in ten minutes.”
Daniela smiled, not believing her at all.
They went back to the counter, and Lara bagged the CDs before handing them to Daniela.
Daniela took the bag happily. “Can I have your number so I can send you my reviews?”
Lara groaned. “Will it get you out of the store faster?”
Daniela wordlessly slid the phone over to Lara on the open contact screen and smiled as Lara reluctantly typed the number in.
As the curly-haired girl finally left, Lara watched her while Rhea watched Lara.
“Fast friends,” Rhea observed.
“Rhea, nobody asked you,” Lara said as she side-eyed her sister.
Rhea giggled and the two ate dinner in comfortable silence before closing the store and going home. Once Lara got in the car, her phone dinged four times. “Already starting, huh, Daniela?” Lara mumbled as she drove in the soft rain.