I Chose Nothing

8

John laughed at the comedian on stage as they cracked another joke at the bar. The bar was a tad bit full, chatter was at a minimum as the comedian made another sarcastic remark, making people laugh. John let his mind wander, imagining how he would feel up there on stage and having the ability to put together words in order to form a witty statement that made not only himself, but plenty of others laugh. How he craved that validation of being able to make others happy, he wanted to know how it felt to have people want to listen to you.
He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, a notification banner appeared when he opened his phone, it was a text message from an unsaved number. Before he could open his phone a rather large hand gripped his shoulder tightly and forced him to turn and face the other direction. A large, visibly upset man met his eyes. The man was slightly taller, a luscious and thick beard that hosted the smell of faint alcohol. "You were checking out my girl punk?" He threatened in between his teeth, the thick southern accent was very prominent in his deep velvety voice. "What?" John stuttered back nervously, he hadn't recalled looking at anyone specific, unless he did that when he was zoned out. John did not want a fight, "My girl told me you were checking her out, 's that true?" He asked again, the same angry tone remained. John shook his head profusely, "N-no sir." The angry man let his shoulder go and told him to get out of the bar. Again, without wanting any sort of conflict to occur, he swallowed his pride and left the establishment as quickly as he could, leaving a tip for the wonderful bartender that had given him his drinks.
John went outside and noticed that it was still daylight outside, so he kept on wandering around town, admiring all of the small shops as he walked past them. He entered a rather small music shop, from what he could tell it was old. The person at the cash register greeted him with a smile. John figured he needed to listen to more music, Marc told him so.
Not knowing what type of music to buy he asked the person at the register to help him out. By the end of the affair John had a total of five new albums, a few cassette tapes, a CD player, and a Walkman to mess around with. Thanking the cashier for all of the help, John left the store with a smile of his face and a wave goodbye. The cashiers name was Andy and they now had his number since they'd gotten along for that short amount of time that he'd been there.
As John left the music shop, hands full with plastic bags that carried the equipment that he had bought, he walked further into town but felt the burning sensation of eyes watching him.
Sage grew a bit worried ever since John hadn't responded her initial text, surely he had his phone with him. He wouldn't have left the house without it. She texted him one last time, and told herself that if he didn't answer within the next two hours, she'd go and drive around town in search for him. She didn't have his location on her phone since she never really thought about ever needing it. She sighed and tossed her phone on the bed, and heard a desperate pounding on her door.