Force of Habit

Chapter 13

I enter the guitar shop, a place that greatly relaxes me after a long day at work, which was just what today was. Upon entering the acoustic section, I pick up a guitar and begin strumming. After getting warmed up a bit, I begin playing an actual song. The notes for Skinny Love by Bon Iver rings off the strings as I play and it doesn't take me long before I'm lost in my own little world of music. As I finish the last few chords, I have that feeling that someone's watching me. I slowly turn around and am met by a pair of the brightest green eyes I've ever seen, surrounded by globs of eyeliner and mascara. The girl I see seems to be around sixteen. Her dyed red hair is cut in a very stark manner and she was dressed in the uniform for the guitar shop.

"Can I help you?" I ask, setting the guitar down.

"No no! Keep playing. I haven't heard anyone play like that before."

"Yeah, I know it's pretty bad... But that's why you practice, right?"

"Um, that's not exactly what I was saying..."

"Well what were you saying?"

"I think you're pretty good."

"Awe, well thank you."

"Hey! The shop has these nights where people just come and preform a song or two for whoever stops by, you should join us! They're every month," the red haired girl says, with an abundance of enthusiasm.

"I don't know..." I trail off.

"You should really try to come if you can, they're always a bunch of fun," she tells me, handing me a neon blue flyer.

"Oh, um thanks."

"I'll leave you to your practice. Bye!" the green eyed girl says with a wave and then walks off.

I glance down at the flyer in my hands very briefly before shoving it into my pocket and continue playing.

-----

The next day I receive a call from Sawyer.

"Hey!" I answer into my dinky phone.

"Hi, Olivia. Um, I was just wondering if you'd want to do something later on."

"Sure! What time?" I say, excited to see him again, as I have been really busy with work lately and likewise with school for him.

"How about once you're done with work?"

"I'm actually off today, so any time would work."

"Okay, I'll pick you up soon then. Okay?"

"Sawyer, this is not The Fault In Our Stars."

"Well it could be..."

"Hahaha, very funny. No, but seriously, it's not."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fineeee," he whines back.

"Fine."

"Maybe fine will be our okay?"

At this point I'm tempted to say fine again, just to mess with him, but decide against it."Okay," is all I reply.

"What did we just say about this not being The Fault In Our Stars!?" he pauses to wait for a reply which I decline to give, "Olivia Taylor, I can hear you smirking."

"And so what if I am?"

"Well that'd just mean that we'd need to get that off of you."