°°°

"I don't know what to call it, what was happening between us, but I liked it. It felt silly and fragile and good."
- Ransom Riggs

[13] when she presses play

Being around Clarity heightened my senses; I made sure to keep my eyes alert, looking for her and making sure she was by me. If she touched me on my arm or anywhere else, I could swear I could feel it everywhere on me. And when she'd lean close to say something to me, I could always smell her faint scent of grass and lake water from when we had just went swimming not long ago.
And when she'd smile at me and say something, I'd make sure to note the way she formed the words, the way she let them slip off her tongue like her favorite song.

She was the closest and furthest thing from perfect I have ever encountered.

"Are you even listening?" She asked me impatiently. I looked over to her, she was standing by a record store, her arms crossed and her eyes on me.

"No," I gave her a sheepish smile. "Sorry. Lost in thought."

"Understandable," she pushed open the doors, and I followed behind her. The smell of ink, cheap perfume, and rain filled the record store. A tall woman was at the counter and alongside her was a boy who looked around thirteen or fourteen with a book in his hands. Neither looked up until Clarity and I arrived at the counter.

The woman smiled widely at Clarity, a fondness to her voice, "Hey there, pretty girl. What're you up to today?" The boy dropped the book as his eyes landed on Clarity, mumbled apologies, and got out of the chair to grab the book.

"Not much, Mallory, just looking around," she looked over at the boy who was still scrambling to get the book. "Hey George. How are you?"

Making a surprised noise, he abruptly stood up. Pushing up his thick glasses with shaky fingers, he managed a quiet, "Oh, m'fine..."

Clarity didn't seem to notice how nervous he was. Instead, she directed her attention back to Mallory. George let out a long breath of relief.

"This is Nolan," Clarity said, gesturing to me.

"Hi," I mumbled lowly.

Mallory beamed. "Hello, Nolan! How are you?"

"Splendid," I looked over at George who kept his eyes on his book and tried to find his page.

"Anything new, Mallory?" asked Clarity, changing the subject.

"Actually, yes." Mallory smiled, "I'll be right back!" she said over her shoulder as she sauntered off to the back.

Complete silence filled the room without Mallory.

Finally, Clarity spoke up, her attention directed on George, "What book are you reading?"

He looked up and gulped. "Um, It's called... Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire."

"Ah," she said. "I've never read it. Have you, Nolan?"

"Yes," I nodded and eyed the book. "I've read all of the books." George nervously smiled at me.

"Found it!" We heard Mallory's voice from the back. "Here," she smiled as she handed it to Clarity. "Bring Me The Horizon record and an Arctic Monkeys record."

"Thanks!" Clarity glowed with delight. She took the new records in her hand, examining them. "How much would you like them? I can't pay right now, I don't have money on me though, is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine, pretty girl. I know you'll come back," said Mallory. "You always do."

"True, true," mused Clarity. "Well, I think we should get going." She looked over at me and tugged at my t-shirt.

"Bye!" Mallory said to us and waved. "You can come around anytime."

"Bye George," called Clarity from over her shoulder. I looked back in time to see him hide his blush with his book.

Together we walked out of the record store. We were silent and she held the records to her chest closely.  "I've known them since I was young," she told me. "I go there a lot, actually. That record shop is more of a home to me than the one I actually live in."

"Why's that?"

She ignored the question, and kept talking. "So there's this party that a few people I know will be going to."

I look over at her, but she isn't looking at me. I seem to look at her a lot, but it's hard not to. She's the kind of person that you can't stop looking away from once you give her a first glance.

"Hope you guys have fun," this time she actually stops walking down the sidewalk and looks at me.

"When I mentioned the fact that I was going to a party, I was hoping you'd say that you'd like to go too."

"Oh."

"Well, do you want to?" She demanded as her eyes met mine.

"Umm, I-I'd have to, well—I don't know if my parents - you know, they are kinda, like -"

"Look, you don't even have to tell your parents." She argued. "Plus, you are supposed to be having the time of your life, remember? Which means that you, Nolan, need to go to a party."

Like I've said before, I just couldn't say no to her.

°°°

We didn't go to a party at first. Instead we went to some friend of hers named Rick, he owned the small apartment that smelled of cigarettes. He had a long nose and long black hair that was in dreads and seemed nice enough as he smiled kindly at me when I sat down on the brown couch.

His girlfriend - I assumed it was his girlfriend at least - was a tall dark skinned girl named Nina who went off into the back bedroom with Clarity so they could change for the party.

Which left the two of us alone.

He was on the other couch, flipping through the channels on the TV, and I was trying my hardest to think of things to say to him to get rid of this awkwardness.

"So," he said, clearing his throat, "Nolan, is this your first party?"

"Y-Yeah," I managed out through my dry throat. Am I sweating? Why am I sweating? I run my hands on my jeans, trying to wipe off all the sweat. That didn't work too much since my hands were still sweating.

"It won't be bad," he promises. "It can actually be loads of fun."

"So I've heard," I let out a nervous laugh.

"How did you two-"

"Rick!" yelled Nina. "Let that boy borrow a shirt or something. Please?"

He sighs, "Okay," he stands up. "Follow me." He leads me to his room. It's not that big considering the apartment isn't either. He fishes through some of his shirts, humming to himself.

"You don't really need anything too fancy," he said. "But some like to go full out for some reason. Here: see if this fits. I hope it does, you seem to have broader shoulders than I do.."

Rick turned the other way and began to find him something to wear as I slipped my shirt off to put the other one on. It was tighter than the usual shirts I wore but it fit nonetheless.

"Ready?" he asked me once he had put on a different shirt.

"Ready."

Nina and Clarity were already done once we had walked out of his room. Nina wore a dress that came down to her knees. On the other hand, Clarity was wearing a long black shirt with a skull on it with ripped black skinny jeans. Our eyes caught for a fragment of time before Nina spoke and her attention was on her.

Sometimes it scared me just how completely captivated I had become with her. Not only did it scare me, but it excited me. It was like my whole life seemed to always been on pause, just going in the motions, but around Clarity it made me feel like she had finally pressed play.

_______

Hope you enjoyed the update 

I have some good things up my sleeve for the next update ;) heheh

Has any of you heard of Bo Burnham? He's a comedian and he sings while he performs. Also, he's on Netflix and YouTube

Also I'm on the last book of the Harry Potter series and I need some more books to read. Any suggestions?

Also don't forget to vote and tell me what you thought of this chapter