A.J. was on the roof, which in itself, wasn't unusual. What was unusual was the normal rather quiet artist rambling to himself as he paced back and forth under the large Empire Records lights sign. He kept running his hands through his hair nervously and clearing his throat to calm his nervous.
"Corey. I gotta tell you something. It's about how I feel about you," A.J. rehearsed to himself, crouching near the part of the sign that displayed the store had been open since 1958. He cracked his knuckles, his mouth opening and closing a few times, unable to get the words out.
"I, I-, I really, really, ugh," A.J. sighed and let out a big breath. He just couldn't find the words, but he kept trying.
"You know that feeling you get when you take a hot bath and you just feel really refreshed and nice? Well you make me feel like-, You make me feel like a bath?! Ugh!" A.J. cried out in frustration at his horrible attempt at an analogy. What is wrong with me?
A glance at his pocket watch told A.J. that it was now 1:37, the exact time he had told Joe this morning that he would reveal to Corey that he loved her. He shut the watch with confident purpose and headed back down to the store.
Back inside the main room, Corey was using the lull in customer purchases to restock the shelves with records. She seemed more bored that focused but didn't see A.J. slowly approaching from the back room. Which was a good thing since A.J. lost his nerve after staring at her for a few moments and backed away.
Tempers were flaring in the back room, where Warren was pissed because the cops finally came for him.
"This is bullshit man!" he screamed at them, as they gave him unimpressed looks, while holding his arms so he could be properly cuffed.
"The long arm of the law has finally embraced our dear friend Warren," Lucas spoke whimsically, as Joe walked out of the store room to fix the issue.
"I'm Joe. I'm the manager. Is everything okay," Joe asked the policewoman closest to him.
"We've got everything under control. We don't even need a statement from you, since we got one from Mr. Lucas," she answered firmly, shutting her notebook.
"OH! Mr. Lucas! Lucas over there too $9,000. I just took a couple of CDs!" Warren screamed again, jumping up in anger and jostling his handcuffs.
"That is enough," the cop chastised him, before pulling him out towards the front of the store.
"Come on! Lucas I thought you were my friend!" he screamed in vain, before being pulled out of the room by the cops.
"Don't let the man get you down," Lucas quipped evenly, keeping eye contact with Warren.
"I don't want to see you back in the store," Joe added seriously.
A.J. simply lifted their hands and waved as Warren was taken out. "I'm going to get you! I'll be back and you'll be sorry!" Warren shrieked as he was dragged to the front door.
Joe sighed and walked back out to the front and headed up the stairs, leaving his employees be in the back. As he passed the listening windows, he noticed two somewhat similar faces, or rather their clothes. A leather jacket, beanie clad wearing boy and a pastel sweater blonde with a high ponytail were making out, so he tapped on the window, and shook his finger at them when they looked up. They both had the decency to blush, but Joe just walked away.
When he got to the final booth, he was another familiar face: Deb. He opened the door and squatted down to her level, as she sat on the floor with a computer and a bunch of papers.
"I'm just doing the quarterly income tax returns," she spoke in explanation. "I'm almost done."
"Look Deb, if you need to talk about anything…" Joe trailed off hesitantly.
"Trying to fix me Joe? Okay, fix me. I'll listen." Deb threw her hands up in surrender.
"I meant like call your mother," Joe clarified.
Deb smirked at that. "Well, if you can find her, tell her I'd love to talk to her myself," Deb joked self-deprecatingly.
Joe swallowed awkwardly, not expecting Deb's candid response. "You're doing a good job, Deb," he stated clearly, giving her a real smile. Deb was speechless, but she kept eye contact with Joe until he turned and walked back to his office.
In the back, Corey stood just outside Joe's office, pacing nervously. She let him pass and enter the room without a glance, taking another moment to gain some courage before she entered.
"Hey Joe," Corey greeted him with a warm smile as she opened the creaking office door. "I was just thinking that I could be the one to bring Archie his lunch," Corey asked with a giggling grin.
Joe, who was only half listening and busying himself with organizing the papers on his desk, didn't look up as Corey spoke. "Birko is bringing him his lunch," Joe muttered softly, glancing up at her, confused as to why she was so happy.
Corey's smile dropped quickly, as she moved to stand directly in front of Joe. "You know that Birko is going to insult him right to his face!" Corey spoke urgently. "Let me do it, please. Please, Joe!" Corey pleaded, begging at this point.
Joe sighed deeply, dropping the papers and staring up at Corey. "Fine! I just don't want to hear about it anymore," Joe grumbled.
"Thanks Joe!" Corey nearly jumped for joy, her large smile returning. She exited the office quickly, letting the door slam shut as she bounded off the stairs and rushed off to prepare.
Corey entered the store room and immediately began setting the scene for the moment she had been envisioning for her entire life. She got out two white, vanilla scented candles and lit them in the middle of the small table to set the mood. Next, she selected the right comfy chair for Archie, after seeing his fit in the front of the store earlier. A little blue vase was carefully filled with hand-picked white daisies from beside the parking lot and placed next to Archie's water glass.
Finally finished, as she waited for Archie to appear, Corey practiced some sensual dance moves for Archie and put on some mood music. Suddenly, the door swung open and there was Archie. His red hair was still perfectly coifed, the letterman jacket secured on his shoulders and not wrinkled at all. Corey flashed him her most seductive smile as he adjusted his jacket and walked over to the table where his lunch was to be served.
"Well, this looks very elegant," Archie commented with a small smirk, as he sat down and prepared to enjoy the meal. "After all these signatures, I've worked up an appetite," Archie spoke, securing his napkin under his chin as Corey placed herself half sitting on the counter, her legs splayed open very suggestively.
"I think I've got everything. Thank you," Archie finished, not noticing Corey's antics and digging into his meal. After a beat of silence, he froze, realizing that Corey wasn't leaving.
"So, are you just going to sit there staring at me?" Archie asked snidely, gesturing with his fork in Corey's direction.
"Oh, I was just thinking that I used to imagine marrying you when your first album came out," Corey spoke in an aloof tone, rising from the counter and standing directly in front of Archie's table.
"Marrying me?" Archie said with a laugh as he went back to cutting up his chicken. "You must have been a kid back then," Archie quipped, not looking at Corey.
This made her even more determined. Gaining confidence to prove Archie wrong, Corey slowly lifted her gray sweater and peeled it from her pale skin, revealing her sinfully red lace bra which had been purchased just for this occasion. Corey dropped the sweater on the floor and glared at Archie with a sexy smirk. "I'm not a kid now," she spoke softly, running her fingers gently along her tummy.
Archie stared at her fingers through the locks of red hair that had fallen over his eyes, his expression not surprised. He flashed her a tiny smile. "How old are you," he muttered before looking to his food.
Corey took his as a good sign, so she reached for the two black buttons that held up her yellow plaid skirt and skillfully undid them, letting the fabric drop from her fingers to reveal a painfully virginal set of modest white underwear. "Old enough," Corey quipped, a knowing pout on her pink lips, her innocence shining in her eyes.
Archie hesitated for only a second before he dropped his utensils and pushed himself back from the table. "Awesome," he spoke, with a smarmy smile at Corey. Archie kept his eyes on her bra while he unzipped his fly and unbuttoned his jeans. "Let's see what you got sweetheart," he spoke happily, as he leaned back and waited for bliss.
Corey's whole innocent demeanor changed in a second. Her eyes bulged out as she stared down at Archie's pants, scowling as she realized what he wanted from her. In the millions of scenarios we played over and over in her head about this moment, Archie had never wanted this from her.
Feeling the humiliating creeping across her skin like a rash, Corey quickly dropped down and grabbed her discarded clothes, turning away from Archie to button her skirt as he continued to sit there, watching her and waiting expectantly. It wasn't until she left and slammed the door, her red bra still showing, that Archie realized she wasn't going to follow through.
Corey couldn't get out of there fast enough. She ran up to the rooftop, thankful that she hadn't run into any of her co-workers. She tossed her gray sweater over her head as she walked, her mind reeling from the crass rejecting she had just received from the supposed love of her life. It wasn't until she had properly righted her skirt and sweater and sat down hard on the bench that the sobs began to wrack her body. The gravity of her encounter with Archie finally came crashing down on her head like a ton of bricks and the tears couldn't escape fast enough. Her hands covered her face as she searched her mind for what she could have done to make him think she would do that for him.