[Charlotte Lewis]

tell me how you reach the moon — my thoughts err away tonight

❝

It had been a little over a year since Charlotte started working at Bits & Bops. She hates the record store's name. It was so goofy, and just not funny to her. Alright, it did make sense... They sold CDs and vinyl, as well as some 'bits' for instruments, although the latter wasn't the store's main focus. They simply sold strings, capos, plectrums and so on. Still, Charlotte felt like they should have come up with a better name. If she hadn't worked here, she probably wouldn't enter the store simply because of the silly name. 

But working for Bits & Bops had proven to be more fun than she had originally expected. Her manager wasn't too bad, and her colleagues could be fun, as long as they gave her enough time in the morning to adjust to becoming social again after a night of only talking to Jack. 

That day, she has helped an old lady that wanted some vinyl, as she was looking for artists she used to listen to 'back in her days'. She kept going on about how her grandson had told her about the store, and Charlotte wished that her grandson would have come with her to help his grandmother instead of making her deal with a woman who didn't really know what exactly she was looking for. She had to order a few of the LPs as well, and she wondered if the woman would even remember to come back to the store to pick them up. They made people pay a little deposit when they had to order LPs such as the ones she wanted, in case they didn't return. If that was the case, B&B would be stuck with vinyl that probably nobody would ever buy except for the person who had ordered it in the first place. It had taken quite some time to make the woman understand that, because she couldn't understand why she had to pay for things she wouldn't be able to take home with her at that very moment. Besides her, some kids had come in for guitar strings and a tuner, as well as to point at the vinyl and ask each other loudly who in the world still bought vinyl.

During her break, Charlotte smoked a cigarette out front. She sat on the bench beneath the big window that looked into the store and watched people walk by. The cigarette couldn't come a moment sooner. She wasn't feeling on top of her game. The blonde wanted to go home and smoke a joint, and then go to bed, cuddling with Jack. That wasn't in the cards for her, though. She really needed the money and couldn't afford cutting her shift short. Her manager also wouldn't appreciate it, because then Maude would be in the store by herself and he preferred having two workers in the store at all times. 

When a man approached the store, she took a final drag of her cigarette before extinguishing it on the ashtray that was on the little garden table next to the bench. She repositioned the 'OPEN! Come inside!' foldable chalkboard and then went back inside to stand behind the counter. She somewhat absent-mindedly kept an eye on the man who had entered the store, in case he wanted something from either her or Maude. 

Ferris Felwinter ● let me know if I need to change anything!

MADE BY MIZO

[Ferris Felwinter]

Ferris had been to the little record store once before for vinyl and been surprised they had some instrument parts for guitars. He supposed that was where the name came in? To be honest, he didn't really get it, but he had never shared the same humor as other people.

He parked down the street on the side of the road and enjoyed the walk along the shops and smaller food places. It was finally pleasant out and he enjoyed the breeze both before and after it carried the signature scent of smoke. It led him toward the record store like a siren's song. Ferris reached into his pocket to fiddle with the lighter he kept there. He more than missed having a good smoke, but he was having a good day and headed home after this. Best not to earn the ire of the wife before she left for work.

He was stopping by on the way home from work to pick up a new guitar strap and repair kit (he had one somewhere but had a feeling one of the kids might have moved it), which his found both quickly enough. And of course, it didn't hurt to find another record. Last time he bought some Chris Stapleton for his wife. Today he wasn't so sure what he was looking for, but he had an idea. He looked over at the counter, more than aware he was the only customer in the store at the moment. That was small businesses for you. "You sort musicals by the title or music and lyric artist?" he asked, looking up at the cute blonde at the counter who had been the one outside smoking. Siren definitely fit.

[Charlotte Lewis]

tell me how you reach the moon — my thoughts err away tonight

❝

Once inside, the taste of the cigarette still lingered on her tongue. Although she normally didn't mind, she reached down to grab her bottle of water from underneath the counter to wash away the taste. Her mouth felt a bit dry. Charlotte really had to remind herself to drink enough water, because she didn't drink much in a day. Combined with smoking, this often left her mouth dry and her body a tad dehydrated. Afterwards, she leaned on the counter again and twirled a loose piece of hair around her finger. Maude was checking the inventory on the computer, and the only person in the store was the man that had walked in while she was outside. She didn't stare at him, because that would have been rude, but every now and then she let her gaze fall on him to see if he was finding everything okay. Eventually she just decided to stare out the window until somebody needed her.

And apparently someone needed her sooner than later. The man's voice reached her ears, and the blonde turned her head, of which the chin was resting on the palm of her hand, to look at him. She straightened her back and placed her hands down on the counter. Musicals? Yuck. "They're sorted by title", she responded. "People find it easier to remember a title than a composer." Which she understood. Especially when it came to musicals. These things were horrible as is, let alone remembering who composed the horrible songs sung in them. "If you can't find the musical you're looking for, I can check if we have it in the back, or I could order it." Charlotte was surprised that this kind of man was looking for a musical. She would have guessed he liked rock, maybe pop, but not the pop-songs that were on the radio on repeat. A musical was certainly something else. If she had to hear another Sound of Music or Annie song again in her life, she would die. But to each their own, right?

Ferris Felwinter

MADE BY MIZO

[Ferris Felwinter]

The blonde store clerk seemed bored. Not that he could blame her. Even if one loved music, there wasn't very much to do in the shop at the moment.

He flipped through 'C' and didn't find what he was looking for. Which, as she explained it was by title, made some sense, but didn't help him find the first musical he'd thought of. He raised an eyebrow. "Sondheim," Ferris said. Because he remembered composers and lyricists and he considered himself part of most people. Sure, maybe being a musician himself made him a bit more special, but he wasn't some prodigy. He'd barely graduated high school as it was. "But fair enough."

Walking around the aisle over to the 'S' section proved not to have anything else. Which he supposed wasn't surprising. They were popular musicals, but they weren't popular vinyl. It would be a lot easier to find some Foo Fighters or Survivor or Guns N' Roses or even Taylor Swift or Billie Eilish. He heard enough of the later around the house already. He found a greatest hits for Survivor which he pulled out and looked over before deciding he didn't want to return home without something to show the kids. He walked up to the desk and set down the album and his other accessories. "Company or Sweeney Todd," he said. "If you have either of those?"

[Charlotte Lewis]

When he names the composer, Charlotte just kind of stared at him with a blank, slightly bored expression, wondering if he expected her to be impressed by his knowledge. Especially because he had cockily raised an eyebrow, as if people were dumb for not knowing composers. Not everyone could be a middle aged man who didn't have enough going on in life to not have time to remember composers. "Right", she said somewhat dryly. Apparently he thought it was fair enough to sort them by title. What a relief. She wouldn't have known what to do with herself if he had thought it wasn't fair enough. Cough. Sarcasm.

He went back to looking at the vinyl, and Charlotte shot Maude a look. The brunette covered her mouth in a subtle way, because the look made her smile. Charlotte knew Maude was thinking the same. She brushed past her co-worker to get to the computer and typed in the name Sondheim. Apparently this man had composed a lot of music. She was still looking through the list when the man approached the counter. Charlotte looked up at him when he put his stuff on the counter. "Let me check." She pulled up the store's inventory and typed in the titles. She stuck her tongue between her lips while scrolling through it, and eventually looked back at the customer. "We have Company in the back from when someone ordered it and didn't pick it up, but I'd have to order Sweeny Todd." After she said that, Maude disappeared to the back of the store to fetch Company. They both knew the woman who'd ordered Company wouldn't be picking it up, so they might as well sell it to this guy. Charlotte waited for his response to the information about Sweeny Todd while she looked at the items he had put on the counter. Survivor. So he was into crappy dad-rock after all.

[Ferris Felwinter]

Her dry response earned a grin. Okay, so maybe he paid more attention to certain kinds of music than the store clerk. But he wasn't here to tell her how to do her job and certainly wasn't about to tell her to reorganize the entire Bits and Bops inventory to match his particular sort of feng shui, as it were. Her tone suggested she thought he might do just that and he found it highly amusing. Not enough to joke about it though. That would be awkward. He hated when someone came up to his desk at work and suggested (serious or jokingly) that he move things around.

He didn't notice the exchanged looks, though he got the feeling he was interrupting the blonde when he approached the desk. Clearly, Ferris was comfortable enough with his lifestyle choices to not care about sharing them with some twenty-somethings in a local store. Maybe that came with being a parent. His kids judged him pretty harshly on a day-to-day basis.

Ferris idly wondered if the woman even knew she was doing that with her tongue. It was surprisingly precious. More surprising was that anyone had even heard of Company, let alone ordered it to this store. He did take a moment to enjoy her sentence objectively though. They had company in the back when someone ordered it but didn't pick it up. What sort of company, and why didn't they want it? All terrible jokes best left unsaid.

"If it's available, I'll take it," he confirmed, reaching into his pants for his wallet. "I think just the one is fine. Maybe next time." He was starting to work on a rough vinyl collection. Mostly because he hated wearing headphones in the house and definitely had a thing for listening to music by albums and collections. It was nice to share music with the kids too, and if they hated it, they had their own headphones.

[Charlotte Lewis]

Charlotte tended not to judge people based on their music preference, but the exception was musicals. There was only one she liked to watch, and it was Grease. She liked it mostly for the cars and the aesthetic. The songs weren't really something to write home about. She didn't know Company, she only knew it because someone had ordered it. Again, that deposit came in handy. They now earned more on this vinyl than if the woman had simply picked it up.

The man said he wanted the vinyl, so Charlotte nodded and started ringing up the items that were already on the counter while Maude was in the back, looking for the copy of Company. Sweeny Todd was apparently for a next time. She just hummed in response to that, and took the vinyl from Maude when she returned and offered it to her. "Alright, that will be [insert reasonable price lol] dollars, then." She looked back up at the man. "Will you be paying cash or card?" While she waited for his response, she put the items in a plastic bag with the store's logo on it.

[Ferris Felwinter]

He checked his watch for the time, knowing he needed to get home. Not that Darcy couldn't handle the kids but dinner was a different story. Plus he was starving. The price earned a nod. "Card," he said, offering it over.

"Thanks," Ferris added as she returned his card and handed over the bag. He enjoyed the walk back to his truck and was looking forward to sharing some 'Eye of the Tiger' with his family.

---

A couple weeks later, Ferris returned in the evening once again. It was damp, raining on and off the entire day and as he exited his truck to walk down the street to the record store was no exception. A steady drizzle blanketed the city. He pulled open the door and ducked inside, wiping his shoes on the mat and fixing the collar of his dark forest green rain jacket.

He had less reason to really be here this time, but maybe he had a budding record collection. It was also nice to have the time to decompress for work before going home.

He looked over the aisles of square art tiles at the familiar faces.

[Charlotte Lewis]

The transaction went smoothly, and soon the man was on his way again with his Survivor and Company vinyl, as well as the equipment he had bought. As soon as he left the store, Charlotte turned to face Maude.
"Sondheim", she said with a deep voice, imitating the man and his facial expression. Maude burst out laughing and turned towards the computer again.

---

Charlotte was biting her fingernails anxiously. She hadn't been able to go out for her smoke, because the weather was shit. She didn't want to sit in the rain and have to re-light her cigarette over and over again while the paper became soggy. Her body was craving the nicotine. A distraction walked in. She heard the little bell announce the client before she spotted him. She didn't recognise him straight away, because their last interaction hadn't been all that special, and they saw a lot of clients. "Good evening, sir", Maude said kindly. Charlotte looked up and nodded at the man, but didn't say anything. That would have been overkill.

The brunette walked over to Charlotte and leaned towards her, but not too obviously. "Isn't that that guy who had to show off he knew musical composers?" she asked softly. Charlotte squinted a bit as she looked at the man. "Hey, you're right." With a little grin on her face she walked over to the computer, from which they also played the music in the store. In a way, it was stupid that they use a program on the computer to play music, while they sold CDs and vinyl, but they couldn't exactly use them and then put them back in the racks. She looked up Survivor and added Eye of the Tiger to the queue. Then she returned to her position behind the counter, wondering if the man would realise that she had intentionally added the song to the queue. The song would be very different from the indie-ish that had been playing before.

[Ferris Felwinter]

While he didn't have a specific reason to be here, work had been rough, just like the weather, and he wanted some personal time before heading home. The aim was to get lost flipping through album covers and he didn't pay too much attention to the women besides to offer the brunette a wave in greeting. There was something cathartic about the act of letting the art and names spark memories. To when he first heard a some when he was younger, to the music Darcy played walking down the aisle, to something his oldest daughter was listening to, to one of his wife's favorite musicians or musicals.

But he wasn't so distracted as to not hear the opening beat of Eye of the Tiger commandeering the shop speakers. He looked up and then immediately his eyes found the impassable blonde across the counter. She looked a bit on edge and he recalled she'd been taking a smoke break this time last week. He didn't envy her the nicotine craving and the frustration of whether to get drenched or to ease that need. He'd been there plenty of times and usually spent the day soaked. Ferris smiled awkwardly and then decided it was best not to make a joke about them giving him entrance music like he was a baseball player or a wrestler. Being remembered in a retail store wasn't usually a flattering notion.

He returned his focus to the vinyl in front of him, slowly moving down the line. As one of his favorite songs, it was impossible to resist tapping his foot to the music.

[Charlotte Lewis]

The man did look up when he noticed the song, but Maude and Charlotte didn't get a lot of reaction except for a smile. Maude giggled softly and Charlotte elbowed her in the arm with a smile to make her stop giggling. They wouldn't want the man to think they were making fun of him. While he was looking at the records, the young women took a seat on the high stools behind the counter. They were expecting another delivery in a bit. The weekly supply of equipment and records. She was looking forward to it, because it had some of the records she had ordered for herself in it as well.

[Ferris Felwinter]

Ferris noticed the laughter this time around, though he didn't know the context. Clearly the women found something funny about the moment, be it the song or him. Whether they were laughing at him or trying to flirt or something else entirely though, he had no idea. Probably he would never know.

The man spent a while browsing, hoping just getting lost in the music and the motion of sorting through albums would be enough to shake off the annoyance of work. But he was feeling more and more frustrated by the paperwork of his job and he hated going home so on edge. This was exactly why he didn't carry cigarettes on him, as much as he still fidgeted with the lighter in his pocket. Ferris settled on a Death Cab For Cutie vinyl and headed to the counter, preemptively pulling out his wallet.

"Don't think I am ordering anything today," he noted, looking up at the woman across the counter. He glanced out the front windows and was pleased to note that at least the rain had slowed to a sort of mist. At least he wouldn't get soaked on his way to his truck.

[Charlotte Lewis]

Charlotte saw the weather clear up a bit, and softly started drumming her fingers on the counter, rhythmically. She wanted to go outside for her smoke, and when she was impatient, she often started tapping her fingers on things with a beat. Probably because she was a musician and it was just her second nature to make music with anything she could get her hands on. Her drumming was interrupted by the approach of the client, so she stopped and looked up, smiling softly at him. She looked down at the vinyl he placed in the counter and nodded slightly when he said he wouldn't be ordering anything. Death Cab For Cutie. It made Charlotte nostalgic. It wasn't the kind of indie she listened to anymore, but she used to listen to the band when she had been a teenager. "I had almost forgotten about them", she said, more to herself than anyone else. The blonde looked up at Ferris again. "A good choice." She smiled again and rang up his vinyl. "That will be 22 dollars. Cash or card?" She waited for his response, but got interrupted when she saw the delivery man wave through the window. "Excuse me." Maude would take over from her, and she walked out from behind the counter to go outside and greet the man.

"Hi Charlotte", he said. "You know the drill." He handed her the delivery papers, which she needed to sign. Once that had happened, he said his goodbyes and left the boxes in front of the door. She'd take them inside in just a second. First, she needed that cigarette. She dug one out of the pack in the breast pocket of her flannel and out it in her mouth. But then... She couldn't find her lighter anywhere. She patted her pockets and looked in the pack, but nothing. She perked through the window to see if it was on the counter, but nope. "Fuck", she grumbled.

[Ferris Felwinter]

Ferris smiled slightly. "Me too. A few good ones in there, eh?" he said. He was feeling a much more sober vibe today and Death Cab For Cutie fit in quite well with his collection over all still. As much as he didn't need it, it was a bit validating to have someone else find his musical choice 'good.' Even if she was simply saying it for effect. Though he got the feeling from how she turned it over that she too had fond memories of the band's music.

He was about to hand over his card when blonde excused herself suddenly. Ferris followed her with his gaze for a moment and realized there was a delivery person outside. Bit awkward of an exit, but he looked up at the other woman and handed his card over to her as she closed out the transaction. He waved off a bag for just one item and thanked the woman before heading outside.

The street was damp, but the sun was out, making the asphalt and rain splattered cars sparkle in the fading sunlight. He turned left to his car when he heard the woman swear. A quick glance made her predicament all too apparent, at least to a previous smoker. Well, somewhat previous. Ferris shifted the album under his arm and reached into his pocket, producing the gunmetal lighter. He raised it in offering. "Trade you for a hit?" he asked but didn't wait to strike it and cup the flame against the faint breeze so she could light up regardless of her answer.

[Charlotte Lewis]

While looking for a lighter, Charlotte heard the door open, and the man walked outside. The blonde looked at him before continuing her search, which she stopped when he heard the man's voice. Again, she returned her gaze to him, seeing him offer her a lighter. She chuckled and nodded, digging her pack of cigarettes out of her flannel again. She took a cigarette out of the pack and handed it to Ferris, and took his lighter to light her own cigarette before returning the lighter to him. Charlotte inhaled the smoke and sighed softly. The smoke was even more visible in the air thanks to the watery sun and the grey sky. "Thank you", she said, looking over at him while flicking the ash from her cigarette. "Someone must've stolen my lighter." She took another drag of the cigarette. Did she make small-talk with him? He seemed nice, and he was quite handsome, but did that warrant small talk? "So, no musicals today, huh?" She smiled slightly, hoping he didn't mind some idle chit-chat.