Rock and Roll

Chapter Six: Louis

She woke up with another headache, and more itchy eyes. Work by 10, nothing new on her phone. She brought an extra pair of clothes with her, because she always falls asleep before everybody else. Lately they had stopped waking each other up. Nobody slept very well anymore. The time on her phone was 8:20.

She got off the couch, and wandered off to the kitchen to start making breakfast. Her dad's cupboards were mostly barren, except a few boxes of generic brand cereal, and cans of green beans. She looked in the fridge and found only a carton of eggs, a gallon of milk, and a loaf of bread.

She sighed and started to make eggs and toast. She didn't make any for Hero, she was vegan. She was going to find something, probably just eating a couple handfuls of dry cereal.

She got the pan heating up on the stove, and started a pot of coffee for everybody. Her dad woke up and came into the kitchen just in time for everything to be done. He served himself, and got a cup of coffee. Valentine watched him curiously from the dining room table.

He was a short man. His skin was just as dark as his daughters' but he looked nothing like them. They took after their mom, who had brown eyes. Their father had gray eyes. They seemed to have gotten darker recently, bordering on black. He looked sickly, and thin. Valentine wondered about how often he ate, or slept. Obviously not as often as he needed to.

He sat across from her with a cup of black coffee, and his breakfast. He didn't say anything until half his coffee was gone.

"Hero left earlier than expected today. She said something about school, I didn't quite catch it." He mumbled. His eye sockets were sunk in. Valentine was worried about him.

"I'm going to have to be out of here pretty soon to. I have to catch a train to work in an hour." Valentine said. She took another few bites of toast, and threw away her paper plate.

Her dad paused for a minute. "I don't have anywhere to be until three. I can give you a ride if you want." He said. Valentine knew that the streets would be so busy that running to the subway, and taking the train would be faster. She also knew that her dad was trying to do something nice for her.

"Yeah that'd be great." She said. She smiled, and poured herself some coffee. It was bitter, and not something she would be drinking if she had time to stop somewhere and get some other caffeinated drink. She was going to just before she got on the train, but now she would have to take every second she could get.

She was five minutes late. She jogged down the block, and waved goodbye to her father, who was stuck at a traffic light and honking quite loudly. He waved back before giving the middle aged woman in front of him the finger. She drove a mini van, and Valentine could see about two or three children stuffed into the back.

The bell on the door chimed signalling her entrance. Niall was behind the counter, counting the money in the till. He glanced up at her and smiled.

"Look who decided to show up today." He said. He was wearing a brand new jacket, she could still see the tag hanging off the sleeve. As she approached she yanked it off for him. She didn't smile, only asked what needed to be done. He pointed in the direction of a giant box.

The words "new arrivals" were written on the side in black marker.

"Put them in the right sections, then put them in alphabetical order. I have complete faith in your abilities to have heard every single one of those at least once." He said. They didn't open for another hour or two, so she had time to get it all done before anybody showed up.

There were five or ten copies of each CD inside, and she sorted them how he wanted her to. She had, in fact, heard most of them but there were a few she had to look up on her phone once she got home.

She finished right before he flipped the open sign around. Within an hour the bell was chiming as customers entered and browsed.

She sat behind the counter and rung up each purchase, occasionally needing to help somebody find the album they were looking for. She was polite to them, for her jobs sake, but was curt and gave one word answers to all questions she deemed "unnecessary".

Niall was down in the basement doing who knows what when a guy with feathery brown hair strolled in. He looked around for a moment, and Valentine watched as he did. He gave her an odd feeling. There was something dangerous about him.

He reminded her of a character from a movie that was obviously a villain. The only thing he need was a handle bar mustache. Maybe a necklace made of orphans teeth.

He turned around and walked towards the counter. His movements were slow and deliberate and you could barely hear his steps over the music playing in the background. He placed a single CD on the counter.

Fashionably Late by Falling In Reverse. A good one, Valentine thought.

"Will that be all for today?" She asked politely. The man smiled at her and handed her a twenty before answering. She caught a glimpse of his bloody knuckles before his hands were promptly back in his pockets. His wrist had very colorful tattoos, probably going the rest of the way up his arm. His jacket shielded them from view.

"No not exactly. I was wondering if Niall was in today? I have some important business to discuss with him." He said and smiled. He didn't quite look like the business type, but who was she to judge?

"He's in the basement. I'll call him up for you." She said. She handed him his change and the CD in a small red bag. She exited the counter, and shouted at Niall from the door way to the stairs. He shouted back saying he'd be up in a second.

"I'm Louis by the way." The guy said. He had suddenly materialized behind her, and she did her best not to look startled.

He extended his hand. She ignored it, and went back to doing nothing behind the counter. From the corner of her eye she saw him awkwardly retract it.

Niall came up a few moments later. He nodded, and Valentine watched as they walked down the steps into the basement.

Louis left an hour after that, and Valentine pretended to not have seen the stack of money peeking out his pocket.

"Was that some kind of drug deal?" She asked, the second after the door had closed. Niall laughed and shook his head.

"You sure do have a way with words." He said. He clunked down the steps to the basement, and the next time she saw him, she was clocking out for the day. She decided she was going to stay out of this as best she could.