Who: Molly and Raven When: Afternoon, 6/24 Where: B# Music Rating: Pretty low Warnings: None
Raven was on break. He went to outside at the back of the store and lit a cigarette. Today felt hard. He didn’t know why. He didn’t know why it kept pushing on him. Lakewood was nice and there was an easy peace. Raven felt mostly safe with Wren and knowing that Riley was near too. He did not think Lauren would pop up again. Of course that thought did not stop the memories popping up; of either her or his desire for what he couldn’t have. Raven leaned against the wall and blew out the smoke. He was fine. He was fine. He just had to keep remembering that.
Molly was pleased at her new employees. She was pretty sure that neither of them would have been hired in any other establishment, but both had proven to be trainable and she was pleased about that. It was nice to know she had people she could rely on, since it left her more time to work out the more financial (and boring) things about the store. She headed over to check on things usually only about once a day when she did not schedule herself on, and she noted Raven in the back. “Hey, how’s the job working out? Everything going well?”
Raven blew out a smoke ring, always impressed that he could do that. It took him forever to learn but he had the time to waste. He blew out a second one as his boss came out. He straightened himself up a bit, not wanting to look like a total bum. He did try to look nice for work and always put his hair back in a neat ponytail. He supposed the long hair worked in the music store environment but still.
“Hey,” he greeted back, “It’s great. No problems today.” He smiled, trying to shake off the nervous of talking with someone who could fire him.
As long as he was not rude to customers and did not steal from her? She was not all too worried about his look. He had seemed like a nice enough guy when she hired him, though he also always seemed to be somewhat nervous. She had a hard time with that honestly- she was not all that threatening, so she assumed that it was just the boss thing. “I’m glad to hear it. It’s good to have people working that don’t utterly hate everything about their job…”
Raven tilted his head up and blew out another smoke ring before turning back to Molly and smiling, “I don’t think I could hate this job. I get to check out all the new music that comes in, check out the instruments in stock and the customers are nice enough.” For what it was, it was a good job and Raven knew he was lucky enough to get it. He wasn’t going to knock that.
Molly nodded. He was certainly right about the perks of the job, if nothing else. She found that she loved being there now that she was not the only one running everything all the time. “You play? If you see anything we get into stock that you’re interested in, let me know, I’ll be glad to sneak it out of the display and do some sort of layaway plan for you.”
“Guitar,” Raven said, “Acoustic mostly but sometimes electric,” he smiled, “Trust me, I’ve been eyeing that 12 string you have. She’s beautiful and I bet plays like nothing else but,” he shrugged, “With moving here,” and trying to keep their spending low so not to attract attention, “funds have been tight. But she’s definitely a beauty.”
Molly smiled a little. “Come back inside. We’ll see how you look playing her. If you like, I’ll see what we can do about a good price. Instruments should have good homes.” Molly nodded and motioned him to follow her. She had a bunch of instruments, all prices and all styles. She loved her violin best, but she could play just about anything given a bit of time to familiarize herself.
Raven flicked the end of his cigarette, not thinking of what Molly would think of the back of her store littered with butts. He shrugged and said, “You are a temptress. I don’t think even at a good price I should try to afford it.” He had his credit cards and he doubted one purpose would make a blimp on his parents’ radar. Still a pretty new guitar would be a nice distraction from the other urges he felt. Still, he followed her in, knowing she’d probably win this battle.
“I am, yes. When it comes to music I encourage full excess. I’ve got at least ten different instruments back home…” She laughed softly and shrugged. “I have issues. Addiction. Or something. Luckily I can afford it, and I can indulge myself here, playing whenever I like.”
Raven said nothing when she said addiction. This seemed to be a healthy addiction as opposed to own problems. He laughed uneasily and said, “Nothing wrong with indulging with music.”
“Everyone needs an outlet, I think. I don’t have any others.” Well, not usually. She was working with James on changing that, but she was pretty sure her employee did not want to hear about the mess of her history and potential sex life. “Seriously though, if you’re into that guitar, I can pull like ten from each paycheck until it’s paid? That should leave you with more than enough to survive on…” Since she paid her employees ten an hour, plus providing insurance, it was, she imagined, not too bad.
Raven almost forgot that people around here did not know that Pangburn name, as they did at home. They did not hear it and think of the mansion he grew up in or the money he had access to in his account. He worked to not use that money. Growing up, he recalled the only good thing to have access to the Pangburn money was the money to fill his needs. He reached and scratched his arm without thinking about it.
“I’ll be working here forever to pay that off,” Raven said. He hesitated, “I wouldn’t want to take advantage of you for that. I have the funds,” he hesitated again, “I just am trying to give it up.” Did that make sense?
“Don’t worry about it. As long as you work here, you get the deduction, and whatever is left over we can just pull from your last check?” She was sure this was not Raven’s life goal, after all, she imagined he aspired to more than just a sales clerk, though she was curious as to whether he would be interested in moving up in the store or if he wanted different things for himself.
Honestly, Raven had no idea what he wanted to do for a career. Right now, he wanted to live. He wanted to be sober. That is what he wanted and the rest could be dealt with later. There were a few things he truly wanted and he had one of them now.
“We’ll figure it out,” Raven said. He was looking at the 12 string guitar with longing.
Molly watched Raven’s face as he looked at the guitar and smiled faintly. She knew that look because she knew it was on her face more often than not. “Anyone who can look at an instrument like that? Has to own it. Drop $300 off that price tag.” Molly smiled slightly. It was an employee, she could do that, sell the instrument for cost to him.
“Are you sure, Molly?” Raven asked, “That’s a lot of money and I really don’t want to rip you off.” He reached for the guitar and held it. He strummed it slowly, listening to the warm sound of the strings fill the room.
“You’re an employee buying an item at cost. Believe me, I know what everything in here is worth. I’ve had instruments since before I could even talk.” That was very true, though as soon as she got started, she had started working on sounds too to verbalize.
Raven ran through some basic cords, getting the feel of the instrument in his hands. He looked up at her and asked, “What was your first instrument? Is the rest of your family musical?” He knew the family question was a dangerous. Not everyone wanted to talk about their family. He included but he wouldn’t be opposed to mentioning that Riley played violin and the harp. That was safe information.
“My grandmom was. This was her and my grandfather’s shop. Um...and my other grandfather did a lot of donations to musical organizations.” Like funding the Kimmel center, but that was a bit more info than she needed to share. “My parents, not so much. They started me on the violin when I was around two, I still have it in my room…”
“What did your grandmother play?” Raven asked, his fingers sliding down the strings to begin a song he could play without thinking, “My brother plays the violin too. I tried? It sounded like a cat drowning.” Raven winced at the memory.
“She played the piano mostly.” Molly shrugged, listening to the song Raven was playing and smiling softly, picking a violin from the shelf and closing her eyes. A few more seconds of playing and she was able to copy the chords he was playing from what she had heard.
Raven stuck out his tongue at that. He started with music on the piano and found it boring. This playing that he was doing was much more his style. He saw Molly grab a violin and begin to play with him. Raven wasn’t playing a common popular song. He wasn’t really sure what he was playing but with the violin it added a nice harmony. He fell silent, except for the noise of the guitar and the violin.
Molly was pretty good with music in general, so hearing and playing from memory was not difficult. It was a strange talent, but she enjoyed it a good deal so it worked for her. After they had finished she grinned at him. “See, it’s meant for you. That’s proof.”
“That sounded pretty good,” Raven said. He dug into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He found his credit card and held it up. It was a worthwhile risk, “I still insist on paying for it now, however. It’s only fair.”
“You enjoy it, seriously.” She went to ring out the sale, since she didn’t allow employees to do their own since there was a specific discount code she had to approve. After swiping the card and handing it back she smiled. “I’m glad I’ve got someone with a bit of talent working here. It’s important to me to have people around with passion.”
Raven took the card back and ran his fingers down the strings. A smile crossed his face as he realised that he owned this beauty. He would have to play it around the pool later. He glanced up at the clock and said, “My break is technically over so I should put this baby away, unless you don’t mind some live music to draw in the customers.”
“No worries. I do it all the time. I have a hard time functioning without music. Went a short while without playing and it literally nearly killed me…” Molly shrugged a bit and laughed, putting back the violin she had been playing carefully. “I should start offering classes, really. I’ve got a degree in music…”
“That’s a good idea,” Raven said, “Actually, if you want someone to help with guitar classes, I wouldn’t mind to assist. I started when I was in high school and it saved me more than… everyone needs music in their life, I think. That is if you want my help.” He smiled and ran his fingers over the string again.
“I think that would be amazing, actually. I could provide more lessons that way, with the pair of us. If it’s what you want to do, I’ll add it to your duties. It means a raise if you show me you are doing well with it…” Molly grinned happily and brushed back her hair from her face. She was in a much better mood than even the one she started in in the morning. It was good.
Raven shrugged and said, “Wasn’t offering for the raise. Like I said, music… it’s important, I think but I would love to help.” He was in a better mood too than when he started blowing smoke rings in the air. He felt slightly more accepted and maybe he could stay here and have a life. He wanted that more than anything.