Boy, don't you worry— you'll find yourself
Follow your heart and nothing else
And you can do this if you try
All that I want for you, my son, is to be satisfied
And be a simple kind of man
Oh, be something you love and understand
So, baby, be a simple kind of man
Oh, won't you do this for me, son, if you can?
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For certain chapters, I will include trigger warnings. If you don't have any trigger-related issues, don't read the warnings, as they're technically spoilers! That applies to this chapter and any other chapter where you see the text TRIGGER WARNING in these notes. You have been warned.
TRIGGER WARNING: Chapter contains vivid descriptions of vehicular accidents and panic/anxiety attacks as well as discussion of PTSD.
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Larry had never— not once in his entire twenty-one years— had to scold Phoenix into getting ready to get somewhere on time, but there was a first time for everything.
He woke up and found that Phoenix was sitting up in his bed, his eyes half-open, like he was in some kind of trance. He held his laptop, the tablet screen detached from the keyboard, and his stylus in his lap.
"Nick— what are you doing?! Don't tell me that you stayed up all night!"
Phoenix jolted in place, his eyes still not opening fully.
"Wron-wrong layer," he mumbled incoherently. He sounded like he was talking to himself.
"...What?!"
"I..." Phoenix groaned and rubbed his eyes. "I did everything on the wrong layer. I did so much, Larry, you don't understand. I have to fix—"
"You sound both drunk and insane," Larry interrupted. "Don't you know what time it is?! What DAY it is?!"
Phoenix stared at him for a moment. When he looked back to his laptop, he closed the art program and found the clock and calendar in the corner of his screen. Then he was awake. He shrieked and bolted from his bed to the bathroom. Larry sighed as he took the laptop, connected the tablet back to the keyboard, and plugged it into its wall charger.
For all his panic, Phoenix managed to shower and shave and dress himself in record time. Maya had picked his clothes out for him the night before, saying that his wrinkly and oversized suit simply wouldn't do for Miles' first performance with the Ivy U Orchestra. She'd picked out a pair of expensive dark-wash jeans, a white button-up shirt, a pale blue vest, a dark blue tie that matched the jeans in shade, and a grey blazer— nice, but not too nice.
Larry, meanwhile, wore the same brightly-colored suit that he always did. It made him look like he sold used sailboats for a living, or like he was headed to a disco. Phoenix didn't say anything about it, of course.
They packed into the car with just enough time to spare. Lana was driving Ema and Maya. Phoenix was sure, with the way that Lana ran things, that they'd all had time for coffee and breakfast. Phoenix's stomach protested with several loud whines. Larry kept laughing at him as though his stomach wasn't doing the exact same thing.
"THERE you are!" Maya shouted when she caught sight of the boys, who had attempted to wander casually into the store. Phoenix smiled nervously.
"Maya, Ema! You both look so pretty—"
"Don't try and butter us up, Nick!" Ema interrupted. Phoenix hadn't seen her without her goggles in so long that her head looked naked.
"It's good to see you boys," Ray's voice interjected. Phoenix turned to where the sound had come from.
YOU ARE READING
The Boy Behind the Counter
FanfictionWrightworth College/Bookstore AU. Phoenix is an art student who thinks you can never have too many references. In his search for a bookstore to call his own, he stumbles upon a handsome cashier, and it's love at first sight. Before he knows it, all...
