Vinyl sat on a hard wooden bench in the park, staring up into the overcast sky. She figured it was going to start raining soon. She sighed and looked back down, the world taking on a purple hint through the filter of her glasses. She stood and stretched her arms over her head, standing on her toes as she did. She then shoved her hands into the pockets of her white coat and started back towards her house, slipping on the headphones Octavius had gotten her their first Christmas together. She scrolled through her phone until she found the mix she had made for Octavius while he had been in the hospital. She smiled at the memory, and pressed play on the song.
As she walked, lightly patting her hand on her thigh in time, she began to remember how things had been three years ago. She laughed to herself as she thought of the stick in the mud that used to be her boyfriend. She remembered how uptight he had been at their first breakfast, and how jumpy he had been when she had introduced him to Dash.
The thought of Dash made Vinyl sigh sadly. She wondered if maybe things could’ve played out differently if she had just ignored Octavius. She wouldn’t have had to deal with the rest of the Melody family. She wouldn’t have been in that car accident.
And her best friend wouldn’t have robbed her.
Lost in thought and staring at her feet as she walked, she bumped into something rather hard, knocking it over. She quickly looked up, bringing her headphones down to her neck as she saw a woman with pink hair on the ground, rubbing her head and wincing in pain.
“Oh, crap,” Vinyl said, offering her hand to the other woman. The pink haired woman took the outstretched hand, rising to her feet. “Sorry about that. Are you ok?”
“I-It’s fine,” she muttered, her voice barely audible. “I-I should’ve been watching where I was going. I’m sorry.”
Vinyl raised an eyebrow, confused. Most people in this city would be giving her an earful of how stupid she was, and how she needed to pay attention to where she was going. But this girl couldn’t even look the DJ in the eye.
“Hey, don’t sweat it,” Vinyl said casually, smiling at the woman. “It was my mistake.”
The pink haired woman whimpered quietly, then picked up her bag and tried to walk around Vinyl, but the DJ stopped her, noticing a mark on the woman’s neck.
“What happened?” Vinyl gently took the other woman’s hand in hers.
The pink haired woman squeaked in fear, squeezing her eyes shut. “N-nothing,” she whispered.
Vinyl slowly pulled the woman’s long hair off of her neck, revealing what seemed to be a hand shaped bruise. Vinyl’s heart skipped a beat.
“Hey,” she started, dropping the woman’s hair gently. “My name is Violet. Most people call me Vinyl. Will you tell me your name?”
“… I’m Flutters...” The other woman looked down at the ground.
“Well Flutters,” Vinyl said calmly, gently pulling the woman along with her. “Why don’t you and I go sit down and have a bite to eat? It seems I meet people for a reason, so maybe I met you for a reason, too.” She smiled kindly at Flutters, who still wouldn’t look Vinyl in the eyes.
“N-no, that’s ok,” Flutters protested weakly, attempting to pull her hand away. “I’ve already taken up too much of your time.”
“I insist,” Vinyl said, leading the woman gently down the street. Flutters yanked her hand out of Vinyl’s. “Hey!” Vinyl looked at the woman in surprise, but was more shocked to see tears flowing down Flutters face and staining her yellow sweater.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, hunching her shoulders defensively. “I-I shouldn’t have done that…” Vinyl took a step back. Flutters kept apologizing, muttering things like, ‘please don’t hurt me’, and ‘I’ll do better’.
“Flutters,” Vinyl started quietly once the pink haired woman had seemed to calm down. “I’m not gonna hurt you, but I am gonna ask you a question. Do you have a boyfriend?”
As Flutters collected herself to answer, Vinyl led her to a small restaurant, sitting down at a table by themselves. “I do,” Flutters finally replied.
“Alright,” Vinyl continued. “Can you tell me about him?”
Flutters looked up with a practiced smile, tears still streaming down her face. “He’s the greatest guy a girl could ever want.” Vinyl knew that line was a fake as the smile.
“Flutters, sweetie,” Vinyl placed her thumb and forefinger on either side of the bridge of her nose. “You and I both know that’s not true.”
Flutters held her fake smile for all of two seconds before dropping her head, her tears now staining her bright blue jeans. “It is the truth,” she sobbed softly. “H-he said so.”
Vinyl stared sadly at the crying woman, pushing the napkin dispenser closer to Flutters, who grabbed a napkin and wiped her bright blue eyes. “All right Flutters, I’ll believe you,” Vinyl said. “But here’s what I’ll do for you.” She grabbed a napkin and took out a pen from her bag, writing down her phone number and handing it to the pink haired woman. “Call me any time you need me, ok, hun?” She smiled sweetly at Flutters, who managed a weak smile in return.
“Ok,” she replied, sniffling and wiping her eyes. She stood to go, as did Vinyl, albeit a bit slower with her noticeable bump in her belly. Flutters turned to Vinyl as the pair reached the door. “Thank you, Violet.” She gently hugged the DJ, who returned the gesture in kind. The pink haired woman pulled back, smiling a little wider, then walked down the street, leaving Vinyl alone.
Vinyl started back on her way home, putting on her headphones once more. She pressed play on Octavius’ song and smiled.
She had no regrets about meeting that dork of a cellist.