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e l e v e n ; indie bands

E L E V E N ; INDIE BANDS

Romina hummed to herself as she shelved books. She had recently found a job at a local hipster-like book store. She mostly wanted some extra money for college. Her mother had assured her that they had plenty of money saved to pay for four years at NYU but Romina didn't want to fully rely on the money paid to them from Oscorp for her father's death.

At the time, Romina had assumed the money was from insurance provided by Oscorp but now that she thought about it, it was more likely cover-up money. Norman Osborn seemed to throw money at problems, hoping they would go away. Luckily for him, Romina's mother never questioned it (at least in front of Romina), she just took the money and kept quiet. Romina's stomach churned at the thought.

She continued to place slightly-used books on their respective shelves while an indecipherable pop melody played in her head. The book store usually had some indie band playing softly through the speakers but Romina always found them boring and wished the stuck-up boy who owned the place would let her play something more upbeat. He never did.

Roger Hunt was the definition of a hipster snob. At only 26, he dressed like an old man with his slouchy cardigans and thrift-shop loafers. His thick, black hair was hidden underneath one of his many neutral-colored beanies. He always had thick-frames glasses perched on his nose, showing off his dark brown eyes. Along with this came his snobby attitude toward anything mainstream. One time, Romina mentioned playing Fall Out Boy or anything other than indie bands and artists, causing Roger to nearly fire her, instead he banned her from picking any music. ("Okay, so maybe the radio overplays Uma Thurman but have you ever listened to Folié a Deux? That album is perfection, Roger!")

All in all, Romina didn't mind working there. Sure, Roger got on her nerves but he was easy on the eyes and didn't make her dress-up (he had told her the dress code was semi-casual but never said anything when she showed up in fancy sweatpants). It was usually only her in the shop. Roger only had her and another guy hired and they worked opposite days. Roger, himself, was only there every so often because the book shop was only his way to make money for his indie rock band, New Dust (originally Sonic Nothing and before that Local Guys; all stupid names in Romina's opinion. Then again, nothing would ever compare to Mouse Rat and that wasn't even a real band).

Romina liked being alone in the store, though. It was peaceful. Although, they had recently gotten a lot of customers who liked to pick up books and put them back down in random places (which annoyed Romina because she was the one that had to reshelf them). It wasn't too bad except for the occasional snob who often asked for books she had never heard of, most people kept to themselves (even whispered like it was a damn library much to Romina's pleasure).

Mostly, working there had kept her mind off things. She had recently applied for an internship with Tony Stark at Stark Industries but she didn't get it due to the fact that she sucked at science (she had hoped that the fact that she attended Midtown Science High School would give her a leg-up; it didn't). It was kind of a blow because she knew that it would give her a lot of opportunities but Pepper Potts had assured her that if she applied again later in the year, she would be heavily considered. Romina wouldn't hold her breath, though.