45" ▪︎ a.i.

9"

My alarm went off at 7am. I groaned and turned it off quickly. It didn't feel at all like I got enough sleep, but it would have to do. Not falling asleep at the store would be hard, but maybe there was a customer or two who needed help. I scrolled through social media for about 15mins, nothing exciting had happened, and remembered that Ashton wanted to tell me something. 

I got ready for my shift, ate breakfast, packed up my bag; camera, computer, a bottle of water; and soon enough left for the store, arriving there only 20mins later. We opened at 9am and sometimes I felt like 10 or 11am would be just as fine but my uncle felt like adjusting the opening times was some kind of confession, that the store wasn't working as good anymore.

The first two hours nothing happened. I edited some more pictures, I definitely shot enough the last weeks to last some time. I uploaded some to Instagram and started researching about making my own webpage where I could display my pictures. It seemed a lot easier than I thought it would be. 

I decided to keep it in mind. I looked around the empty store, noticed one of my guitars still standing in a corner and decided I could as well make good use to the time spent here and practice a bit. If someone walked in, I could just stop. I texted Luke, even though I know he was at rehearsal, asking him for chords and tabs for his songs. He had told me the other day to just say the word, whenever I needed chords. I was surprised when I got an answer 5mins later with files and pictures of written down chords. 

Maybe they were just taking a break. I was glad though and tempted to just post the original chords online because I know how many fans are dying to have them. I would have to ask him some time. I opened the files on my computer, making it more comfortable to read them. Those weren't too complicated. The problem was the strumming pattern which he hadn't always written out. 

But it was still fun to learn the chord progressions, trying to play along with him on the recording. It definitely made 2 hours pass. Sadly no customers came into the store during that time, and knowing this wouldn't change during lunch time, I could as well eat something and text Luke asking about the strumming and if I could someday post those chords when I find the time. 

He replied really fast, making me think about how they were probably having lunch right now. Almost at the same moment as his reply, I got a message from Ashton:

"Why are you texting so much with Luke? 🥴"

"why? You jealous? Just asking him about guitar chords and stuff. The store's empty, gotta do something productive."

"pff no I was not. But he randomly started strumming diamonds and I was wondering. Sorry about the store being vacant"

"I asked him about the strumming, I thought he had it written out somewhere else, tell him to do it later, it's not important."

"told him, he said it's fine and you should just come over one day so he can show you all of them and explain"

"oh and you can actually text with each other, you know?"

"I like texting with you though."

I hit send and suddenly realized I shouldn't have written that; it was too straight forward. I mean it was true, I was looking forward to every text, but he didn't have to know that. Another sound from my phone, signaling a new message. I anxiously picked it up.

"I like texting with you too."

I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding.

"I have to go, talk to you later, okay? xx"