Nothing More - Sam Kiszka

Chapter 4

She woke the next morning beside Sam's warm body, his arm draped over her side while his soft snores drifted through the air around her. She checks the time on her phone that was on the nightstand, seeing that she had about an hour and a half before she had to be at work. It was enough time to where she could properly get ready for her day if she left soon.

Natalia slips out of the bed, careful not to wake the sleeping man still resting there so peacefully. She pulls on her tank top and shorts from the night before after picking them up from where they had been tossed to the ground.

"You leaving?" She hears a gruff voice ask, causing her to turn around to see Sam rubbing the sleep from his eyes. No one had ever cared much, so the question shocked her.

"Uh, yeah, I have to work," she kept it brief so not to confuse him since he just woke up.

He nods and pushes the blankets aside, standing up and pulling his boxers on while simultaneously giving Natalia a view that brings her bottom lip between her teeth. "I'll walk you out."

Her eyebrows furrow for a moment but she still follows him to the front door. Why did he want to make sure she got out okay? Why did it make her stomach flutter the way it did? It was literally a booty call.

Once they reach the door, what she expects to be awkward is far from. Sam hands her her keys from the table in the entryway and they exchange a sweet goodbye before she's out the door and walking to her car.

The way Sam carries himself often leaves no room for awkwardness. The confidence he has gives him the serious potential to be an asshole, but she hadn't seen anything like that from him. He was quiet and reserved around other people, and he was still that way with her when all was said and done, but when they hooked up it was the unwavering confidence in himself that made her crave more.

She didn't remember driving herself home, as it was relatively short and her thoughts were clouded, but she knew she got there in one piece.

-

"Uncle Tony!" She says with a grin, walking into the shop with a coffee in each hand.

"How many times do I have to tell you, kid, we aren't related," he said with a chuckle, taking the coffee that was handed to him with a thank you. "What's got you in such a good mood, Lia? Finally win big in the scratch-offs?"

Tony never failed to make Natalia smile, that's one of the things she found so comforting about him. "What can I say, Tony? I woke up on the right side of the bed today." Whose bed, however, she wouldn't be disclaiming.

"Well, keep that chipper attitude up, you've got a lot of work today. We just got a new shipment in, so it's a vinyl restock day for you."

She internally groaned at the idea. She loved the job and being surrounded by music, but with the way people left the records after going through them, a restock meant fully reorganizing what they already had as well.

"Can I at least pick the music today?"

Her question earns an encouraging nod towards the record player from her boss. In the mornings, they used the record player since it was loud enough to perfectly fill the space when there weren't many customers. The afternoon is when they shifted over to the louder speakers stationed around the shop.

She lands on The Works by Queen before making her way over to the vinyl section and beginning the long process of stocking it with the fresh records that had just come in. They weren't new by any means, most were very old, but that was the idea of the shop. They got a mix of new and old. Some records were beaten to hell, but if they still played, it simply added to the experience. A well-loved record was never bad in their eyes.

-

"You know you can head home any time, right Lia? No need to stay and finish this, it can get done tomorrow," Tony says, walking over to where the girl was finally reaching the end section of the records. Her shift was supposed to end 2 hours ago but, with the approval of her boss, she was going to stay until she was done with what she had started.

"I know, but I finally got them all perfect and no one had messed them up yet today. I only have one more section to finish up and I'll be out of your hair."

He puts his hands up as if surrendering and starts back to the front counter, "You're no bother to me, you know that."

Tony spent a lot of time in the shop, so she knew that if she didn't finish it, he would. He and his wife had opened the place almost 20 years ago, but she no longer had a desire to run a shop when she could live a more simple life of working a regular 9 to 5. She visited often though, usually to bring her husband meals during shifts where he couldn't catch a break to remember to eat.

Once the work is done, Natalia gets up from where she had been crouched down, picking up all of the boxes and taking them to the back. On her way back up, she hears the bell ring, signaling that someone had come into the shop. Tony greets them before she joins him in the front, sitting at the stool beside his and looking to see if she knew the customer. He looked oddly familiar, but it was no one she had ever met.

The man's hair was curly, not too long but if it were straight it had to have reached his shoulders. He had on khaki pants with a white shirt and a pretty, long necklace hanging from his neck. He was a little taller than Natalia, but not too tall. The clean-shaven look he sported showed his bone structure off well, he was quite handsome, but not her type.

"Anything I can help you find?" She asks, gaining his attention instantly and noticing his lips form their way into a warm smile.

"Actually, yes, some assistance would be wonderful. I've never been into your shop before, it's quite nice." He was charming in his speech like he knew exactly how to command a room with ease.

Tony thanks him for the compliment as I get up, standing behind the counter still. "What are you looking for today?"

"I came in to check out your records if you could point me in the direction."

She finds herself smiling and moving from behind the counter, walking over to the section of vinyl as he follows. "This is freshly stocked, so the selection should be pretty good. I'm not sure what kind of music you like but we got this beautiful old Hendrix record in today, it's nearly perfect." She files quickly through the covers until she finds just what she was looking for, pulling a copy of Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland.

He takes the record with a grin, flipping it over the check the back out before nodding. "My brother would love this. You've got good taste, you know."

She chuckles softly at the remark. "Well, thank you very much, working in a music store seems to help with that."

She leaves him to shop, checking him out when he was all finished before grabbing her bag from behind the counter. "Alright Uncle Tony, I'll see you tomorrow, I'm off!"

She hears his laugh as she heads to the door, "still not your uncle!"