Musically in Love

Chapter 10

McKinley's POV

I spent way too long trying to figure out what to do. I've never thought this hard about anything before and, honestly, it kinda worried me. There had to be something wrong with me if I was spending days thinking about Tyler.

I was even looking forward to Chris's lesson this afternoon just so I could distract myself from Tyler with AJ. I would never do anything with him tonight. That was something I was absolutely certain about. 

Granted, I said that last week, but I actually had a guy I was after this time. Tyler didn't know that, but I do have my eye on him. I think I did want to date him, and that wasn't me settling for him.

Unfortunately, I didn't even have his number to call him and Ben refused to get me any kind of contact information for him. It sucked. I was stuck and I didn't know what to do.

The front door of the store opened and I shot my head up. As soon as my eyes landed on Gina walking towards me, my face lit up. I was so happy she was coming back weekly. Our lessons were my favorite, by far.

"Hey girl," I said with a smile. "You ready? I got a new book for you to sightread today."

She smiled back at me. "I'm so ready."

I followed her to the practice room. As she put together her clarinet, I told her my dilemma about Tyler. "How do I convince someone that I want to date him and that I'm not jut settling for him?"

Gina laughed. "Serenade him with a song."

"Yes! Wait... he's kinda deaf... He does wear hearing aids though, and I went a solid forty minutes of conversation before I realized."

"Then scrap the song idea. You need something else."

I shook my head, sighing. "Yeah. I'll figure it out, I guess. But let's play something. Your mother would kill me if she was paying for us to just talk about my problems."

Our lesson was over way too soon. Before I knew it, she was packing up and I was walking her to the front of the store.

Emma came up to me immediately. "Your 3:30 lesson got cancelled."

"Oh thank god," I exclaimed. No wonder I didn't see them waiting for me. Emma and Gina were both giving me weird looks, so I felt the need to explain: "Now I don't have to have sex tonight. It's great."

"Yeah, I'm outta here," Gina said, inching towards the door. "I'll see you next week."

As soon as she left the store, Emma slapped my arm. "Did you really have to say that in front of a kid?"

"She's eighteen!"

Emma shook her head. "You're impossible."

"Like I haven't heard that one before." I sighed, looking around the store. "What am I going to do now? I've got all this free time!"

She scoffed. "Your job, maybe?"

"Oh shut up, Emma."

I started going through the paperwork on the desk, trying to figure out if there was something I could do. Emma was wandering through the aisles, pretending to restock the shelves. Why was my job so boring sometimes?

Eventually, I started thinking about Tyler again. I definitely wanted to ask him out, I just didn't know how.

"Hey Emma?" I called out to her.

She poked her head out of one of the aisles to look at me. "What?"

"What's the most romantic way a guy could ask you out that doesn't involve music in any way?"

"I don't know. It's not a proposal. Just ask him out."

"Please?" I begged. I even pouted my lip. What has my life come to? "I need something big for him. Just asking won't cut it."

She walked over to me, leaning against the other side of the desk. "Okay. Poetry. If he writes poetry that comes from his heart, I'll be all over him. But that's me and it honestly doesn't seem like your kind of thing."

I grabbed a piece of paper from the printer. "Oh, I'll make it my thing."

Emma shook her head and wandered off again, choosing not to comment on how crazy I probably seemed in that moment. If I looked crazy, then I was crazy. I accepted that fate a long time ago.

I probably should have also accepted the fact that I was the worst poet in the world. I spent an hour staring at this piece of paper. It was no longer blank, but the only things written on it had been repeatedly crossed out. I couldn't do this.

Finally, though, at the very end of my shift, I figured it out. It was still probably awful, but I knew I wouldn't be able to come up with anything better. The only thing I had to do now was find Tyler.

As soon as I got back to my apartment, I was shouting for Ben. He was the one that set me up with Tyler, he'd know where to find him again.

Ben was, unfortunately, in the shower. And of course, he had locked the bathroom door. So I had to result to camping outside the door until he came out.

It was another ten minutes before he opened the door and proceeded to almost trip over me.

"Jesus, McKinley," he exclaimed, grabbing onto the wall with one hand and his towel with the other. "What the hell are you doing?"

I jumped to my feet. "Do you know Tyler's number?"

"What? No."

"Do you know where he lives? Or works? Or anywhere I can find him?"

Ben shook his head and tried to move past me but I stopped him. "Please, Ben. I need to talk to him."

"Why?"

I groaned. "Because I want to ask him out! I want to date him! I don't care if he quit band when he was a kid or is practically deaf or whatever he is now. I just want to get to know him."

"Aww, you're finally growing up."

"Does that mean you'll tell me where to find him?"

"Let me get dressed first and maybe."

I had completely forgotten he was only wearing a towel. Stepping out of his way, I let him go into his bedroom as I eagerly waited for him to be done. I've never been so impatient about anything in my life before. I couldn't even leave the hallway in front of his door. I was literally sitting on the floor waiting for him.

"Ben..." I whined after he still hadn't left his room for five minutes. "Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben! Benjamin!"

"Don't ever call me that again!"

"So you can hear me!"

Ben threw his bedroom door open and thankfully he was dressed. "You are too needy for your own good."

I stood up. "Please help me get a boyfriend so that I'm not bothering you all the time. Just tell me where he works or something. I'll do the rest of the work. I have it all planned out."

Ben sighed. "He works at the mechanic shop right off the highway. The one next to the grocery store. You know it?"

I had to think for a moment before the image of the place flashed in my mind. I smiled. "I know exactly where that is. Does he work tomorrow?"

Ben nodded and I didn't wait another second before my arms were around him in a hug. This is what best friends are for.