It was his first time visiting the store during working hours, but he was convinced it was worth it losing a few classes over this.
Before mustering the courage to push the glass door with the big, stylish black letters spelling Soul, he spent a good ten minutes pacing from side to side at the entrance. Maybe this was a bad idea, after all. His nerves menaced to betray him. After their first encounter fiasco, the owner probably wanted nothing to do with him anymore. He had been rather disrespectful to him.
He ran his fingers through the waves of hair in an unconscious movement of frustration. Things had been going so well before the previous day. He was coming to the store regularly and a nice friendship was growing between them, but now everything was ruined.
Damn it! Don't overthink it!
The bell chime centered all the attention on him, but that didn't stop him. He was a man on a mission. He had to talk to the man at the counter. AJ was oblivious to the little ball of nerves behind him as he moved some boxes from one side to the other.
The ink on his arm was perfectly on display and his eyes drifted there without him being able to stop himself. Her hands clutched the leather strap across his chest and squeezed it hard. The pain was a pleasant distraction from the nerves that menaced again to make him quit his mission.
No, just do it. Go!
His feet felt heavy, making each step harder than the previous one, but he kept pushing forward. At least now he didn't bring a broken string. God knows the owner never shied from showing him how bad he felt for the poor instrument suffering at his hands.
"Hi, can we talk?" He mumbled, doubting the guy on the stars even heard him.
"Hi, how's it going?" Everything was back to normal; too normal, actually. He didn't seem angry nor offended. That was a good sign.
"Hi…," he repeated awkwardly. His voice was too low for his taste, but no matter how much he wanted to show a strong front and to look confident, the shame and guilt weighed way more. "I—"
"Is your friend alright?"
"Yes, thank you," he mumbled once again, locking eyes with the owner briefly before he nodded in return; oddly understanding.
Soon AJ made himself busy sorting the boxes and clearing the messy counter. He always looked busy. At first, he thought it was because he always arrived at closing time and he was busy sorting everything out before closing. But now, he seemed to be equally busy.
"I want to apologize for what happened yesterday…"
"Don't worry about it," he dismissed it instantly with a quick wave of the hand. "I'm just glad your friend is friendship."
His jaw slacked. In all the possibilities he had considered, this was never one of them. He always thought he would have to answer a lot of questions and ask for forgiveness. He even considered the idea of coming to terms with the store owner voicing hard comments and judgments, but realizing none of that was the case left him feeling a little lost.
"Hey, I have your change!"
"No, please. Leave it…," he gestured for the guy to drop it. "I'm sure I'll be back with another string in a couple of days." His attempt at a joke earned him a warm smile from the other and his heart did a back flip rejoicing in the fact nothing had changed between them.
"Seriously? You've gotta stop, man," the owner joked back, putting up a serious front that made the other lower his eyes immediately. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that. I meant you have to start treating that guitar right.
A client interrupted the exchange of looks and smiles that had flourished between them and the crooked smile guy moved aside for the new guy to cash his things out. Meanwhile, he let his eyes drift to a thin girl of long blond hair was playing a keyboard at the center of the store. It was a quick melody that made her fingers look as if they had a life of its own.
The store was completely different during the daytime. There were several youngsters fluttering around, playing instruments or just talking while watching the others play. The place looked more like a music workshop than a store, with a couple of people teaching others the basic about different instruments.
The very air around it was energizing and made him smile unconsciously.
The interaction with the client soon ended with a final greeting. He turned his attention back to the store owner, but not missing the way the client looked at them before leaving; it was weird. He was hinting at something, but AJ didn't notice a thing being too busy writing some details down on a notepad filled with numbers.
Leaving the owner to his deeds, he took a look around the store, paying special attention to the little details he had missed before. The wall beside him was made up with natural clear wood and covered by hanging guitars in all shapes and colors; the electric guitars were the flashier ones with brighter colors, but they lacked the rustic magic of acoustic guitars displayed in mahogany and blacks.
Below them, on the floor, there was a long line of amplifiers of all sizes. Most of them were black, but some of them were blue, red, or even green.
Walking further back, he watched the blond girl playing the keyboard. The headphones over her head made the music a complete mystery for everyone around. Not that she minded, she just kept everyone away from her art as she focused fully on her fingers, willing them to move even faster; if that was even possible.
Another girl caught his attention in the farther corner. She had black hair and was dressed more into punk fashion with piercings and ragged clothes. She played the guitar with similar headphones on her hair, but her melody seemed to be mellow since she played the instrument with care and calm.
His gaze went back to the instruments on the wall. There were warm lights focused on them from the ceiling where they were built in a darker wood.
"Don't even think about it," a soft pat on his left shoulder made him look beside him. "You're the terror of strings."
They both laugh. The tension from moments ago was completely forgotten. The owner was now studying him with devilish eyes that made his skin crawl until he couldn't take it anymore.
"What?"
"What would you say if I help you?"
"With what?" He arched his brow, but the owner just gave him a Cheshire cat smile.
"I can't let you continue like that. Seriously," he placed a hand over his chest theatrically. "It physically pains me to think of that poor instrument suffering every day.
What could have been hurtful to others, the crooked smile guy took it rather lightly and even flashed his signature smile. To have the store's owner help him in any way was beyond anything he would have hoped for, but still sounded more like a dream. Maybe he had misunderstood something in the whole interaction.
"I'm serious," he nudged his shoulder. "I can teach you how to tune it, but please leave it alone until I do," they both laughed amicably. AJ pocked his hands on his jeans, waiting for the other's answer while he scanned the place for everyone with an instrument, letting the content wash over him.
"Just to tune it?" AJ immediately looked back at him, surprised by the comeback that had the poor guy with his ears burning red. "I mean… if we're already at it, you could… I don't know," he shrugged, leaving the ball in the other's court.
"OK, sure," he answered plainly. "I'm no expert, though I could teach you a thing or two." The crooked guy's antics and sudden shy behavior fascinated AJ. It was weird that he was the same guy that shamelessly eyed his tattoos with nothing but open interest in his eyes.
Cute.