Even Broken Bells Will Ring

Chapter 7-And I Believe

After the sunrise, Danny drove us downtown to a little record store. "I thought we could get to know each other through music.." he said with a smile as we walked inside. We wandered the aisles searching for treasure to share. I grabbed The Basement Tapes by Bob Dylan and tucked it under my arm like Sammy had taught me. I went to find Danny to show him and he beamed. "Awesome find! I love Bob! Wanna see what I found?" He asked bashfully. He's so cute when he's shy..

"Show me," I replied as I clung to his forearm. He grinned and flipped around a record outlined in blue with an off white center containing a man having a tea party under a tree.

"Cat Stevens' Tea For The Tillerman. It's such a good record.." he said with a smile before running his hands through his dark curls. I kissed his cheek lightly and grinned when he blushed.

"You'll have to let me listen to it sometime," I replied as I wrapped my arms around his middle just trying to be as close to him as I could.

He nodded and said, "Anytime you want, Rae." He took my record from me so he could check out. I protested, but he held the record above his head laughing as I tried to take it back. Eventually I gave up and let him buy it for me. "Man, I'm so glad I got these two new records to add to my collection," he teased as we walked out.

"Heyyyy! That's no fair!" I pouted as I tried to pull mine away again. He laughed as he caught me in his long arms kissing my cheek, jaw and neck until I melted into his embrace. He held me for a few moments, and it felt like he wanted to say something, but he didn't. I rested my head against his chest as he straightened my hair and kissed the top of my head.

After a moment, he pulled away and held my shoulders as he looked down at me smiling. "Rae, I...I just wanted to tell you..." he said with a pause. "I have plans with Sam this week, so I may not see you until next week..just so you know," he added weakly. I smiled trying to hold in the fact that this hurt my feelings. It shouldn't have. We are not dating, he's not obligated to see me, and we already discussed that this is a short term relationship without even being a relationship..so why did knowing I wouldn't see him for a week hurt me?

"That's okay..I've been kind of neglecting Mia anyway, so we could probably use some girl time," I said with a fake smile before leaning in to kiss him. He kissed me back before taking my hand and leading me further down the street into the city.

It was nearly lunch time now, and I was absolutely starving. "What are you thinking for food?" Danny asked quietly as we walked.

"Whatever sounds good to you," I replied with a smile.

"Don't give me that...what do you feel like eating?" He said with a laugh as he turned to look at me. His big brown eyes catching the sunlight just right made them even more mesmerizing than usual. He laughed and said, "Rae?" when I didn't respond.

"Sorry..uh honestly? Some greasy bar food and a beer sounds amazing right now.." I said as I broke eye contact and tried to disguise my blushing by running my hand across my cheek.

"I've got just the place," he beamed as he lead me towards our next location.

"TaDah" he said with a flourish once we arrived at this hole-in-the-wall bar that looked very unassuming from the outside. I probably looked very confused because all I was thinking was there's no way we were getting a beer here. Both of us are 18, and this is an actual bar-a small one where we would definitely be carded.

"Danny, I don't think my fake ID is good enough to work here.." I whispered softly as we walked in. He grinned and walked over to the bar after telling me to take a seat near the small stage in the back. He returned with two frosty mugs of beer and a smile.