Nate: I’ll text you the time I’m picking you up.
Maddy: Okay!
She flopped back on her bed, kicking her feet up and down in excitement.
She was giddy like a schoolgirl with a crush.
Except she wasn’t. A schoolgirl, or a crush owner.
No, she was perfectly cool, calm, and collected.
If only she could get that stupid grin to go away.
***
The next afternoon found Maddy and Nate in a local music store about a half hour from where they lived.
At first glance, it looked like an unassuming place, somewhere one could just pass by and never even notice if they weren’t paying attention. But once they stepped inside, it was a whole new world.
The tinkling sound of a bell accompanied the swishing of the door as Nate was the first to enter the store, holding it open for Maddy to pass through. The relief was instant as the warm temperature of the place had her relax her bunched up shoulders from the cold. A soft guitar was playing in the background as Maddy and Nate took in the feel of the place. There were exposed brick walls everywhere, rows upon rows of CDs and vinyls marked by decades and then artists filled the eye, the colors of the album covers making it impossible to discern at first glance what they were seeing.
Maddy felt as if she could touch the music in the air.
A brief glance at Nate was enough to tell her that it had been the right call to make the trip here. Nate looked almost enthralled, like he was trying to absorb everything at once and unsure of where to start. Which was more or less what Maddy was experiencing.
Now, Maddy didn’t know about Nate, but where she was concerned, in no way did she consider herself a music expert. She really, really wasn’t. But once she found a vibe she liked—whether it was a music genre or an artist—she became consumed by it. She had to hear everything they’d ever released. It was pretty much the same as with her favorite authors: once she discovered one she loved, she’d hunt down every book in their backlist.
Half measures didn’t exist for her, and looking around the shop, a wave of nostalgia overwhelmed her.
She had really missed this.
Sure, downloading or streaming music had certainly become the easiest way to access music throughout the years. And of course there were the mega stores that catered to every taste.
But nothing beat the feel of a local CD store, where she really had to put in the effort to look through the stacks, scanning every album for the cover or a hint of the name of her favorite artists or groups, sometimes coming up empty-handed, others resurfacing with precious findings she would love and listen to again and again.
Coincidentally, the early 2000s had given Maddy some of her all-time favorite music and she felt almost jittery. She couldn’t wait to dive in.
“So,” Maddy exhaled, the first word either of them had uttered since setting foot inside. “What do you think?”
Nate’s dark eyes seemed to have regained some of the spark he had been missing during the last few days as he turned to peer into her own. There was a glint of excitement there that definitely mirrored her own.
“I think your idea was awesome, Mads.”
Maddy fought hard not to beam like a lunatic.
“Are you going to still think that when I inevitably start singing out loud every song my eyes latch on that I’ve forgotten that I actually love and now I absolutely have to sing because I’m a human jukebox?” Maddy asked, all in one breath.
Nate blinked at her.
“Are we going to get thrown out of here if you do?”
“What do you take me for? An amateur? I know how to be discreet, Nate.” Maddy scoffed. “I’m not going to belt out lyrics at the top of my voice. You will be the sole recipient of all my performance.” A brief pause. “Unless it’s Evanescence.”
Nate chuckled, his hand reaching up to curl softly in the crook where her neck met her shoulder, squeezing her lightly, his eyes boring into hers.
“I’m honored. Lead the way, jukebox.”
So Maddy led the way while honestly hoping that Nate wouldn’t be able to feel how her pulse was jumping erratically like her life was in mortal danger on the exact spot where he’d curled his fingers. A hope that would probably be squashed given that her heart seemed seconds away from trying to escape from her chest.
