I looked both ways before crossing the street. My mum's voice ringing in my ears, "Look both ways or else you'll be the chicken that didn't cross the road!".
The boy at the bus stop looked up confused as I laughed to myself. Distracting myself quickly by pretending my phone went off and a text had made me laugh.
The bus rolled in not long after, the boy stood aside and let me board first. Was he being nice, or was it because I wore yoga pants today?
"Uh.. Uh excuse me..." I didn't want to turn to see some weirdo trying to talk to me. "Miss, you dropped your keys..."
My keys?
"Oh?" The boy stood closer than I expected, stumbling lightly as the bus jerked forward.
"Sorry sorry..." His hands did no justice in covering his rosy cheeks. "H-here's your keys... Sorry!" He hastily handed me my keys, fumbling them as the bus stopped again.
"Thanks..." I slowed, anticipating his name.
"Aaron... My names Aaron..." His eyes nervously met mine and fluttered back.
"Carter." I felt my smile creep across my face.
"Nice to meet you Carter!" His voice shook as he nodded quickly. "That's a nice name..."
"I hate it." His face pulled back, reeling for something to say.
"Oh... Uh... I'm sorry..." His eyes fell back onto his scuffed chucks.
"It's okay, I think Aaron's a cute name." Patting his shoulder lightly. "This is my stop, see you around Aaron!" I flashed a quick smile as I stepped off into the light drizzle. He was defiantly cute, and he left me with a light airy feeling.
I checked my watch, ten minutes early to work. Great. I'll get to spend time talking with the creepy guy who smells like tuna melts.
I stepped out of the Starbucks nearly spitting my drink out. Aaron was leaned against the post box tying his shoe laces, another boy stood next to him flexing his arms comically.
With a spurt of anxiety, I frantically wiped my chin and rearranged my hair. In the reflection of the Starbucks, I wiped my somewhat runny mascara, earning a side glare from some wannabe hipster. I flipped him off quickly before noticing the reflection of Aaron staring at me.
"Carter?" He called. "Hey!"
"Aaron!" I turned around feeling my stomach flop.
"Hey, funny seeing you again... This is Jon." The boy next to him smiled.
"Hello, Carter?" He rolled his sleeves back down, slightly embarrassed.
"Carter. Nice to meet you." The two of them paused in a nervous silence.
"Where are you off to?" Aaron broke the silence.
"Work, I work at Junkies." I shifted my weight onto my right foot.
"The record shop? We were going to meet our friends there just now!" Jon's face lit up with excitement.
"Cool, let's go. I'll be late if I don't get a move on!"
We hurried down to Junkies, Milos was there already. She lazily snapped along with an old worn jazz track.
"Yo..." She didn't even bother looking up, flipping the pages of a local paper.
"Hey, this is Aaron and Jon. They followed me here. Is Fitz here?" I shivered at his name.
"Yuck, thank god he's not." She slipped the paper under the counter and turned to us. "Hey!"
"There's the guys, hey!" Jon called to two boys standing in the back near the ska section.
"Hey!" The two walked over quickly. The shorter of the two piling his CD's into the others hands.
"Here, I'll take those..." Milos leaned over as he nearly dropped the stack, his glasses slipping down his nose.
"You okay?" None of his friends seemed to bother to ask so I felt the need to.
"Yeah... Thanks!" He smiled.
"All these together?" Milos called, attempting to take the attention back to the sale at hand.
"Uh... Uh y-yes!" He nodded quickly pulling out his wallet.
"Mmm, your total is twenty one dollars even!" She accepted the two bills and went to make change.
"So, this is Ben and that's Ian." Aaron introduced them quietly.
"Hi!" The Ben one smiled. "I'm Benjamin! You are?"
"Carter..." His tee shirt sleeves cut off revealing his tattooed arm. He seemed proud of his ink, I rubbed my arm hiding mine.
"You're pretty Carter, you single?" Man he just cuts to the quick eh?
"Ben leave her alone... We have practice to get to." Milos handed Ian a bright yellow bag with his CDs, the change in her other hand.
"Have a good one!" She sighed, knowing no one was paying her attention.
"See you around, Carter!" Aaron waved as they left.
"You're hot." Milos laughed as she fixed the CDs.
"That Ben one violated me with his eyes..." I shivered as I passed under the air conditioner.
"Should punched him out!" Milos called as she reached under the counter.
"Didn't want to come off as that kind of girl..." I sighed.
"You like one of them!" There was a bump, a curse and soon an overjoyed Milos holding her head.
"No, I don't know them!"
"You think one is cute!"
"Shut up..."
"The one with the funny head!" With her hands she traced a peanut shape in the air.
"God no..." He did kinda look like a peanut...
"What one?" She wouldn't let this go I could tell.
"The tall gangly one is kind of cute okay? But they were in and out and we're probably never going to see them again. Okay? Okay." I hurried off to the upstairs of the store. There were cob webs and floors to clean.
**
"Well see you tomorrow, make sure to remember the crates in the upstairs side room!" Milos waved to me as I left the shop.
The rain had stopped leaving a heavy muggy air, sticky and musty smelling. The bus rolled up as I just made it to the stop.
"Thanks..." I breathed, dropping my change in and finding a seat.
I just wanted to get home and shower, working late was never fun. At least I didn't have to close up this time...
**
"Saturday morning! Time for work!" I can't remember why I thought this alarm was a fun idea... I scrambled for my phone, cursing out my cheery pre-recorded calls.
"Bye mum!" I called as I headed down the walk way.
"Have a good day dear!" She looked up from her garden briefly.
The bus was slow today, arriving nearly twenty minutes late. I got in without a friendly hello from or to the driver.
I yanked down on the string, alerting the bus driver of my pending stop. She kept going.
"Excuse me, that was my stop back there!" There goes grabbing a coffee.
"Yeah hold on." Her harsh voice abrasively clashed with my ears.
The bus pulled into the next stop, three blocks away.
"Thanks..." I mumbled stepping off, hearing her grunt before driving away. No coffee and nearly late for work. Milos was far in the back loading a new shipment of records.
"Yo!" She called. "There's a muffin for you..." She waved to the counter.
"Hey thanks!" There was a small paper bag sitting under the counter. "What the..."
Attached to the paper bag was a little note held on by a paper clip.
"Oh yeah, that's not from me." She laughed passing behind me with an empty crate.
"Hmm?" I unfolded the paper gently, revealing shaky handwriting.
"Hello Carter, I'm sorry I can't ask you in person. I think you're really cool and want to hangout with you sometime, if you want... - Aaron." Followed by his number. I could feel my cheeks burning, quickly stuffing the note in my pocket as Milos came in from the store room.
"No need to hide it, he wrote it here." She smiled.
"What?" Great, she knew...
"He was really nervous, he was in here earlier with one of his friends. Went around a while before walking up and asking if you were in... He was so cute, I told him your shift was in an hour. He couldn't make it so I said just leave a note!" I nodded slowly taking a bite of the muffin. "He was nervous even doing that! Kept checking the door incase you walked in... His friend laughed at him, he punched him... Handed me the note, bought a record, Operation Ivy, and left!"
"Well fuck... What do I do?" My stomach flopped anxiously. Did he mean a date? Or just to hangout?
"Call him?" She shrugged.
"I can't!"
"Do it!"
"No!"
Milos sighed and grabbed the store phone, dialling a number quickly.
"What are you-"
"Aaron? Yeah! Hey it's Milos, yup! Haha good to hear... Yeah oh hold on..." She covered the receiver. "Here take this, someone just walked in!"
Without hesitation she shoved the phone into my hands and ran off.
"Hello?" My voice was almost a whisper.
"Hi... It's Aaron..." He answered, telling someone to shut up in the background.
"I assumed... Milos told me you stopped by, I got your note." I shut my eyes hoping he didn't think I was a loser, judging by the long silence he must have.
"Yeah... Um I wanted to ask you in person but you weren't there and so I just thought... And well, I want to know if - AARON WANTS TO BANG YOU!" Someone else had grabbed the phone laughing. There was a commotion and shuffling, followed by cussing and what sounded like punches.
"Fuck I'm sorry... Ben got the phone... No I don't want to bang you! I mean you're pretty but... Aw fuck... Do you want to hangout tonight?" He blurted finally.
"I'd... Uh well I uh, yes!" I caught a look from Milos, her smile spread from ear to ear as she blew a kiss.
"Eight o'clock?" He stuttered.
"Oh," I flipped Milos off quickly. "Yeah! Eight's good... Meet you where?"
"Oh uh, Slinky's?"
"Sure, see you there... Bye!" I hung up quickly, sitting down behind the desk.
"Eight o'clock sugar?" Milos leaned over the counter, hanging next to me.
"Shut up! Help me get ready okay..."
The anticipation of hanging out with Aaron was getting to me, it was now seven thirty and Milos was getting ready to leave.
"You look good, if you're lucky he'll kiss you!" She called as we split up, waving.
"Bye..." I called as I approached the ice cream parlour. Seeing Aaron standing there my heart skipped. He was standing with Ben... Great.
"Carter!" He called. "Hey, Ben's leaving soon... Ben?"
"Yeah, I'll be gone soon... Good seeing you!" He added politely before walking off.
"So wanna get ice cream?" Aaron shrugged slipping his hands into his pockets.
"Sure..." We grabbed two cones and set out for a walk. Talking easily as we made our way out to the hill to watch the sun set.
"Really pretty..." I sighed munching the rest of my waffle cone.
"Like you." He sighed.
"What?"
"Uh nothing... Just uh... Well you're just... The sun is pretty you said and I said... Well oh fuck it..." Tossing the melted soggy cone away quickly he grabbed my shoulders and pressed his lips to mine.
My eyes wide and heart racing, I didn't know what to do but kiss him back.
He pulled away, looking nervous. I couldn't help but smile at him, he was really cute...
"Sorry..." He sighed. "I didn't mean to-"
I didn't bother letting him finish, I pulled him into a hug and kissed him again. Laying back in the grass we watched the sun go down holding hands. In the dying sun rays Aaron caught a glimpse of my wrist.
"Hey... You've got a tattoo..." He turned my arm over gently, revealing the small sun and moon.
"It's for my grandmother... She always used to say the moon can't shine without the sun, that everyone relies on someone. We all go through cycles, we may not be there for the other, but they'll always come back around." I paused to admire the sun slipping below the horizon. "The night she died there was no moon... The following full moon was so bright and big... It kinda just stuck with me..."
I hadn't noticed my eyes well. Aaron pulled me quickly into his chest, resting my head and listening to his quick heart beat.
It was well past midnight before we realized, but that didn't matter. I felt safe next to him, resting my head on his chest and wrapped in his arms. His soft breath on my neck...
All I had to worry about was how I'd tell Milos tomorrow...
