The way the crooked smile guy tended to the other and lulled him into relaxing and breathing, had AJ with the sour taste of him being the perpetrator when he had only intended to stop a theft. Something had gone really wrong in the whole thing and he was not liking the way it was looking.
"Are you ok, babe?" whispered once again, trying to get an answer from his friend.
At least AJ thought he was his friend, but actually the interaction between those two was walking a gray line, leaving AJ confused in more than one aspect of this afternoon. He had a lot of friends that he loved like brothers, but he was sure as hell he would get kicked in the balls if he ever called one of them "babe" or anything close.
"I didn't even touch him," he suddenly excused himself, not entirely sure he needed to do it; but feeling compelled to anyway.
Unfortunately, his voice did little for the cause and only earned him another scared look from the little one and a new attempt to recoil away from him. The crooked guy smiled awkwardly, visibly torn between protecting his friend and being polite to the guy that had done nothing to earn any kind of mistreatment.
You've gotta be fucking kidding me. Why am I giving explanations here?
"What's his problem?" he asked, nodding towards the fearful boy. "Why is he so scared?"
"He has no problem!" The tall guy was quick to defend him, leaving aside his initial reservations. There was no joy or empathy in his expression anymore, instead there was a powerful aura of rejection stressed by the deep frown forming on his eyebrows and his lips tensed in a straight line. "We're leaving. Sorry for this."
Following the same gentleness he had shown him all this time, he carried the little one to the door. The change in demeanor was significant and left the store owner perplexed. One minute he had been seething and the next he was passing his arm around the other's shoulder tenderly, squeezing him against his body.
Before heading out, AJ called out to his regular customer and threw him the little bag with the string he had come for. The guy looked a little lost, passing his eyes from the little bag to the man standing next to the counter.
"I owe you your change. Come back tomorrow," he explained, and the light of realization burned bright on the other's face. He nodded so hard his head could have rolled down the floor before disappearing into the already dark street.
AJ walked towards the door to hang the CLOSED sign and locked the doors. A deep sigh left his lungs as the tiredness of the day caught up to him. This had got to be the weirder afternoon he's had.
He couldn't get fast enough to his apartment on the second floor. The place was not exactly luxurious, but it was more than enough for a music lover like him.
The little living room area had a couch and a coffee table next to a bookcase filled with old time discs and music related souvenirs. Right behind the couch, there was a little dinner room with a round table, just big enough for two people. Right next to the kitchen he never really used it other than to store things in the cabinets and heat things in the microwave. A couple of feet away was the bedroom with a double bed next to the bathroom, a small room with just about enough for a good ending of a bad day; a shower with warm water, a toilet and a counter with a big mirror that didn't allow him to hide his tiredness.
It was all small and practical by design. His uncle had made sure of that. He wasn't much for luxury and big spaces that require too much time to clean. He rather stuck to basic needs and AJ had grown to like the same.
After a quick shower, there was nothing better than lazing around his couch enjoying his food right out of the microwave. It was funny how his life had been reduced to a bunch of rings that let him know what he was supposed to be doing. He had become a well-trained lab rat.
Food did wonders to help him forget the bad parts of the day, but not even close to what music could do for him as a stress reliever. At the end of the day, his fingers just had that itch that could only be calmed by playing his guitar; another thing he had picked up from his uncle.
Their musical tastes varied a little from each other, but music had always been the middle point for them. While his uncle enjoyed classic old times rock like AC/DC, Scorpions and Kiss, AJ was privileged enough to be able to enjoy all kinds of music and get the same pleasure out of listening to a classic symphony, a rock song or a dancing song. It was all a matter of what mood he felt in.
Today, he felt in the mood for some comfortable music. Watching the odd couple of friends interact with each other had left him with a sour taste in his mouth. He had never been truly alone. Despite what life had thrown at him, he had always had his uncle and a bunch of other people around. But now, it was the first time he was living completely alone and the reality of things hadn't completely set on him until he watched the other two.
After everything his uncle had done for him, he couldn't deny the man the chance to make his dreams come true and just travel the world meeting people, eating exotic food and listening to all kinds of music. On the contrary, he had been the first one to congratulate him and send him off with a big smile, ensuring him he would take care of everything back at home; and that he did.
Music was not entirely working his magic, though. Even after half an hour of playing different chords and going over some of his favorite songs, he couldn't shake the image of the trembling boy out of his head. He was good at reading people and he was good at sensing them, yet he couldn't get anything from him. He knew there was something odd about him, beyond the fact that he had overly reacted to the whole thing, but there was more under all those layers of fear and clothes and clouded him.
He was not one to dwell for too long over things like this, but seeing the crooked smile guy acting so protective of the other set him off even more. The first time he had met the guy, he had seemed shy, but he soon proved to be nothing close and they had managed to set a nice flow in their interactions. But then, he showed up with his protective manly guardian aura that threw him back, utterly confused by both of them.
What's the deal with those guys?
The next day, the doorbell chimed and everyone at the store turned to see who was the newcomer. The bell was a special feature of the store. It was not the usual mechanic sound that most stores had these days, but an actual bell hanging over the door that got hit every time the door opened. It was nostalgic and had a sort of magic that spread all around the store when someone new came, so they all had grown to love it.
Most of the people that came to Soul were regular clients looking for something or just to spend some time playing a couple of instruments, always paying attention not to bother the other customers. So, when the tall guy that no one knew crossed the threshold, he had all eyes on him in an instant. His weird outfit did nothing to cut him off some of the attention, but it didn't seem to bother him as much as one would think.
"Hi, can we talk?"