The Tension's Like a Fire

Jodi bit her lip to hold back her smile as she threw open the door to the record store where she worked. As she had been all day, her thoughts drifted back to Jay and the nerdy references in his texts during class when she was supposed to be paying attention to the lecture. Her heart had, embarrassingly enough, actually skipped a beat when she saw the familiar comic book references, and she couldn’t help but be thankful beyond belief that she’d bumped into Jay that morning.

“Nice outfit,” Pat, her boss, commented, cocking her thin, drawn-on eyebrow at Jodi’s ensemble.

The redhead looked down at herself, at the baggy black shirt and colorful leggings, and sighed. She knew she probably didn’t look outrageously professional, but she didn’t have any time between her class and her shift to go home and change, so she had no other choice.

“I’m sorry,” Jodi replied, going toward the counter so she could pull her apron out from underneath. It was adorned with different buttons that demanded various things from customers like Ask me about our newest releases! and Need recommendations? I’m your guy/girl!

Just as she was tying a bow behind her back, Pat cleared her throat loudly and gestured to her neck, which Jodi immediately understood. There was a strict No Visible Tattoos policy while working, and it didn’t take a genius to know Pat was trying to alert her young employee that her collarbone tattoo had managed to sneak over the top of the loose t-shirt.

“Sorry again,” she muttered, yanking up the collar and forcing the excess fabric to fall down her back. She wished there would be an easier solution to hide the offending words, but there was nothing she could do then.

Pat just shook her head. “Oh, dear, you’re a mess today.”

“You don’t even know the half of it.”

The other woman chuckled, probably imagining all the terrible things that could have happened to Jodi that day and getting a good thrill out of it. “Just try to get yourself together while you stack CDs, okay?”

Jodi nodded and headed into the back room to get the newest shipment of discs, lifting from her legs so she didn’t throw out her back as she carried the heavy box to the front of the store. In her absence, Pat had started taking care of a customer, so it was up to Jodi to figure out what she was supposed to do and where things were supposed to go.

The stacking job was incredibly boring and mundane, but there were worse things. The year previously, Jodi had worked at a fast-food restaurant, and she was forever leaving the place reeking like grease and calories and fat. She hadn’t even realized before the experience how many people in California weren’t health-oriented, and she wished that she could take the experience back.

After putting the newest Justin Timberlake albums on their proper shelf, she leaned back down to get the next group, the soundtrack for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones movie.

The customer finally left, making the bell go off loudly through the small shop when she exited, and Pat let out a sigh. “You know,” she voiced, coming up behind Jodi to help her employee shelve the CDs, “sometimes, it can be so hard to go into my own mind and make recommendations to people based on what I know. Especially when they’re closed-minded about what they like and won’t listen to anything that’s not played on the radio.”

“I know,” Jodi agreed wholeheartedly. She had thought the same thing many times when dealing with customers, and it never made sense to her why people would even ask if they weren’t willing to try new kinds of music. More than once, her unyielding interest in hard rock had freaked out adults who had come into the store to try to understand their children. It used to bother her, but she’d gotten to a point where she couldn’t force herself to care anymore.

Pat shook her head. “It’s just a shame, you know?” After she emptied her hands of the disc cases, she took a step back and ran a hand through her long, black hair, making the purple highlights shimmer in the lighting. “I’m going to go grab the few records people brought in last week. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

Jodi made a little noise of agreement, wishing that she’d been given the assignment of sorting the records instead, before turning back to her task.

The next grouping of CDs she pulled out of the case hadn’t captured her attention very much. It was the EP The Wanted had released a while ago, and she’d seen the cover countless times when she replaced the bought copies with the new shipments. She’d never listened to it, since she was very aware that the band was just another British pop band trying hard to make it big in the United States so they’d make it worldwide. It was entirely unimpressive to her, and so instead of hating them, she just ignored them.

But for whatever reason, before she placed the last CD in its cranny, she glanced down at the cover. She almost shrugged it off, but then she saw it. There he was, on the far right of the case: Jay. Jay McGuiness. The guy she’d bumped into earlier. The guy whose t-shirt she was wearing.

She felt the blood drain out of her face as reality descended upon her. She’d actually been flirting with a soulless, money-hungry publicity hound, not the cute, sweet guy he tried to play himself off as. How that could have escaped her attention, she’d never understand.

Trying not to be sick, she put the disc up on the shelf and took a step back. And just then, Pat came out of the back and noticed the girl’s strange behavior.

“Jodi? Are you okay, hon?”

“Fine,” she replied shakily. She just felt mortified that she’d actually been so distracted by her terrible day that she’d had the bad sense to feel smitten by the boy from the mindless pop band.

Just then, she made the official decision to ignore anything and everything Jay had to say to her. Forever.