"Well, I want to go to a record store, so you can call this a date if you want, but I'm just there for CDs and vinyls. How does that sound?"
"Sure." The response had a sarcastic mask over it, but to her own shock, Kris realized she wouldn't mind if it were a date. She knew she wouldn't call it a 'first date' or whatever, just something in the back of her head. "I didn't know there was a record store in the area."
Jess grins.
"There's one. It's kinda hidden. C'mon, let's go."
Kris follows. She was surprised she hadn't seen it before. "Do you visit here often?"
Jess tilts her head from side to side, considering.
"Kinda. I was exploring around a while back, and stumbled across this place. I've found some gems in there, like one of the Beetles first albums near the back of a vinyl section."
"Wow, really? Must've cost a lot."
"Actually, this place is cheap. It's all old stuff that was donated or that the proprietor found. The most something will cost is $5."
"Nah, you're messing with me." Kris steps ahead and enters. "Wait, actually?"
"I absolutely am not messing with you." Jess laughs, following Kris into the slightly dim room.
Every wall and most of the available floor space was packed with racks and shelves of vinyls, CDs, floppy disks, and even a thing of USBs here and there.
"There's a little bit of everything for everyone, if you know where to look."
"I don't even know where to start." Kris laughs, attention darting from wall to wall.
Jess shrugs.
"If you want punk or emo, go to the back left corner of the room. Alt rock is next to that, country is in the middle of the room. . . basically, there is order, but also chaos."
She kneeled to look at some records on a lower shelf. Unfamiliar, but this was expected and something Kris enjoyed.
Jess grins.
"I'll leave you to searching over here for now. I gotta go find more classics."
(sorry for that awful wait)
"Alright." Kris continues sifting through records. Alternative rock, from what she could gather. A few familiar names, here and there. She can't help but wonder what part of her had betrayed her and shown- thoughts that she didn't know she had. In her hand, she turned the record to its back to see the song list but wasn't really looking at it.
(It's fine- is everything good tho?)
About ten minutes later, Jess returns holding a few records.
"Find anything good?"
(yeah! i hit a bit of a writing roadblock but im forcing myself over it, which seems to be working.)
Kris flinches. "Uh, not sure." She stands and looks at Jess' records. "I see you have?"
(Oof, I understand that- it happens sometimes!)
"Another Beetles record, one from ACDC, two from Green Day, something from Nirvana, and one more from My Chemical Romance." Jess replies, sorting through all of them.
"That's pretty good!" Kris comments, impressed. "You gonna be able to fit all that in your bag without squishing them?" She smiles.
"I'm not putting them in my bag, actually. They have bags here to carry them in." Jess grins.
"That's convenient." Kris responds dryly. She rocks on her heels.
"It really is!" Jess says cheerfully, pausing.
"What's wrong?" she asks, seeing how Kris is rocking.
"Oh, sorry, nothing." Kris blinks and stops. Her eyes dart to the floor. "Just spaced out for a sec, ha." She explains embarrassedly.
Jess tilts her head, thinking.
"Are you afraid of closed off, dark places like this?" she asks, indicating the windowless store.
Kris laughs, alleviating tension. She glances around at the store. "Depends on the context. Why?"
"Just- you've seemed very tense since coming in here." Jess sighs, sitting down with a knee up at her chest, the other stretched out in front of her.
Betrayed by herself again, Kris stopped for a moment and then sat down with Jess. "That's perceptive of you." She says, smiling. "I guess, but I don't think that's why. I'm not sure."
"Not perceptive so much as used to reading people's body language. Your shoulders have been hunched up ever since the little talk we had about coming here, and your hands have been slightly in fists since coming in here." Jess snorts.
She pauses. "Wait, this is because of that talk, isn't it. God, I'm dumb."
"No." Kris counters the last sentence, then actually comes up with a real reply. "I mean, kinda? You've been watching me, maybe that's it." Kris smiles wryly, in a poor attempt to draw the subject away.
Jess shakes her head.
"If it isn't the talk, maybe it's the person herself." she murmurs, thinking aloud.
"The- …person herself?" Kris repeats.
