EVERYTHING'S NOT LOST

So if you ever feel neglected,

If you think that all is lost,

I'll be counting up my demons,

Hoping everything's not lost.

"Well, let's see," Marianne said as she opened the newspaper on the 'Jobs' section, sitting on a chair by the kitchen table and having a bite of her toast. She had been looking for a suitable job that would match what she was studying for weeks but so far had had no luck – it's not that she needed a job; her parents had made that clear already. But still, it was good to have her own money. She liked buying stuff - a lot - but didn't like to ask for money to get them. The way Marianne looked at things, she didn't think it was fair for her to take her parents' well-earned money to buy clothes. Not anymore, not having 20 years old and two years of University already done. She burnt her tongue rushing to drink her hot coffee, and winced just as one of her friends and current roommate, Bailey, walked into the kitchen. She shared an apartment a few blocks from campus with two mates from Uni, although they didn't pursue the same careers but still shared some classes – amongst other things.

"Found anything?" Bailey asked sitting next to her, also with a coffee mug on her hand. Her usually brownish hair was now dark red and awfully messy – she had obviously been playing with it the night before, dyed it for the millionth time. Noticing the look on Marianne's face, Bailey said yawning "What?! I needed it, you know I was getting bored,"

Mar chuckled and smiled at her friend. "Looks good,"

"I like it," Elle –the third friend in question- agreed nodding, suddenly walking into the kitchen with gigantic bags under her eyes.

"Thanks babe," Bailey said taking the curly hair out of her face so she could look at the paper Marianne was holding.

"Have you seen anything in there?" Elle asked pointing at the page both Mar and Bails were intensely looking at.

"Hmm… not really, it's the same old stuff," Mar sighed annoyed and disappointed, yet again.

It was really frustrating for her – even though she hid it pretty well from everyone, there was still a light missing from her eyes –change only noticed by those who really knew her, and she felt like she was staying behind. You see, Bailey was already managing a video store after only working in there for two months, and was in charge of three shops from that brand. She was studying to become a movie director, and was passionate about everything that involved the word 'film' in it. This way she got to rent free stuff whenever she wanted and was advising and critiquing movies to anybody who walked in, which she particularly enjoyed. Bailey studied at the same place where Ellie pursued her career as a Translator. She also worked - and a lot to tell the truth. She made translations for the UK United Nations Association - and therefore didn't get much free time, but you never saw her complaining.

"Maybe you should look somewhere else?" Bailey suggested, and Ellie pursed her lips thinking.

"Like where?" Mar frowned confused – where could she look for a job if not in the classified section of the main newspaper?!

"I don't know, you're the smart one!" Bailey said pouring more coffee on her mug.

"Didn't the doctor say you should stop drinking so much coffee?" Marianne asked before adding "Maybe I will go down the centre today and see if I can figure something out… want to join me?" she looked at the other two expectant and hopeful, yet annoyed she depended on them so much.

"Yeah, sure, I've got my day off today... And honey, Mar is right – two liters of coffee a day will do you no good."

Bailey ignored that comment, "I'll go too, I need some fresh air. Can we make a stop though? I need some new wires to connect my video camera; it seems the last ones I bought won't work on the iMac,"

"Didn't you just buy them?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah… I hate people who sell things they don't know about. Ugh." she looked down.

"God I really need those vacations!" Marianne said standing up exhausted and going over to her room to get changed... and the day was barely starting.

They were two days away from the end of the term, and three days from going on holidays. All three of them deserved it, and were looking forward to getting away from that crappy weather for a couple of weeks – London could get really annoying sometimes, and after three weeks of rain, clouds and moist in the air, you too would wish you could be away, somewhere with sunny days and warm weather.

A couple of hours later they were walking down the streets, talking about everything and nothing in particular.

"What do you think I should do?" Marianne asked, starting to be desperate about the fact that she was still jobless.

Both of her friends where thinking hard, but neither of them could come up with anything to help her. She was about to give up on the idea and accept the fact that nothing was going to change for now, when something caught the blue eyed girl's attention and gave her a little hope.

A note with messy handwriting was posted on a shop's window, and in large letters it read:

Help needed.

Good salary. Part time.

Ask in the counter if interested.

Without thinking it twice, she walked into the store with her friends behind her.

It wasn't too big, but it was cozy inside. There were posters up in the walls, of guitars. Not musicians though, just the guitars.

As she took a look around, a guy came from a door behind the counter and asked a bit too enthusiastically "Can I help you?"

"Ermm… I don't know… I think I got mistaken… I saw the sign by the window, but obviously… yeah, well, thanks," Marianne was blabbering now. After all, she hadn't thought about it and what would she do on a music store? She was studying English and Literature then, not Music Production, Industry, or anything like it for that matter! They wouldn't take her. She was going to turn around and leave when the guy spoke to her.

"Wait up!" he said. She took a moment to have a good look at him - he really was fit. Blondish hair, piercing on his right eyebrow, black framed glasses that made him look as hot as hell. Very skinny -but not creepily- and not so tall, normal height. His eyes were different from anything she'd ever seen… there was something in them that drown her to want to know him. Don't get the wrong idea, not in a crush sort of way, but she was still a girl looking at an extremely pretty but yet weird boy with whom she could see herself spending time with – again, for the dirty minds reading this, she didn't like him in that way, get it? The way he looked back at her might've been what made the whole difference; he looked friendly, shy - a bit preserved even, wary.

"What?" She asked, taking notice of her friends standing by her sides and of the situation around her.

"Well, you said you were here for the sign, right? Are you interested in a job?" he asked pointing at the note she'd seen minutes before.

"Yeah, I was, but I know nothing about guitars or anything else related to music for that matter," she said honestly and apologetically, explaining herself… why go for something that wouldn't help either of them? He'd be stuck with an ignorant and she would be somewhere she wasn't supposed to be, it wasn't her place - clearly.

"Oh, but that's fine. I can teach you, you don't need to know that much really…" he shrugged smiling.

"Hmmm… If that's so… What would I be doing anyway?"

"Well, we just need some help here, running the store. You know, do the usuals; we can teach you everything… The thing is, my friend and I set this up a while ago, last holidays. It was originally a project for College -to design a business- but it ended up catching our attentions and we decided to go for it. We're both studying now and it's hard for us to keep up with everything on our own… and we're not very organized so it could help to have an extra hand around… And to be honest, you're kind of the only one who showed up and we're starting to think of closing…"

So many questions popped into her head, that before she had time to ask any of those, there was a business card being held in front of her face.

"Listen, just think about it and give me a call, ok?"

She nodded weakly and still thoughtful, Mar said "Ok then, it was nice meeting you… Douglas," She finished as she read his name on the business card in her hand.