Let The Light In, Alex Turner

That place on memory lane

june, two-thousand & three

HMV was silent, excluding the perverted groans of Pulp's Different Class that Audrey had put on as her soundtrack to sorting the records. It was about two in the middle of the week and the bell hadn't rung with the welcome of a new customer since lunchtime.

Audrey had finished her GCSE's two weeks before, and in an attempt to earn a extra money and scavenge all her dream records and cd's, she'd been working three days a week since school had ended. She'd applied to a few different places but wanted to work at the music store more than anything.

Since she had been first allowed into the city centre when she was thirteen, countless afternoons had been spent pouring over everything from t-shirts and posters to cassettes. She'd drag her friends in, too, and whilst they'd tease her serious expression flicking through records, she didn't have it in her to let it bother her.

Plus, her friends were either on holiday or working jobs of their own. She'd experienced serious boredom already and had to find a way to kill it.

Her coworkers consisted of uni students and  middle-aged music snobs, which were all pretty intimidating. So far, though, She'd passed their test of musical knowledge and wore her pleased smile like a badge of pride. Her job at HMV would never be a career for her.

No, Audrey had bigger dreams, maybe a music producer or a music journalist or a film critic. Something in which she could indulge her obsessions whilst still being paid above minimum wage. The childhood pipe dreams of an adored actress or a musician had died as puberty came, so she'd had to get practical. She had daydreams on the daily of moving away to a pretty townhouse and being able to get all the cats and clothes she wanted. Her mind was occupied on this once more, in the midst of sorting through all the Beatles albums, when the bell rung.

Her enthusiasm for the chipper customer service had wavered in the two weeks she had been working there. Resigned to sitting on the floor and making herself look incredibly busy, she listened to the footsteps of the new shopper. He hummed along to the tune of Disco 2000 before almost tripping over the girl on the ground.

"Fucking hell, sorry love," He exclaimed, his voice breaking at the word 'love'. Audrey looked up to see a boy with velvet brown eyes and hair to match.

"S'no problem. I probably should've got up when I heard you were coming in, customer service and all that," She replied, her tone slightly sarcastic but her eyes curious. Standing up, she grabbed the vinyls and began sorting them properly, feeling the boy watch her once more.

"Don't worry about it. Imagine I'd stepped on you and broke all the Revolvers. Then I'd be a real prick." He smiled bashfully, scanning his eyes from one record to another.

"If it was the White Album you'd broke, then it'd be a lifetime ban. You looking for anything in particular?" She continued, trying not to look at him too much. He was, to put it plainly, adorable. Pretty boys with good taste always had girlfriends, and Audrey didn't have the game to pull anyway.

"Have you heard of the Strokes?" He asked, looking around the room awkwardly, though his eyes settled on her for a response. Audrey almost laughed. Of course she'd heard of The Strokes.

"Yeah, they're class. You still don't have Is This It? Or are you a new fan?" She said lightly, trying not to sound pretentious.

"No, no I've liked them for ages. My CD's just got all worn out from listening too much. You're a fan then?" He asked, tripping over his words slightly.

"I am. They should be over here," she motioned to the "indie" corner, internally kicking herself that she couldn't seem to say anything funny or interesting. She got up as he followed her over, flicking through, before letting out a tut.

"We're all out. We get stock every Friday, though, so if you come back then..." She trailed off.

"Alright. S'pose ill have to listen to my shitty version until then." He sighed a little dramatically. A veil of silence came over them for a few long seconds as he looked for nothing in particular, before speaking again.

"Do you play music? Like an instrument?"

"I tried. I have an acoustic at home, but I dont have the discipline to be any good," she shrugged, grinning slightly. "Do you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I do. Play guitar mostly in a band." He nodded sheepishly.

"No way, a band? Got any gigs?" She asked, her interest piqued.

Of course he was in a band.

"Got one at The Grapes this weekend, actually. Do you know it?" He asked, an attempt at bold.

"Yeah, yeah, it's fairly local isn't it?" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's not bad..." He trailed off once more, averting his eyes to the floor. "You should come. It'd be nice to have someone who works in the music industry there."

"Someone in the music industry?" She laughed, raising an eyebrow. He smiled back shyly, scratching his neck.

'Yeah, exactly. To get your professional opinion. Oh, and you could bring The Strokes CD" He nodded, slightly more confident, awaiting her response. She bit back a grin and thought for a moment.

"When is it, then?"

they're so painfully awkward I love it😘😘😘 idk how much I'll switch between their teenage relationship and then the "present" but I thought this was cutesy so yeah. Also Alex pretending to be indiegod 3000 about the STROKES is so me asking people I fancy if they like tlsp