The Meeting (Her P.O.V.)
She sat down after getting her coffee, placed the guitar case on the floor, and opened up her copy of "The Picture of Dorian Grey" to pick up where she left off. Not before, of course, placing buds on each of her ears to drown out the café chatter around her.
That day she had gotten out of bed earlier than needed since this was basically the only way she can have some time to herself. Rehearsals for the show had been going on for weeks and nothing but the band's music had been playing in her head for a good while now. She needed a break before going back to it all. It seemed like she was going to get it when she sensed a presence before her. She looked up from her book and saw a man standing in front of her with an awkward friendly look on his face, as if attempting to make this intrusion a good one. He was of average height, brown eyes, slightly tannish skin, and dark hair that was spiked up a bit. She didn't return a smile of any kind.
"Can I help you with something?" she asked the man rather coldly. She didn't mean to be rude, it was just that she hadn't had a moment to herself since the start of rehearsals and it didn't seem like this man was really anyone important enough to interrupt her mini break.
"Hi," he greeted shyly. "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but are you by any chance Melinda Sherry?"
Oh it's just a fan. She thought to herself.
Melinda was the bassist/lead singer of the indie rock band The Manic Mondays (named after her favorite Bangles song). The band was still at that stage where only few have heard of their name. After they released their first album with Fischer Stix Records, they had gathered a small fan base. As a way to promote the album, they were scheduled to play at Rodney's, a club known for helping out local musicians. So every once in a while, a few people here and there would come up to Melinda and the other bandmates for an autograph, picture, etc. Not used to strangers coming up to her talking like they knew her just yet, she wasn't fond of all the attention. This guy's presence was no exception, especially due to this being her first time relaxing in a long time.
"Yeah that's me." She answered politely with a small smile.
"I just want to say I'm a big fan of your music. Foster Puppies is a really cool album."
"Thank you. So would you like an autograph or…?"
"Oh yeah I'd love one!" He exclaimed. He then began to stammer when realizing how much of an excited child he was being. "Well, um, if you don't mind of course. And maybe even a picture if you don't mind?"
"Yeah sure." She replied with a small smile.
He didn't really have a blank piece of paper on him so he decided to hand her the receipt he received from his Frappuccino. Melinda waited a bit as he went up to the register to ask for a pen. When he returned, she signed her name along with a little shaded in heart next to it. Afterwards, he took out his phone and lifted it up to selfie height.
"Is it, um, okay if I put my arm around you like in a one-armed hug kind of way?" he awkwardly asked.
She stared at him with a raised eyebrow but decided not to be too rude and shrugged.
"Sure, but keep it around my shoulder."
He grinned and followed this order. The two of them looked up at the phone, her with a small smile and he with a coat hanger practically stuck in his mouth.
Click!
She was released as he looked at the photo with obvious glee.
"Thank you very much!" he pretty much squealed. "It was really nice to meet you."
"Don't mention it." She simply said.
Thinking this was the end, she sat back down and was ready to place her earbuds back in. Until he began to speak once again.
"Oh wow are you reading The Picture of Dorian Grey?" he asked in that same excited tone.
"Um yeah it looks like it." She answered trying not to sound like she wanted nothing more but to actually get back to reading it.
"That's a really cool book! The Victorians believed that art could be used as a tool for social education and moral enlightenment. And you could really tell that in how Dorian admires the painting and how it soon takes his inner ugliness and places it literally upon itself."
Wow. Melinda thought to herself. Talk about trying too hard. Are you trying to impress me or write an analysis paper?
"Uh huh." Was all she really could say.
She picked up her phone and checked the time. She let out a small scoff when she saw she already had to go. Annoyed that majority of her time was taken up by this guy but also at the same time relieved that she could leave since it didn't seem like he was going to.
"I really need to go," She told him with a false sympathetic smile. "It was really nice to meet you um…"
"Oh my name is Ted. Ted Mosby" He introduced himself. "It was so great meeting you!"
She didn't bother to hear the rest, already heading out to leave for rehearsal.