Shifting Currents || E.V.

o6. oceans

// this chapter is long but don't worry - Eddie IS in this one, it just takes a while to get to his part. x

the rest of the week went by, and there were no more fire escape appearances from Eddie.

i was disappointed by that fact, considering he was all i could think about.

i had filled many pages in my journal about him. about how much i enjoyed his company and how he treated me so much nicer than anyone ever had. his name was also written in cursive about a hundred times down the margin of each paper.

Friday came, and i was right on time for my training at the record store. in an attempt to look like i belonged, i decided on a black corduroy skirt with tights and a white t-shirt, with my black Docs.

when i walked in the door, a bell chimed, and the man at the counter smiled at me. he looked like he was in his early forties, with dark gray hair and thin-framed glasses. he had on a green flannel, and was reading a book.

"hey," he said, coming out from behind the counter to shake my hand. "Elaine, right?"

i nodded, shaking his hand firmly. "yes!"

"nice to meet you," he said. "i'm David. i'm going to be training you tonight."

"is it a hard job?" i asked, which caused him to chuckle.

"no," he said. "all you really need to know is how to work the register, for now. all of the items in the store have price tags on them, and you just ring them in and take the money. sound simple enough?"

"oh, yeah," i said. he took me behind the counter, and we both sat down at the two barstools that were there.

"and when we aren't busy," he said. "we can check the records and things to make sure they're alphabetized correctly. if not, we fix it. we sweep the floor, we wipe things down, we wash the windows. and, if that's all done," he opened his book back up. "we can sit and do nothing."

i laughed, looking out at the shelves in front of us. everything was organized so nicely, and it was pleasing to look at.

he stood up.

"here," he said, lifting the needle off of the record he had playing softly behind us. "what do you want to hear? i'll play something else."

i thought for a moment.

"do you have Pearl Jam?" i asked hesitantly. it had been a couple days, and i still had yet to listen to their actual album.

his eyebrows raised, as if he was surprised by my request.

"ah, Pearl Jam," he said, walking towards a shelf in the back part of the store. "i do like Pearl Jam." he returned with the album, lifting it to show me. i squinted at it, having not seen the cover for it before, but he pulled it away from my sight to take the vinyl from the sleeve.

he set it down on the turntable and placed the needle on it carefully.

he didn't say anything else, just smiled at me as his picked his book back up to sit down and read it. i sighed as the first song began, and leaned forward to rest my elbow on the counter, and my chin against my fist.

we sat for about twenty minutes with no business. i got up and wandered around the store for a while, looking at all of the albums we had and put rearranged some of the ones that were out of order. the album continued playing, and after a while, my song came on.

"what's this one called, again?" i asked. i felt stupid, but i wanted to know the name of it.

"Oceans," he said, not looking up from his book. i continued looking through the shelves.