We Can't Forget Last Summer

"First day on the job sweetheart, wake up." Aunt Sara tapped me on the shoulder.

In response to this, I rolled over, groaning, and shoved a pillow into my face. I sighed heavily and mumbled, "I'll be ready in fifteen."

"I'm actually not going today, but I'll be there tomorrow."

I sat up in my bed and raised an eyebrow. "You're not going today?"

She shook her head. "No, but Taylor will be there. At this rate she'll probably get there before you and open the store."

I nodded my head and rub my eyes. As Sara walked out of the room I asked, "Who's Taylor, by the way?"

Sara let out a light laugh. "She's a sweet girl. Twenty-six, or twenty-seven; I'm not really sure. You'll like her a lot. And if you have any questions or need any help, she's there for you."

I nodded my head. "Okay. That's..... comforting." I let out a sigh of relief.

My Aunt smiled and walked out of the room. "You better get ready. I'm leaving in about five minutes." She called from the hallway.

"Where are you going?" I called back.

"I have to run some errands."

I shrugged and hopped out of bed. The nice part about this new job was that there was no uniform, and the store was air-conditioned so I could wear jeans. I smiled as I pulled out my favorite pair of black skinny jeans. I slid them on and grabbed a blue and grey baseball tee. After changing and brushing my teeth, I put on some eyeliner and mascara and messed around with my hair for several minutes before decided on a style that I liked.

I wasn't one to put my hair up often or really do anything special with it. It was normally wavy, but frizzed up a lot, so I straightened it a majority of the time. That way, my hair would be good for several days after.

I but on my black boots, tied them up, grabbed my keys and walked outside. I drove the ten minute drive to the music store and parked in the parking lot behind the store.

When I stepped inside the cool air-condition no one was in the store. I knew Taylor had to be here because the doors were unlocked. I shrugged and went behind the counter. There was a piece of looseleaf with my name on it. On the paper, there was a list, written by Aunt Sara, with the work I was suppose to do today. The first item on the list was organize and put in place alphabetically the new albums that came in yesterday. The box of new CDS was on the floor. I dragged it over to the CD stacks and began to organize them.

"Carson?" A voice asked.

I turned around to find a woman standing in the doorway of the back room with a curious expression on her face.

"I'm guessing your Taylor?" I asked.

She smiled and walk towards me. "Yes, I am." She held her hand out which I gladly shook.

Taylor had black hair that was pulled back in a messy bun. Her skin was pale, which was surprising since she lived in Arizona. She wore a light amount of makeup and was dressed in light salmon-colored khakis and a light blue collared shirt.

"It's nice to meet you. Your Aunt has told me so much about you." She smiled.

"Oh," I laughed lightly. "It's nice to meet you too."

"So, I see you found the list?" She asked, eyeing the box on CDS on the floor.

"Yep." I nodded my head.

"Okay, good. Most of the time Sara doesn't leave lists, it's probably because today is your first day. Normally if you come in and there are no new CDS and vinyls you can just work the counter. This place is pretty dead-beat also. So I suggest you bring a book or something to entertain you...." She trailed off.

"That's ridiculous. If there was one of these stores back where I live, I would be here everyday." I shook my head.

"Yeah, it is pretty odd. People just don't value hard copies of music anymore. It's all about downloading, which I guess is fine, especially if you're actually buying it. But, I don't know, for me, I like to have an actually copy of something. It makes me feel closer to the band or musician."

I sighed, "Well, I guess you get people coming in for equipment though, right?" I asked, gesturing to the guitars, basses, drums, amps and other equipment.

"Oh yeah," Taylor nodded her head. "Many people come in, especially those in bands."

I immediately thought of The Maine. I debated whether or not to ask Taylor if she knew them, but I decided not to.

After making idle chit chat, Taylor went into the back room to do some organizing and stocking while I organized the CDS and vinyls. Once I was finished, I went behind the counter and hoisted myself up on the stool of a chair.

Not one person had come into the store after two hours. How did this place make business? Well, then again, it was still morning. I suppose this place got busy once everyone woke up. And there was still classes going on in school. It was only the beginning of June.

Luckily, the store had a TV in the corner of the ceiling and wall. A marathon of Criminal Minds was on, which I didn't mind at all.

Finally after another hour and episode of Criminal Minds, the door open and the bell sounded. At that second, I was bending under the counter looking at some of the magazines they had under the counter. I was hoping one would entertain me for the time being.

I wasn't able to see the group of people that walked in, but they made their way to the section of the store where the vinyls and CDS were. Unfortunately, from the counter, the section was not visible because of how high the stacks were.

I shrugged and flipped through a magazine I found.

Despite not being able to see the people, I could hear them.

"I'm telling you," One of them said. "She's so different. I mean, first of all, she hates my guts, which let's be honest, most girls don't."

"Conceited much?" One of the others said in a high pitched voice which made me laugh lightly, but I stifled it so they couldn't hear.

"No, shut up, come on. Listen to me. She hasn't given into me once yet-"

"You basically met her three days ago and haven't seen her since..." Another voice cut him off.

"Yes, true, but even before that we kept running into each other and I would put my stupid pick up lines on here and she just would tell me off."

"Smart girl."

The guy sighed heavily. "Plus, even when she was drunk, she was completely composed. Like, I at least expected her to get a little wild and just kind of make herself not appealing anymore, but no she was just....."

"Do you like her?" One of the guys asked.

He sighed. "I just met her."

All of the guys groaned loudly. "You're fucking crazy." One of them said.

"I just think she's cool, that's all. Don't you guys?"

They all responded with "Yes" and "Yeah", but then they dropped the conversation.

I slumped over in my seat and flipped another page of the magazine. As I was reading on how to make your hair less-frizzy (which to me, was complete bullshit) someone came over to the counter and threw several CDS down.

I closed the magazine and threw it under the counter. I grabbed the CDS and began to ring the customer up. I looked up as I was about to tell them their price and my eyes went wide.

"John?" I asked.

John, who stood there like the lanky giant he is, was texting on his phone, looking down. When I said his name, only his eyes went up, that is, until he recognized me and turned pink. His head shot up, and his eyes dilated. "Carson? You work here?"

I nodded my head. "First day on the job."

Right then, the rest of The Maine, appeared out from behind the CD and Vinyl stacks. When they saw me, they smiled, as did I. I said hello to all of them before telling John his price, who had remained completely silent.

His face was still red.

"So, um, you know Sara?" He asked as I handed him his bag full of CDS.

I began to ring up the Ryan Adams vinyl Garrett had. "Yeah, she's my aunt. How do you know her?" I cocked an eyebrow.

"Um," John scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, well, I mean, I've just been coming here for a long time...." He trailed off. I had the feeling he wanted to say more, but I decided to ignore it.

"When do you get off?" Pat asked.

I looked at the clock on the wall behind me. "In about ten minutes."

"How long is your break?" He asked.

"An hour."

"You should come get lunch with us. We were gonna go to Panera; it's right down the street."

"OKay," I nodded my head, smiling. "If you guys don't mind wait-"

John cut me off quickly. "We don't."

He gave me a sheepish smile which I laughed at. "Okay then. Make yourselves at home."

The guys and I talked for the ten minutes and no customers came. Big surprise there. I told Taylor I was taking my break, which she allowed me to go and then we left.

The walk to Panera was about five minutes. I talked about the Ryan Adams vinyl with Garrett that he bought. He told me he had a whole collection of vinyls.

"I must say," I nodded my head. "I'm impressed."

"Jealous?" He asked.

I laughed. "Yes, yes I am."

I ordered my lunch at Panera and sat down in between Kennedy and Jared. I laughed with Jared most of the time as we talked about our road trip down here.

"I'm sorry about how much of a bitch I was on the ride." I apologized, but laughed.

"It's okay!" Jared reassured me. "Trust me, I have been in the car with bigger bitches with you. I travel with these guys for a living."

"Hey!" Pat shouted, but Jared simply ignored him.

"You weren't bad at all. You were upset, I get it."

"Thanks." I smiled.

"Why were you upset?" John asked, raising his eyebrows giving me a look as if he was.... mad?

"Um," I didn't want to talk about it. Plus, I already kind of told John.... or maybe I didn't. Either way, I didn't have to talk about it.

That didn't even matter. Why was John being such an ass?

I shot him a look. "I rather not talk about it."

Kennedy tried to change the topic, but John cut him off. "Why's that?"

"Well, if I were to answer that question, wouldn't that be talking about it?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Fine. Why don't you tell us about punching that girl in the face then?"

My lips parted slightly, shocked at him. I folded my arms over my chest and leaned back. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, come on Carson. We all know your brother and he can't really keep a secret. He told one friend which led to the rest of the town. Plus, you used to be pretty popular here when you used to visit when you were younger. Ask Kenny, he remembered you. When you came back the whole town knew. Carson Thomas is back everybody!"

"What is your problem?" I clenched my teeth, hoping a curse wouldn't slip out. There was family with children sitting nearby.

"Your Uncle loved you and when he was sick you didn't come down here. Thats all he wanted, you know. He only wanted to see his niece, but you didn't even come. You left him."

I stood up and slid out of the booth. "How do you even know my uncle. Shut your mouth? How about that? I was freaking fifteen, okay John? I couldn't drive. I couldn't do shit. And
you don't know shit about why I couldn't go."

"You don't know him so don't say that you do. I was devastated when he died, and if me not coming here when he needed me is the reason why this entire town hates me, then I don't give a shit, because quite frankly, I had to suffer either way."

I marched out of the store, shaking my head. I was fuming and once I was outside, I kicked at the ground. Tears streamed down my cheeks, but I wiped them away before anyone could see.

How did he even know Uncle Rich? I bet he didn't, he's just listening to some asshole in this god damn town.

What a fucking dick.

And I was just beginning to like John O'Callaghan.