Soundtrack

Chapter Three - One Thing

           “Harry, stop staring and help me with this cart.” The older woman endearingly chided. Harry’s cheeks warmed ever so slightly as his mind was brought back to reality.

           “Oh, sorry, sure thing, love.” He mumbled and took the other end of the cart of fresh pastries ready for the oven, a little laugh tucked into his cheek.

           “You’ve been eyeing that girl for weeks. When you going to talk to her?” The woman grinned at him, her motherly affection for him showing. She seemed to know he needed some straightening out and warm soup every now and then, being so far away from home and all that.

           “Barbara!” He exclaimed, pretending to be shocked, but his face couldn’t escape the cheesy grin that followed.

           “Well go on then.” Her eyes twinkled knowingly.

           “Barbara..” Harry protested in a whine, thinking of his awkward rambles and cheesy pick-up lines and general lack of suavity.

           “Go on!” She insisted and reached to pinch his bum. He let out a good-hearted yelp as he hopped out of her reach, giggles from both filling the silence behind the counter.

           A man approached the register and Harry moved to ring him up. His eyes wandered a bit as he waited on the customer, searching to see if the girl was still there. If she followed her pattern from the last few weeks, she’d stay until half five before packing up her textbooks and handing in her ceramic mug.

           “That’ll be two pounds fifty.” He nodded towards the man, though his eyes kept searching. Ah, there she was. Moved tables to be in the sun, no doubt. He rather liked the way the sunbeams flicked off her dark hair. It did look quite cozy in that corner, so cozy he could almost imagine her wrapped up in a big blanket reading some sort of whimsical literature, you know, like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or The Hobbit or even—

           “Two pound fifty, then?” The man raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat.

           “Oh, sorry, yes. Thank you.” Harry shook his head, allowing his mind to reshuffle and focus on retrieving the man’s receipt. “Have a great day.” He mumbled as the man turned on his heels to leave.

           Barbara was right, if he was going to keep ogling over this girl, he at least needed to talk to her— learn her name or what it was she was studying so fervently or something. He was quite curious, after all. He smiled at the way she tucked her hair behind her ear and intently scribbled on her notepad. He wondered what her major might be—nursing, perhaps? No, she didn’t look much like a nurse. Maybe she was a tennis player. Or.. an anthropology student? Ah, he was just terrible at reading people. Not that it really mattered what she did—there was just something about her that made him weak at the knees. Yeah, she was beautiful, even in her late-afternoon fatigue. But there was something else too. Was it her gentle smile? Her love of café lattes? Or maybe the way her knee jiggled nervously any time she received a text. He sighed. All stupid ideas, he knew. He just couldn’t pinpoint what exactly that one thing about her was…

           “Harry!” Barbara chided and took the coffee cup out of his hands that had been dangling there absentmindedly. “Will ya just go talk to her, love? Any more of this and you’ll have broken all me mugs and driven every last customer away with dumb stares.”

           Harry chuckled at her complaints, knowing that she didn’t really mean them. “Sorry. I’ll.. I’ll try, I guess.”

           “Try? If your curls have anything to do with it, she’ll fall right in love with you. Them or your bum.”