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“Clementine, you’re walking too slow. If you don’t hurry up, the music store will close before we can get Dad’s recording player.”
Clementine rolled her eyes at her antsy little brother, not seeing why they had to rush since their dad’s birthday was another week away from now but she chalked it up to his excitement over being in a new environment. The unfamiliar West Virginia brisk made it difficult to see through her curled bangs and if it wasn’t for AJ’s keen eyesight guiding them through the tough weather, she would have walked right past their destination. Matthew’s Music Museum was a placid remnant of the town that sold everything from vintage cassette tapes to the latest edition of wireless earbuds, which added to its suburban aesthetic and attractive appeal to newcomers like herself. Though, when she stepped inside the store, it felt as though she was transported back into some cult classic coming of age film.
“Alright, goofball. We have exactly 30 minutes to find Dad’s present, any longer and we’ll miss the bus back home. Got it?” She warned, tapping the glass of her wristwatch for stern emphasis.
The threat was empty-handed as per usual but it worked in getting him to move with the slightest bit of urgency, seeing as he saluted her and promptly ran off to the table with the shiny electric guitar display. She shook her head with a sigh and shuffled along the many cases of classic vinyl records, searching for a track that best fit her father’s aging music taste with almost little to no luck. Before she could focus on digging through the recycled records, Clementine’s ears perked as she recognized the melody to Paul Anka’s classic hit from the 60s and began humming the opening to herself. She got so entrapped in the lulling tune of the song that she almost failed to hear the young cashier humming along with her, even going as far to sing in a muffled tone under his breath when she happened to catch his sweetly intense eye.
“You know this song, too?” She asked, fingers subconsciously tapping along to the beat and her amber eyes never leaving his stare.
He faked a gasp as he placed his hands over his heart in mock betrayal before laughing it off and abandoning his position at the counter to be closer to her, at least as far as she’d allow. Despite his boyishly handsome charm and dramatic humor that she found herself gravitating towards, he was still a stranger in this unfamiliar town. She hadn’t even asked for his name and here she was, three feet apart with the lingering tension of something more pulling them closer to each other.
“You’d have to live under the deepest rock on planet Earth if you don’t know this song and I, for one, can say that I am well versed in the legacy of Anka’s discography.” He teased, leaning against the stand with an infectious freckled smile plastered on his face that made her swoon—but on the inside, of course.
“You’d be pleased to know that I, for one, am not from the forsaken underground. I come in peace and in search of a vintage record player for my dad. You wouldn’t happen to know your way around antiques now, would you?” Clementine bantered, handing him a photocopy of a similar record player her father previously owned with hopes of him having something like it in stock.
He examined the antique in the picture—tongue sticking out the side of his mouth with his eyebrows raised—before handing it back to her and leading her to an enclosed section where vintage albums and cassettes collected dust on shelves, presumably an area that most people ignored nowadays. Clementine, with a questionable scrutiny, watched as he reached behind an abandoned counter to heave a forgotten three-in-one Victrola turntable that harbored the looks of a classic record player with a few modern fixes. Just like the one in the picture almost, she thought as she shifted between the photocopy and the turntable.
“I hope it’s to your liking because this beauty is the last one in stock and there won’t be more until someone’s grandpa trades his old player for something a bit more ‘hip’ as they like to call it. You can try it out before you purchase it, just to be sure.”
Clementine looked down at her watch and saw that they had spent at most twenty-five minutes in the little store, closing in on her preferred thirty minute interval. The bus would be there for them shortly and it was a long walk from the store back to the bus station, so they’d have to wrap up everything here with the same urgency she had when they first entered.
She huffed, denying his offer gently and walking with him over to the register to pay for the antique. “As much as I’d love to stick around and test it out with you, my little brother and I have a bus to catch in fourteen minutes.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” he paused with hesitation evident in his fleeting stare. “You know, I could always take you and your little brother home if you’d like. My shift ends in fifteen and after clock-out, I can drop you where you need to go. That is, if you want me to, I mean.” He offered with a wishful grin, scratching the undercut beneath his dreads.
Clementine thought about the offer and while she was grateful for it, she still didn’t know much about the boy. Two options stood before her: one, she could risk her and her siblings’ safety by catching the bus as the night crept upon them with the more time they wasted here and two, graciously taking his offer to drive them home and possibly risk the outcome of him being deranged with sinister motives. Either way she thought about it, they were risking something but she had her brother to look out for and felt better if they’d caught the bus this time around.
“Thanks for the offer but I think I’d feel better with the bus for now. Though, I’d like to know your name before I go, if it’s alright with you.” She said, watching him meticulously wrap the antique in a padded box.
His movement halted and out of realization that he went all this time without even introducing himself, he lightly plucked himself in the forehead and sighed in embarrassment. As he handed her the bag to pass to her little brother, he tore the receipt from the register and scribbled something on the back before returning it to her.
“The name’s Louis, piano extraordinaire and musical enthusiast. Or at least, that’s what I think of me. Sorry for the screw-up, but can you blame me? I’ve been around a beautiful girl all day so of course, it’s only natural that I’d be less focused than usual.” He gushed, that ten thousand dollar smile once again making her weak in the knees.
Before she had a chance to respond, a tug on her jeans pulled her attention to her kid brother, who seemed less than impressed with the sickeningly sweet flirting that the two were caught between. “Can we go now, Clem? I’m starving and Dad’s making his baked bean casserole tonight, ya know.”
The agitated, impatient stare of his made it clear to Clementine that it was just about time that they should be on their way to the bus stop now before it got too dark for them to be out, but as she made her way out the store, she turned to face the disappointed boy one last time.
“The name’s Clementine, by the way. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing each other around more often than you know, Louis. But until then, see you.”
He sighed heavily, watching her fleeting figure disappear into the distance as the stereo continued its marathon of classic tunes in the bittersweet moment.
Until then, my darling Clementine.