(Vincent's Pov)
-One Week Later-
I was currently at work setting up the new display for the snare drums and I hear the door open with the bell sound so I look over to see some kids walking around the shop a bit looking at the guitars. I watched them for a bit as Chuck came back from the office area and I go over to him to look at the papers he had for an order we put in on the trumpets and I nod as I go clear off some space for the new instruments.
"Hey can we get some help here?" I hear and I look at the teens as they gave me an annoyed look so I go over to them.
"Yes, how can I help?" I asked.
"We were wondering about this guitar, why is it priced so high?" A kid asked and I look at it.
"Oh, that's a custom guitar that someone didn't pick up so we're selling it to the public, it's also a bit pricy because we added in the amp for it but if you already have one we can deduct it from the price." I explained.
"And how much cheaper would it be?" another kid asked.
"Sadly, only about fifty to seventy-five bucks less, again it's a custom order so it was handmade here." I explained and one of the teens took it of it's display so I watch them.
"Watch me play." They say as they just start playing a bad version of one of my band's songs, 'Life Before the Dead'. I cringed a bit at this and I see them looking at me.
"Oh, you think you can play better?" The teen says and I look at him.
"You didn't tune it right so it's off by a few pitches, also yes I do know how to play it." I tell them.
"Then show us." He says and shoves the guitar to me and I look the them then the guitar. I didn't want to play the guitar so I just put it back.
"See he can't play it, why the hell are you even working here?" Another teen said and I look the them.
"Because I know music and I just don't feel like playing." I tell them.
"Whatever, anyway can we get this guitar we need it for a gig." One of them says and I nod as I take the guitar to the front of the store. I cashed them out and gave them some replacement strings as well, and they got a free pick to go with it since chuck had that sale going on. They leave and I rubbed my neck a bit as Chuck looked to me.
"Don't like playing anymore?" He asked as he came up to me.
"It's not that I don't want to I just don't feel like it's necessary right now." I tried to say and he looks at me.
"Is it because you don't have the inspiration?" He asked and I think a bit. For some reason my mind wanders to Clementine and I shake my head a bit at this.
"No, I mean… I do but I don't." I tell him and I put the receipt away in the one drawer to the side and I look to him again. Before we could talk more, we heard the door open again and I turn to see Clementine with AJ and I smile and wave at them and she looks to me and smiles as they both come up to the register.
"Hey Chuck, hey Vincent." Clementine says and I nod.
"Hey Clementine, how's school?" Chuck asked her.
"It's going good." She tells him.
"So, you here to get something?" I asked.
"Actually yes, AJ's school is teaching them how to play drums in music class but we need the practice ones?" She asked confused and I nodded.
"I know what they're talking about." I say as I take them over to the section of the flat practice drums and I grab some drumsticks that would fit in his hands properly.
"Can you show me how to play it?" He asked and I look to him then to Clementine.
"Sure." I say and grab a set of drumsticks and I think of something so I tap my foot to a beat and tap on the drums a bit. AJ looked really happy as I played something simple and I looked to Clementine as she looked to me. As I finished up, I look to Clementine as I put the drumsticks up and hand the practice pad to AJ.
"Didn't know you could play the drums." She says and I nod.
"Yea but I messed up a bit, I'm not as good as Mitch." I tell her as we go to the front of the store and AJ looked around more.
"It was still great." She says and I nod.
"Thanks…" I say.
"Are you ok?" She asked.
"Yea I mean… I'm ok, just thinking."
"Oh, Vincent thinking that's scary." She says and I chuckled and scratched my beard a bit.
"No, it's just…. Before you came in there was a bunch of teens that came in and played one of my bands old songs… and then chuck asked me basically why didn't I play and asked if I didn't have any inspiration anymore." I explain to her.
"Do you?" She asked and I look at her a bit then to the counter.
"Eh… I'm not too sure, I think I do but…"
"You just don't feel like playing, and that's fine." She says and I nod.
"Though the kids did play bad, I'm not judging them they just didn't tune the guitar right and then they said they needed it for a gig so I feel bad for people the hired them to play." I muttered and Clementine laughs a bit at this and I looked to the guitar section as AJ looked to them.
"Hey I was wondering something." I hear Clem say so I look at her.
"About?" I asked.
"Well… you know how my game is in a week and how it's like a homecoming thing… well I asked the teachers if it was ok to bring an outside guest and they said it was ok so long as they don't cause problems." She says and I look at her as she turns red from embarrassment.
"Oh?"
"Well… I was wondering if… maybe… you'd like to come with me?" She asked and I look at her. I was a bit shocked at the offer and I stood up a bit from my slouch.
"I uh… I mean yea if you want, I mean, you asked so of course you want too… I'm rambling." I say and she giggled a bit at this and I turned red.
"Cool, uh… we do have a dress code, just wear a simple suit." She says and I nod at this.
"Yea, I can do that." I say and she nods as she pays for the stuff for AJ and he waves by to me and I wave back and I look to Clementine as she waves to me and I wave at her as she leaves. I then hear a whistle and I look to Chuck.
"I can see where your inspiration would come from." He says and I rubbed my neck.
"I mean I guess." I say.
"Well time to close up the shop anyway I have to go do some errands anyway, so why don't you go walk her home or drive her." He says and I nod as I clock out and then I run out to Clementine and AJ.
"Hey." I say as I run up to them.
"Hey Vincent did you get off early?" Clementine asked.
"No, we just closed the shop Chuck has to go do some things but yea… uh can I drive you two home?" I asked.
"YES!" AJ says excited and I look to Clementine who nods and we head to my car. I drove them back to their house and I look to see Lee and Carly in the front yard as they did some gardening I suppose. I got out and opened AJ's door and he runs out to show Lee and Carly his new practice drum and I look to them.
"That's great AJ, why don't you go put it up for now though and we can get started on dinner." Carly says and Lee comes over to me and Clementine.
"How have you been Vincent?" He asked.
"Been good, healed up nicely except for the scar but eh." I shrugged and he nods.
"Well, that's good that you've healed up at least." He says and I nod.
"And Clementine is no longer grounded so she can go visit you more." He says and I nod.
"Yes." I hear her mutter and I chuckled.
"So have any plans next week?" He asked.
"Oh uh… yes I do." I tell him and he nods.
"Well, if you want and it's not interrupting your plans, we were going to have a small get together again with family friends, if you want you can come." He says and I nod.
"That sounds great." I tell him and he nods. We talked for a bit until AJ comes running out and asked Lee where some of the spices are.
"Oh, I don't think we have any of that." He says as he thinks.
"I can head to the store and get some thing if we need any." Clem offers.
"Alright let me go make a list." He says as he heads inside the house and I look to Clementine.
"So, what exactly happens at your guy's dance?" I asked.
"Did you never have a school dance?" She asked.
"No not really, the school was afraid we would make a huge mess or break some things… though it wasn't that big of a school in all honesty." I explain to her.
"Well, they have an event for the seniors before the game starts, then after the game we all head home to get dressed or unless you're already dressed up for the dance then you head to the gym, they have drinks and I think this year we're having a live band instead of a DJ." She explains how it all goes and I nod.
"Then we have simple foods and drinks, it's not as extravagant as prom is though." She says.
"Now I know about prom." I say.
"They let you have a prom?" She asked and I nodded.
"Yea but it was boring, no-good songs, couldn't really dance, and even if we did have dates, we had to be arm's length from each other while dancing… it was more so formal or something, again boring but eh." I explained.
"Ah I see, yea that does sound boring." She says and I nod.
"The we had the cheesy, marriage proposals too, shit I think three of them happened." I tell her.
"Oh, you didn't do that?" She asked as a joke and I smiled.
"Oh, hell no, I would never do that…. I'd do it at a beach." I joked and we both laughed at this. Lee then came out and handed the list to Clementine and I offered to take her to the store, so we got in the car and I started to drive to the nearest grocery store.
"So, I just need to dress up nice?" I asked.
"Well, I'll have the tickets for you and me to get in, I just have to buy them." She says.
"Do you want me to pay for them?" I asked.
"Oh no I got it, don't worry." She says and I nod as I park the car and we go shopping.
"Do you need t get anything for the house?" She asked and I think.
"No not that I know of." I think as we walked around some more. Once we got all the items, we needed we headed to the front of the store and I see a familiar face, it seems to be that girl Shel we ran into at the lake.
"Oh, uh hey Clementine." She says as she scans our stuff.
"Hey Shel."
"Hey look I'm sorry for what happened a while ago at the lake." She apologized and I look to Clementine who nodded.
"I'll accept it but you should really apologize to the boys." She says to her and Shel nods and I rubbed my neck as we finish up with paying for our things. I put the groceries in the trunk and Clementine helps and I look to her a bit. I shake my head a bit as we go in the front of the car and I drive her back to the house. I then dropped her off and helped put things away for Lee, then I decided I should head home, Clementine wanted to come but I explained that I was going to be a bit busy so she let's me go and I promise we could hang out on my day off which is Saturday. I then head to my home and I go to feed the chickens again and check on the eggs to see they were doing good. Once finished I decided to call someone.
"Vincent holy hell it's been a week." Louis says and I nod at this.
"Yea sorry I've been busy with work and trying to heal up." I tell him.
"How are you doing?" He asked.
"Doing fine, I just have a scar from the one guy hitting my face with his ring but other than that I'm doing ok." I grabbed a drink from the fridge then headed to my office and looked around as I sat at my desk.
"So, what do I owe the pleasure of getting a call from you?" He asked and I think as I set the drink on my desk and I rubbed my neck.
"So, uh… Clementine asked me to go to her homecoming dance." I say and then I hear a few screams so I moved my phone away and I sighed.
"I'm on speaker phone, aren't I?"
"I mean… yea." He admits.
"Vincent is going on a date with Clementine." I hear.
"Wait no, it's not a date she just asked if I wanted to go to the dance with her." I explained.
"Dude that is a date, basically." Louis says.
"I… is it?" I asked.
"YES!" I hear multiple people shout. I doubt it is a date but what if it is.
"I uh… look I just want to treat it like a normal hang out not a date just incase it isn't you know." I explain.
"At least get the girl some flowers or something." Ruby says.
"I mean… I was going to anyway." I muttered.
"Well, what else are you going to do?" Louis asked.
"Just hang out with her friends at the dance, it's not like Prom or anything." I took a drink of my soda as I set my phone on the desk with the speaker on.
"Dude you should take her out somewhere nice." Marlon says and I raise my brow a bit.
"When did you get romantic?" I asked.
"Duh when Brody and I first went out, I know how to take girls on dates." He says.
"Uh, ok but I only know a few nice places and she's been there already." I explained.
"Why not take her out to Atlanta? Or even farther out." Louis says and I think.
"I guess…. Wait no, we're just friends I don't need to do romantic stuff for her."
"Dude admit it, you like Clementine." Omar says to me.
"I do like her as a friend, we're just friends we talked about this stuff already." I tell them.
"Dude what if she was lying because she didn't want you to feel like you had to have the same feelings for her as she does you?" Mitch asked and I think a bit.
"I mean… she could have." I think on this.
"Take her out to dinner after the dance, and go somewhere nice like the park, or the lake." Brody suggested and I think.
"I guess I could do that."
"And then when the night is done you take her home and maybe you'll get a kiss." Louis says and I turn red and I shake my head of the thought.
"I wouldn't I mean." I try to say something to deny it but maybe getting a kiss wouldn't be so bad, I mean if it's coming from Clementine.
"See, I knew it you have feelings for her too." Louis says.
"I just… I just don't want to mess anything up ok, I mean what if she was just asking because she wanted to hang out some more, I mean we haven't hung out for a week because she was grounded after the fight." I tell them.
"Dude, she has feelings for you, when I talked to her when you and Louis were arguing she wouldn't stop blushing when we mentioned you, and even asked if you two were dating." Ruby says.
"Look we can talk about that later I just wanted to know what exactly do I do, I mean we only had prom but we all know that didn't go so well." I tell them.
"Yea that's right we only danced at the school, we couldn't have outside guests either, which sucked." Louis says.
"So basically, just treat it like prom but not fancy?" I asked.
"Basically, but we still suggest the taking her out after the dance if there is time." Sophie says and I nod.
"Ok… yea I can do that." I say as I rubbed my neck.
"Ok well if that's all we have to go louis we need to hold more auditions." Louis says and I think a bit.
"Uh… what if I…" I tried to say it but I couldn't.
"You good?" I hear Brody ask.
"Yea I'm good just… what if… I want to come back?" I asked.
"Wait are you serous dude?" Louis asked and I think.
"I mean, just as an option… I just wouldn't be able to travel a lot cause of work but I mean as a stand in you know?" I asked.
"Wait, are you sure, are you being serous about this?" He asked and I think a bit.
"I mean if it's ok with you guys, but you still need to find a replacement for me and all." I suggest to them.
"Hell yea that's ok with me." Louis says.
"Yea we wouldn't mind it." Brody says and I nod a bit.
"Ok… uh just tell me when you guys want me to come in and I can." I tell them.
"Alright, this is going to be so awesome it'll be like having the whole band together again." Mitch says and I nod.
"Yea just… give me some time and I can tall you when I'm available that's all." I tell them.
"Yea that's cool, we can try and work around your schedule." Marlon says and I nod.
"Alright, I'll give you my work schedule in a week or so, Chuck puts up the schedule for a month since it's just him and I running the shop." I explained.
"It's fine dude." Mitch says and I nod. I hear the others leave and then Louis speaks up.
"Hey it's just you and I talking right now."
"Ok… do you really think Clementine thinks this is a date?" I asked.
"I'm sure about this, besides what's the worse that can happen?" He asked.
"She could laugh at me for thinking the wrong thing." I list off some other things too.
"You know she wouldn't laugh at you." He says and I sigh.
"I know I just… I don't want to mess anything up, I mean I just want to be friends with her a bit longer, we all know about Minerva so."
"If you think Clementine is going to turn out like Minerva that's just low thinking you have of her."
"No, I know she would never be Minerva…. I just don't want to mess anything up… like… I can't explain it, I just don't want to mess up what we have right now… I've known her for a month and well, I don't want to just rush into anything… plus with the media still talking about me, especially after that fight that happened, I just don't want her involved with that because we all know people talk." I explained.
"Ooh, I get it, yea stuff like that would suck but Vincent if you really like her and she likes you back wouldn't you want to try at least, and hey you guys can still be friends if things don't work out, plus you don't have to be public about the relationship." He explained and I sighed and leaned back into my chair a bit.
"I know." I simply say to him.
"Hey, just treat it like you normally would, and like we said maybe Clementine wants to date you, it wouldn't be the end of the world if you just tried, but I would understand after everything Minerva put you though relationships are going to be difficult, but don't think about it." He says and I nod a bit.
"Alright… yea it wouldn't be so bad… just treat this as if we're having a friend's night out." I repeated.
"That's it, now I do have to go, send us the schedule when you can and we can work on it if you really want to come back." He says and I nod.
"Alright… thanks Louis."
"Anytime Vincent." We both hang up the phone and I looked around the office a bit and then I stare at my guitar as I think some more.
"Alright… I can plan this out, maybe take her to our favorite drive-in restaurant, take her to the park at night to the bridge, or the meadow she showed me and we can look at the stars." I ranted to myself as I think a bit. I then grabbed a paper and pen and listed off things we could do and I would scratch some things out if it didn't sound good enough, then I thought about her friends and sighed as I threw the paper away. I then hear my phone ring and I look to see that it's my mom so I answer it.
"Hey mom."
"Vincent how are you?" She asked.
"I'm doing fine and you?" I asked.
"Doing well, Grandma just wanted to say hi." She says and I hear the phone being handed off.
"Hi Vinny." She says and I chuckled at the nickname she gave me.
"Hi Granny, how are you?" I asked.
"I'm doing great for an eighty-nine-year-old woman." She jokes and we both laughed at this.
"No, but seriously, are you ok?" I asked.
"Yes, dear I'm doing just fine, and you?" She asked.
"I'm fine as well, I got a job at a music shop, I have a house, I have amazing new friends." I list off.
"That's wonderful, I heard you were bringing a girl with you in the summer to visit?" She asked and I turned red.
"Well, she is a girl yes."
"Oh, see the Aldon charm works." She jokes and I chuckle just a bit.
"Grandma, I'm not dating her she's just a friend."
"Oooh don't be saying that, I use to think the same way with your grandfather, but in the end, we fell in love." She says and I nod.
"Yea… but no she's still just a friend I swear." I tell her.
"Alright I'll believe you on this." She says and I smiled.
"So, I was talking with your mother and if you want you can spend the first few days at my home and then the rest of your visit with your mother and father." She says.
"I uh... I suppose that's a good idea… how is dad?" I asked.
"Well, he hasn't drunk much, but if you or your friend feel like you need to come to my place to stay you know I'll have your room all set up for you." She says and I nod.
"Thanks grandma."
"Anytime dear, oh here is your mother." She says and hands the phone to my mom.
"Your father did ask if you wanted to go fishing with him." My mother tells me.
"I uh… yea I can do that." I tell her.
"Ok, I'll get your old fishing gear out, does your friend fish?" She asked.
"I did take her fishing once but I don't really know if she enjoys it like I do." I explained.
"Oh well I can get-."
"No, no I already got her some fishing things, I'll ask when we come to visit… if her parents are ok with it." I muttered the last part to myself and I rubbed my neck a bit.
"Oh, ok. Well, we can get anything you guys would need before you come down here." She says.
"Ok… thank you mom."
"Anytime sweetie."
"Oh, I have to go I'm planning something and-."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, yea you go do what you need to do, oh and call us on Sunday it's your Cousin Kelly's birthday." She says.
"Right, right I will do that."
"Oh, and we are planning her party for the summer since her mom didn't save up again." She says and I nod.
"Ok that'll be good for me." I tell her.
"Alright sorry for taking up your time."
"No, it's ok… I love you mom."
"Love you too, be safe."
"Same to you." I say and we both hang up the phones and I sighed a bit as I tried to relax a bit. I decided to take some time and plan some things out some of it didn't seem right to me but others did but as I looked to the clock I realized I have to go to work early in the morning to open up the shop. I got ready for bed before I got one more call for the night and I sighed a bit and looked to the name and answered it immediately.
"Hey Clem."
"Hey Vincent, sorry for calling so late." She says.
"No, it's fine, I just got a call from my mom and I called Louis so I've been on the phone a lot." I chuckled a bit as I looked to myself in the mirror thinking if I should shave again.
"Oh, is your mom, ok?" She asked.
"Yea she's fine, my grandma just wanted to talk to me."
"Is your grandma, ok?"
"Yep, she's just fine, she was just telling me something for the trip up there." I explained.
"Oh, so I just wanted to say after the game Duck is going to take me home this is just incase you can't make it to the game." She says.
"Oh, no I'll make sure to make it… do I uh… do I have to be dress already or do you want me to take you home so we can change and then head to the school?" I asked.
"I can't have my dress there, so if it's ok, we can head to my house to change?" She asked.
"Yea of course that's fine with me." I say as I just take my shirt off and my pants and change into a pair of shorts.
"Great, I'm really happy that you wanted to go with me." She says and I turn red as I sit on the bed.
"Yea of course I mean you asked and I'm free that day so." I rambled a bit and I hear her giggle at this and I smiled.
"So, what did you call Louis for? Unless you don't want to tell me that is." She says and I think a bit.
"It was just talking about the band and asking how they were, you know just checking up on them." I told her; it wasn't a complete lie in all honesty so it wouldn't hurt to say this.
"Oh, that's sweet." She says and I nod and chuckled.
"Yep, that's me, sweet old Vincent." I muttered.
"Hey are you ok?" She asked.
"Yea why do you ask?"
"Well, you didn't seem so happy when we saw you in the store, before we entered, and I hear some worry in your voice." She says.
"Oh, I'm just worried about the trip to see my family is all, granted that's a while away." I say to her.
"Oh, ok."
"Hey when does baseball season end for you?" I asked.
"Currently? In May, so before my graduation." She says and I nod.
"Ok… ok cool." I say. We kept quiet for a bit and then I sighed a bit.
"Ok well I'll let you go I have to work early tomorrow." I tell her.
"Oh right, sorry, well you sleep well, ok?" She asked.
"Yea of course… when is the next time you can come over?" I asked.
"Maybe after next week?" She asked.
"That's fine, you don't have to if you don't want too." I tell her.
"No, I want to, but I have practice so I don't want to bother you." She says.
"No, it's not a bother at all."
"I know but still."
"Hey don't think you're bothering me ever, if you ask me, I'll do it." I tell her.
"Ok… thank you Vincent."
"Anytime." I say and we both hung up and I set my phone's alarm on and I looked to it then I laid flat on the bed and looked at the ceiling and took a deep breath and just closed my eyes as I fell asleep.