Today just wasn't my day I guess. First, I woke up 15 minutes late, so I had to rush to the recording studio without eating breakfast. All I had was a granola bar in the taxi. So I was already off to a grumpy start. Then I left my lyric book in my apartment due to my rushing, so I wasn't able to work on my music. And now my guitar string broke. It just snapped.
I was raging. I had to walk out of the studio into the hallway just to calm myself down. I walked back into the studio and picked up my guitar, a beautiful Fender that my Dad had gifted me for Christmas. As if laughing at me, another string popped out of place, bouncing with mockery at me.
"Scarlett, take 5. The band will be okay without you today, I promise." My bandmate, Aidan said, noticing my mood. "Go get your strings replaced and get a coffee. Maybe a Vicodin too." He added, laughing.
I groaned. "Sorry guys. Call me if you need anything."
They all waved and I left. The air conditioning in the building was on full blast today, and my flowy skirt and tank top did nothing to keep me warm. I walked out of the building, and was met with a blast of hot New York air. I hailed a taxi and sat in the back, still grumpy. I really wanted to work on music today. But I knew that if I was in a bad mood, I wouldn't get any work done anyway.
I paid the driver and stepped out, the bustling streets enveloping me in their mass. As I opened the door to the music shop, the little bells tingled my greeting. I immediately felt at ease, being surrounded by instruments and vinyls. The shop was quite large, with couches scattered throughout for sitting and testing different instruments. The speakers were playing Bob Dylan softly and I smiled. Dylan always reminded me of my Dad.
One of the first songs I learned how to play on guitar was a Dylan song. I leisurely made my way over to the guitar strings, stopping to browse all the guitars they had.
"Hey, need any help with anything?" I jumped at the voice behind me.
"Uh, no I think I have everything thank you though." I said, smiling back at him.
The worker was very attractive and I was suddenly kicking myself for not asking for help, simply to talk to him longer. He was about my age, with floppy brown hair and warm brown eyes. His name tag read "Eli". I had frequented this music shop for a while and hadn't seen him before so I guessed that he was new.
He lingered for a couple seconds too long and then wandered back off to the another part of the store. Damn it. I grabbed the correct strings I needed and walked over to the vinyl section. I flipped through their selection, pulling out a Lana Del Rey album, "Honeymoon". I smiled with satisfaction because I had been looking for this specific record for a really long time. It was the only one missing in my Lana collection.
My luck must have been turning around because Eli was behind the checkout counter. He lifted up the record and scanned it. "Oh I am such a huge Lana fan, I've been meaning to buy this record for a while, but keep forgetting."
I smiled. "A Lana fan huh? That's cool. What's your favorite album?"
"NFR, easily."
We chatted about Lana and her music for a little bit until another customer needed Eli. I left the store in better spirits than when I entered. I wish I had gotten his number or some form of contact, but it's okay. I was halfway down the street when I heard someone shouting.
"Hey! HEY!"
I normally don't turn around, used to the city ambience, but the voice sounded like Eli's. I had my bag in hand, but maybe I had left something. I turned around and saw Eli running down the street towards me.
He stopped in front of me, breathless. "I didn't get your name. Or your number."
"Scarlett." I replied, while laughing. I recited my number and he copied it down into his phone.
He was smiling wide. "Listen, I'll text you later because I kind of left the store unattended, but this was so worth it. See you around Scarlett."
He dashed off back towards the store and I stood there in shock for a little while longer. Things like this never happened to me. I hailed a taxi and went back to my apartment, feeling a lightness to my steps.
Hey! It's Eli. I really hope this is Scarlett and not some random number I was given.
....
hey eli :)
So how do you like the new Lana record?
We texted for a while that night. Just chatting about music and random things. I told him I was in a band and he said he would give our music a listen. For some reason this made me embarrassed. All those critics meant nothing compared to him listening to my music. My lyrics. I felt like there was so much pressure.
Ur music is fantastic wtf
haha thank you! fav song?
I smiled into my phone, knowing that he liked my music.
Wanna get coffee sometime? Or do something?
yes i would love that
