𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍

03

❝ Rock music is not meant to be perfect. ❞

70 days of summer remaining

"Should I screw with him and get him a Jazzercise tape?" Daphne laughed, skimming through the boxes of cassette tapes.

The two girls were tearing down their local mall desperate to find a present for Charlie's sixteenth birthday.

Although Charlie stated many times that he didn't care for a party, the girls insisted on throwing him a surprise party anyways. They would be the only guests but they figured it was two more than what he would've had anyway. It was June's idea but Daphne decided on hosting it at his house, something June was very much against. After a long conversation with his father, the decorations were purchased and all that was left was finding the perfect gift.

Turns out, buying a present for someone you spent a mere day with was more difficult than expected. After another hour of unsuccessful searching, the girls were starting to rethink the Jazzercise tape.

"Charlie has an older brother ya know." June casually mentioned, skimming through a clothing rack.

"Yeah? His dad mentioned a brother but I assumed younger."

"No he's older, only a few months older than the two of us."

"Eighteen? Cool, I prefer them older anyways."

"Yeah, apparently he's a cool guy. Well . . . according to Charlie." 

Daphne stopped searching, staring up at her friend curiously. "Why are you mentioning this all now, are you interested are something?"

"No." June replied quick, for she knew not why she was thinking of him either, boys were not a usual topic for her and Daphne and now that she was called out she wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible.

☮

June found herself in the vinyl section that she had already searched through a thousand times that day. She skimmed through the seemingly endless shelves before a box on the other side of the store caught her eye. Labeled new arrivals, it sat in a room clearly meant for employees only. June knew she shouldn't have, but the vinyl that sat atop the box was the present she had been searching for all day. Making sure no one saw her, she snuck into the room and took the vinyl, slipping a five in its place. Stuffing the vinyl in her purse, she made eye contact with Daphne across the room made her way towards the exit.

When the two girls reunited in the car, Daphne struck her hard in the arm. "Did you steal that?!"

"No!" June quickly defended before rethinking her words. "Well sort of . . . I payed for it though! They just have yet to find out."

"What!"

"Just look at it before you crucify me." June pulled the vinyl out of her purse and lay it in Daphne lap, her eyes immediately widening at the sight of it. "Do you blame me now?"

"I'm mad at myself for not seeing it first."

☮

The two girls approached the old blue house, coming in through the backdoor just as the father asked on the phone.

"So you're the girls my boys' been gushing over." An older man spoke, scaring June as she sat the bags down on the table. This was the first time she had seen or heard the man, as Daphne did most of the talking on the phone.