An Unexpected Occurrence

The CD Shop

It was summer once again, which meant Darcy was back working at the little CD shop in town. She quite enjoyed it there, it was quiet, she could listen to awesome music all day long, and most importantly, it allowed her to forget just how boring her life became as soon as summer hit. Of course she had friends, but they basically all turned into hermits when they no longer had to bother going to college on a daily basis. She loved them, but it did mean that when she wasn't working, she sat in her room wondering how she could waste yet another day.

It had been 3 weeks now since she had taken her last exam and hence had her last day at college. She was enjoying her now stress-free life and was currently ambling around the shop placing CDs in their allotted places. Her mind was wandering, thinking about the fayre that was coming up at the weekend in the park just a few streets away from her house. She made it a point to go every year, but this year her sister was on holiday, which meant she would either have to go alone or hope that her hermit friends would leave their houses for one night and come with her. She was thinking the first option would be more likely.

It was during her mind wandering that a guy walked up behind her and startled her nearly senseless when he cleared his throat in preparation to ask a question. This led to an almost comical situation where the few CDs she was still holding slipped all one after another out of her grasp onto the floor separating them.

"Ah, sorry!" Darcy exclaimed in her perfected customer satisfaction voice and smile on her face expecting to hear some haughty remark by the customer. She bent to pick them up, but to her surprise he repeated her remark and bent down to help. This was unusual. She looked up to thank him and was happy to notice he was a rather good looking boy, at least by her standards anyway, and he was around her age.

"Um, I actually came to ask if you could help me find something, I think the section must have been moved since the last time I came in" he said rather sheepishly while handing her the remaining CDs.

"Oh and what might that be then?" she asked still with her perfected customer service face.

"It's called Planless Perfection by Hello Sleepwalkers," upon seeing her clueless expression, he elaborated, "it's J-Pop if that helps".

"Oh! Okay, come this way. You're right, we did move this section just recently, I'm not sure why though. Isn't Hello Sleepwalkers the band that sang the opening from Noragami?"

He seemed rather impressed by this, "Huh, didn't think you would have heard of them, yeah that's them. This album came out a few months ago but I've just not been able to come and buy it yet".

"Well, the section is now over here, and Hello Sleepwalkers should be... ah, there" she said while pointing to it on the shelf. He bent to pick it up and then looked at her again.

"So do you watch anime then or is your general knowledge of music just that detailed? Because if it's the latter I think you should be in line for a promotion".

She laughed a bit before responding, "As impressive as that would be, I'm afraid that it would have to be the former. I only watch a few anime series and it just so happens that Noragami is one of them. It helps to pass the time between shifts I guess".

"Well aren't you just the dedicated little worker then?"

She smirked "Hardly. I only come here to pass a bit of time on, summer can get pretty boring when all your friends are seasonal hermits"

This startled a laugh out of him. "Seasonal hermits? Well that's a new one on me. Are you telling me that they hibernate during summer, only to be seen when absolutely necessary?" he said while still laughing.

"That's precisely what I'm trying to tell you," laughing herself now, "I'll see them on results day and then possibly one or two more times and that's it".

"Well that sounds like a pretty boring life. So would that be GCSE results day then?" he asked in a coy manner.

"Are you trying to work out how old I am?" she asked smirking, "Because if that's true I'm 18 and so no, it's A level results day".

"Ah, I've been foiled! But I do like that response", he was smirking now too.

She could have quite happily continued with this conversation all day as she liked where it was headed, but then her manager came over and she knew she had to get back to work.

"Is everything alright? Oh, I see you have something, is that all you're looking for today?" her manager asked.

The boy looked just as disappointed as she felt "Um, yes it is, sorry she was just telling me about some of the new albums you have coming in. I must say, her knowledge is pretty vast, it's pretty impressive".

Darcy felt herself smirk and was silently thanking him in her head. Her manager seemed to take this into his own stride, seemingly thinking that it was he that had imparted the 'impressive' knowledge onto her. He led the boy to the counter and that was the end of it. Just before he left, he came and found her again, "I'm Tristan by the way, nice to meet you".

"And I'm Darcy, nice to meet you too", and with that, he left.

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Later that night, Darcy was once again in her bedroom, smirking whilst she thought about the conversation she had had with Tristan. She found herself looking up Hello Sleepwalkers and thanked herself for having binge-watched the entire Noragami anime in that one night a few weeks ago. A night well spent, she told herself.

She was listening to their music and found herself quite enjoying it. Turns out he had a pretty decent taste in music. She knew she'd probably never see him again, but it was fun while it had lasted anyway. Her phone suddenly starting ringing from the group chat. Looks like they had noticed her message asking about the fayre.

Marie: Hi Darcy! Sorry, my mum and dad are going out that night and asked me to babysit so I'll be stuck here, hope you have fun anyway! xx

Jodie: Yeeahh, I have a night lined up with Netflix and the red wine left over from my birthday, so I won't be going either...you know me! Sorry Darcy

Aysha: Guess when my parents have decided for the family fun night to take place? Oh yeah, that's right, Saturday. I really wanted to go too, but there's no convincing my Dad, sorry Darcy

Well, she knew none of them would go so she wasn't disappointed, although she was slightly pissed at Jodie, she could have at least lied and told her a legitimate excuse! But oh well, she would just have to go alone, nothing new there then.

She spent the rest of the night listening to Hello Sleepwalkers and eventually fell asleep thinking about Tristan. She certainly had pleasant dreams that night...