//------------------------------// // A Day on the Town // Story: A Life of Music // by Zenaron //------------------------------// A Day on the Town The next morning Vinyl woke up the next day feeling refreshed. She sat up stretching her arms above her head and let out a loud yawn. After a bit more stretching she got up out of bed and made her way over to the door and threw it open. Andy was sitting in his usual spot in the living area of the tour bus, eating a piece of toast while watching the news on his phone. “Good morning Vinyl did you sleep well?” Andy asked without looking up. “Yeah, great actually,” Vinyl said as she quickly walked past him and made her way over to the small kitchenette and put a slice of bread in the toaster. “How did your date with Octavia go last night?” Andy asked with a mischievous smile on his face, as he glanced up from his phone. “It went pretty great actually.” Vinyl said leaning against the counter top. “We mostly just talked about stupid stuff and hung out. Although she did give me a kiss on the cheek after I dropped her off at her apartment.” “Ooh is that right. Well it sounds like it did go pretty well then.” Vinyl smiled and nodded her head in agreement before snatching the toast out of the toaster and took a big bite as she flopped down in her usual spot on the couch. “I still have no idea how you eat your toast dry like that.” Andy said with an exasperated shake of his head. Vinyl just shrugged her shoulders and started to chew slowly and made mocking sounds of pure bliss. This elected Andy to give her a rude jester before looking back down at his phone. Vinyl just continued to chew away, a smile of triumph on her face. After a few more minutes of silence Andy put his phone away and leaned back in his chair. “So no shows for the next few days, what are you planning on doing with your down time?” “I was planning on hanging out with Tavi if she’s free.” Vinyl responded popping the very last piece of her toast in her mouth. Andy nodded his head slowly in acknowledgment, though a slight frown had creased his brow. “Well then if you’ll excuse me I’m going to take care of some business in town.” Vinyl waved a farewell already mostly ignoring her cousin too busy typing out a text to Octavia. Octavia’s apartment Octavia’s was sitting on her couch casually flipping through the large stack of sheet music seeing if there were any that she might need to brush up on during her down time; when her phone started buzzing. Octavia glanced over and snatched her phone off the table already fairly sure who the text would be from. “Hey Tavi are you free to hangout today?” Octavia smiled, she was right it was a text from Vinyl. “I suppose I could find some time in my schedule for you.” After a few seconds of waiting her phone buzzed again with another text from Vinyl. “Great I’ll be there in a few minutes:)” “Alright see soon.” Octavia sent back before jumping up from her seat to get dressed. Out in front of Octavia’s apartment complex half an hour later “Hey Tavi!” Octavia turned her head and smiled seeing Vinyl marching down the sidewalk towards her, hand waving above her head to get her attention. “Hello Vinyl.” Octavia greeted as the DJ made it up next to her. “Wow Tavi, I knew you’d look good in jeans.” Vinyl said making a suggestive waggle of her eyebrows. Octavia rolled her eyes and gave Vinyl a playful shove. To be fair Octavia did look good. She was wearing slightly more casual attire then usual, her grey suit jacket had been replaced with a short sleeved button up white shirt and her usual slacks replaced with a pair of blue jeans that hugged her lower half tightly. Vinyl took in Octavia’s new look admiringly. While she herself was wearing much the same outfit that she usually wore. What could she say, why try and fix perfection? “So Vinyl are you planning on gawking at me all day or did you have some type of plan for today?” Octavia asked her arms folded in front of her chest and a bit of a sly smirk on her face. “I don’t know, gawking is kind of fun.” Vinyl said with a lecherous grin. “You are a terrible flirt you know that?” Octavia asked with another eye roll. “Yeah I’ve been told that before.” Vinyl replied with a dismissive wave. “But to answer your earlier question, I do have a plan for us to do today.” “Well aren’t you full of surprises.” Octavia said voice full of sarcasm. Which elected Vinyl to stick her tongue out at her. Octavia only smiled, “So I suppose you should lead the way then.” Vinyl nodded her head in agreement and started walking down the sidewalk in the same direction she had come. After a good ten minutes of walking Octavia decided to ask the question. “Might I ask where it is we are going?’ “Tut-tut Tavi that would be ruining the surprise.” Vinyl said with a wave of her finger in the air. Octavia sighed and shrugged her shoulders in resignation of the fact that she would just have to wait and see. After walking a bit further, Vinyl came to a stop in front of a large blank looking building with a sign that depicted two guns firing in a cross of different colored laser beams. Vinyl looked over at Octavia expectantly. “So…what do ya think?” Octavia stared at the sign with her fore finger and thumb resting on her chin contemplating. “Well I never have gone laser tagging before.” “Then this is the perfect opportunity to start.” Vinyl announced before throwing the doors open and striding inside. Octavia watched and gave a slight shrug of her shoulders as she followed after Vinyl. Later outside Outside about an hour later “Well I thought that was quite enjoyable.” Octavia said with an almost triumphant smile, her steps being followed by the slightly louder foot falls of an annoyed looking Vinyl. “You just got lucky.” Vinyl complained as she crossed her arms in indignation. Octavia just turned towards Vinyl her grin still on her face. Though Octavia did have to admit, Vinyl’s statement was probably an accurate one. The two had been placed on opposite teams and it just so happened that Octavia’s teammates were very helpful in giving the newbie tips on how the game worked and how to aim the rifle. While Vinyl’s team was almost useless, being some of the most inaccurate shots Vinyl had ever seen. And to make matters worse for Vinyl, Octavia’s team consisted of mostly regulars of this establishment. So at the end of the day, poor Vinyl really didn’t stand a chance. After looking sourly at Octavia’s smile for a few minutes, Vinyl finally decided that this outcome was probably for the best and started smiling herself. “What’s next on our agenda today Vinyl?” Octavia asked with a slight rise of her eyebrow. “You’ll just have to wait and see.” Vinyl replied with a playful note in her voice. Octavia nodded her head in acceptance and folded her hands in front of herself, following close behind Vinyl towards there next destination. After several more minutes of walking down the busy streets of New York. The pair started to hear the faint sound of music coming from a huge two story building covered in several blown up pictures of famous musicians and many different depictions of instruments of every style of music. “This is supposed to be the biggest music store in the city from what I’ve heard.” Vinyl said as the two stood in the parking lot. Octavia nodded her head slowly in acknowledgment. “Well no use standing out here when all the awesome stuff is inside right?” Octavia shook her head a bit to clear it. “Yes of course, let’s go.” The two made their way up to the large glass double doors and each pushed one open. The sight inside was breathtaking. There were instruments everywhere, thousands of them lining every wall. Some of the more prestigious instruments were locked up in display cases almost more like show pieces than actual items for sell. There were even some older instruments suspended by hooks hanging from the ceiling. The two musicians stood in stunned silence for almost a full minute, before they turned to face one another beaming with matching smiles. The pair walked around staring at everything like two kids in a candy store. Each taking turns to point out different items that caught their eye. After a few minutes of mindless wondering they found themselves in the DJ section of the store. Vinyl was glancing around hardly taking enough time to register what she was looking at before turning to look at something else. Octavia just stood by and watched with a content smile, enjoying the sort of childlike wonderment that was evident on Vinyl’s face and in her mannerisms. Vinyl walked around the area spending a good deal of time testing each piece of equipment she passed, frowning at the equipment she didn’t like and smiling wildly at the equipment she did like. After almost half an hour she finally realized how boring this must be for Octavia, not knowing what most of this stuff was or what it did. So she sheepishly made her way back over and apologized profusely. Octavia shrugged and smiled, “It’s no problem Vinyl, it just gives me an excuse to look over more things in the orchestra section.” Vinyl nodded in agreement, and after a bit of searching they found the orchestra section on the second floor. Now it was Octavia’s turn to look around wide eyed and Vinyl’s to watch Octavia enjoy being surrounded by the instruments she loved. While Octavia was looking around she spotted something that caught her eye. She bent down to stare at a beautifully hand carved cello bow. It was a deep rosy red color, with carved shapes of musical notes on the handle with an intricate pattern of swirls down the entire length of the wood. It was sitting in a hardwood case that was made of the same wood as the bow itself. Vinyl noticing the long pause Octavia had taken; so she went over and looked down at the beautifully crafted bow in the case letting out a low whistle in appreciation. Octavia continued to stare longing for another few minutes before letting out a defeated sigh as her shoulders slumped in resignation. After one last look she stood back up and started walking over to see something else around the room. Vinyl watched on and frowned a bit at the sad look in Octavia’s eyes before looking back down at the bow and the price tag next to it. “May I help you madam?” A man asked almost seeming to appear on the other side of the counter. Vinyl was about to say no when a thought struck her. “Yeah as a matter of fact I think I’ll take that cello bow if you don’t mind.” “Ah excellent choice madam,” the man said before unlocking the display case and retrieving the bow and its case. “That will be…” The man was cut off by Vinyl waving a gold credit card near his face. The man blinked a few times before smiling and taking the card from Vinyl and swiping it through the nearby machine. “Thank you for your purchase madam.” The man said after putting the case in a bag along with Vinyl’s receipt and handing it over to her. Vinyl thanked the man and after walking around a bit trying to find Octavia, found her looking over some of the violins that were hung on the wall. “Hey Tavi still looking?” “Actually I’m pretty much ready to go whenever you are.” Octavia said never taking her eyes off of the violins. Vinyl rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Well I guess I’m ready.” Octavia nodded slowly, before finally turning and following after the blue haired DJ. “Vinyl, what’s in the bag?” “Hmm, oh just a little something I picked up.” Vinyl said with a dismissive wave of her hand. Octavia shrugged and followed Vinyl as she held the door open for her to step out of the store. As they walked out from under the stores awning, they saw that the sun was begging to set and the day was coming to a close. The afternoon sky was painted in a beautiful array of colors. Shimmering in bright pinks and purples with splashes of orange and gold mixed in-between. The pair paused and looked up in wonder at the breathtaking seen before them. After admiring the sky for a good while Octavia looked over at Vinyl. “Well I suppose it’s getting pretty late.” “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Vinyl said before letting out a content sigh. “So can I walk you home?” “Yes Vinyl, you May walk me home.” Vinyl rolled her eyes and started heading off in the general direction of Octavia’s apartment. “Whatever miss smarty pants.” In front of Octavia’s Apartment Building Night was just setting in when the two made it back to Octavia’s Apartment, the street lamps were just kicking on to light their path for the last few steps. “Thank you Vinyl for the wonderful time today.” Octavia said as she slowed to a stop. Vinyl blushed a bit and shrugged her shoulders. “It’s no biggy, besides I should be thanking you. If not for you I would be stuck in the bus by myself or in a boring ass meeting with Andy.” “Well thank you all the same Vinyl.” Octavia said with a soft smile and a small nod of her head. Vinyl returned the smile and nervously scratched the back of her head, noticing the bag that she had almost forgot she was holding. “Oh hey Tavi this is for you.” Vinyl said extending the bag towards Octavia. Octavia blinked a few time in surprise before reaching out and taking the bag from Vinyl and opening it up to see what was inside. When she saw the long wooden box she instantly knew what was inside. Her eyes grew wide and she let out a small gasp, as she slowly reached in and withdrew the box from the bag. She reached with trembling fingers and unlatched the container opening it to reveal the beautiful hand crafted bow. She looked up at Vinyl wide eyed, almost in a state of shock. Vinyl just returned the look with a nervous smile. “Vinyl…I, I can’t accept this.” “Sure you can, it’s no big deal. And I could tell that you really liked it, so I thought why not?” Vinyl said with a shrug. Octavia stared at Vinyl for a few seconds before looking back down at the bow, tears starting to spring to her eyes. “Vinyl, I…I don’t know what to say.” “Like I said it’s no big deal Tavi.” Octavia sniffled a bit and nodded her head slowly. She then made up her mind and closed the case and took a few steps closer to Vinyl before lunging at her and kissing her hard on the lips. Vinyl’s eyes grew huge at the feeling of the sudden kiss. But after only a second she closed her eyes and melted into the blissful feeling and started kissing the cellist back. Octavia continued the kiss until the two started running low on oxygen. Only then did the two take a step back, both breathing hard. “Thank you so very much Vinyl.” Octavia said breathlessly, face as red as a tomato. Vinyl still panting only nodded her head in acknowledgment, matching blush on her own face. Octavia composed herself and nodded one more time before quickly walking toward the front door. “Hey Tavi,” Vinyl called after Octavia causing the cellist to stop and turn back. “Will you be free to hang out tomorrow?” Octavia blinked before smiling widely and nodding her head. “Until I have to go play at the bar I’ll be free.” “Great, then I’ll see you tomorrow.” Vinyl said with a smile, flashing Octavia a quick double thumbs up before turning to make her way back to the tour bus. Once Vinyl thought she was far enough away, she started cheering loudly. Hooting and hollering while almost dancing down the sidewalk. Octavia, clearly hearing the noise Vinyl was making through the screen door almost skipped happily to the elevator. Vinyl made it back to the tour bus in record time. She was on cloud nine and nothing was going to bring her down. She skipped up the few steps and flung the door to the bus open before stepping inside. She walked the short distance to the living area where her cousin was sitting in his usual spot a contemplative frown on his face, his elbows on his knees and his hands folded in front of his face. “Hey Andy what’s up?” Vinyl asked with a wave as she made her way over to the small kitchen. “Vinyl, we need to talk about you and Octavia.”