Short Stories

six | wrong number

I woke up on Saturday morning with a particularly energized Taylor baking chocolate chip somethings in the air fryer. When I checked the time on the clock, it seemed early enough to head down to the music store down the street and avoid the hairy old men playing 'Sweet Child of Mine' on the guitar. I brushed my teeth and put on a t-shirt and shorts, combing my hair up into a messy bun.

"Where're you going?" Taylor asked, her cheek on the floor and her legs sprawled behind her. We had to put the air fryer, which in all honestly probably wasn't allowed in the dorm, on the floor because college dorms didn't have an inch of counter space.

"Just going to get a new string for my guitar. What are you baking?" I dropped down to the floor to see.

"Chocolate chip muffins. Making myself breakfast."

I snorted. "Good luck on that."

I walked down the freezing cold stairway and outside onto the campus. I could probably reach the music store by foot, but I hadn't been there in years and had no clue whatsoever where it was.

When I entered the small store, I let out a sigh of relief when the only sound was ringing of the bell on the door. The guy at the front waved hello and after a little bit of talking brought me to the guitar isle of the store. He found me my string pretty quickly and I bought it within a few minutes, but I continued to wander around just for a little bit. This store had pianos: grand pianos, mini grand, standing, keyboards, even the little pink pianos with one octave worth of notes for little kids. Would it be obnoxious if I tried to play something? I guess it would be okay, it was just me and the guitar guy anyway.

I slowly walked over, checking over my shoulder to make sure no one was there. I hadn't played piano since middle school when they ran out of ukuleles and the teacher shoved me onto the bench. Most of my playing experience came from the keyboard on Garage Band.

G. G. A. G. C. B.   G. G. A. G. D. C.

"Happy birthday dear Camila," I sang quietly to myself. "happy birthday to you."

I smiled to myself. I stood up from the piano and walked further to all of those odd instruments that sat lonely in the corner. I tapped one of the glockenspiels and plucked a string on a ukulele.

I jumped. A strum of a guitar rang out. I turned around and looked all around me, my breathing picking up for a reason I didn't know of. The guitar played another chord before picking up a familiar tune. I couldn't quite name the melody. It was one of those melodies that you thought you knew but as soon as you tried to recall its name, your mind went blank.

I took a step in the direction of the sound before realizing the sharp corner that lead into a hidden room I hadn't noticed before. Leaning against the wall, I tilted my head as far in as I could without the person inside being able to see me. The guitar picked up a pattern. I slowly sank down into the floor and listened with the end of my hair nearly poking into the room. A voice began to sing along. It was a guy. He had a lower sort of voice and sang so softly I couldn't make out what he was singing. His voice was comforting and warm, a little like velvet.

This is seriously creepy Camila, I thought. You're listening to a stranger sing from behind a wall where he can't see you.

I jumped up and hurried out of the store before anything happened. I stopped by the nearest Starbucks to get my iced coffee, and also made sure to grab two chocolate chip muffins to get on Taylor's nerves.

...

That night Taylor and I sat in our taxi cab on our way to the movie theatre to catch the 99¢ movie, whatever that was going to be tonight. The special treat of the day just so happened to be the new Sonic movie, which, even though I had never watched the first one, seemed pretty damn cute. 

When we entered the theater, we quickly realized it was only us and two couples who sat in the back on opposite sides. One couple looked like they had been together for a long time, cuddled up with the girl wearing an oversized hoodie that I could assume belonged to the boy.

What a dream, I thought. To be cuddled up with your boyfriend in your dark, quiet corner of the movie theater while wearing his hoodie, catching the 99¢ movie at midnight.

The other couple didn't look as comfortable. They were probably on their first date if I were to guess. The girl was all dressed up in a white top, denim jacket, and a long black skirt, with her hair pulled up in a tight ponytail. The guy was wearing a dress shirt type thing and had his hair combed and slicked back, and I didn't know a single college guy who slicked their hair back quite as much as he did unless they were seriously trying to impress a girl. It was a little sweet to be honest.

Apparently Taylor took as much notice of the four people with us in the theater as I did because she whispered in my ear, "Never go to the movies for a first date. Yeah it's romantic and all, but you don't even get to talk to them and get to know them. And nobody wants to pay that much money for some lemonade and overpriced popcorn on a first date."

"Yeah, yeah..." I started, but my voice trailed off. 

I wanted to go on a first date with a guy I liked so much that I swore we were soulmates to the movies and cuddle up as we watched some dumb movie neither of us even payed attention to, and every now and then one of us would inch closer in our seat to the other until my head was resting on his shoulder and when the movie ended we wouldn't notice because we were to busy kissing each other until the next set of commercials started playing.

I looked down and sighed, imagining how nice it would be to be that girl.

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I wish my starbucks had chocolate chip muffins :'(

also this chapter was low key just me being the single af, hopeless romantic I am pouring my heart out