Kiss The Sun

Chapter 2

"Play that last one again, I like the ending." I asked of Beth as she turned into the crowded road. 

"No." She locked eyes with me in the rearview mirror, but still restarted the song. "Okay, so I have an outfit idea for you." She added.

"Well I've been building a Pinterest board since the moment Lil first mentioned a tour." Cat shoved her phone to the front seat to show Beth and Lilianna. 

"I mean... they are a rock band. She needs to be cool and- ooh! I like that one!" Lilianna pointed to a photo on Cat's screen that I could not see.

"I mean don't I get a little bit of say? Considering I'm the one on stage?" I butted in.

"No!" All three of them said, their eyes still on their tasks. Cat soon leaned back next to me, continuing to scroll and pin outfit ideas. Secretly, I smiled when I watched her add a vintage denim vest. She knew what I wanted, and I had always trusted them to make me look and feel beautiful. 

Soon, we pulled into a small, familiar cracked parking lot. We piled out of the car and through the doors, hearing a welcoming bell chime. It was relatively busy inside our favorite local vintage store, but I narrowed in on the first rack I saw and watched my friends disperse to their own. 

"Brooklyn!" Beth called for me from the opposing wall. I looked up to see her holding a simple flowing sundress. "It's casual, but you can wear it a lot of different ways." She added, twisting it so that the dress would move. 

"Eh," I shook my head in indecision. "I'm always casual. If I'm gonna be doing this, I might as well do it." 

"Oh! Okay then," she smirked at me and went back to digging through. 

As I was peeling through options, I stepped further and further down the aisle I was in. I pulled out a black velvet jacket with gold detailing. The way the light caught on the gold was captivating, but I couldn't help feeling like it wouldn't look right on me. This cool, dark look was always what Cat pulled off. I turned it around and around, weighing the option in my mind.

"I like it. If you don't buy it, I might." A voice said from beside me. I jumped slightly, startled at the proximity of a stranger I was unaware was near. I turned to face him. He had dark hair falling to his shoulders and a small scarf around his neck. His button up shirt was only buttoned once, exposing his tanned chest and the long necklace he let hang in the gap. His lips were pursed and there was a faint hint of a mustache, so faint it could have just been in my mind. It was only after I'd taken an awkward amount of time to admire him that I realized he was no longer looking at the jacket. 

He was just looking at me. 

"Oh," I laughed nervously. "I'm not sure if I can pull it off. Not really my style. I'm sure you'd find better use of it." I smiled genuinely at him and held the jacket out. 

"Oh come on. This is a great find. Treasure some might say. Just going to hand it off to a stranger?" He smiled back, not taking the jacket from my outstretched hand. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lilianna step out of the store talking to someone on the phone. 

"Please," I stretched my arm out further to him. "You already seem much cooler than me." 

"Well, if you say so." He took the jacket from my hands. "My brothers are gonna give me hell for this." He shook his head, laughing to himself. "This is the third jacket I've bought this week."

"Third? Maybe I should've thought harder about that offer. I didn't know I was handing over my treasure to a hoarder." 

"Not a hoarder, just a guy with a mysterious joy for wearing cool jackets he takes from girls in vintage stores." He glanced down at his phone. "I gotta run, but thanks for the treasure." He smiled at me as I gave him a small nod and waved. I went back to picking through the hangers, but I couldn't help watching him as he walked out the door and climbed into a black Jeep.