All Things Bright and Beautiful (Owl City fanfic)

Adam

I drove down the dark street, the streetlights illuminating strips of pavement along my path. The streets were deserted.

Soon I came to a 24/7 corner store called "Andy and Wyatt's Quick Pickup", and I pulled in to the parking lot.

I watched the fluorescent "open" sign flicker pitifully for a few minutes before opening the door of my Mustang, jumping out onto the pavement and walking toward the corner store.

I swung the door open and stepped in.

Liz, the woman at the counter smiled at me. "Hey Adam," she said (most people in Owatonna knew me since it was such a small town).

"Hi Liz," I replied, brushing my dark hair out of my eyes. "Working the night shift again?"

"Yep. It pays more and when it opened up I thought, what the heck,"

I grinned, walking toward the desk.

"So, what are you looking for today Adam?" She straightened a jar of pens sitting on the counter. "Not scratch tickets?"

I laughed and replied: "no, just...browsing,"

I walked past the racks of pretzels, pen lights, solar dashboard flowers, guitar picks, water bottles and Swiss Army knives until I came to a door that lead to my favourite place in the

store:

The art gallery.

Andy (the owner of the store) had started it when his 10 year old daughter had given him a picture she'd drawn for him. He'd framed it and hung it up behind the front desk. Then he'd had the idea of an art gallery.

He'd written art gallery on a slip of paper and hung it in a room that had previously been for storage. Then he'd had his daughter make a poster that said:

Accepting art donations for new art gallery.

Soon he had a collection of art to display in his shop.

Then he had added a book for people who like the art to write their names in.

My name was in there at least 20 times.

I touched a picture of a bright orange hot air balloon, tracing the lines with my figure.

"Hi," a voice said suddenly.

I jumped, nocking over a cup of pens for the signature book.

The pens scattered everywhere and when I bent to pick them up, another pair of hands was helping me.

Once all the pens had been located and returned to their cup, I stood up.

In front of me was a girl, her ebony hair with red streaks cut into side swept bangs that partly covered one of her bright green eyes.

"Hi?" I said, but it came out like a question.

Why did I always have to be so stupid around girls?!

"Sorry I startled you. My names Karma. Karma Woods,"

"Adam Young," I grinned stupidly. "So um....do you like this art too?"

"Um...yeah, but I work here," she smiled, straightening the pen cup on it's table.

"Oh! Uh...I haven't seen you before,"

"Yeah, I'm new. I just moved here from Winnipeg. You know, in Canada?"

"Yeah, I just played there," I said.

She looked confused.

"I'm in a band. Owl City," I explained. "Ever heard of us?"

"No...but now that I think about it, I do remember hearing there was a concert recently,"

I smiled weakly, still cursing myself for being so awkward around woman.

"So, why are you up so late?" She asked, breaking the silence.

"Oh," I looked back up at her. "I...couldn't sleep,"

"Oh," she yawned. "Well, I get off now and I'm really tired, so goodnight,"

"Okay,bye," I smiled.

"Wait, one more thing," she pulled a slip of paper out of her pocket, scribbled something on it and slipped it into my hand. "Here's my number. Call me,"

Okay, Andy and Wyatt's quick pickup is named after two guys at my school, and they are so close that I could totally see them opening a store together. So yeah.