Stockholm Syndrome

Chapter 23: Record Store

(A/N: This chapter is hella short, even though it's been a long time since I've put one out. There's really not a lot of plot left; it's all filler until the end of the story which is the next chapter. Enjoy!)

*Raleigh's POV*

The following months after Tom practically barged into my apartment were relatively quiet. On my end at least. I thought about him every day off and on. I wondered how he was doing. To be honest, I was still mad at him but I was worried about him too. Alkaline Trio was on tour so I was basically alone in San Diego. I'd go to the beach for an hour or two every day it was nice if work wasn't too stressful. It was the same beach near where Tom had asked me to be his girlfriend. I thought about that moment far too often. I thought about Tom too much, if I am going to be honest. I was so drawn to him, drawn to his energy. I couldn't escape it. It was like a recurring nightmare that followed me around and haunted me.

Matt was so sweet and gentle to me, but for whatever reason Tom just wouldn't leave my brainwaves. I thought that maybe it was normal for someone that once meant so much to me to just always permanently be there in the back of my mind. Therefore, I tried to deal with it as best as I could, trying to not let it get in the way of Matt and I. For the most part, it didn't. The only time it ever really got in the way of anything during my daily life was at night when I thought about him.

Matt had been letting me know about some of things Tom told the media about his new band, how Angels and Airwaves was going to be the second coming of Christ. How you can walk on water if you believe you can, and how they were going to be the biggest rock act in the world. Those were big words, things he never said about blink. The music media was going crazy over Tom whether it be making fun of him or talking about how he might not be able to back it up. Reports began to leak from Mark and Travis telling their side of the story; how Tom tried to control the band until he became out of control. Those were things I knew not to be true. Having heard both sides of the story, it just looked like a nasty breakup where people fell apart from growing as musicians as well as individuals. Unfortunately, their growth didn't line up with each other and ended in disagreements.

He was on pills again, and I knew he was. It fucking disappointed me to no end. Even though I was mad at him for doing what he did, I was happy for him that he was sober. I thought that maybe a near-death experience and a few days in rehab might have helped him straighten his head out. Clearly, it hadn't. It hurt me because I felt like a lot of it was me. I knew he had a hole in his heart that could only be filled by me, because I had the same problem. As much as it kills me to admit it, I needed him back in my life. Just not under those circumstances. Not when I had tried for almost 2 years to get him to kick his addiction. He just had too many inner demons, I suppose.

The month of May in 2006 was a busy one at my little record shop. I had become the manager, so I was in charge of things like inventory, stock and ordering records or merchandise that would attract customers. The debut Angels and Airwaves record was released towards the end of the month, and it had sold out of preorders at my store. Kids flocked into my shop looking for it on the day it came out, but it had sold out so quickly that I had to either have them order more or send them across town to find another store.

I was about to close up shop one night that week. Business had been slow as usual for a Thursday night, so I was standing behind the counter looking through merchandise while one of the employees was in the back sorting boxes of stuff we had received earlier that day.

"Excuse me?" Fuck. That voice. I froze like a deer in headlights. I felt my body tense up.

It was him. But he wasn't himself. He was skinny, with awfully long brown hair that had been straightened too much. The lip ring that he used to sport was gone, he had 2 belts on supporting brown pants and he wore a black shirt with a long sleeved white shirt underneath. I almost couldn't make eye contact with him because it hurt to see him like that.