I'll Be There For You

3

I wake up by natural instinct at 7:34. I look over my left shoulder to see Brendon, still sound asleep. I carefully move off the couch, as not to disturb the sleeping cutie. I make some coffee and toast for breakfast, then wake up Lyn-Z.

"Is that your boyfriend?" Lyn-Z asks, with a big smile on her face, pointing to a sleeping Brendon.

"Wh-what? No, no of course not. We're just friends," I stutter, slightly wishing to be wrong about that. I get a shower and get dressed, and when I return back downstairs to see Brendon still sleeping, I shake him awake. He grudgingly gets up, rubbing his eyes. I take the dvd out of the player to put away. When I notice a large scratch on it, I frown.

"What's wrong?" Brendon asks.

"My movie has a scratch on it," I say, showing him the dvd. He also frowns at this. I check the time, 8:40, which means I have 25 minutes to get to work. And since it usually takes me 20 minutes to walk there, I should leave now.

"Hey, I have to leave for work," I say to Brendon, not quite sure what to do.

"Oh, ok. I'll walk with you, Ryan's apartment is only a block away from the music store." We put our shoes on and walk out the door, I headed for work and Brendon heading for his friend's house. I won't be going to the library this morning because a) there's no time for that and b) I haven't finished my book yet. I'll just go after work.

When I arrive at work, Brendon waves goodbye. "Wanna hang out again sometime?" He asks.

"Sure," I say with a smile, then go into the store. I leave for my lunch break at 12 and see Brendon standing right outside the store waiting for me.

"We meet again," I say.

"Yes, yes we do. Let's go get lunch," He says this as more of a question than a statement, so I nod and we walk to the deli. He tells me more about his band and I ask him about teaching me guitar.

"Yeah, actually, I have a guitar in the trunk of my car. It had some strings pop out though, G and A if I remember correctly. The place you work does repairs, right?"

"Yea, that's Ethan's job." We finish up our lunch, talking about random crap, birthdays and stuff. We walk back to the music shop and Brendon takes a detour to his car. He takes out a small red acoustic guitar and a plastic bag with two guitar strings in it.

I point to the back, where Ethan works and Brendon takes the guitar back there. While I'm helping some twins in sixth grade named Sam and Fred, I overhear a conversation between Ethan and Brendon.

"So you're Lavender's boyfriend, huh?" UGH ETHAN YOU BUTT. IF I COULD THROW SOMETHING AT YOU I WOULD.

"Nah man. I wish though."

"Then ask her if she'll be your girlfriend, then I can tease you guys even more."

"Maybe I will. But not for your reason."

"Cellos are quite a bit larger than violins, so you have to have them standing up to play them. Cellos also have a deeper sound when played," I tell the twins, trying to help them decide which instruments for their school orchestra would be best for them. By the time I've finished helping them, Sam decided on a viola, and Fred chose a cello. Sam and Fred leave and the shop is empty excluding Ethan, Brendon, and I.

When Ethan finishes Brendon's guitar, Brendon comes back up to the checkout counter, where I am sitting and reading.

"Hey," Brendon says and clears his throat. I put down my book and look up.

"Hi."

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"