The Girl

TWO: LOOK AT ME

"Look at me. Who am I supposed to be and what do I believe?"

SONG: LOOK AT ME

ARTIST: SUM 41

I stared at the dark couch. Celeste had invited me over to help her with song selections. It made me nervous. She was bringing in life soon while another had been gone. In a way, my mum was a part of the baby. The thought was weird and I pushed it away.

"So, I was thinking this one, but they only do eighties covers," Celeste placed her computer on my lap. "Your mum loved The Who so maybe we could get them?"

I shook my head. "You wouldn't want purely eighties hits. You love Katy Perry and my brother loves Nirvana. You want someone who's flexible."

Celeste nodded her head and bit down on her lip. "Would you and the boys be willing to perform? I know you haven't played together as a band in a while, but--"

"We haven't been talking much, but I can ask them if they want to," I assured her and stared blankly at her stomach. "When are you supposed to be due?"

"Three weeks before the wedding," She ran her hands over her stomach and sighed sadly. "I wish Liz was here. She was my best friend."

I swallowed. "Yeah, mine too."

I dismissed himself and left the house. We couldn't live in Australia anymore. Not when the shop was located in the darkest corners of Manhattan. I moved here first, making sure the shop was kept and the employees were making good with their hours, (which they weren't, but I didn't care--I loved taking care of the shop all by himself). Then came everyone else.

"Excuse me?"

I recognized her voice from the Denny's I had eaten at with my brother. Her blue and purple hair was wrapped in a bun, kitten ears sitting on top of her head as she looked at me.

"You're that brooding guy from the diner," She put down the paper she was most likely going to shove in my face in order to ask me the question. "And then you didn't even eat the food. I could have brought you something else. Honestly, I would have been more than happy. You look like you weren't having a good day."

I haven't had a good day in three years, babe. "I wasn't hungry," I explained and pressed my lips together. He looked around and realized he was standing in a park. "Did you need help?"

"Yeah," She lifted the paper she had in her hands and I realized it was a flyer for the music shop. "Do you know where this is?"

I nodded. "I own it."

"Cool, okay so I'm looking for a disk from The Cranberries, but music shops only have the scratched versions of them," She brushed loose strands of her hair away and licked her lips. The sun reflected from the steel of her ring. "And my friend told me that your shop always has them well-taken care of."

"Right," I stuffed my hands into the pocket of my jeans. "It's this way."

She followed me silently for a few minutes before hurrying to walk beside me. I glanced at her and pressed my lips together.

"You don't talk much, do you? It's not a bad thing, but I talk a lot which sucks a little bit, but it's just because life excites me, you know?"

Two questions I didn't want to answer.

"Oh, right, dark and brooding," She placed an amused smile on her lips. "It's kind of mysterious how you don't really say anything. Like an artist--You may as well be a painting."

"A painting?"

I wanted her to keep talking. The sound of her voice distracted me from my own thoughts. She moved her hands as she talked and she had a little lisp, but it worked for her. She was tall, maybe five ten and skinny.

"Yeah, like a Monet, except you're pretty up close too," She was brave, too. Complimenting someone in the first ten minutes of them should have been a record. "But you could also be a Picasso without the whole cubism aspect. No one really knows what your deal is, but you're still nice to look at."

"Are you flirting with me?" I stopped walking, giving her a questioning look.

"Just trying to get a reaction," She admitted and crossed her arms over her chest. "I got what I wanted."

"Did you?" I raised an eyebrow, seeing her smirk form before she was nodding slowly. "Good."

We walked a little further before I wanted inside of the shop and noticed just how busy it was. MGMT's Electric Feel was playing through the speakers while my employees were selling guitars and pianos. It made me smile.

My mom would have loved to see this.

"You're popular," The girl beside me mentioned and crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you think you still have the CD in stock?"

"Yeah," He brought her over to the section where it was placed and brought it out for her. "Five bucks."

"What, seriously?" She blinked at me, surprised. "Every other place I went to had it for like twenty or so bucks."

"Five bucks," I repeated. "That's the cheapest you're gonna get it."

She pulled five dollars from her bag and handed them to me. "What's your name?"

"Luke," It felt instinctive.

She took the CD from me and nodded her head. "Cool. Thanks, Luke."

"And I just don't know, oh, I just don't know who I'm supposed to be..."