Vinyl [Malik AU]

chapter 01

chapter 01

The girl hadn’t expected the boy to walk into her life – at least not as subtly as he did; yet he did walk into her life – quite literally and that one occasion isn’t extraordinary nor is it incredible. It is one of the simplest tales, though extremely special; that is how the girl and the boy met.

Zayn Malik enjoyed many things. He liked making tea and drinking coffee; creating remixes at three in morning, when he struggled to sleep; smoking roll-up cigarettes; and the utterly indescribable feeling he got when he stood atop a tall building. He believed in music, much like people might believe in religion and if this metaphor is correct, his God would surely be John Mayer. Most days, he could be found wandering the seemingly abandoned backstreets of Bradford, headphones on and music blaring. And, on one Saturday afternoon in October, he was doing just that.

Industrial wasn’t much of a store; the sign above the front door read Cole’s Laundromat in fact – surely showing the amount of devotion the owner had to his shop – or rather lack thereof. Pete Lansdowne had bought the shop on whim as a place to be rid of his ex-wife’s costume jewellery and ancient books. He allowed his thirteen-year-old niece to pick a title – “Industrial” triumphing over her other suggestions – and hired two adolescents to run the place. Callie Silverstone was one such adolescent.

Callie roamed freely throughout the store and found herself marvelling at comic books from decades ago, surprisingly novel in appearance. “Kathy,” she called to her only other co-worker. Kathy mused from the back room, acknowledging the fact that she was listening. “Do you ever wonder where the hell Pete gets this stuff from? I mean, these comics were published in–” she paused, dragging out her word as she flipped open the cover, her eyes scanning for a date, “– 1976 and they look brand-spanking-new!”

Kathy huffed loudly. “Yeah, I guess. It’s just stuff though isn’t it? Sure, it’s impressive that they’re old and don’t look it but who would actually bother to buy them now, hey?”

Callie thought for a long moment and was about to answer when the door suddenly swung open and Zayn traipsed in, roll-up dangling from his lips. The door remained idling in the breeze, hinges groaning with stiffness until, in one swift movement, it was slammed shut. Callie, who was openly staring at the young stranger, quickly regained her composure at the loud sound and turned her face away.

Zayn, on the other hand, continued to stare at the girl, eyeing everything from her knee-high socks and polyester skirt up to the thin grey blazer that hugged at her sides and the makeshift headband, keeping her brunette locks out of her face. “Hullo,” he said, surprising himself as much as he did her.

She shifted her gaze hesitantly back to his smile, taking notice of his flimsy cigarette. She coughed politely, nodding towards the large sign plastered on the side wall. When he only gave a puzzled expression in response she spoke, “There’s no smoking indoors, sorry.”

“Oh!” he chuckled, clutching the thing from his mouth in the same instant. “I could say the same to you,” he grinned with upper teeth biting harshly on lower lip.

Callie’s eyebrows jerked up unexpectedly, “Huh?” The remark didn’t make sense in her head.

Zayn snickered at the girl’s confusion, exhaling smoke-filled breath in billows of white tendrils. Callie, while trying to decipher his previous statement, found it near impossible to ignore the ashy taste of him in her mouth, even though the distance between them was quite large. “Well,” he began, a definite smirk on his face, “You are smoking.”

The girl almost giggled but harshly dug her teeth into her lower lip and shrugged of his valiant accolade. “How may I help you sir?” she smiled.

“I was wondering if you sell modern albums on vinyl,” the boy answered rapidly, as though he’d practiced the sentence in his head several times prior to their conversation. “My cousin told me you guys did that and I want all of John Mayer’s,” he further explained.

“You like John Mayer?” Callie exclaimed loudly, as much surprised at it herself as Zayn was.

Zayn, somewhat taken aback by her sudden outburst, frowned at Callie. “Well, I’m not asking you for his albums because I want to destroy them.”

Her cheeks felt hot and she shyly tilted her head down in discomfiture. “I’m sorry. I just get really excited when people like the same music as me; he’s my favourite artist.”

He grinned at the girl, “You’re kidding!” But when she shrugged her shoulders still in an awkward state, he cocked his head slightly to the side and studied the girl’s face. “Can we go out sometime?”

Callie’s elbows immediately dug into her ribcage on either side. It was an instinct she’d picked up in her childhood that appeared when she was anxious. “I have a boyfriend,” she blurted out in a brash thought and an even brasher sentence.

“No, she doesn’t,” came Kathy’s voice from the storeroom. Callie aimed to telepathically clamp her colleague’s mouth shut but much to her embarrassment, Kathy’s words prevailed on without deterrence. “And, yes, she’ll take your number and if she doesn’t, I bloody will!”

Callie shook her head, giggling at Kathy and her outward nature and Zayn drew his phone from his back pocket. “Here,” he smiled at her, gesturing for Callie to take the phone. She entered her number quickly and handed it back to him. “I’ll call you,” he promised.

Callie shrugged, a smirk appearing on her face. “I’ll answer.”

Zayn smiled. “So these records?”

“I’ll sort it for you,” she said, full of certainty and making a mental note in her head to talk to Pete about ordering some more albums on vinyl. “You just be sure to call me in a couple days and I’ll let you know when they’re ready to pick up.”

Zayn nodded, the smile still idling on his face. He stood in silence for a moment more, allowing himself to indulge in a final look at the petite mademoiselle in front of him before outstretching his hand. She reached for his palm at the gesture and they shook hands. “See you around.”

Kathy, who had of course been listening the whole time, stuck her head out from the storeroom and cocked her head sideways at Callie. “Who was that?!” she said.

Callie remained staring at Zayn through the door’s window, his too-big jacket flapping in the wind behind him. “I might be wrong,” she started, “but I think that may have been my soul mate.”

-

[A/N: BELATED AS IT MAY BE, HERE IS THE FIRST (OF MANY) INSTALLMENTS OF VINYL. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THE POSTIVE FEEDBACK ON THE DESCRIPTION. YOU GUYS REALLY MOTIVATE AND INSPIRE ME SO KEEP THE GOOD VIBES COMING! HAVING SAID, HONEST OPINIONS MEAN THE WORLD, SO I'M TRULY EXCITED TO HEAR WHAT YOU GUYS THINK! NOW THAT THIS STORY IS 'ONGOING' UPDATES WILL BE /WAY MORE/ FREQUENT THAN PREVIOUSLY. I LOVE YOUR SEXY FACES SO MUCH. -- BEC]