Chapter Text
She comes by almost everyday and stays for hours listening to different types of records that were on the sample players or walked through aisles flipping through CDs, disks, and albums. At first Asami had tried to offer her assistance but a simple "no" was always the answer to her attempts, to which the girl only continued on with her endless search.
"She’s here again?" Asami stood behind the front counter, eyes immediately locking on to the suspicious customer. She followed the girl's movements as she roamed around, eyeing the new selections before nearing a packed box of clearance albums.
She leaned against the counter and rested my chin in my palm. "Looks like it," she said.
“Do you think she has a job?" Bolin, who had been busy cleaning up and organizing the back rooms, sat beside her as he munched away on some tangerines and stuffed buns; an odd combination.
“I don’t know” Asami continued to track the customer slowly. Her strides were confident but idle, as if she wasn’t in any particular rush despite the hour.
“You don’t think she could be homeless, do you!?” Bolin asked with growing concern. He was a bit of a pushover when it came to such things.
"Who does that matter? What's more troubling is that she doesn't buy a single thing!" Asami sighed with exasperation and turned to her friend. "There's hardly anyone coming here in the dead of night and if it weren't for her we would be able to lock up earlier" she grumbled.
"True, but aren't you a little bit curious as to why she comes and then just leaves? I am. I would ask her myself but my brother has scolded me too many times to stay away from suspicious people” Asami rolled her eyes at his tendency to get scooped up in questionable scenarios.
She dragged her wary eyes back toward the girl who stood before a rack of CD’s by century old musicians. scanned through the rack of century old musicians. The girl would pick up something and look at it from front to back then put it back, she did this multiple times and each one peeled away layers and layers of Asami’s irritation. The more she observed she could gather that the girl was a half a head shorter than her, dark skinned and engulfed in a black padded jacket with flecks of water from the melted snow she brought in. She wore a wool hat that hid brunette hair that peeked from beneath and cotton gloves.
“She seems too well dressed to be homeless,” Asami murmured.
“Loaded then? But why frequent an old record store that looks like a rundown used car warehouse?”
“Maybe not loaded but definitely annoying” Bolin chuckled at that. The sound carried in the empty store because when Asami’s eyes found the girl again she was staring into an ocean of blue. Her eyes glittered and gleamed under the light as she eyed the two workers. The abrupt confrontation after their solely passive and distant encounters made Asami jolt a bit. She realized that the girl had never truly looked at her before, never opened herself up to such a degree that she’d never remember those eyes that screamed ‘come to me’ in a way that was both jarring and interesting. The girl's gaze lingered a little too long before she lowered her eyes and walked off somewhere else.
“Wow” Bolin said, Asami hadn’t known he’d been looking as well. “Now that I think about it, what if she’s a criminal?”
“What?” Asami swallowed away the earlier moment and stared blankly at her coworker.
“It fits”
“You’ve lost me” like most times, she thought to herself.
“Look, she always comes late at night near closing time and just walks around. She doesn’t buy anything and leaves,what if she’s been doing espionage” Bolin prattled on. “What if she’s chosen you as her next victim?”
Asami didn’t want to admit that his exaggerated rambling set a heavy feeling in her chest and she only scoffed. “Hasn’t your brother scolded you for being ridiculous, too?”
“A few times” he packed up his garbage and dumped it in the nearby bin, standing. “Well, that’s the end of my shift”
Asami had to hold back from biting at him for planting such ideas in her head and then running off but typical Bolin, he paused and turned to her. “You still have some time left, do you want me to wait?”
She was tempted to say yes but she was never one to rely on someone so easily even if they’ve known each other for quite a while. She’s grown up on independence and determination and it was hard to undo with mere self scolding and logic. So Asami shook her head and waved him off. “The snow will get worse later and the last train is scheduled soon, I’ll just call a cab” she said.
Bolin nodded and disappeared to get dressed and gather his things. The two said their goodbyes and soon Asami was going back to standing idle by the front counter. There was a clock to her right and she stared at it as it ticked slowly and agonizingly; only five minutes left. Asami sighed and unconsciously looked towards the other side of the room and glared at the individual who thought it was still appropriate to continue looking at music when it was already so late. Fed up, Asami decided to speak up.
“The store is closing in a couple minutes and some of us want to go home!” She said so that the girl would hear.
This was the first time she had addressed the girl since those first few times and she felt anxiousness simmer low in her belly. Half of her expected to be ignored but she didn’t want to do overtime on a graveyard shift. “It’s considered courteous to think about the employees as well” she went on.
The girl raised her head from the rack she was so interested in. She looked at Asami then over her shoulder and around the space as if only now realizing that they were completely alone. To be fair when she came in there were still some customers milling about but the lack of care added to Asami’s frustration.
“Oh” was what came out of the girl's mouth. It made Asami’s eye twitch comically.
“You come by almost every day for hours at night and just circle the whole shop, aren’t you tired of it because I sure as hell am!” Asami snapped. “And on top of that you never purchase a damn thing, it’s bad for business! I didn’t sign up for late night babysitting!” she fumed.
The girl watched Asami for a moment before looking to her right and plucking something off of a display. “I’ll take this then” she said simply with an awkward tilt to her body.
The irritation and annoyance in Asami was insurmountable and the heat must have shown on her face because the girl walked closer with a lopsided, apologetic lift to her lips. Asami closed her eyes and tried to breathe calmly so as not to unprofessionally grab a customer by the collar and risk being fired all because of a bothersome person. She opened her eyes slowly and was met once again with brilliant blue that danced in the light and mustered up the most fictitious smile she could.
"Can I check that out for you then?” She held out her hand for the item.
The girl's smile grew a bit and she handed over the glass case CD. “Sorry, I can understand how loitering can be troublesome”
Asami said nothing. She scanned the CD before registering that it was an old issue of an alternative band called ‘The Fire Ferrets’. Asami knew of them vaguely but she hasn’t known anyone who were fans of theirs and she herself has never listened to them.
“You like them?” She found herself questioning without thought, shocking herself.
The girl looked up from fishing for her wallet and followed Asami’s gaze towards the CD and she looked on fondly before humming, “I do” she said. “Do you?”
Asami shook her head. “Barely”
The girl shrugged. “It’s to be expected they only had a few good songs” she produced the right amount of cash and handed it to Asami who rang it up.
“So why pick it?”
She shrugged again. “Nostalgia and because I was keeping someone from going home don’t was the first thing in reach” she met Asami’s eyes and her smile grew.
Asami felt a tingle in her stomach but otherwise huffed. And handed the CD pack to the stranger. It was the first time they’ve had an actual conversation but for some reason it didn’t feel cumbersome or all that awkward and some of her wary irritation was subsiding. Up close Asami could see the girl's beauty shine. She had kind of a boyish aura but her features were full and feminine and that lopsided smile was infuriatingly charming, coupled with those beckoning eyes and Asami wanted to hurry and get her to leave and go home.
“Thank you,” the girl said, holding up the CD. “I’ll leave so I don’t ruffle any more of your feathers” she turned and made her way out of the store. Asami hadn’t known what to expect if they ever exchanged words but she didn’t think she’d be so casually dismissed. She stared through the glass windows and watched as the girl's figure passed out of sight.
That small interaction Asami wouldn’t consider unpleasant but it raised so many more questions as to why she kept coming back. It felt a bit more deeper than just being a lover of music and it pulled at her curiosity without fail but she scoffed at herself. Why should she care about a bothersome and weird customer?