The next day is finally here. Last night must have been the second most terrible day of my life, following when Tavi left me. I drove her back to the candy shop and drove Lyra and I back to her place, silently. We just went in, and I ended up falling asleep on the couch that night. I didn't wake up until this morning.
I open my eyes; Lyra is sitting on the other end of the couch, reading the fifth book of Daring Do. I snatch my phone of the coffee table to my left and look at my text messages. A single text from Octavia sits among all the read texts. 'Thanks.' it says. What does that even mean? Thanks for ruining everything, or thanks for driving her to the concert hall?
"What's up?" Lyra ask me, not looking up from her book.
"Its complicated." I tell her, getting up and heading to the extra room where all my equipment is.
"What does that mean, Vinyl? Tavi did a fantastic job! I'm surprised that you are in such a bad mood again." Lyra shouts to me, entering the room a few seconds later.
I connect a few wires here and there and plug the whole thing in using a power bar. The equipment lights up and boots all its components up. I sit down at my chair and lean my tried head against one of the large speakers.
"Were you listening Vinyl? Why are you upset?" She says as she takes a seat across from me.
"Octavia and I are never going to get back together. Its hopeless." I press a few buttons on my drum-pad, sending some test sounds through the speakers.
"I think otherwise." Lyra corrects me. "I think that you two will connect again someday, its bound to happen. You two are a perfect mix. 'Dubstep' and Classical, perfect opposites. Duh!" She tells me with a smile, as I plug in my headphones to my sound board.
"Lyra, you don't know our relationship as well as I-"
"Yes. I. Do. Vinyl Scratch." Lyra stops me. "I know a ton more than what you think I know. Octavia tells me everything that happens. Even the yummy pancakes you were gonna make that one day, her FAVORITE. She really does have a deep connection with you Vinyl, but you really need to make a change in your life. Because the way you are rolling will not work. You need to stop being lazy and careless. You are an ADULT for pete's sake." She stops for a moment, and lets it all sink into me. She is right, but its not that easy to just change the way I function. I cant change the past, and I barely have a will to change the future, especially when I'm as lazy as I am.
"I know this Lyra! I really do! I just can't seem to change, no matter how I try. I'm hardwired to act like this, because no one in the past told me how to act otherwise."
I take off my headphones, and head out to the kitchen after I turn everything back off. Lyra is sitting at the counter playing reading her book. I take a seat next to her, and pull out my phone. It buzzes right as I turn on the screen, displaying a new message from Octavia at the top. 'Come see me-' it says followed by an address not to far from here. I open a couple of my games to collect my daily rewards, then shove it back in my pocket.
"Oh! Guess what I found last night while I was on the internet." Lyra says as she pulls out her phone, showing me a picture of a weird lion, scorpion, morphed like creature. "Its called a Manticore, I saw it on the show I watch, you know, the one with the figurines in my bedroom?"
"Oh, that one. Yeah." I reply glumly. I hate that stupid little girl's show.
"Yeah, my favorite character Twibright beat it with her magic, that was such an awesome episode!" She shrieks with joy. "I haven't watched that episode in a year or two, but-" I start to loose focus on her jabbering girly show lecture.
"Hey Lyra, I think I need to head out again today. I have some-" I thing for a moment. "important business to attend to." I get up and walk to the front door.
"Alright, have a good time with Octavia." she says, making me stop. "I told you she tells me everything." I continue out the door, wrestling on my coat.
Walking down the sidewalk to meet Tavi four blocks away, I walk past a woman with a blue wizard hat and stars with a matching cape. She is standing on a portable makeshift stage, going all sorts of magical stuff.
"Come and see the 'Great And Powerful Trixie' doing what she does best!" She says, putting emphasis on her title.
I hate when people speak in third person, but she seems interesting enough and its free, so I stop to watch her. She does a few things, bunnies out of a hat, the usual boring magician stuff that every starter magician does. But then she pulls a young girl, easily five years old, from the crowd that has gathered around her stage.
"What should the 'Great And Powerful Trixie' do for your entertainment?" She asks the girl she pulled from the audience.
She ponders, and then waves her hands in a swirling motion. The girl bursts into confetti and vanishes, reappearing on the balcony of the second floor above Trixie. The crowd cheers with excitement as she makes the girl appear back on the stage, completely fine. The girls screams and runs to her father, while Trixie takes in the applause.
"Thank you everyone for making Trixie's day so much better!" She turns around and everything vanishes, leaving the crowd of people confused and awestruck.
I leave the crowd and walk to the next block, and she comes around the corner to apparently greet me or gripe at me for not cheering her on. She stands there, expecting a cheer from me, but I just stare back at her with a blank face; my hands in my pockets.
"My name is Trixie. Obviously as you just saw from my presentation."
"Yeah, whats up?" I ask her.
"I saw you in the crowd." She pauses, taking in this moment. "You are my most favorite DJ in all of Manehattan! I was wondering if you could give me your autograph."
She hands me a picture of me she probably got from the internet, and hands me a fine-point sharpie. I sign it and add "Wub-A-Dub-Dub" below it. She runs off and hugs the picture before running behind a building. I continue walking down the sidewalk until I come across a baked goods shop. Octavia wants to meet me here? The walls have explicit graffiti on them and broken glass on the sidewalk. A man throws a dirty look in my direction, and then his attitude changes.
"Are you going in there?" He says, shifting his postilion, coughing harshly. "Have you even met the woman that runs the shop?"
"Uhm. No I haven't." I reply to him.
"I'll just give you a heads-up. She is kind of, how do I put this? Derpy."
I glance back over to the shop. Now I'm nervous, but I wont show it in front of him. I walk to the door and slowly step inside. At first glance its confusing: gray walls with huge light gray bubbles scattered over them, muffin posters all over the walls, and a display cabinet with only muffins. Absolutely no other baked goods. What running through this womans mind? I close the door and the bell rings. I hear a shuffle in the back room.
"Hello!" I hear from the back. "Welcome to my-"
She trips over a box of blueberries and slams into the floor. Standing back up I see she has blond hair, a nametag labeled 'Derpy' with the letter D backwards, and she is cross eyed.
"Sorry, cant see well."
"Hello." I say, going silent for a moment. "You must be?"
"Bubbles! At your service!" She stick out her hand, and I nervously shake it.
"Nice to meet you. Bubbles."
"You like to buy muffin?" She says with a gleeful grin.
"No, thanks. I would not like to buy a muff-"
"But you MUST buy muffin, why else you be at shop?" She says with a still cross eyed serious face.
"Uhm, alright" I hand her a few bits. "Give me your best muffin then."
She clatters around with the trays in the display case, and reaches all the way in the front for a really big chocolate chip muffin. She sets it on a small plate with a napkin under it and a small plastic container of jelly next to it.
"Best muffin." She says with a salute, then she drops her hand and makes a big open mouth smile. She runs off into the back room again.
I turn around to see Octavia laughing to herself at a table in the back with a small whole grain muffin. I walk over and sit. She sits there for a moment and holds in her laugh, then she just begins to laugh her head off.
"That was probably the funniest thing I have ever seen happen to you, Vinyl." She says giggling.
"Sure, me having a nervous breakdown because I didn't know how to handle a someone like that is sure funny." I say taking a bite of my big muffin.
"I'm guessing you haven't met her before. " She says, taking a sip from a styrofoam cup.
"Not really." I sit there and stare down at my muffin.
We sit there for a few minutes in complete silence, eating our foods. We occasionally glance up at each other in the awkward situation.
"I found someone else." She suddenly mutters.
"Oh?" I say, looking at my muffin again.
"Yes. They're a lot more, focused, than you are." She doesn't look up, she just stares at her muffin.
"Well. That's all I needed to know." I stand up and rush out the door.
"Wait!" She calls.
The wind is blowing, and its starting to snow again, so I start walking back to Lyra's house. She runs back out and bearhugs me. It hurts to resist so I hug her back, and start to cry. I miss her around so much that it tears at my heart. We stand there for what seems like forever. I can't stand being away from her so long.
"I miss you." She says, hugging tighter.
"I do to." I pick her up and squeeze her tighter.
She legs go and starts walking away. I stand there in sadness as she glances back one last time and mouths 'Good luck.' to me.