I Want to See Love Through Your Eyes

Lyle Lynch laid out trays on the front desk, having finished organizing the assortment of guitar strings by brand, string, and material. Today was an abnormally slow day for The Music Shed, seemingly making it clear that people weren't desiring new guitars or needing to rent lighting equipment today. He sat back on the stool behind the desk and sighed. The front door opened and the entrance bell tinkled lightly and Lyle turned quickly only to see his oldest daughter, Lolita Autumn. "Oh. I thought you might have been a customer."

Lolita smiled. "Sorry to disappoint you, dad."

"No, it's fine. Slow day, that's all," he mumbled. "Have you seen your sister lately?"

"Emmie?" she inquired. "She's back at the house. She's been hogging the phone all afternoon and it's driving me up the wall." Emilie, better known as Emmie, was 13, blond, and popular, the polar opposite of her older sister. Lolita was 18, nearly done with school, with dark red hair and had merely a few close friends. Lyle had employed his daughter part-time at the store so she could make a buck between studying. "Dad, it doesn't really look like we're going to be getting any more customers today. I think you should close up," she suggested as she dusted off her ruffled pink skirt and lifted herself onto the counter, her heavy army boots touching the glass of the display shelf.

He sighed. "Yeah. I suppose you're right." He walked out from behind the desk and approached the entrance. He was about to flick of the neon lights that said "OPEN" in big, bright, bold letters when a car (a very nice one, at that) entered the driveway. "Wait... I think we might have one last customer." A young man walked out, looking only a year or two older than Lolita. He wore a football jersey, loose jeans, a beanie and some sunglasses, looking as if he were hiding from something as he lugged a guitar case into the store. He set his guitar case on the desk, took off the beanie and sunglasses and sighed. "Can I... help you?"

"Yeah, I just got back from the airport and... well, let's just say they weren't too careful with my acoustic guitar when they looked through it," he explained. He took the guitar out and Lyle's eyes widened slightly, gaping at the fact that the neck of the guitar had been snapped and the only things keeping it from coming apart were the strings.

"Damn..." Lyle muttered under his breath. "You weren't kidding..." He examined the guitar, then looked back up at the boy, seeming to examine him as well. "You look very familiar." The boy smirked at this, briskly running a hand through his blond hair. Lolita rolled her eyes, for she already knew who he was.

“I get that a lot,” he chuckled. “I’m Cody Linley. I’m an actor; I’ve done a lot of stuff on the Disney channel.”

“Oh! My daughter Emmie has posters of you in her bedroom,” he said with a breath. Cody looked at Lolita, smiling ever so sweetly.

“Would your daughter like an autograph?” he said smoothly. Lolita sighed.

“Wrong daughter, buddy,” she said. “I outgrew teenie bopper posters 18 years ago.” Cody raised an eyebrow.

“How old are you?”

“18.”

“I could have your guitar fixed in an hour or so,” Lyle input. “You can come back later if you like, or you can stick around here and talk to my other daughter.” She looked at Cody as if looking right through him once her father left for the workshop.

“The name’s Lolita. Call me Lola if you like,” she muttered. Footsteps sounded down the stairs that were in the corner of the store and Emmie appeared, looking at her sister.

“Lola, I’m off the phone so quit hounding… oh my GOD!” she exclaimed the second she saw Cody. “You’re Cody Linley! Omigod!” Cody smiled.

“Fan?”

“Omigod!” she squealed. “Oh my God! I have to have you sign one of my posters! Don’t go anywhere; I’ll be right back!” She dashed back up the stairs and Cody chuckled.

“She’s sweet,” he said with a smile. Lolita rolled her eyes.

“And pubescent. Any normal, tiny little teenage girl would lose it if you showed up,” she said. Cody raised an eyebrow.

“Then why haven’t you lost it yet?” he asked, a hint of deviance to his voice.

“Because I’m not normal,” she said casually, “and I’ve already hit puberty, duh.” She hopped off of the counter, crossing her arms and stepping in a bit closer to him. “Trust me, superstar, I’m not about to swoon and sigh over some gorgeous, blond Texan sweetheart.”

He smiled. “You think I’m gorgeous?” she sighed and semi-glared at him.

“That’s not the point, cowboy,” she said, pointing at him. “The point is that no smooth actor is going to get the best of me.” Emmie suddenly showed up, looking at her sister strangely.

“Lola, I knew you were weird, but seriously,” she said, rolling her eyes at her older sister as Cody signed the small pinup poster., “are you aware of who this is?”

“Yeah, Em, I’m aware,” Lolita mumbled. “We’ve been introduced... unfortunately." Emmie rolled her eyes.

"Oh my God, what is your issue with Cody Linley?" she asked, his name coming out in a smooth, infatuated sigh. Cody crossed his arms, smirking at Lolita.

"Yeah. What's your issue?" he asked, still smirking mischeviously.

"I don't like actors. Case closed," she said.

"Lola, you're so weird," Emmie said, running upstairs. Cody just stared at Lolita, smiling.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked. "It's creeping me out."

"Is it, Lola?" he asked. "Is it really?"

"Stop that!" she exclaimed.

"Lolita, stop fighting with the customer," Lyle called from is workshop. She huffed, staring at Cody. His glowing blue eyes flashed and, in a moment of weakness, her cheeks tingled and tinted pink.

"So why don't you like actors?" he asked.

"We've had plenty of actors breeze through here," she said, looking away from him and going behind the front desk. "Actors, musicians... some I've heard of, some I haven't. The point is that you're all divas. You want what you want and you want it now. Now, just because you're the only halfway decent looking one and the first to start flirting with me doesn't mean that you're any different."

The smile slowly faded from Cody's face. "If that's how you feel then I understand. I'm sorry if I bothered you," he mumbled. "Mr. Lynch, I've got to go. I'll be back later to pick up my guitar." He put his hat and sunglasses back on and walked out of the store, smirking as he walked to his car.

Lolita huffed contentedly. Finally, she thought, out of my store and out of my life. She heard his car drive away and her train of thought strayed.

Wait... out of my life?