I Want to See Love Through Your Eyes

Lola walked into school the next day, instantly being greeted by her best friend Karmel Clark. “Oh. Hey, Karm.”

“So you said you had something to tell me?” she asked, tucking a strand of mousy brown hair behind her ear. Lola shuddered, half not wanting to talk about it, half wanting to ramble on girlishly about how that particularly stunning boy seemed to be trying to win her over. “Hello? Lola?”

She snapped out of her trance. “Ohh… well… um…you, uh, wouldn’t believe who came by my dads music store to get his guitar fixed.”

Karmel raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

“Cody Linley,” she said. “But you can’t tell anyone. Last thing we need is for all the girls he to go crackers.”

Her best friend paused. “Cody Linley… isn’t he that actor? The one that was in the movie Hoot and a few episodes of Hannah Montana?” Lola paused.

“You’ve seen those episodes?” she asked dubiously. Karmel shrugged.

“I-I was just flipping through the stations, that’s all. Saw him and acknowledged his presence,” she said. Lola rolled her eyes. “You don’t seem all that interested that he was there.”

She shrugged. “I dunno. He seemed really… expectant of me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… he was surprised that I wasn’t swooning over him even though Emmie was,” she said, “but why base swooning standards for me on my little sister? She loves any gorgeous blond guy to walk within spitting distance of her.” Karmel giggled slightly.

“A valid point.”

“And it was like… it was like he was trying to flirt with me. It was so annoying,” she continued. Karmel nearly choked on her jackfruit flavoured Vitamin Water.

“Back up: Cody Linley was flirting with you at your dads shop?” she asked, sounding surprised. “What did you say to him?”

“The obvious thing. I told him that no diva actor was going to win me over; no way, no how,” I told her.

“And what did he say to that?”

Lola paused, remembering the disappointed look on Cody’s face. “He left. He looked kind of hurt, and he didn’t come back for his guitar.”

“Whoa. Sounds to me like you really hurt his feelings,” she said. She blushed, and then cleared her throat.

“Like he won’t get over it,” she said. “I’m just some girl at a music store; he’ll see some new girl and flirt with her, too.” Karmel shrugged.

“Oh well,” she said, “well, he has to come back for his guitar sometime.” Lola groaned.

“Unfortunately.”
____

After school, Lola finished her homework and retreated to the shop to take over inventory before her father closed up. She climbed up a stepladder as she held the clipboard, writing down various item names and how many there were against how many had been sold. She counted the packages of drumsticks when she heard the doorbell tingle as the door opened.

“Hiya, I’ll be with you in a moment,” she said, not turning around.

“Don’t bother; I can help myself, thank you very much,” said a familiar voice. She paused, and then turned around to see Cody leaning against the front desk. She hung her head and sighed.

“Ugh. Lookit, Cody-”

“You don’t have to interact with me. I just came back for my guitar,” he said without looking at her.

“I’m sorry,” she told him. “I was rude to you. I should have behaved better to you. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings or anything.” Cody began to chuckle.

“Nah, you didn’t hurt my feeling, Lola,” he laughed. “I’m just screwing with you.” Lola rolled her eyes.

“… fucking God,” she grumbled, turning back to the drumsticks. “Reason number one why I’m not into actors: you can’t be real or straightforward with me no matter how much you’re into me.”

“What, you think I’m into you?” he asked, crossing his arms. She looked at him again, an eyebrow arched.

“You’re not?” she asked in response.

“No, I am. I just couldn’t help but think you would be so hurtful to someone that just wants attention from you,” he teased.

“Okay, now you’re giving me a headache,” she said, rolling her eyes at him again. “Just let me finish inventory in peace and I’ll go get your guitar. Go ahead and pop a squat at the desk, sir, I’ll be right with you.” She continued back to her work. She closed the glassed cabinet that held the drumsticks and reached for the bin on the top of the cabinet. “Um… shit…” she grumbled. Cody looked up from the desk. “Uh, C-Cody? I can’t reach this bin… can you, erm… gimme a boost?” He smirked and got up, walked over to the stepladder and swung an arm around thighs. He effortlessly lifted her up, enabling her to grab the bin. He set her down gently, moving his arms around her waist as if holding her. “Uh-huh… don’t get too comfortable there, blondie,” she suggested, patting his shoulder and gently pushing him away as she counted the Zildjian cymbals in the bin. She took the inventory and shoved the bin back up on top of the cabinet without having to be lifted up. She hopped off of the stepladder and approached the violins. She set down her clipboard and picked up a glistening new violin, holding it properly.

“What are you doing?” he asked. She picked up a bow and began to play.

“I need to make sure the violins are still tuned properly,” she said, continuing the melody. Cody listened to the song, smiling softly as he heard the Victorian-esque music. She stopped halfway through and set the violin back.

“Pretty…” he murmured.

“Bach: Largo for violin,” she told him.

“I wasn’t talking about the song,” he smirked. She blushed in a moment of weakness and rolled her eyes at him. She picked up the second violin of the three and played no tune, nothing that sounded Victorian or even appealing for that matter. It seemed as though she’d given up on proving her musical capabilities to him and just simply tuned the violin. She placed it back and picked up the third. Cody watched her examine the strings, smiling at how careful she was with the small stringed instrument. She lifted the bow and before he knew it, she was striking chords so quickly and passionately, yet meshed perfectly and sounded amazing, almost frightening. The solo lasted only seconds until she put it down. “Whoa… what was that?”

“Organ Grinder by Emilie Autumn,” she said, casually putting the violin down, yet smirking. Cody could only manage to chuckle.

“You’re a very different girl, you know that?” he said, briskly sitting up on a shelf. “You kinda… march to the beat of a different drummer, y’know. I like it.”

“Please,” she scoffed, “you’re not that interested.”

“Of course, I am!” he insisted, a sickeningly sweet tone to his voice. “Now hop right on up here and tell me about yourself.” Lola sighed. The boy is relentless, she thought, but reluctantly lifted herself onto the shelf.

“You’re seriously pushing the limits of my patience, Linley,” she said, but he only smiled.

“What? I just want to know more about you,” he said. He glanced around and grabbed onto the nearest microphone stand, putting the mic in her face. “Tell the audience your name, Lola!”

“M-my name? What audience?” she blurted, surprised.

“Please.”

She sighed, halfway glaring at him. “Lola Lynch. Now get that stupid microphone out of my face.” Cody smiled.

“Okay, I’ll level with you,” he offered. “I’ll tone it down and put the mic back if you answer all my questions, and I mean all of them. Truthfully, at that.”

She shrugged. “Whatever.”

“First of all, what the hell is up with your style?” he asked. She raised an eyebrow.

“What? I look cute,” she said, gesturing to her outfit.

“I never said that you didn’t,” he replied with a devious smirk. “I mean… what is it that makes you dress like this when you roll out of bed?” Lola shrugged.

“I dunno,” she said with a sigh, “it’s comfortable and… jeez, what more do you want from me?”

“So… it has nothing to do with your personality?” he asked.

“I guess that depends,” she said, “what do you think of my personality?”

Cody smirked slightly. “I think that… you act tough; they keyword being “act”. Especially when you’re around me. You act though around me because you want me to think that you hate me when in all actuality, you want me.” She blushed, but scoffed.

“Don’t kid yourself, Linley,” she jeered. “You’re the last thing I want.”

Cody ignored her. “See, now your attitude to me yesterday makes perfect sense. You don’t want people to know how you feel.”

“Nobody needs to know how I feel,” she replied without missing a beat.

“What is it with you and this giant wall you have up?” he asked, sounding somewhat irritated. “I just want to get to know you. Do you seriously have to be so protective?”

“I just don’t wanna get hurt again!” she yelled at him. Cody froze and she sighed, tearing her eyes away from him and crossing her arms.

“I… I’m sorry, Lo. I didn’t mean to… to upset you,” he said. She looked down, not daring to look at him. He tried to catch her glance and she seemed as though she was crying. “What… what happened?”

“Just… just a bad relationship… an actor,” she said, wiping her eyes.

He paused. “Is that why you don’t like me?” She grew quiet and he tilted the side his head towards her. “You know, I’m not like you think I am.” She sniffed and looked at him, their lips suddenly centimeters apart. “I promise.” Lola blushed, letting herself lean in closer. A sudden tingle of the doorbell made them jump before their lips could touch. Lyle entered and Cody immediately hopped off of the shelf.

“Oh, Cody,” he said, looking the boy in the eye and smiling. “Your guitar is in the back. Let me get it for you.” Lola’s father went into the back room and Cody chuckled nervously. He turned to Lola, only to see her run up the stairs. He sighed heavily as Lyle reenter the room with a repaired guitar. “It was an easy fix.”

Cody reached for his guitar, somewhat admiring the repaired guitar. “Too bad everything can’t be that easy.”