The Big League - Drew Starkey

chapter six.

"So what's the plan for today?" I asked Mallory after she got into my car and we greeted each other.

"Well," She started as she now put on her seat belt. "Remember yesterday when you said you'd not only be my friend but my body guard?"

"Yeah," I nodded. As weird as it may have seemed, I meant every word I said to Mallory yesterday. I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable or scared out in public, so I was happy to help her in what ever way I could.

"Well then, we are going to the record store." She sent me a smile and I raised my eyebrows in shock.

After what happened yesterday, I was surprised she wanted to go back so soon. "T-The same record store?" I stammered.

"Yeah," She now nodded. "They have some vinyls for a really good price and I need them." She lightly chuckled.

"Alright," I nodded as I looked up the store and put it into my maps. Once my GPS was activated, I pulled away from Mallory's apartment and headed to our destination.

**********

We arrived at the record store and I put my car in park before Mallory and I both took off our seatbelts. It was a short ride there, and we just made small talk the whole time. As much as I wanted to, we didn't talk about last night. She seemed nervous enough, and I didn't want to make anything awkward between us by bringing it up.

"So, the guy from yesterday," I started as I looked over at her, and she quickly looked up at me. "What did he look like?" I asked her softly. I didn't want to stir up any anxiety as she thought about him, but I needed to know so I could protect her from him.

"He uh," She started as she broke eye contact. "He was tall, taller than me anyways, b-but uh, I think shorter than you. Uh, kinda pale. Dark, short hair." She described, but to me that was just every white man ever. "If I see him," She started as she looked over at the store. "I'll let you know."

I nodded in response and we both exited my car. We walked up to the store together and I opened the door for her as she walked inside, I followed right behind her.

"So, you're really into vinyls, huh?" I asked as I looked around the store. It consisted of mostly classic rock and old school albums, but had a section labeled new releases where they had some of the latest music.

"I got a record player from my parents for Christmas a few years ago. It's one of my favorite things that I own." She looked up at me as I followed her to wherever we were walking. I nodded as I continued to look around the place. There was a good amount of people in here, none of them stood out to be the pervert from yesterday. "Here they are." Mallory said as we walked up to a rack.

I watched her as she pulled four records off of a shelf. Queen, Luke Bryan, John Mayer, and Jack Johnson.

"You have quite the music taste." I chuckled as I watched her observe the albums.

She cracked a smile as she looked up at me. I loved the way she looked up at me. "Just a few of my favorites." She said as she now held the records close to her chest. "Is there anything you wanna look at?"

"No," I shook my head. "Was this it?" I asked her, wondering if that was all she wanted to do today. I was hoping we'd spend more time together rather than spend two minutes in a random store.

"This was it here," She mentioned as we began walking to the checkout counter. "But I was thinking we could grab a late lunch or something. Is that okay?"

I felt a smile spread on my lips as I nodded. "That sounds perfect."

We approached the counter and Mallory placed the albums out for the cashier to ring them up. I continued to look around the store as Mal finished up paying. Once the cashier handed her the bag of vinyl records and her receipt, we stepped away from the counter.