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VALENTINA GOT OFF the bus two stops before her usual stop on Wednesday evening when coming home from work. She wanted to stop at Eddie's Records and get some new music to listen to, as she was in need of some new vinyl to mix up her collection. Needless to say, she had quite a large collection, yet she always found herself regularly going to her favourite store and picking up new things.
"Evening Stef!" She called to the familiar middle aged man behind the counter. Stef, better known as Stefan Stevens, was the owner of the shop. Eddie, the man the store was named after, was his father. It was a family business that he had passed on, and the place was familiar and somewhat comforting to Valentina. She had discovered the record store back when she was eighteen and new to London, more specifically Kensington. She had always loved music and one day when she was free from University work, she was in need of something new to listen to so she made her way into the shop that drew her in with it's colourful light up sign and bright garish designs, and ever since then she had been a regular customer.
Herself and Stefan regularly spoke and now knew each other very well, they would sometimes spend an hour or so talking about music and life, and he would tell her that her visits brightened up his shifts at work. Despite him being in his early forties and much older than her, she considered him a friend, and he did the same to her.
"Valentina! It's good to see you pet. It's been a while" he spoke in his thick northern accent. Stef was not originally from London, but from somewhere near Leeds in the countryside. "I know! I haven't been buying much new music lately, but I need something to spice up my collection. Got any recommendations?" She smiled, approaching the counter. He thought for a moment, stroking his hand against his dark beard. Stef had short but very curly dark brown hair, with a few grey hairs littered amongst the brunette strands. He had a neatly trimmed beard and warm chocolate coloured eyes, which seemed to bring some sort of familiarity and comfort to Valentina. She thought maybe it was because they were the same colour as her fathers eyes.
"Well, there's this new single that's number two on the charts at the moment called Killer Queen. The band isn't very well known, it's their first hit, but I think you'd like it" Stef smiled, heading over to pick up a record. "Okay, cool. Care to play it?" She asked, a childlike grin on her face. Stef chuckled, "course." He placed the record on his own player that sat behind the counter, and Valentina began listening to the lyrics and the beat of the song.
She decided early on in the song that she liked It a lot, and it fit into her taste in music. She thought the singer was incredibly talented and had a nice sound, and she knew that although this was supposedly their first hit single, they would go far in the industry if they kept producing music like this. It was unique, yet catchy. It made you want to dance. When it finished, she looked at Stef with a wide smile. "I love it! What's the band called?" She asked, excitedly. "They're called Queen. Quite a bold name but i've listened to their previous two albums which didn't really get popular, and I just don't know why. They're amazing!" Stef babbled on. Queen, Valentina knew she had heard it somewhere before. She wracked her brains on it for a few moments, before a memory popped into her head.
"I'm the drummer in a band called Queen" she could hear his voice in her head, the blonde man she'd slept with last weekend. The memory the was blurred from her drunken state. What was his name? Roger. No way was this his band, it's a small world. Her eyes widened but she tried to hide her shock. "Queen, you say? That's a cool name" she replied, acting as though she had never heard them before.
"Yeah. Anyway, I recommend you give them a listen. Good stuff" he smiled, handing her the record, which was a double A side with two singles – killer queen, and another called flick of the wrist. "I sure will, thanks Stef" she smiled, still processing the fact that she'd slept with a guy that was in a band on the charts. It was so weird.
She turned to vinyl around and saw the faces of four men printed on it, and sure enough, one of them was the handsome blonde who had taken her to bed after many drinks at a bar. "Val? Is that all you're getting?" Stefan snapped her out of her daydream, catching her attention. "Oh, uh i'll have another little look around if that's okay" she said, to which he nodded in reply.
She walked around the shop, running her fingers gently along the covers of records as she went, reading the names and inspecting the covers. In the end she picked up the newest Rolling Stones album, and decided she would just buy the two.
She paid for them and left the shop, bidding Stef a cheerful farewell. When she reached her flat, she was excited to play her new music and she went straight to her record player, placing Queen's vinyl on it gently. She listened to their other single, flick of the wrist, and decided that they were very talented.
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AUTHORS NOTE ( this was unedited because i'm exhausted, so sorry for errors and stuff ) i'm really sorry that these chapters are a little short at the moment, but they'll get longer soon i promise! there will also be more roger in the next chapter. 😇
