Serendipity & the Serpent

Take What You Want

For the next week and a half, you spent every free hour you had at the record shop. It had been so long since you had worked there regularly, that you hadn't realized how busy it had become. Your mother was friends with the customers, calling them by their first names, while you had forgotten how the bins were organized.

You felt guilty. The record shop was the whole reason you were forced to move to Cali anyway. How would Grandpa feel if he knew you weren't taking care of it the way he had wanted? Was he looking down on you now, shaking his head in disappointment?

Other then that, there was practically nothing new in your life. You and Johnny had spoken a few times, but nothing that suggested the relationship had healed. Once you had told him it wasn't going to work out, nothing had or ever would be the same again.

You were simply acquaintances now.

Your birthday was quickly approaching for a Friday. Normally the weekdays drag on and on but this time, it went pretty fast. It was already Wednesday, and you found yourself taking a slight detour to the record shop after school. You had caught sight of a beautiful drum set in the instrument shop, and you were dying to try it out.

The minute you stepped inside however, your eyes flickered down to your right arm in a cast.

But you didn't care. After a moment of hesitation, you pushed forward into the store. If anything this cast motivated you, it made you realize just how much emotion went in to pushing away Johnny that night. You hated that you did it, but you knew it was for the better.

And the anger you had built up toward yourself, released in the crashing of drumsticks. They collided with the set, covering the expanse of its percussion. You hadn't even felt any pain in your arm, allowing you to move freely.

The only thing stopping you, was the employee who rounded the corner.

"Woah. You're pretty good at that."

"Thanks," you said out of breath, "it's definitely one of my favorite instruments to play."

She nodded her head as she took in your appearance. With a sudden realization, she tilted her head.

"You were in here before, right?"

"A few times, yes." You smiled.

She nodded her head once more. "You came in with that boy one time. You were showing him how to play guitar?"

You gulped. "Yeah, that was me."

She grinned before wiping it away in a heartbeat. Almost as if she shook her head out of a daze, she changed the subject.

"You can still really kill it on the drums with a cast on. Impressive."

Looking down, you examined it. You shrugged before looking back toward her. "Hey, when you're passionate about something, you don't let anything stop you, right?"

She agreed with a wink.

The moment she did it, a realization washed over you.

The walls you had built up to shut the world out, needed to come down. What were you doing? Thinking that shutting Johnny out was a good idea? You had unknowingly done it to protect yourself from getting hurt, but you had momentarily ignored how this could've hurt him.

When you're passionate about love, you shouldn't let anything stop you.

"Just let me know if you need anything." The employee said before walking back to her counter. You swallowed, standing up on shaky legs. There was something you needed to do, somewhere to be.