Cigarettes and Alcohol

Sandwich Records

I pushed the door open to the record store Kurt had always wanted to visit, a bell chiming softly. As I held it open for him I looked around, the cheap yellow lights illuminating the band posters and T-shirts decorating the walls. I spotted a Nirvana shirt and pointed it out to him.

"Ugh, I hate that band. They're so mainstream." I said to him with a smirk. He laughed and elbowed me, a smile on his face. He was wearing sunglasses and the bucket hat I convinced him to get back in England, saying it was helpful for hiding his identity from the press. I actually just thought he'd be adorable in one.

I looked behind the counter and saw albums and boxes that had yet to be put out for sale, and two girls who looked around my age. One had long, neon pink hair and thick eyeliner smudged around her eyes, the other with shorter atomic blonde hair and a shell necklace on, both wearing the store's black shirts.

The first girl came out from behind the counter, waving at us.

"Welcome to Sandwich Records! My name's Rhiannon, you two looking for anything in particular today?"

I grinned.

"Do you have any Fleetwood Mac?"

She promptly rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Ha ha. I get that one a lot." She said dryly, also smiling.

"Don't suppose you've got any Stone Roses? I'm looking to expose him to some good music." I asked, gesturing to Kurt. It was at this point he took off his glasses.

Rihannon's widened for a moment, and so did the girl's behind the counter but both said nothing. He waved at them awkwardly.

"Um, yeah, we have their new single, Love Spreads over here in the New Britannia section." She said, leading us around one of the aisles where the '45 sat, between Blur and Suede.

"Perfect." I picked up the single that was wrapped in plastic as Kurt walked towards the punk section.

"Kurt, get back here! You're only allowed to listen to stuff from this section while I'm around." He looked at me with a faux frown on his face and dragged his feet as he returned.

"This genre is more of Lucy's area of expertise, so I'll let her take it from here." Rihannon smiled. I think I heard a squeak of 'oh my God' as they crossed paths, but I couldn't be sure.

"Hiya, my name's Lucy, and before I say something silly, I'm a real big fan of yours, Kurt. Love your music and it's a real honour to meet you." She said in an Australian accent.

Kurt held his hand out to shake and she shook it happily, beaming up at him.

"Good to hear someone in a music store likes my music. Must have a good taste to work here." He responded warmly.

"Thanks, mate. Means a lot from you." She then turned to the selection of apes and records they had.

"So, if you're wanting to get the basics, like the Roses, great choice by the way," She said, nodding at me. "You'll likely want their first album, as well as maybe some Radiohead, Pulp, Blur..." She started rapidly picking up different singles and a few tapes of albums and putting them in our open arms, rifling through the surprisingly large portion of the records they sold. Rihannon was right, this girl knew exactly what she was doing. Once she was done, she turned back to us.

"That ought'a do ya."

We had a total of nine singles and five albums between us. I took a quick glance at what she'd chosen, and she'd chosen well. As she'd said, there was Radiohead's Pablo Honey, the Babies single by Pulp, Blur's Leisure, as well as The Cranberries' Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?, among many other great artists and albums.

"From an Englishwoman, you have a great taste in British music. How do you know it so well?" I asked, still flicking through the singles.

"My dad's from Manchester, so he'd send me the best of the charts to me back home in Melbourne, and when I moved here I brought 'em with me, played 'em to the owner of this place, and she ordered half of 'em in bulk." She grinned proudly.

Kurt then placed his armful of records and tapes into my arms. 

"Just going to flick through the rest of the shop quick, would you mind taking them to the counter and scanning them through?" He said to me, waving his hand toward the front of the store. I nodded and Lucy and I walked to the till.

Rihannon was already sat there as we arrived. Making small talk, she asked if I played any instruments.

"I play a bit of guitar and bass, not the best at singing though. I leave that to him." Nodding towards Kurt. She then looked to Lucy and they nodded at each other.

"We're looking to start a band actually. You seem to listen to the same stuff as us, so do you want to jam together sometime?"

I instantly gave her a wide grin.

"God yes I do."

Lucy had started to bag up the records and tapes as Kurt returned, pulling down on his hat. He handed a couple of singles over to her and she scanned them.

"My name's Elizabeth by the way, but everyone calls me Effy." I held out my hand to shake theirs, beaming. Rihannon wrote down her phone number on a sticky note.

"Call us, yeah?" She said as we shook hands, and I happily took the piece of paper from her.

As we walked back to the car outside the shop, I heard one of the girls yelling.

"Oh my God! He signed them! He signed them!"

I looked at Kurt, curiously.

"I may have signed a few of the Nirvana albums they had out." 

I looked back inside and saw them hugging the albums and dancing.

This is gonna be the start of a beautiful friendship.

-!-

I'm back! Been hit with a new wave of inspiration, so I have returned. Felt like Effy needed some new friends, and since Aussies and Brits have a uniquely cultural bond I felt we needed some Australian action in the story. Wasn't originally planning on having this in the story but it's given me so many new ideas. More Kurt and Effy action soon though :3

Also, Sandwich Records is inspired (heavily) by a real shop in London called Banquet Records, and its one of my favourite places in the world so I felt I ought to use it in the story. Hope you enjoyed, and if you have any suggestions for anything let me know :D

And if you notice any grammar or spelling errors or anything PLEASE point them out I want this story to be as readable as possible so please please tell me if any sentence makes you wince when reading it and I'll sort it out asap!