metro card//MGG

9

double update because I felt motivated today :)

"sure. why not?"

"are you being serious right now?" I feel my lips turn up in an excited grin. my fingertips tighten around the strap of my backpack, despite the chilled air causing them to go a little numb.

"yeah. I mean, it's not like, a bunch of work, is it?" Tia looks between the two of us for a moment, her eyes traveling over Matthew's stature once again. I don't blame her.

after we decided to visit the record store, we coincidentally ran right into the woman who runs it. her hair is in two long braids, falling over the material of her suede jacket and the fluffy scarf bundled around her neck. she was locking up right as we arrived.

"no, no. it's a short script to memorize. that's it." I wave it off.

"and you'll have to be willing to deal with her directing." Matthew playfully rolls his eyes and I nudge his shoulder, prompting his little giggle. she smiles at him, then at me.

"let me give you my number, then." she extends her hand to place my phone in. we exchange information and then she repeats the process with Matthew, which I find to be kind of unnecessary but don't say anything about. right as I'm about to say goodbye, she offers to show us around the shop.

"do you have time?" Matthew asks me quietly, waiting for my permission.

"yeah, definitely." I feel in my bones that I need to get home to talk to Ren, but I am ever non-confrontational. so I will, again, put it off. we head inside and I'm immediately hit with a wall of warmth and the smell of old wood. she flips on the lights.

"I'm surprised you guys are open this late." I observe.

"we're not. I normally close at around seven, but I had to get some paperwork done." she makes a half-hearted sweeping gesture to the rows upon rows of records. "welcome to the Electric Eel." immediately, Matthew starts shooting off questions about where she gets her records, how she keeps them in good condition, and how business is going. she answers all of his questions with a saintly patience.

"usually we play some music to set the ambience, too." she points to a fancy record player in the corner of the room, right behind the counter.

"cool stickers." he gravitates toward the surface, checking out the different designs. some of them are faded or half-covered by other, newer stickers, although somehow it comes together in a really satisfying way.

"thanks. my dad started it when I was a little girl. I'm just continuing the tradition." she scoots in beside him. I'm rifling through some classical records and trying to ignore the definite energy in the room. they're talking quietly, but when she starts to shrug off her jacket and picks out something to play on the storewide player, I feel a new kind of flame ignite in my stomach. my jaw clenches.

"you know, Matthew, I just remembered," I grip onto the side of a milk crate full of Vivaldi vinyls. "I need to help Ren with something."

he straightens up from the counter, in which he has obviously been engrossed. Tia turns around and folds her arms across her chest. "Ren?"

"Ophelia's roommate." Matthew replies. "it's getting pretty dark, I'll walk you home." he smiles at me, then turns to his new castmate. "thanks, Tia. it was nice to meet you."

"definitely." she smiles when she turns to me. "you'll let me know when you guys start shooting?"

"for sure. I'll send you the script when I finish polishing it this week." I have to keep from looping my arm through Matthew's as we head out of the shop and into the street. shuddering at the cold and tightening my coat around me, I walk briskly ahead of him. he jogs to catch up.