Chapter 2
Ashlyn finished talking to a customer and made her way slowly to the back room, smiling at a few people here and there before finally slipping into the room. “Ah, there you are!” She let out without warning and Ella jumped while letting out a breath.
“Shit, Ash. Don’t do that!” Ella let out as she brought her hand up to her chest and tried to regain her breathing as well as trying to slow down her beating heart that was racing like mad.
Ashlyn giggled softly before giving her an innocent look. “Whoops, sorry.”
Ella rolled her eyes and laughed softly. “Yeah, sure you are.”
“What are you doing back here?”
This time Ella raised an eyebrow and brought her other hand up that was holding a record album in it and waved it about. “Sorting through these, so I can go restock what is needed.” “Right, of course,” Ashlyn tilted her head up in a nod and then slowly lowered it.
“Why, what else did you think I was doing?”
“Oh, you know…” the blonde began as she walked over and leaned her elbows on one of the stack of boxes that was around her height and rested her chin on the palm of her hands. “Thought you were hiding from a certain someone,” she grinned
Ella groaned and rolled her eyes as she shook her head slowly with a smile. “Well, no, you can definitely cross that off your list. I am working remember. Not much I can say for you though.”
“Hey, I am working! I am just good at multitasking!”
“Right then,” the brunette began as she bent down and picked up a pile of records she had sorted through before standing back up and turning to Ash. “As nice as this is, the shelves aren’t going to stack themselves,” she let out softly while beginning to walk backwards out of the room. “You can be helpful and carry some more out, you know.” She continued before turning around and bumping straight into someone, dropping the records in the process. “God, damn it!” She hissed out as she kneeled down and let out a breath. “I am so sorry!” She continued to the person in front of her, not looking up, she rolled her eyes as she heard Ashlyn laughing from inside the room.
“No, I should apologize,” the person said before chuckling lightly as they bent down and began helping her pick the records up. “Question, though, do you always make a habit of running into things whether they be inanimate or not?” They said in amusement and Ella chuckled softly while shaking her head, not really paying attention to the voice.
“No, I…” she began as she raised her gaze and was instantly greeted with the face she had been trying to actually avoid. Standing up, she tossed the records from one arm to the other and reached out for the ones the other woman was holding. “I…uh,” she coughed as she brought her free hand to her mouth after taking the things from Erin and smiled as a blush instantly danced across her cheeks. “No, I don’t,” she chuckled. “I mean not really….often” she continued through a quiet mumble, not really sure of what she was even saying anymore.
Erin laughed softly as she slowly nodded her head. “Guess, that’s good to know then,” she smiled as she looked at the girl intently, she tilted her head and gave the girl a look causing Ella to raise her eyebrows curiously. “Wait, weren’t you at that Café last night? I can’t remember what it was called however.”
Ella’s eyes widened as she looked around the store before she turned her attention back to Erin and coughed again. “Uh, yeah… I was.”
The Canadian smirked as she nodded her head slowly. “In the back corner right? I thought I remembered seeing you.”
Letting out a small breath of disbelief, Ella nodded her head in return. “It’s nice to know you keep track of people’s faces.”
Erin chuckled lightly as she bought back the smirk that was on her face from just moments before. “Especially the pretty ones,” she countered back as she moved her eyebrows up and down quickly in a suggestive manner.
Ella tilted her head to the side as she lowered her gaze to the ground and let out a laugh which lit up her entire face and Erin could have sworn it was one of the cutest things she has ever seen by far. Even more so when she saw another blush form its way onto the girl’s face and the Canadian couldn’t help but stare.
The girl continued her little laugh until she heard a faint cough come from inside the back room she had just left and she turned her head slowly to see Ashlyn with an amused knowing look on her face and she slowly stopped laughing while rolling her eyes, but she didn’t remove the smile from her face. ‘Piss off.’ Ella mouthed as she smiled bigger and shook her head with a slight chuckle. She turned her attention back to Erin. “Uh, anyway… can I help you at all?” She asked politely.
Erin chuckled lightly as shook her head a little breaking the concentration she had on the adorable music store worker and brought her thought back to what she originally needed. “Yeah, actually you can. I was just wondering if you had Rihanna’s ‘Unapologetic’ album in stock? Couldn’t seem to find it on the shelf, so, I figured you might have it in the back hopefully.”
“Oh, uh…’ Ella began as she turned her head to look back into the room where Ashlyn was.
“Hey, Ash… do you know if we have any of Rihanna’s album in stock?”
Ashlyn quickly looked up from the CDs she was sorting to keep herself occupied and not really paying to the conversation anymore. “Which one?” The blonde called back.
“Unapologetic.”
“Um, let me just have a look.”
Ella nodded slowly as she turned her attention back to Erin and smiled softly at her, knowing the girl had already heard what Ashlyn had said. After a few seconds Ella began to rock back and forward on the spot and the other woman couldn’t help but chuckle as she had noticed it.
“So, I am Erin,” She let out softly to break the silence that had surrounded them as she held out her hand.
The younger girl smiled as she began to reach for the held out hand “I know,” she mumbled softly as she took a hold of it.
“Excuse me?” She said slightly amused and Ella’s eyes widened.
“I mean… I – uh, I’m Ella.” She stammered out.
Erin gave her a completely amused look as she slowly nodded. “I know.” She mimicked, causing
Ella to chuckle nervously. “Your name tag kind of gives that away.”
“My…” Ella began before lowering her gaze to the tag on her shirt that had her name on it and she laughed even more embarrassed. “Right, my name tag…” she whispered out as she brought her hand to her face and shook her head still laughing softly to herself.
Erin was about to respond when Ashlyn finally walked out of the back room with a CD in her hand.
“You’re in luck,” she smiled to Erin as she held out the album for the woman before turning her attention to her best friend and raising an eyebrow at the redness of her cheeks before looking at her in amusement causing Ella to quickly glare at her and slowly shook her head.
“Ah, awesome. Been meaning to get this album for ages and just kept forgetting.” Erin let out happily as she took the CD case from Ash.
“Glad we had one in stock for you then. Just in case you forgot the next time you entered a music store,” Ashlyn teased.
Erin laughed softly and nodded her head. “Yeah, I am glad you did too.”
“Hey Erin!” A voice suddenly sounded from somewhere behind the girl and she quickly turned to see Carm. “Look what I found!” She yelled a little as she raised up a Spice Girl’s CD and waved it about in a little dance. “Spice up your life baby!” She laughed not really caring about the looks she was getting from the other customers.
Erin laughed as she shook her head and Ella couldn’t help but be mesmerised by it. “Stop. Right now. Thank you very much,” she countered back in amusement as Carm just winked at her with a thumbs up and a massive grin before turning her attention back to the going down an aisle to look at more CDs.
Erin continued to laugh as she slowly turned back around to see both of the girls looking amused at what just happened and the Canadian just continued to smile brightly before it softened. “Anyway, I should probably let the two of you get back to work,” she nodded as she thanked them again for finding the CD and turned to head back to Carm.
About another fifteen minutes had gone by when Erin and Carm finally approached the front counter - that had Ashlyn behind it - to make their purchases.
“Ah, all done are we?” Ashlyn smiled as she looked up from the laptop screen she was currently focused on.
“Yeah, just these.” Erin nodded as she handed over a couple of CDs and one record.
Ashlyn smiled as she took the items from the girl and scanned the barcodes, telling them the price, she took the money and gave them the correct change before pulling out a plastic bag that was accustomed made with their companies logo on it and placed the items inside it before handing the bag over to Erin. “Hope you have a lovely day and hopefully see you around,” she let out in the process as the other girl took the bag.
“You too,” they both replied back before making their way out of the store.
----
Kaylyn was sitting on the couch in the apartment they had rented for the time being while being in town when the two girls walked in. Tilting her head and looking over her shoulder, the blonde smiled softly. “Have a good day out?”
Carm was the first to speak. “Yeah, we did. Erin even managed to knock over one of the girl’s working at the music store we went to and there is no doubt that she fancies her as well,” she let out with a wink as Erin’s mouth instantly fell open as her eyes widened.
“Uh, yeah... no! Ella walked into me, thank you very much,” she bantered back quickly.
“Ella, eh?” Kaylyn quickly let out as she raised her eyebrows and smirked.
Erin groaned as she rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Shut up, man.”
“Nah, come on, Bud. You like her just a little, you can admit it,” Carm continued.
“Look, I don’t even know her, so how can I? She just happened to run into me and I helped her pick the stuff she dropped,” she paused for a moment. “Also, she is probably straight, not every girl we run into is into girl’s you know...”
“Yeah, while having a grand ol’ conversation with her.” Carm laughed softly to answer the first part of the conversation before she smirked. “I know that, but there’s also a possibility that she isn’t so straight. I mean by the way she was looking at you…” she mumbled the last part.
Erin sighed while she slowly shook her head, ignoring the last comment that was mumbled from her best friend. “It would have been rude of me to just walk off without helping, plus I also remembered her from last night and I needed to know if they had the CD I wanted.”
Carm’s eyebrow instantly raised as she looked over to Kaylyn to see the girl had the same expression on her face as she herself looked towards her and they shared a look. “Last night?”
“Yeah, when I finished singing, I noticed she was the girl in the back of the room that I saw.”
“Yeah, Bud, because remembering random people’s faces is just a thing you do.”
Erin rolled her eyes as she groaned, realizing that Carm did have a point and that maybe she did like her, but seriously she didn’t even know the girl – all she knew for sure was that she found Ella incredibly adorable and that she was completely drawn to her for whatever reason. “Guys, shut up and let’s just eat.”
Carm chuckled as she nodded her head slowly before turning her complete attention to Kaylyn. “I’d say we’ll be making quite a few pit stops to Electrical Beats while we’re staying here,” she whispered loud enough for Erin to hear and she turned to see the girl glaring at her unamused.
“Easy Tiger, I’m just messing around.”
“Whatever,” she mumbled out while all she could hear was the pair of them laughing.
----
Three Days later
It was a quiet afternoon in the music store and Ella was found propped on a stool near the front desk mucking around with the chords on a guitar, while Whitney was staring at a sheet of paper, trying to figure out what items needed to be restocked – which meant she needed to order them as soon as possible. Ashlyn was in one of the aisles sorting through the CDs that had been misplaced throughout the day when the chime of the bell to say new people had entered the store went off.
Whitney and Ella quickly shot their gazes up and a smirk found its way onto both of their faces.
“Good afternoon, Ali,” Ella quickly let out loud enough for Ash to quickly whip her head around to see the brunette standing by the desk.
“Good afternoon,” she smiled back to both of them as she raised her gaze and looked around the empty store to see Ashlyn making her way over. Ali smiled just a little bigger as she raised her hand in the air and gave a small wave. “Hey, Ash,” she let out softly as the blonde finally came to a stop next to her.
“Afternoon, Alex,” she quickly replied back.
“Not a busy day?” Ali asked as she motioned to how quiet the place was.
“Ah, no! You just missed the rush hour, it was damn crazy earlier on in the day.”
“Right, well good to have the down time then?”
“Most definitely,” Ella and Whitney said at the exact same time which caused all of them to laugh.
“Great,” she smiled softly.
“You working tonight?” Ashlyn asked curiously to Ali and the other two girl’s shared a look as she turned their attention back to what they were previously doing.
“Nope, I have the night off, thank God,” she let out through a tired sigh before she smiled brightly. “But Pinoe wants to go out for some karaoke tonight after her shift at the café for whatever damn reason is beyond me, so was wondering if you girls were free? We will probably go out for some drinks afterwards.”
“That sounds great to me,” Ashlyn quickly replied as she nodded her head.
“Perfect,” Ali smiled and just stared at her for a moment before realizing where she was and she quickly shook her head out of her trance while coughing and looked towards the other two people in the room. “Uh, Whit? Ella?” she quickly mumbled out as her face began to get a pink tinge to
it.
“Yeah, seems like fun,” Whit nodded.
“Sure, I’m in.” Ella smiled as she tried her best to keep in the laugh that was threatening to escape.
“Awesome, what time do you guys finish?”
Whitney looked to her watch and saw that it was almost 3:30 in the afternoon. “We close the store at 6, so another like another 2 and a half hours,” she replied.
“Great, Pinoe finishes at 6:30, so I will text you where and when we will meet up,” Ali smiled in Ashlyn’s direction.
“We’ll be waiting,” Ash replied as Ali turned around and headed out of the store.
“More like you’ll be waiting…” Ella mumbled through a whisper towards Whitney causing her to chuckle.
“Shut it, Ella,” Ashlyn rolled her eyes.
---
“I swear that last hour was mocking us,” Ashlyn sighed as she walked into the apartment with her two best friends on her heels.
“Yeah, it was totally mocking you,” Whitney teased as she walked past the blonde and patted her on the back.
“Ugh, seriously!” Ashlyn groaned as she shook her head.
Ella just smirked as she headed towards her room to get ready.
After about forty five minutes, the three best friends were all sitting in the lounge room watching the TV when Ashlyn’s phone suddenly buzzed on the table in front of them. Quickly lunging forward – which earned stifled laughs from the other two girls – Ashlyn quickly grabbed her phone and read the message.
We’ll meet you guys at The Singing Den about 8?
Sounds good to me.
See you soon xo
Ashlyn smiled at the last text message and stared for a moment before looking up. “We’re meeting them at The Singing Den at 8,” Ashlyn confirmed as she turned her attention back to the TV.
After about twenty more minutes, the girl’s finally decided to make their way towards the Karaoke bar.
“Let’s hope tonight is a good night,” Ashlyn smiled to both of them as they came in sight with the place and the other two just nodded their head.
“Oh, I am sure it will be a fantastic night,” Ella smirked.
“Don’t,” Ashlyn rolled her eyes and Whitney just chuckled.
“You know we love you right and you love us.”
“Sometimes I am not so sure!”
Ella fakes gasped as she playfully pushed the blonde. “Jerk.”
Ashlyn smirked as she chuckled lightly. “Nah, love you.”
The three let out a soft laugh as they made their way inside to find Ali and Pinoe already there.
“Hey!” Ali quickly let out as she saw the girl’s walk in.
"Aye, my bitches!" Pinoe called out in amusement as she pulled them all into a group hug and smiled brightly as she pulled away.
"Sup, Pinoe," Whitney grinned.
"Hey, girlies," Ella greeted them.
“Evening!” Ashlyn smiled. “How are the pair of you?” “I’m good,” Ali respond.
“I am good as well, just ready for a good night out,” Pinoe replied. “You guys readyyyy!?” “Hell yeah!” they all replied in one way or another.
“Sweet, let’s get a room,” Pinoe smiled as she made her way over to the front desk and after a moment of clearly flirting with the girl in charge, she came back with their room number and headed towards it.
“So, glad they have separate rooms for these things, so we don’t get annoyed by complete randoms,” Ashlyn let out.
“Same here, dude!” Pinoe replied as they entered it and began setting everything up.
“Mhm,” the rest just mumbled out.
“Here’s to a fun night!” Pinoe called out once everything was up and ready.
Everyone just cheered in agreement.
----
“Hey, bud,” Carm called out to Erin from outside her room.
“Yeah?” She called back.
“Wanna come do some karaoke with me and the girls?”
“Hell yeah! Be ready soon.”
“Awesome, we are leaving in thirty minutes.” “Alright!” She called out.
Night out with everyone should be good.