three.

✪pirate is online!

blossom: doing anything exciting tonight?

pirate: uh no

blossom: wanna listen along to another album again?

pirate: depends on the album

blossom: what kinda mood are you in?

pirate: idk I just watched the addams family

blossom: omg im literally a walking wednesday

pirate: are you fr rn?

pirate: honestly I can't get over the fact you compared yourself to wednesday, I imagine you looking like a cottage core lesbian fairy or some shit

blossom: HAHAHA and I I imagine you to have a wooden leg and an eye patch

pirate: so funny *eye roll*

blossom: I am the funniest person ever wtf

pirate: what about 'all my demons greeting me as a friend'

blossom: aurora?? I haven't heard any of those songs apart from runaway tbh

pirate: BLOSSOM WTF

blossom: IM SORRY

pirate: you're about to have your mind blown

blossom: im about to cry aren't I?

pirate: probably

ive spoke with my grandma during our weekly phone calls but I forgot how much of a opinionated woman she is.

tucked away in the corner of beverly hills is my grandmothers mansion.

it's tiny in comparison to the houses beside hers but it's about a hundred times the size of the apartment I live in with my dad.

the coolest part was that she still had the same vintage decor as when I visited as a kid, so it's almost like stepping back in time.

and I even have my own vintage looking bike!

"it's yours to travel around" my grandmother had told me when she walked to the door to greet me inside.

I decided to name her frankie after frank sintara, my favourite singer of all time and she was mine, all summer.

it made riding around to go to the grocery store and travel around to much easier.

after dinner, I drove around the streets, finding a small little corner store and buying some gummy worms and an energy drink.

this is the best fucking day ever.

the next morning, my gran apologises because she's going to see her friend jean and won't be back until evening.

I don't mind.

I spend the day unpacking and actually look around my room.

it was incredible.

apparently, my grandma knew an interior designer and claudia, has found a perfect mix between my grandmothers vintage style, and mine.

there's a beautiful knitted blanket on my bed, a few stuffed animals which were here when I was a kid.

I had my own vintage record player! records, plants, vintage decor and my grandmother told me they both went to a vintage store and found my dresser and reading chair.

there was a cute chair in the corner with a cool books shelf full of classics and records on the wall.

it was so much better than my room at my dads house.

I spend the day unpacking and driving around on my bike, taking jet-lagged power naps and looking around my mothers room which seems like it hasn't been touched in years.

I miss her even if she did break my dads heart.

she loved wearing summer dresses, even in the winter because in la, it's always hot.

the weather isn't gonna stop me wearing all black though.

I message pirate a few times but I keep the illusion that im at home with my dad, doing absolutely nothing which is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

after my day alone and spending the evening watching black and white movies with my grandmother, im forced to put my new independence to the test.

especially because my grandmother has apparently arranged a summer job for me.

and I am shitting myself.

but I know grandma had to pull some strings to get me a job at a place I know im gonna love.

now that im here, im sort of regretting agreeing to the job but I need money.

I wake myself up super early but end up falling back asleep again because my body is still adjusting to the time difference.

luckily, pirate doesn't notice because usually im awake when she is and we're constantly talking to one another.

when I wake up again, im running late so quickly get dressed, not having time to do my makeup or eat anything other than a granola bar.

it's still early and I have to navigate the store where im working, using the directions given to my from my grandmother.

I have a knot in my stomach when I pull my bike out of her drive and drive frankie into town.

it isn't even nine in the morning and there's already a busy rush of LA traffic, loads of sports cars and teslas slowing making their way through the streets.

there's tourists dotted along the sidewalks already so early in the morning so I have to weave past everyone and ring my bell a million times.

im just about to die from stress when I see a blinking sign up ahead:

10,000 hours

my summer job.

I slow down and stop outside of the record store, looking around for a place to park up frankie.

when there isn't anywhere, I drive around the back and see what looks to be an employee car park and I lock frankie up against a bike rack which is empty.

there's a tesla and a few other cars, probably from the other shops beside the store.

tomorrow is my official starting day, today im just doing training and getting used to the till and working out how to use everything.

and I have no idea what ill be doing but here's what ive learnt from online and my grandma about '10,000 hours'.

it's a family owned business, they sell records, cd's, cassettes, instruments and even have rooms for private recording sessions and a chance to teach people how to play music.

I have no idea what it looks like inside but honestly, im excited to be surrounded by music all day, everyday.

I didn't know what was an appropriate outfit for work so I just wore what I always do; black.

riding my baby blue vintage bike in demonias, a mini skirt, tights and a oversized hoodie wasn't fun and I know im gonna regret it when it's hotter later on.

when I step inside I almost gasp about how beautiful it is inside.

it's too late to back out now, even if I wanted too, because someone looks up from the front desk.

"hey beautiful human, we're not open till ten today"

"oh sorry" I squeak, my cheeks instantly flushing. "it's my first day here"

the person, who's name I assume is kai because of their name badge, spins on their seat.

"finneas!"

kai turns about around and smiles, reaching for something. "what's your name? sage right?"

"yeah" I walk closer to the desk rather than hovering at the door.

"pronouns"

"uh she and her"

"great, my pronouns are they and them" kai points to their name badge which has their pronouns.

ive never met someone who uses non binary pronouns before.

when I don't speak, kai looks up at me, handing me my badge which has my name and pronouns underneath.

"finneas uses he and him but he'll be wearing a badge too. this store is a safe place for everyone so we'll be using gender neutral terms, is that okay?"

"of course"

kai is wearing a vintage looking sweatshirt so I feel a little better that im not wearing anything special.

their voice is warm and welcoming and it makes me feel so much better about being here.

I hope I get to work with them.

"there's some paperwork to fill out" they slide over a clipboard and hands me a pen out of the rainbow pot and I fill out basic details, realising I don't actually know my grandma's address.

"im gonna call my grandma, I don't know her address"

"that's cool, are you new to town?"

"yeah" my grandma calls me so I pick it up, putting it on speaker and laying it beside me.

"what do you need my address for?" she asks me, and I roll my eyes.

no hello?

"im doing paperwork and need your address"

"paperwork? is that code for drugs or something?"

"grandma!" I hiss, running my fingers through my hair in frustration "im at work, can I please just have your address?"

"fine, ya boring bitch. it's-"

"thanks grandma, love you" I end the call before she embarrasses me again and fill out the rest of the paperwork.

"dude, I love your grandma" kai laughs, clearly listening to the whole conversation.

"she's something else" I smile, clicking the pen and putting it back in the pot after I sign my name.

"so what are you doing in town?"

"im here for the summer, im going to college at rich bitch uni here in the fall"

"twins" kai smiles "which major?"

"music production"

"perfect job for you then!" kai smiles, spinning around again and shouting finneas.

I have to sign a disclosure agreement not to use the store wifi to watch porn.

I mean okay?

apparently, their last summer employee used to run off to the toilet and use the wifi to watch porn so now any future employees have to sign an agreement.

"good morning sage, so lovely to meet you" I look up behind kai and a man with long ginger hair and a bread walks in, smiling. "im finneas" he points down to his badge and I smile, "nice to meet you finneas"

"come bring your bag into the back and i'll show you around"

"cool" i follow him behind the register and into the back room, where's there's three more doors, a worn leather couch and a bunch more instruments and musical equipment.

finneas shows me around, there's even two recording studios behind the desk and there's three others upstairs he rents openly to anyone who needs it. "do you play any instruments?"

"bass guitar and piano, i haven't played in a long time though"

"we've got both of those, you can play whenever we're empty"

he seems so lovely, warm and welcoming, showing me around and talking a little about the store.

"so, most important question;who's your favourite artist?"

i grin at him and glance around the stacks of vinyls, some worn and some still in their packaging. "um frank sinatra"

"really? i wasn't expecting that"

"holy shit I thought you were like a metal head or some shit" kai comments, walking in from the back room.

"yeah, i um listen to everything really, i fucking love music"

"you're gonna love it here"

finneas shows me how to work the till, explains he teaches music lessons sometimes, or is works on music production for some small artists in la.

while finneas shows me around, I take the time to look around, snooping the place where im about to spend alot of my time around in summer.

I hope my grandma told them I don't want too spend all my time on the front desk because it's in the middle of LA, so I already can tell it's gonna be busy as hell.

"i'm hopefully gonna go to college for music production, i love really listening to songs, breaking them down"

"there's a lot i can teach you, a lot i think you'll pick up on, i'm sure you'll have some fun here"

"is it just you and kai in the store?"

he nods "yeah, my sister teaches piano or just comes in to use the equipment but she's busy with her job"

finneas explains how things work, sometimes people will just browse, come in to book music lessons or rent the studio upstairs, theres a book for each thing and he shows me when to fill it in, and which colour in the book means he's working or not.

kai usually sorts those out but they're not in everyday.

"you can just watch me" kai says, showing me the book and getting me used to the method they write everything.

god, this is a lot to take in all at once.

"I'm gonna pretend to buy a record so you can practice alone before someone else comes on"kai says, glancing over to the clock.

"okay, I think I can do that"

kai walks out of the store and it's a couple of minutes before they walks back in, wandering around and browsing through the records.

I pretend not to watch them, deciding to organise some of the messy paperwork behind the counter into piles, there's some orders in boxes underneath ready for people to collect.

"hi just these please" kai plonks two records down onto the counter top and I smile at their funny accent.

"is there anything else I can help you with?" I smile at them, scanning the barcodes and making sure the right thing comes up on the screen.

"no thank you"

"oh I love this record, it was one of the first things I bought, would you like a bag?" they nods their head and I reach down for a paper bag, carefully opening it up and sliding the records inside.

"okay" I tap the enter key on the screen and smile "your total will be $84.92"

I look up to see kai giving me a wide grin "perfect, you're a natural"

"really?"they nod their head and grabs the vinyls which they 'bought', at the same time, our first customer arrives.

my first morning goes smoothly, and it helps that finneas and kai are so funny and kind, telling me a bunch of random shit, answering questions.

"I'm gonna go pick up some food for lunch, do you want anything?" finneas hands me his phone, to look at the menu and I scroll through to find something cheap, something I can afford right now.

"uh the spicy nachos and some water please" I reach into my bad for my purse but he stops me "I got it"

"thanks"

finneas leaves and kai grabs their tote bag. "imma go out for a smoke, you good on your own?"

"are you gonna be okay on your own?"

I nod my head and watch them leave the shop, leaving me alone.

theres a few packages of new stock and finneas has already added them into the system, I just need to add price tags and put them on the right shelves.

the price gun is pretty straight forward and kai has added post-it notes telling me the price of each vinyl.

what a life saver.

theres no-one in the store right now so I quickly walk to the back room to get a stool, so I'm not stood up while labelling the records.

theres music playing in the store and I grin when 'stacy's mom' comes on.

I sing along quietly, tapping my feet to the beat.

I keep labelling the vinyls and hear footsteps coming from the backroom.

finneas must be back.

"bro have you seen the red mustang outside, I would eat as- who the fuck are you?"

I spin around when I hear the voice, the voice which clearly isn't finneas or kai.

"uh, who are you? the front door is there" I point over to the door and she looks at me like I'm dumb.

"I'm not fucking blind, imma ask you one more time, who the fuck are you?"

I point to my name tag and smile, going back to my label maker.

"since when did you start working here?"

"since eight this morning"

who is this bitch?

"where's finneas?" she asks me, walking closer.

wow she really doesn't understand what personal space is.

she smells like some rich ass perfume. I glance at her outfit, and smirk to myself.

she's definitely gay.

"hello, I asked you a question" she waves her hand in my face and I slap it away pulling a face of disgust. "he's gone to get lunch, can you like step back"

"chill mama, I'm just tryna talk"

"okay? talk over there. in fact don't talk to me at all"

"don't you wanna know who I am princess?"

"no" I stand up and push past her, walking over to the section where I need to slot the new records into place, pretending she isn't there.

I can feel her eyes burning into the back of me but I ignore her, doing what I was employed to do. when I turn back around she's sat on my stool, arms folded and brows furrowed.

"don't call me fucking princess and get the fuck outta here"

"you know" the girl walks closer to me, and smiles "I think you like it when I call you princess"

"bitch I don't even know who you are" I throw my hands up and she smiles, a genuine bright smile. "you tryna find out?" she raises her brow and I click my tongue, looking away.

the door chimes and a customer walks in, interrupting the mysterious girl and i.

"gotta bounce, laters princess" she blows me a kiss and strides towards the door, pulling it open before turning back around.

"it's billie by the way" she walks through the door and leaves me stood there looking like a dickhead.

billie.

fuck.

who is she?