Post by SomethingAboutTheStars on Jan 7, 2012 23:40:51 GMT -5
Thanks for reading! I hope you're able to find it--WalktheRainbows and I now have our own subboards! Thank you djtiny!! I feel really proud and special and like a god, haha. You might notice that Laurence's name has been changed--it's Lorence. Still said the same, but the spelling means a little more. Yeah, I know it's a boy's name...but....whatever. But...yeah! Thanks for reading again, I apologize for the long chapter again, and YAY! More Greyson, dudes! Hope you enjoy.
Other Chapters:
Prologue: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....play&thread=793
Chapter 1: www.thegreysonchanceforum.com/ind....play&thread=793
Chapter 2: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....play&thread=796
Chapter 3: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....play&thread=798
Chapter 4: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....play&thread=807
Chapter 5: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....read=809&page=1
Chapter 6: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....tion&thread=811
Chapter 7: www.thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.cgi?board=stara&action=display&thread=829
Chapter 8: You're already here!
My weekends start on Mondays. As a result, I hate Wednesdays, as most people would hate Mondays. It actually doesn’t feel that different, other than the fact that everyone’s off when I’m on. But I like my job and it’s quiet there. There’s a keyboard I like to play in the back room, and I could spend hours there. Not many come into the record shop; I guess that makes considering people usually don’t have record players anymore. Barely any have CDs any more.
I’m sitting at the front desk, coworker and boss in the back. We ¬switch places on and off. It’s not like we have shifts, we just switch when one of us is sick of playing solitaire on the back computer, or the other has done all the shelving, or one of us can’t stand the view where we are.
It would appear that my co-worker/boss, Barney, is tired of solitaire and tired of looking at the plain back room that’s not really plain—it’s covered in record posters and lyrics to songs. Not to mention the keyboard back there.
“Alright, Greyson. I’m bored. You’re turn,” he says. I stop tapping the pen on the counter. “Oh, and will you go shelve some rock albums? We got a whole bunch of used ones,” he says. “You know where to find them.”
I walk through the back room to get to the parking lot in the back of the store. I grab the box that’s sitting on the door step. Barney’s taken the counter when I come back in. His iPod is on, headphones in. I smile slyly and silently se the box down. I turn on the keyboard and start tapping on the keys. I know this song by heart.
It’s Paparazzi, by Lady Gaga.
When we get to the shop, I can hear someone playing an old Lady Gaga song.
“Someone’s playing piano,” I say to Stephen dreamily. “Lady Gaga. Paparazzi.”
Stephen nods and pulls me along. He fishes the note out of my bag. “Okay, we got as far as the records and such, now we have to figure out the rest. You were above the world, on cloud 11. Thinking of minerals, the building blocks. Building blocks of what? The bugs that scared you, they stank if you scared them. Your mom said, Let it Be.” He reads.
“We have the building blocks, that’s rocks,” I say. “Bugs that scared me?”
“You’re not really afraid of bugs,” Stephen thinks.
“Only if they stink!” I say.
“Yup, that’s what your manager says. The bugs that scared you, they stank if you scared them.”
“Stink Beetles,” I say immediately.
Stephen looks at me. “The Beatles.”
“We’re supposed to buy a record, aren’t we?” I say. “By the Beatles!”
“And the album must be Let it Be,” Stephen says.
“Cloud 11,” I check the note again. “What do you think that’s supposed to be?”
“I don’t know. Maybe the eleventh on the shelf?”
“Perhaps. But let’s just go. Maybe we’ll figure it out.”
But the piano is playing and suddenly I’m sucked into it. Stephen breaks the trance by hauling me away. We browse up and down the rows on the first floor; I can still barely hear the piano. But I know that the Beatles aren’t going to be down here, they’ll be upstairs. Under the genre Rock. Rock! Minerals, the building blocks of Rocks! The genre rock! I tell Stephen this and we race upstairs. I go straight to where the rock genre is, where the Beatles will be shelved. There’s two extra steps to the section.
I’m looking for Let it Be when Stephen taps my shoulder. “Look where we are,” he points.
“Aisle 11,” I read the sign above my head. “Cloud 11, the second floor, we’re floating.”
Stephen smiles. “You were above the world,” he recites.
“Nice job, Stephen,” I tell him. I’m looking through the albums. I can’t find Let it Be. I turn to look at Stephen. It’s ridiculous, I feel pathetic. My voice is shaking, “Stephen, they don’t have it.”
“They don’t? I bet they do, you’re just blind…” Stephen shifts through the records. His hands are still empty when we finish. I look around, trying to find someone who works here. They’d be easy to spot. There’s not many people here. In fact, I think Stephen and I and the workers are the only ones in the building. Unless they’ve changed it, I know the employees t shirt by heart. It’s all black with a record player with a decorated record on it. The vinyl is black and white with a piano pattern going around it until it seems to spin off near the bottom and travels towards the bottom right corner of the t shirt.
I’m looking around but I don’t see anyone. And then it hits me. I really, really need to use the bathroom.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell Stephen. He nods. “Keep looking.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” he says.
“Don’t be smart,” I smirk at him. I walk off. There’s no need to ask for directions. I know where it is.
Greyson
It’s when I hear the door open and close when I realize I’ve lost track of time. I shut off the keyboard and peek through the door. Barney’s reading a magazine now. His iPod headphones are still in. I breathe out slowly, and then get out of the chair. I drop to my knees and start to crawl past his desk. But then I remember: the records. I groan inwardly and crawl back to the box. I slowly push it along the floor until I’m past the desk. Then I stand up, brush myself off, and pick up the box. I think Barney is giving me a weird look but I’m going up the stairs already.
I hurry up the stairs and nearly trip in the process. The albums are kindly organized already, and all I have to do is go from shelf to shelf and put them where they’re supposed to go. I start with the pop records then make my way over to the rock. A girl runs past me.
“Hey!” she turns around. “I need to talk to you.”
“What can I help you with?” I ask.
“I’m looking for Let it Be, by the Beatles,” she says. “Unless my friend has found it.”
I’m a total flirt; it’s a trait that’s stuck with me. So I can’t help it. I think she’s pretty. Her hair is long; it’s a few inches past her shoulders. Her eyes are grey. She’s shorter than me by a few inches. I spot a bracelet on her hand, Love is the Movement. White rubber with black writing. I used to wear one of those all the time. Then I see her necklace.
It’s a heavy bronze round with a silver tip, a bullet. There’s a peace sign wrapped around the top half. I’m baffled for a moment, but recover quickly.
“I’ll show you where it should be,” I say, and lead her to the rock genre section. There’s a guy sitting on the floor, staring intently at the shelves.
“Stephen,” the girl says, walking up to him. “Have you found it?” She takes the record from his hands. “This isn’t at all the Beatles,” she says, examining it. “Where’d you find it?”
“Hiding behind one of the other albums…”
She shrugs. “Well. That’s fine. He’ll help us,” she jerks her head back towards me.
“I’m Greyson,” I offer.
“Cool.” It’s not much of a reply, and I was hoping for a name. A thought dawns on me. What if this Stephen is her boyfriend? I swallow hard. If he is…and if he’s a grouch…I don’t feel at all safe. Stephen looks strong and that he could easily pick me up and throw me off the second floor.
“Well, it should be right here,” I set the box down and pick through the shelves. I frown and check it again. It’s not there. I turn to the girl and shrug. “It’s not there…but I can check the box!” I say immediately after and start pawing through the box. There isn’t even a Beatles record in there. “Why don’t we ask? Maybe there’s some in the back room?”
The girl nods eagerly. Stephen gets up and they follow me down stairs and to the main desk. I leave the box upstairs.
When we’re down stairs, I go behind the counter and push Barney away from the computer.
“Hey, watch it, Greyson,” he says grouchily. He catches himself and slides off the stool. Then he looks up and sees who’s asking for service.
“Laurie!” he says, scooting past me. He goes to the other side of the counter and gives her a hug. I stand, open mouthed. But then I recover when I see ‘Laurie’ looks really, really creepd out.
“It’s me, Barney! Don’t you remember?”
“I can’t say I do,” Laurie says. She’s scrunching up her face like she’s trying to remember.
“I helped host the first signing party for your book. I was in the back of the room, talking with John.”
All of a sudden, everything seems to dissolve. John. I’m waiting for a girl of the past. She can slip away. Maybe whatever the note was talking about wasn’t a girl from my past. From someone else’s past. And maybe, this is her.
“The first signing party….” She taps her chin.
“Yes, I spilled soda on you and a stack of books.”
“Oh, I remember you,” her face contorts, but she laughs it off.
“Yes!” Barney’s excited.
And I’m dumbfounded once again.
Barney shoos me off when I try and approach the reunion.
“So, what are you guys in the market for?” he asks Laurie.
“A Let it Be record, by the Beatles,” Laurie says.
“Hm, we don’t have any on the shelves?” Barney asks.
“Nope. Three people have looked for them.”
And I see Barney smile slyly. He reaches into his backpack that he keeps behind the desk and hands Laurie it. “No charge,” he says. “It’s been two years, Lorence. What’s taken you so long?”
She takes the album from him and places money into his hands. He tries to give it back but she won’t take it.
“Delays,” she says. She thanks me, then Barney. Barney gets another hug and then she and Stephen are gone.
“What was that all about?” I ask Barney afterwards.
“Long ago friend. I’ve been waiting for her.”
I look longingly at the door. “Do you think she left anything?”
“Why?” Barney looks at me. “Just so you can have an excuse to chase her down?”
I kick my heel with my other foot and don’t answer.
“I’ll just give you her number, Greyson. You need a girl anyways.”
I smile and feel heat rise to my cheeks. “Really? Thank you,” I say.
“But first, go put those albums away. I saw you running up the stairs. They’re probably sitting up next to the Beatles shelf.”
My mouth drops.
“Hey, I’m not as stupid as I act!” Barney laughs and spins his chair around so his back is to me.
Other Chapters:
Prologue: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....play&thread=793
Chapter 1: www.thegreysonchanceforum.com/ind....play&thread=793
Chapter 2: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....play&thread=796
Chapter 3: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....play&thread=798
Chapter 4: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....play&thread=807
Chapter 5: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....read=809&page=1
Chapter 6: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....tion&thread=811
Chapter 7: www.thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.cgi?board=stara&action=display&thread=829
Chapter 8: You're already here!
Chapter 8
Greyson
My weekends start on Mondays. As a result, I hate Wednesdays, as most people would hate Mondays. It actually doesn’t feel that different, other than the fact that everyone’s off when I’m on. But I like my job and it’s quiet there. There’s a keyboard I like to play in the back room, and I could spend hours there. Not many come into the record shop; I guess that makes considering people usually don’t have record players anymore. Barely any have CDs any more.
I’m sitting at the front desk, coworker and boss in the back. We ¬switch places on and off. It’s not like we have shifts, we just switch when one of us is sick of playing solitaire on the back computer, or the other has done all the shelving, or one of us can’t stand the view where we are.
It would appear that my co-worker/boss, Barney, is tired of solitaire and tired of looking at the plain back room that’s not really plain—it’s covered in record posters and lyrics to songs. Not to mention the keyboard back there.
“Alright, Greyson. I’m bored. You’re turn,” he says. I stop tapping the pen on the counter. “Oh, and will you go shelve some rock albums? We got a whole bunch of used ones,” he says. “You know where to find them.”
I walk through the back room to get to the parking lot in the back of the store. I grab the box that’s sitting on the door step. Barney’s taken the counter when I come back in. His iPod is on, headphones in. I smile slyly and silently se the box down. I turn on the keyboard and start tapping on the keys. I know this song by heart.
It’s Paparazzi, by Lady Gaga.
Lorence
When we get to the shop, I can hear someone playing an old Lady Gaga song.
“Someone’s playing piano,” I say to Stephen dreamily. “Lady Gaga. Paparazzi.”
Stephen nods and pulls me along. He fishes the note out of my bag. “Okay, we got as far as the records and such, now we have to figure out the rest. You were above the world, on cloud 11. Thinking of minerals, the building blocks. Building blocks of what? The bugs that scared you, they stank if you scared them. Your mom said, Let it Be.” He reads.
“We have the building blocks, that’s rocks,” I say. “Bugs that scared me?”
“You’re not really afraid of bugs,” Stephen thinks.
“Only if they stink!” I say.
“Yup, that’s what your manager says. The bugs that scared you, they stank if you scared them.”
“Stink Beetles,” I say immediately.
Stephen looks at me. “The Beatles.”
“We’re supposed to buy a record, aren’t we?” I say. “By the Beatles!”
“And the album must be Let it Be,” Stephen says.
“Cloud 11,” I check the note again. “What do you think that’s supposed to be?”
“I don’t know. Maybe the eleventh on the shelf?”
“Perhaps. But let’s just go. Maybe we’ll figure it out.”
But the piano is playing and suddenly I’m sucked into it. Stephen breaks the trance by hauling me away. We browse up and down the rows on the first floor; I can still barely hear the piano. But I know that the Beatles aren’t going to be down here, they’ll be upstairs. Under the genre Rock. Rock! Minerals, the building blocks of Rocks! The genre rock! I tell Stephen this and we race upstairs. I go straight to where the rock genre is, where the Beatles will be shelved. There’s two extra steps to the section.
I’m looking for Let it Be when Stephen taps my shoulder. “Look where we are,” he points.
“Aisle 11,” I read the sign above my head. “Cloud 11, the second floor, we’re floating.”
Stephen smiles. “You were above the world,” he recites.
“Nice job, Stephen,” I tell him. I’m looking through the albums. I can’t find Let it Be. I turn to look at Stephen. It’s ridiculous, I feel pathetic. My voice is shaking, “Stephen, they don’t have it.”
“They don’t? I bet they do, you’re just blind…” Stephen shifts through the records. His hands are still empty when we finish. I look around, trying to find someone who works here. They’d be easy to spot. There’s not many people here. In fact, I think Stephen and I and the workers are the only ones in the building. Unless they’ve changed it, I know the employees t shirt by heart. It’s all black with a record player with a decorated record on it. The vinyl is black and white with a piano pattern going around it until it seems to spin off near the bottom and travels towards the bottom right corner of the t shirt.
I’m looking around but I don’t see anyone. And then it hits me. I really, really need to use the bathroom.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell Stephen. He nods. “Keep looking.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” he says.
“Don’t be smart,” I smirk at him. I walk off. There’s no need to ask for directions. I know where it is.
Greyson
It’s when I hear the door open and close when I realize I’ve lost track of time. I shut off the keyboard and peek through the door. Barney’s reading a magazine now. His iPod headphones are still in. I breathe out slowly, and then get out of the chair. I drop to my knees and start to crawl past his desk. But then I remember: the records. I groan inwardly and crawl back to the box. I slowly push it along the floor until I’m past the desk. Then I stand up, brush myself off, and pick up the box. I think Barney is giving me a weird look but I’m going up the stairs already.
I hurry up the stairs and nearly trip in the process. The albums are kindly organized already, and all I have to do is go from shelf to shelf and put them where they’re supposed to go. I start with the pop records then make my way over to the rock. A girl runs past me.
“Hey!” she turns around. “I need to talk to you.”
“What can I help you with?” I ask.
“I’m looking for Let it Be, by the Beatles,” she says. “Unless my friend has found it.”
I’m a total flirt; it’s a trait that’s stuck with me. So I can’t help it. I think she’s pretty. Her hair is long; it’s a few inches past her shoulders. Her eyes are grey. She’s shorter than me by a few inches. I spot a bracelet on her hand, Love is the Movement. White rubber with black writing. I used to wear one of those all the time. Then I see her necklace.
It’s a heavy bronze round with a silver tip, a bullet. There’s a peace sign wrapped around the top half. I’m baffled for a moment, but recover quickly.
“I’ll show you where it should be,” I say, and lead her to the rock genre section. There’s a guy sitting on the floor, staring intently at the shelves.
“Stephen,” the girl says, walking up to him. “Have you found it?” She takes the record from his hands. “This isn’t at all the Beatles,” she says, examining it. “Where’d you find it?”
“Hiding behind one of the other albums…”
She shrugs. “Well. That’s fine. He’ll help us,” she jerks her head back towards me.
“I’m Greyson,” I offer.
“Cool.” It’s not much of a reply, and I was hoping for a name. A thought dawns on me. What if this Stephen is her boyfriend? I swallow hard. If he is…and if he’s a grouch…I don’t feel at all safe. Stephen looks strong and that he could easily pick me up and throw me off the second floor.
“Well, it should be right here,” I set the box down and pick through the shelves. I frown and check it again. It’s not there. I turn to the girl and shrug. “It’s not there…but I can check the box!” I say immediately after and start pawing through the box. There isn’t even a Beatles record in there. “Why don’t we ask? Maybe there’s some in the back room?”
The girl nods eagerly. Stephen gets up and they follow me down stairs and to the main desk. I leave the box upstairs.
When we’re down stairs, I go behind the counter and push Barney away from the computer.
“Hey, watch it, Greyson,” he says grouchily. He catches himself and slides off the stool. Then he looks up and sees who’s asking for service.
“Laurie!” he says, scooting past me. He goes to the other side of the counter and gives her a hug. I stand, open mouthed. But then I recover when I see ‘Laurie’ looks really, really creepd out.
“It’s me, Barney! Don’t you remember?”
“I can’t say I do,” Laurie says. She’s scrunching up her face like she’s trying to remember.
“I helped host the first signing party for your book. I was in the back of the room, talking with John.”
All of a sudden, everything seems to dissolve. John. I’m waiting for a girl of the past. She can slip away. Maybe whatever the note was talking about wasn’t a girl from my past. From someone else’s past. And maybe, this is her.
“The first signing party….” She taps her chin.
“Yes, I spilled soda on you and a stack of books.”
“Oh, I remember you,” her face contorts, but she laughs it off.
“Yes!” Barney’s excited.
And I’m dumbfounded once again.
Barney shoos me off when I try and approach the reunion.
“So, what are you guys in the market for?” he asks Laurie.
“A Let it Be record, by the Beatles,” Laurie says.
“Hm, we don’t have any on the shelves?” Barney asks.
“Nope. Three people have looked for them.”
And I see Barney smile slyly. He reaches into his backpack that he keeps behind the desk and hands Laurie it. “No charge,” he says. “It’s been two years, Lorence. What’s taken you so long?”
She takes the album from him and places money into his hands. He tries to give it back but she won’t take it.
“Delays,” she says. She thanks me, then Barney. Barney gets another hug and then she and Stephen are gone.
“What was that all about?” I ask Barney afterwards.
“Long ago friend. I’ve been waiting for her.”
I look longingly at the door. “Do you think she left anything?”
“Why?” Barney looks at me. “Just so you can have an excuse to chase her down?”
I kick my heel with my other foot and don’t answer.
“I’ll just give you her number, Greyson. You need a girl anyways.”
I smile and feel heat rise to my cheeks. “Really? Thank you,” I say.
“But first, go put those albums away. I saw you running up the stairs. They’re probably sitting up next to the Beatles shelf.”
My mouth drops.
“Hey, I’m not as stupid as I act!” Barney laughs and spins his chair around so his back is to me.