//------------------------------// // 3: Vinyl Records // Story: The Rhythm of Love // by lockheed //------------------------------// "So, Test Tube, not to sound rude; but what is a stallion like yourself doing in a place like this?" I asked him as the bartender brought me another whiskey. I took a sip of the drink as I looked over at him with an eyebrow raised. "I just like listening to the bands. Helps me relax. It's always better to see the band when you're hearing them rather than listening to a phonograph or Walkman." He replied before taking a drink of his soda. "I take it you're a music fan? Just going off your store, name, and cutie mark." He asked and I felt my face heat up at the thought that he had possibly been looking at my flank. "Y-yeah. It's kind of a family thing." I replied before downing the rest of the whiskey in one go. Setting the glass back on the bar, I saw the bartender raise an eyebrow at me as he levitated my glass over to him. He refilled it and then floated it back to me. It set down on the bar with a small thump and I nodded to the bartender in thanks. "My grandparents were both musicians when they were young, my mom played in her high school band, and dad had his own rock band. It just seems to be our thing." "So did you open the store on your own?" He asked as he swiveled on his stool to fully face me. "No, I didn't. After my parents dumped me off on my grandparents, they started to get me ready to run it. After they both passed, I took over and I've been running it for over a year now." I replied. Taking another drink of my whiskey, I looked over at him and saw his blue eyes watching me. Mother of Celestia were his eyes beautiful. They were as blue as a cloudless sky but sparkled like the midnight. The butterflies returned to my stomach and I felt my heart pounding in my chest. "This might be a bit sudden, but would you like to go back to my place?" I asked him. He smiled and nodded his head. "Sure! I haven't been to a sleepover since primary school." He replied as he finished off his soda and tossed a few bits on the counter. His statement though made my heart drop like a ton of bricks. Did he really not understand what I meant when I asked him that? Was he saying it as a joke? If he was, my drunken, fuzzy mind didn't find it that funny. Actually, I found it concerning. What if he wasn't joking? Nah, a stallion as good looking as him had to have known what I meant. Right? I stumbled out of the dance hall, everything around me spinning from the alcohol. Test Tube had followed me out and walked along side me. After almost falling over a couple of times, I started leaning on him for some support. As we continued on down the street, we passed a few couples on their way to the dance hall, home, or dinner. I'd made sure to wish Mr. and Mrs. Cake a happy anniversary as they passed us, them thanking me before continuing on towards one of the town's restaurants. We passed another couple, a griffin and an earth pony stallion. I'd seen them around but never really talked to them. The stallion gave me a worried look while the griffin gave me a knowing grin before they disappeared down the road to Sweet Apple Acres. After another few blocks, we finally made it back to my place and I led him up the stairs to the door of the apartment. Opening the door, I flipped on the light and looked around at the living room. "Here we are!" I announced as I stumbled into the room. Test followed me in and shut the door behind him. "So, do you have any records or games we could play?" He asked. A few came to mind but those were part of a game of Hide the Weenie. I flopped down on the couch and looked over at him. "What kind of games did you have in mind?" I asked him and he put a hoof to his chin in thought as he sat down next to me. "I always enjoy chess or a nice strategy game." He replied. This stallion really was clueless, wasn't he? Well there went most of my ideas. But the idea of spending a night playing board games and getting to know the stallion sounded nice too. The more I thought about it, the more the idea sounded more enjoyable. "I've got some board games in the hall closet and some records in my bedroom. You find a game, I'll get the records." "Damnit!" I shouted. "There's no damn way you won again! You've had to have cheated!" I said as I flipped the chess board and folded my forelegs. I looked away from him and he smirked as I clearly had a pouty face. "I did no such thing. You're just drunk and can't play very well." He stated with a shrug of his shoulder. "Oh, so you're taking advantage of a drunken stallion?" I asked him with a small smirk to myself. Surely there was no way he was oblivious enough to miss that one. "Yes, basically. So do you want to play again or should we just go to sleep?" He asked. Dear Luna, he really was that oblivious. I looked up to the clock and saw it was going on two in the morning. "One more record, and then bedtime." I replied as I stood up and stumbled my way over to the record player. I lifted the vinyl disk off the turntable and set it aside. Sifting through my record collection, I finally found the record I was looking for. But just as I was about to set it on the player, my grip on it faltered and the record fell to the floor. The vinyl shattered into dozens of pieces and I looked down at the broken record on the floor. That had been my favorite one. The one that grandma and grandpa danced to on their wedding night. The one that I'd loved since foalhood. Now it lay in pieces on the wood floor of the apartment. The look on my face must have been truly depressing as I felt Test put a hoof on my shoulder. "It'll be alright, Rhythm. You can always get a new one." He suggested in an attempt to cheer me up. I slowly walked over to the couch and flopped down on it, my eyes stinging from oncoming tears as I thought about how one of my most prized possessions was now just trash. The song played in my head though, and I quietly began humming the opening of it. Besides the ticking of the clock, my humming was the only noise in the apartment. As I finished with the intro, the words flowed through my head and I began to quietly sing them from my spot on the couch. My voice, though not much louder than a whisper, caught Test's attention as I continued with the song. The tiny record in my head scratched to a stop and I glanced over at Test. "Sorry if I'm bumming you out. I figured I'd be nice and give my guest my bed. I'll stay here on the couch tonight." I told him as I rolled over onto my side to face him. "You're not bumming me out. You actually have a nice voice. You should consider singing too if you ever need to make more money." He replied. His comment made my face flush red, which I'm sure looked interesting against my white coat. "Are you going to be alright?" Test asked me. I nodded my head but he looked apprehensive to leave me in the state I was in. "I'm fine, I swear." I told him. Probably not the best of ideas to lie to the face of the stallion you're trying to woo but a little white lie like "I'm fine" wouldn't hurt. He reluctantly stood up and made his way to my room, his horn glowing as the light switch for the living room flipped downwards to turn the lights off. Hopefully tomorrow would be a better day. My eyes slowly opened and my head felt like a drum set as my heartbeat echoed in my scull. Sweet Celesita, I should not have had that many drinks the night before. But like I said before, hindsight is always 20/20. The smell of pancakes emerged from the kitchen though and it clicked as I recalled the night prior. Glancing at the clock, I was glad that I wasn't open on Saturdays. I'd managed to sleep until almost ten thirty. Slowly getting up, I half walked, half dragged myself to the kitchen. I turned the corner and saw Test and he finished sliding some fresh pancakes onto a plate. He smiled at me and I gave him a small smile back. Is this what waking up married is like? If it was then I was certainly looking forward to it someday. After sitting down at the table, I stuffed a pancake into my mouth and began chewing on it. At that moment, it was the best thing I'd eaten in years. As Test cleaned up the kitchen, he began attempting to make small talk with me. "I didn't know you studied anatomy as well." He said and I gave a small hum of questioning. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure you study anatomy, anyway. Last night I got kind of curious so I opened up the drawer on your nightstand-" That was all the further he got as I immediately began choking on the pancake I'd been eating. If there was any justice in the world, death would take me there and save me the embarrassment. I grabbed the glass of milk on the table in front of me and managed to wash the piece of pancake down without further incident. "Can we maybe discuss something else please?" I asked as he sat down at the table with his own plate of pancakes. He nodded as he took a bite of his food. "So you said that you need the metronome for an experiment? If I may ask, what's the experiment?" His ears perked up and his eyes sparkled at the idea of discussing science with somepony. He hurriedly swallowed his mouthful of food and took a drink of his orange juice before he began speaking. "I needed it for the basic design of it. See, I modified it with a longer pendulum, a paddle like attachment, and using my magic I was able to place it underwater. I'm doing experiments on different kinds wavelengths but first I needed a physical model for demonstrating a wavelength. I actually think you would enjoy it. The tests can be applied to just about everything that occurs in waves, including sound. It's almost like you can visualize music once you've seen the experiment." He said. I silently took a sip of my milk, not wanting to say anything about visualizing music already. "I'm actually supposed to demonstrate it on Monday for Miss Cheerilee's science lesson at the school. It's a bit too big for me to move on my own. I was wondering if maybe you would be able to help me?" He seemed to feel guilty about asking me but I smiled at him as I nodded my head. "I'd love to help you." I replied and he perked up again at my statement. "You said on Monday?" I asked and he nodded yes. "What time will you be needing my help?" "I'd say around seven. Just so that it'll be all set up by the time school starts." He replied as he cut off another piece of his pancakes. "I can do seven. Just give me your address and I'll be over on Monday." I stood in front of a modest looking two story home. It wasn't flashy, it wasn't run down; it was just a plain old house. I slowly raised a hoof to knock on the door but it quickly opened up, causing me to jump back slightly. I was met by Test Tube in a grey and black striped hoodie and his hair was its usual disheveled mess. He smiled at me and waved me in. "Sorry about scaring you, but my whole family is still asleep. Try and stay quiet, I don't need any of them getting mad at me." He said as he lead me into the house. I made sure to be extra quiet while following him up the stairs and I could hear snoring from two different doors that we passed. He lead me into what I quickly realized was his bedroom. I looked around at the black walls and the many things that were strewn about the room. It was a disaster zone compared to the rest of the house that I'd seen between the door and there. The bed wasn't made, there were papers strewn about the floor, a pile of books half my height sat next to the bed, and there were cork boards on the wall with equations and diagrams tacked up. I looked over at the desk where he was standing. On the desk sat an empty water tank and the modified metronome. "You get the metronome, I'll get the tank." Test told me. I trotted over and carefully picked up the metronome before sliding it into my saddlebags. He levitated the tank up off the desk and smiled at me. "Shall we get going?" "Of course." I replied with a smile of my own. He led the way back down the stairs and to the front door. I opened the door for him and he thanked me as he trotted outside. Being behind him meant a chance to get a good view of his flank. While Test Tube wasn't the most fit stallion, something I assumed came from sitting around all day doing experiments, that's not to say he was fat. He had just the right amount of chubbiness to him that made it noticeable on his belly and his flanks jiggle a little when he walked. My face felt like it was on fire and I eventually decided to look away before anything had a chance to pop up. One thing I will admit, I enjoy getting a nice view but sometimes it can be a bit too distracting. While I had been watching Test's rump, I hadn't noticed that we had almost reached the school. Following him into the school yard, I saw the mare who had been my teacher many years before. "Rhythm, what a wonderful surprise!" Miss Cheerilee said as she descended the steps of the steps of the school. "I haven't seen you in ages." She told me as she wrapped her forelegs around me in a hug. I raised a foreleg to hug her back and we broke the hug after a few moments. "Are you here to help Test Tube with his demonstration?" Cheerilee asked me as we started to walk up to the door of the schoolhouse. "Well somepony had to be the sexy assistant." I replied. Cheerilee simply grinned and rolled her eyes as we went up the steps into the school.