Broken Memory ✓

16. Jake Moore

"Ash, come on, we're supposed to meet them in about ten minutes!" Mom yells.

"Coming!" I loudly reply, slipping on my flip flops. I tuck my phone into my jean pocket and make my way to Mom who's standing near the front door. When she sees me, she turns to walk out the door and I follow her.

We head to the car and drive to the Bridgeport Diner where we're supposed to meet Caleb and Erin. We walk inside together and see the two sitting at a booth across from each other. I sit next to Caleb and Mom sits next to Erin.

"Hey, guys," Erin waves to the both of us. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good," I smile at her, then shift my gaze to Caleb. He's observing me with a small grin.

Erin and Mom begin to talk some, so I turn to Caleb and we talk to each other as well. He talks about this cool store downtown he wants to visit with me - a music store- and gushes over the guitar he saw in the store window. His enthusiasm makes me overflow with happiness, the way he talks when he's excited about things captivates me.

A waitress comes around and eventually takes our orders, leaving us to wait and talk among ourselves once again.

About half an hour passes and we find ourselves finishing up the last of our food. For once, I'm comfortable with being in public with Mom. The social pressure Erin and Caleb put on her to be calm is clearly affecting her. She hasn't stared at the waitress with a paranoid expression or glanced around the restaurant to make sure nobody is out to harm us. It's quite unusual to say the least but... I really enjoy this change.

I see Caleb glance around a bit, noting my empty plate, then deciding if he should say something. I watch, amused, as he glances back to me and flashes a cheerful smile.

"Hey, Mom," he gains Erin's attention. Mom looks at him as well. "So, Ash and I were wondering if we could look around at a music store. Since we're done eating, can we go ahead? It's literally a couple of blocks away."

Erin glances to Mom with a thoughtful expression. "Actually, this would probably be good for Amanda. Go ahead, but be back within half an hour."

"Thanks!" Caleb grins at me. We both slide out of the red leather booth and walk side by side out of the building. "This is awesome."

"Yeah, I've never really been able to do this," I smile at him. "Thank you for asking her about it."

"Of course, I want to go see places with you."

This makes my heart flutter and I find myself speechless, but overwhelmed once again with a jittery feeling. Like I'm on a high of some sort.

We enter into the music store and glance around. Guitars are hung up on the walls but are free to test. There are shelves filled to the brim with different music essentials - amps, guitar straps, guitar strings, drumsticks, etc - and I see a hall leading to more music related items.

"Woah," I murmur, admiring all of the music around me. Caleb smiles at me once again, taking my hand and leading me towards the back.

"Come on," he says. "I think there's some CD's and records back here."

I squeeze at his hand, though, lost in the softness of his grip, and follow him as he takes me to one of the rooms.

He was right. There's an entire room dedicated to hundreds of CD's and vinyls, genres ranging from rock to rap. He takes me into the room and as he still has my hand in his and we look over the 'rock' section of the CD's. This section is towards the back.

"Jake, stop being stupid!" we suddenly hear. Both of us turn our heads to see two guys bickering. They enter into the room and lower their voices a little. We immediately hide behind a shelf, peeking at them through a crack between CD's.