Thank you guys for all the support on this! It's a lot different from what I usually write, but I'm really excited to see where I can take this. I have a few ideas, but things are subject to change. Anyway, on with the story :]
After watching the blonde leave with uncanny punctuality, Ashley decides finally to make her way to work. She leaves the small coffee shop and walks a few blocks down the streets that she was just so intently studying. She can't help but wonder if there are other people who study these streets so much as she does.
Ashley is smarter than the average twenty-one year old, though the girl is still a teenager at heart and rarely shows it. She graduated school a year early, but not because she was smarter than the other kids. In reality, she hated high school. Yeah, it could be said that she ran the school, but it something she didn't really enjoy. She was the rebel, the girl everyone knew not to cross. Though inside, she knew she was just a shy girl whose biggest fear was rejection.
Playing this role of a rebel meant friends, and a certain level of respect. Though, being feared and looked at as a bad kid can only big so many positives along with its heaping bag of negatives.
Little known to her class mates is that Ashley was always top 10 in the class. Even when she was caught skipping, and spending afternoons in detention, Ashley was working hard to maintain her grades. When she decided that high school was no longer something she wanted to deal with, she dropped out, or so it seemed. Actually, Ashley got her GED right before senior yeah. Everyone assumed when she didn't come back that year, that she just dropped out.
She knew she was smart, but it's never been something she's taken grasp of. Her dream as always been to pursue her music, and in her mind college wasn't really something she needed to go after this dream.
It's about a three block walk from the Starbucks to the little record shop where she works. She enjoys the walk and taking in all the things she sees alone the way. She always makes a point to give change to each of the homeless she passes, and she always says good morning to the men at the newspaper stands.
She walks into the small music store, and takes her place behind the desk. Her boss left her a note saying that he was out. This isn't new; he's rarely in the small shop anyway.
She uses this time to walk around and go through some of albums they have just recently stocked. She finds a Death Cab For Cutie album at random that she has yet to add to her collection, and goes back to the desk to listen to it. This is usually how she spends her working hours. Finding albums at random, and listening to them. There have been a few times that she grabbed complete garbage, but she still forces herself to listen to the whole album. She gives every song a chance, because she knows how one song can change a life.
While listening to Transatlanicism Ashley gets so into it that she doesn't notice a customer walk in and being browsing the shelves. She doesn't hear as the woman asks her for advice on what to buy, and she defiantly doesn't realize that the woman is a certain blonde, with the name of Spencer. She doesn't notice any of the things until the blonde taps Ashley on the shoulder, scaring the living hell out of her.
"Holy shit, you scared me"
Spencer giggles, well no, she laughs; uncontrollably.
"Oh, really? I didn't notice."
She just continues to laugh as Ashley is still recovering from the shock. Not the shock of being scared. But the shock of Spencer, from Starbucks, being in her record shop. Spencer, being right in front of her.
Ashley notices that Spencer has now put makeup on and carries her laptop at her side. This must mean the blonde is feeling better. Or at least is making it appear as if nothing is wrong with her. That's the kind of thing Ashley would do anyway.
"How long were you…"
Ashley blushes a little. She's not usually this shy with people.
"Just for a few minutes, if you were dancing around and singing, I missed it so don't worry."
Ashley just rolls her eyes. She wonders for a second if Spencer has been here before, but she's hesitates on asking.
"I was going to ask what kind of music is good concentrating music. You know, before I scared the pants off you."
Ashley bites her tongue. She wants so badly to smart off with some witty comment. She knows not to though.
"Uh, well. I usually like to listen to classical music while I read and whatnot."
Spencer looks a little surprised.
"You listen to classical music?"
Ashley scoffs. Why wouldn't she?
"I didn't mean it like that. It's just…"
Ashley raises a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at the girl.
"Oh come on, look at you. You have the rockish, 'I'm a bad girl' style. Your look doesn't exactly scream 'Ello champ, want to come sit by the fire and enjoy a cup o tee while we listen to Mozart and read some literature from the Romanticism era."
This comment sends Ashley into a fit of giggles herself.
"Well than I guess there is just a lot you don't know about me Blondie."
This time Spencer rolls her eyes as Ashley comes from behind the counter and beings to browse the racks of albums. It doesn't take long to realize how picky the other girl is about her music. Ashley is at a loss for what to suggest to Spencer, but at the same time feels as if she HAS to find something. She is the music buff after all.
Ashley then remembers the album that is still playing on her laptop. She walks over to grab it, and Spencer follows.
"Death Cab For Cutie, the album is Transatlanicism. I'm not sure if you've heard it, it's not exactly a new one. But, it's really great. Ben Gibbard's voice really saves lives. Most of the songs aren't packed with a bunch of lyrics so there are a lot of instrumental breaks, which I suppose might be good for writing."
Spencer just stands there amazed at how concentrated the brunette got while describing the album. She knows nearly nothing when it comes to music, but decided that it might help her out with this writers block.
Spencer Carlin isn't the typical twenty year old girl. She moved to the hustle and bustle of New York City from a small town in Ohio. She was always the good girl back home; everyone expected great things from her. Of course, coming out as a lesbian in a small town doesn't exactly scream acceptance. It's actually the opposite. The folks in town couldn't get her to leave any quicker. So she did.
Somehow, it leads her to New York to some big fancy journalism internship, which she quickly fell in love with. Writing as always been her outlet. Her reason to breathe if you will. She's always been the type to keep to herself, and just write away in her notebook. Coming her meant letting that out a bit, it meant showing the world that she had something to say, and she was going to say it even if it's not something they want to hear. She likes it that way. She enjoys being a little bit feisty.
"I'll take it then, thanks."
Ashley quickly removes the CD from her laptop, returns it to the case, and hands it to Spencer. For a second the blonde is confused as to why she'd be handing her the copy straight from her laptop. But she takes it, and beings to take out her wallet.
"Nope, it's on me. If it gets you writing again, it's worth it to come out of my paycheck."
Ashley smiles her nose crinkling to die for smile, and Spencer decides it's not worth arguing about and she takes the CD.
"You're something else Ash."
The brunette momentarily loses the ability to breathe with the sound of her nickname sliding from the lips of this bombshell blonde in front of her. She quickly composes herself and nods a cocky, 'I know', and the blonde laughs a bit.
"Well, you know, I totally owe you a coffee tomorrow then."
This gives Ashley hope. Hope for what, she's not exactly sure. What she is sure of is that she'll be waking up early to do her hair. She's completely sure that she'll probably stand in her mirror practicing saying hello.
"You sure do blondie."
With this remark, Spencer turns around to leave the little store. Ashley can't help but follow the retreating form of the girl out with her eyes. She can't help to notice that the blonde has a slight jump in her step, and a small sway in her hips. And she can't help but see the blonde girl hesitate before leaving sight of the store just to turn around to find the brunette, and smile.
She rolls her eyes, before tending back to find a new Death Cab album to listen to. She thinks that they may be becoming her new favorite band.