Mute

4- New Costumers (Happy Birthday)

Before I can open the door to the store Clara is running to me and pulling me indoors. I look at her confused and wait for her to explain her burst of energy at this time of the morning.

"Tickets go on sale tonight!" She cheers barely able to contain her excitement. I smile and try and match her excitement which is usually quite difficult when you can't speak.

"Okay get to work, I'll get the tickets during the day. We're going out for dinner tonight by the way. Dress semi-fancy and I'll pick you up like an hour after work" Clara says before skipping off to the counter to sort out some stuff before the shop opens.

I quietly slip my headphones back on and get to the job of sorting albums. Usually, it's just restocking and sorting out messes from the day before, which to be honest sounds slightly boring but I can't really complain.

After around an hour of sorting albums, I get a light tap on the shoulder. I pull off my headphones and see what they want. "Hey, ah" The mumble awkwardly as I fumble to pause my music. Once I succeed, I look up at the person. Instantly him, well them.

"Where do you keep the Blink albums?" He asks smiling brightly. I go to reply, obviously I fail. I look away embarrassed and ashamed. "You okay?" The second asks.

But before I can answer Clara is dancing through the shop, but not before turning her music up first. Which happens to be 'Kitchen Sink'

"Hey, guys I'm Clara, the manager. What can I do for you?" She asks the two best friends who seemed to be confused as to why she's the one assisting them. "Oh, my Josh" She stops once she realises who she's talking to. They both laugh. So does Clara.

"So ah the albums?" Josh mentions awkwardly breaking the uncomfortable silence. I quietly walk over to the rock section, with Josh following close behind. "So I thought you didn't have a show here for a few weeks" Clara chats to Tyler behind us. I'm still surprised she's not freaking out. "Oh we don't have a show tonight and it's Josh's birthday so I decided to let him find some albums that he doesn't have yet" Tyler replies

Once I show Josh the section of albums that he'd be most interested in, I try to awkwardly escape to leave them all to chat, but Tyler stops me. "I heard you girls were thinking of going to our concert, I can give you guys VIP tickets if you want?" He offers making Clara squeal in excitement. "I'll take that as a yes" He laughs before writing himself a note.

"You don't talk much do you" Josh mentions while searching few a stack of albums. I shake my head and look at my feet. I haven't been in this type of situation for a while, I don't really know what to say. "What's your name again?" He asks and I look over to Clara. "She's Penelope, Pen for short" She answers for me.

Josh looks confused. "You don't like to talk?" He questions. "She's mute" Clara plainly states. "How long?" He asks like this was any casual old conversation. "Hey Josh calm down, we've only known them for a few minutes." Tyler stops him, seeing that it could be making me feel awkward.

"Well, why don't we go and get some lunch?" He asks, looking over at Tyler to see if he minded. "If you guys aren't busy" Tyler adds. Which of course Clara doesn't turn down.

We quietly tidy up and head out. I mean the shop usually isn't that busy on Thursdays anyway. But before we left I made sure to grab my notepad and pen. I have a feeling I'm going to be writing a lot.