Rock and Roll

Chapter Thirteen: Confused Valentine

She had memorized the symptoms of a concussion. Dizziness, fatigue, forgetfulness.It had only been three days since it happened, but she was still feeling them. They were supposed to last for anywhere from 10 days to three months.

She was back to work. Back to watching Harry train. Back to consoling her dad.The only thing he didn't lose in the fire was a picture of her mom.

There was something undeniably sad about the fact he hadn't grabbed anything else. He left it with Hero in her apartment. He was staying there, sleeping on the couch. She helped in way she could. The insurance money hadn't come through yet, and they had no idea when it would. He would couch surf until they figured everything out. Valentine paid for whatever they would let her. Small things like groceries or socks.

She was working all day everyday. From open to close non stop.

Since the day she spent with him she hasn't seen Harry. At random moments in the day she'll find herself thinking about the way he laughed or spoke a certain sentence. She did her best to block them out. She had better things to worry about.

Niall marched his way up the stairs, and Valentine could hear his footsteps all the way across the room. He appeared through the door, holding a large box of records.

"Can you help me organize these?" he asked. He had his lower lip between his teeth. She moved from behind the cash register to help him set the box somewhere.

"What are these?" she asked him looking through the titles. She had never heard of any of these albums before, and she's heard of everything.

"It's new stuff. I found 'em in my dad's garage. He's had these since the 70s," he said. She continued to look through the titles. They didn't have a section for them, and she had no idea where she would put them.The bells above the door jingled. Valentine looked over to see who had come in and was surprised.It was the same guy that came in a few weeks ago, Louis. The one with scraped hands and tattoos.He glanced around the place with a smirk. His eyes fell on Valentine and then Niall.

"So we've got two days, how's Harry doing?" he said. He ran his hand through his hair and Valentine saw more scrapes. She couldn't tell how new or old they were. Niall glanced at Valentine. She wasn't sure what was happening in two days, but she thought Harry had trained hard enough. She nodded her head at him.

"He'll be ready," Niall said. They continued talking. Valentine was still trying to stay out of it, and she overheard more than she wanted to. There was a fight. High stakes, lots of money involved. Harry could get seriously injured. He was such a sweet guy. Why was he doing this?

"What would you recommend?" Louis asked her. He had appeared beside her while she was shelving the new records. He made her jump. "Whoa there lovely, calm down."

"Don't call me lovely. I think you should look through the pop punk section. You don't look like you normally go there, you might find something you like," she said. She didn't really think he would. She just wanted him to leave her alone.

"Thanks," he said. He strolled over, started to flip through records and CD's. It was half an hour before he picked something out. She rung him up and he was on his way out. It was a slow day. She was glad for it. She worked. Cleaned, shelved, and organized downstairs.

It helped her swimming thoughts. She didn't know what to think or how to feel. Life had been simple until now.

She needed a cup of coffee.