The Love Illusion

Chapter 6 - The Vinyl Store

"Are we nearly there?" I shout to him over the loud noises from the motorbike.

"Yeah," he says, just around this corner, "The one with the green roof."

I spot it immediately not just by the green roof but by the gigantic vinyl outside it.

Nathaniel parks the motorbike outside and helps me off.

As he leads me inside I ask,

"What is this place?"

"This is my palace."

"You don't even live in Colorado."

"I know, but this is where I come to write most of my songs. Trust me, it's legendary."

"Okay..." I say, following him inside.

Walking in it's like a library of music. There's practically no one in here, an old cantankerous man sits in the corner thoroughly reading the back of a CD and a middle aged man is standing at the till flicking through a 'The Life of Springsteen' book.

The middle aged man sees us and yells, "Hey, Nate! Been a while."

"Hey Tom, how ya been?!"

"Good thanks. Who's the girl?" he asks, looking towards me.

"Um, I'm Mollie. Nathaniel and I were friends when we were growing up."

"Oh yeah?" he says, nodding. "Anyway, Nate... Guitars are in the back as usual."

"Thanks," exclaims Nathaniel, taking my hand and leading me to the back room, "Come on."

As we enter I see guitar after guitar after guitar.

"Whoa," I say, "This room has a lot of guitars!"

"Yep," he smiles, picking one up that says reads 'Fender', "I go here all the time. This room just relaxes me and helps me write."

"How fast can you write a song?" I ask.

He sits down on a chair and plucks all six strings, checking they're in tune.

"Um, I don't know. Look I'll teach you." As he puts a capo on the 4th fret as he asks me, "Do you have a recording app on your phone."

"Yep." I say, getting out my phone and clicking the app.

"So you need to start off with a good beat," He opens the drawer next to us and pulls out two drumsticks. He says, "OK, record in 3, 2, 1."

I click the big red button that reads, 'Record'.

He taps the table twice before hitting the leg of the chair, he repeats it twice and I click 'Stop'.

"Pretty cool." I nod.

"Now, just a few simple chords on the guitar will give us a melody. I'm going to use four random chords so: G, Am, C and F."

He strums each chord for four beats with an up, up, down, down pattern.

I smile as the song comes together.

"Finally we just need some lyrics. Can you sing?"

"No, definitely not." I protest.

"Come on." he pleads.

"Fine," I say, pulling up a chair and sitting on it, "What can I sing about?"

"Anything, everything. Sing about what you like."

I clear my throat before singing, "Everyday is the same in my life. Everyday is the same. School, work, homework, sleep repeat. Everyday is the same in my life but not today. Not today.

I'm writing a song, hey hey. It's easier than it seems.

I'm writing a song, hey hey. It's easier than it seems.

Nathaniel's taught me something new and for that I'm so grateful. I never really realized how much I... missed him."

We sit in silence for a second, looking at each other dead in the eye. I breath in and out realizing how much I have missed him.

I brake eye contact, Nathaniel leans across me and presses 'Stop' on my phone.

"Hey, not so bad then." he smiles.

"Yeah not so bad."

I don't know what just happened, but I liked it.