Where Will I Go

9||Basket Case

Do you have the time,
To listen to me whine?
About nothing and everything all at once
I am one of those
Melodramatic fools
Neurotic to the bone, no doubt about it
~~~~~~~~~

It's been a week since Ran had heard from Alex, and he was beginning to become worried. He knew that he could've just been busy, but it seemed strange that Ran's phone said he read his texts, but never replied.

He was actually slightly embarrassed about how he was easily attached to the young brunet, but there wasn't much he could do about it. But still, he wondered if maybe he made Alex feel awkward or even afraid and just upset. And the more he thought about it, the more he convinced himself so.

However he was also kind of pissed off that Alex didn't bother replying, even though Ran knew he had read his frantic texts. But his anger never lasted when he thought about it, and he always just ended up being embarrassed, worried, or both, all over again.

His ears perked up as well as his whole demeanour when he heard his phone ding. Hoping it was Alex, he scrambled to open his phone and messages app. He only became even more happier when he saw that, it was indeed, Alex.

Alex: Hey, sorry I haven't been replying to your texts at all. Something serious regarding family happened, so I haven't really been feeling like doing the socials.

Ran's mood swerved from being genuinely happy that Alex texted him back (school girl, much?) to being genuinely concerned that he was talking about his life in that way. However he quickly got distracted when his phone dinged again, signalling that he had gotten another text from Alex.

Alex: I feel like shit and like I'm about to have a mental breakdown. Need somebody to help me right now.

Ran quickly typed out his response.

Ran: dude, where are you?

Alex: I'm at a record shop that's beside Tiffany's Coffee House.

Ran: you mean Bold Records?

Alex: yeah, there. Meet me there.

Ran: alright I'll see you later.

Alex didn't reply after that. Not that Ran minded at all. He was busy getting dressed (hurriedly, none the less,) and was later speed walking out the front door, trying to look as casual as possible and ignoring his foster mom's calls for him and questions of where he was going.

Ran didn't want to walk or run, since the store was relatively far away. So he unlocked his car door and jumped in, swerving out of the driveway rapidly after slamming the car door shut and turning on the ignition.

The radio automatically turned on as he started driving down towards the record shop, and although he despised Phil Collins (who was playing), he was honestly too concerned to bother to change the station or even notice that In The Air Tonight was sounding quietly.

He turned off his car as he parked in a handicap space, not really caring in that moment as he exited his car and jogged into the store.

The glass door squeaked a tiny bit as he entered the relatively big space. He sighed. He had never actually been in the shop, so he wasn't expecting it to be this large. Shelves were lined up, displaying vinyls and CDs for aisles and aisles.

He sighed, and started looking for any area where there would be rock and alternative music, figuring Alex would be found in one of those spaces.

He came to a halt when he found that he was, indeed, correct. Alex stood in the back of the store, flipping through old classic rock vinyls rapidly. Ran could tell that the younger one was frustrated about something; usually he would glance up at Ran and smile, say hello, tell a few jokes and then they would leave to go somewhere else. But this time, the brunet's shoulders and back were hunched slightly, his face was hidden by his fringe, and he seemed to just be ignoring the world as he picked out a few records. Ran noticed that they were Motörhead and Iron Maiden records.