𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐏𝐈𝐃 | ᴇʀɪᴄ ᴍᴀᴛᴛʜᴇᴡs

52 : 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝑩𝒐𝒚

AND WE'VE
LOST HIM

AS ANNA AND ERIC APPROACHED THE WILDERNESS STORE THEY NOTICED A STRANGE GIRL SITTING OUTSIDE PLAYING THE GUITAR. They noticed her because she was loud, perky, and it was way to early in the morning to be singing about the sun. Eric didn't seem to mind, but unlike him the customers did.
"I dreamed a day like this, when children laugh and play like this, and the sun shine's just for me, and I feel good!" The girl sang, strumming her guitar in turn was Anna and Eric shared a strange look.
"Make it stop." A man by the door said, crying to Anna and Eric who just glanced at him awkwardly.
"And the sunshine's just for me, and I feel good!" Eric knelt down slightly, throwing some money into her guitar case as he walked into the store.
"A handsome passerby tosses, me a twenty dollar bill..."
"Whoa." Eric said, frowning as he grabbed his money, not realizing how much he had given.
"And the sun shine's just for me, and I feel good!" She continued to sing, making Anna hold her hands over her ears with a disgusted expression. They opened the door to see an exhausted alan matthews standing behind the counter.
"Close the door will ya, will ya please close it?"
"Aww, what's the matter dad, a little too perky for ya out there this morning?" Eric said, raising his eyebrows as he smirked at his dad, the girls singing being heard from the other side even with the door closed.
"Nobody's come in here. She's scaring all the customers away." Alan explained, making Anna shrug.
"I can see why."
"Well, would you rather have the smelly old guy who use to spit on people?" Eric asked, and his dad nodded frantically.
"Yeah, yeah get him, get him and get rid of her."
"Me, why me?"
"Because we're equal partners in this business, and I'm your father, and you do what I tell you to do." Alan explained, making Eric sigh.
"Well, as long as I know the rules. Come on Goldie!" He called after her, making her glare at him as she folded her arms.
"What am I your dog who follows you around?" She asked angrily, and he simply nodded in response.
"Yes."
"Glad that I know the rules too." She said with a shrug, following Eric out as the girls singing increasingly got cheerier.
"Feel the warmth. Can you feel it? Can you feel it, it's warm? It's warm and I feel good!" She continued to sing, waving her head back and forth as she did so.
"Excuse me, miss, I'm really sorry, could you just..."
She looks up from where she was looking, up at Eric with a smirk. He smiled back, feeling some sort of spark for the first time in a while. Well, not a good spark, more so a jealousy one. He wanted to make Anna jealous, so he pretended to like her. Men, right?
"The sun shine's just for me..."
"...and I feel good!" Eric sang along, dropping his wallet in her guitar case as he stood up with a dazed expression, Anna following him with an eye roll back into the store.
"And we've lost him." Anna said, making Alan look up hopefully. Anna slumped against the store counter, pressing her lips together as Eric walked over to his dad with a smile.
"So, it's done?"
"Your son is a dope." Anna said, eric shaking his head disappointedly as he came back from his dazed expression.
"I know that much, but is it done?"
"Ahh, of course it's not done, I mean, don't you know me at all?" Eric shook his head with a laugh, holding his hands out as he did. "Why would you send me to do something like that?" He asked, making Alan groan in annoyance.
"She smiled at you?" He raised an eyebrow at Eric as he mimicked her sunshine smile.
"Ghey-Hea!"
"Her smile said it all, I'm cute and sing, give me 20 bucks."
"And I did." Eric said with a smile, making Anna nod.
"And he did."
"All right, look. Take her to lunch and ask her to take her act further down the road. Can you handle that?" He asked, tilting his head as Eric chuckled proudly.
"Ha! Can I handle that? Goldie can I handle that?" He said, turning to Anna with a raised eyebrow as she shrugged.
"Don't ask me." She said, making him nod with a proud smirk.
"Yeah, I can handle that or fail to do so." He held his hand out for his dad to give him money. "But I'm gonna need some money, so, can you give me some, cause I gave her all of mine."