Something Has Changed Within Me

Garrett wasn’t entirely wrong about me. I realized this as I looked around my place of occupation. He had called me a librarian.

I may not be a librarian.

But I sure as hell work at Barnes and Noble.

So, I had only told a half lie. Just a half, no big deal, right?

I had told him that I’m a photographer, which is not entirely false.

I work for this guy named Josh who ran this bar called The Verve set in Greenwich Village. A bunch of bands always come down to play and Josh has me take photos of them in order to promote the bar.

It’s just a little side job, but it makes me feel one step closer to my big dream; to be a photographer for a magazine. The only problem is, living in New York City requires a lot of money, money that I don’t have. So, I can only take pictures on the side, while I work most of the time at Barnes and Noble.

It was Saturday afternoon and my shift was over in about twenty minutes. I was sitting in the Young Adult section re-organizing the shelves, excited for work to be done and not have to return to this place until Monday.

“Are you taking shots tonight?” My friend Marie asked me as she walked over with a small box of new books to be put on the shelf.

I looked up at her as she opened the box and started unpacking its contents.

“Of course I am.” I looked up to her. “I’ve never heard of the band, though.” I turned back to my work, just wanting to get it done as quick as possible.

“What? How have you not heard of The Maine?!” The box practically flew out of her hands along with her exclamation.

“That’s what I said…” my voice trailed off.

Marie sighed. “You need to get out more. For a girl who takes pictures of bands in a club, you sure as hell are secluded.”

“Not secluded.” I sighed. We’d had this conversation so much in the past few years of our friendship. “Just don’t care for social events and speculation….”

Without a word, Marie walked away. She had good intentions, she cared about me. She just hated to see the way I lived my life. I will admit, I am a bit less sociable than what most people probably should be, but I like it that way.

After I was finished with the books, I stood up and threw the box in the rubbish bin. My shift was now over and I was free to go.

Only two hours left before the concert started, I had to get ready.

As I was walking out of the shop, I checked my cell phone. No new messages, not that I was expecting any.

Ever since that day with that Garrett boy, I’d been consistently checking my cell, as if he knew my number to contact me while it was the other way around.

Sitting on the subway, I stared at his name in my address book. I don’t know what possibly possessed me to do so, but my thumb trailed to the green call button and subconsciously my arm raised the phone to my ear.

One ring.

Why the hell am I doing this…?

Second ring.

Clearly something’s wrong wi-

“Hello?” his voice sounded deeper over the phone. Hmm, interesting.

“Hey, uh… Garrett?” Of course it’s Garrett, who else would answer his number.

I could hear him smile. “Lindsey! What’s going on?”

“Uhm…” Nothing was going on. “I’m on the subway back to my apartment.”

He chuckled. “Getting ready for our hot date tonight?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it hot…” I said. “…I’m actually taking pictures at this club tonight, so we’re going to have to hang out afterwards, is that okay?”

“What’s the club?” he asked.

“It’s called The Verve in Greenwich Village.” I said.

Why I was going along with the lunatic idea that he and I had a date, I didn’t know…

I could hear him laugh. “I think I know the place.”

“Good… Uhm, my stop is in a second, so I’ll see you tonight?” Ugh, I really hope I didn’t. For all I know he’s going to attack me with lukewarm coffee again.

“Sounds good. Later, baby.” He hung up.

Baby…? Did he just call me baby?

What. The. Hell.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I stood by the gates before the stage, my camera clutched tightly in my hand. I guess that this band, The Maine, was rather popular. We actually had security guards and a gate set up before the stage and there were lots of teenagers standing behind me, staring up at the stage in awe.

It was kinda nice, made picture-taking significantly easier. I was standing off to the side a bit, near a security guard. They were expecting crowd surfers.

I looked up at the stage through the screen, checking to see how my current angle looked. Perfect.

“Get ready.” One of the guards mumbled to his colleagues, followed by the screams of hundreds of girls.

I looked at the stage. A short, skinny guy with drum sticks in his hand scurried back to the drum set, followed by a blonde man of medium build. Behind him was a guy with fairly short dark brown hair and then a really tall guy. And I do mean really tall.

And behind him was Garrett.

Wait… Garrett?!

I had to do a double take to ensure that I wasn’t seeing things. No, that was Garrett, up on stage, a bass clutched tightly in his hand, a pick between his teeth.

And he was walking towards my corner of the stage, looking down at me, a big shit eating smirk on his face.

Well, this was… unexpected…

Despite myself, the corners of my mouth turned up.

I smiled.