whenshewasnice | A Record Store in Seattle, Friday Afternoon

Current Mood: anxious

Entry tags:

A Record Store in Seattle, Friday Afternoon

Natalie had received a voicemail earlier today. Of course she'd listened to it all immediately. 'If you don't see me before you leave at the end of the summer' wasn't the kind of thing that made her want to wait. And it had been much like she'd expected. A goodbye, just in case.

Afterwards, she'd been angry and worried.

Actually, she still was. But she was soothing her nerves with a trip to her favourite record store. It wasn't her fault it happened to exist in Sam's universe. (Well, yes it was, but.) Sam didn't even know she'd been here before. A few times. This place was hers, a safe haven for when she wanted to disappear. And since she had no way of helping Clint out with whatever trouble was happening, she'd decided to disappear and deal with her worry on her own.

Checking out some late eighties reprints of Jefferson Airplane albums was perfect therapy.

[ooc: NFB, but open for calls/texts/random Seattle encounters, idk.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Haley didn't often come to this particular record store but she'd been feeling bored with the other one so she was. She'd been looking through some vinyl records of some metal band when someone familiar caught her eye.

She walked over and blinked a few times. "Natalie?"

Not everyday you saw your brother's ex-girlfriend in the city you lived in.

No, it definitely wasn't every day, was it?

Natalie hadn't been expecting to hear her name spoken here. The people behind the counter hadn't met her that many times yet. So, it took her a second to look over, and when she did, she looked surprised.

"... Hi, Haley."

"Hi," Haley said, tilting her head and looking surprised herself. "What are you doing in Seattle?"

She didn't think it had anything to do with Sam but who knew with them.

It was always about Sam a little bit. Even if it was just that she felt comfortable in his city.

"Looking at records."

She wasn't so unsettled that she couldn't fall back on some laconic replies.

"Yeah, I see that," Haley said, snickering. "But, in Seattle? Isn't this a little far away from you?"

"A little." She'd admit that much, because it was a little obvious. Although portals made the distance pretty relative. "But I had the time."

And an anxiety driving her.

"Does Sam know you're here?"

Well, it had to come up eventually.

"No."

No point in trying to lie about that, was there? She would've been found out as soon as Haley talked to Sam.

"...are you going to tell him?" Haley asked, tilting her head.

Natalie shrugged a shoulder. "I wasn't planning to, no. Big city. Room enough for both of us."

"But -- "

Haley was torn between sibling duty and not wanting to get involved.

"This is weird."

It was.

Natalie let go of a breath, while holding back an eyeroll. "I know." Really, she did. She looked down at the records. "That's kind of a thing between me and your brother."

"Well, he's weird by default," Haley said fondly. "But, I like him that way."

"Yeah, me too," Natalie replied absently, half to herself. She was looking at the records but not really seeing them. "I just don't feel like he needs to know my whereabouts anymore."

"Even when you're very obviously in Seattle, of all the places to be?" Haley asked, raising an eyebrow and brushing some hair back from her face.

Natalie glanced over again. "You sounded like him just now." She lifted her shoulder. Another vague shrug. "I'm not anywhere near the estate."

There were worse people to sound like, Haley decided. Sam wasn't so bad.

"No, you're not," Haley agreed. "To be honest, Natalie, this is a strange record store for you to be at. It's in Seattle where Sam lives and I'm just surprised. No offense, it's just strange."

"I dated Sam for a year, I didn't think anyone expected me to be normal." Tried for a dry joke there. She wasn't sure how successful it was. "But I happen to like this place. It soothes me. And their selection is good."

"You've been here before?" Haley asked, raising an eyebrow again. "And Sam needed someone not normal to be with. I was sad you broke up with him."

Because she'd made Sam happy.

Her and everyone else, it seemed.

Natalie wasn't going to even comment on that. "I've been here a few times, yeah."

"Did Sam bring you here?" Haley asked because she was still trying to figure out Natalie's angle.

Oh, good luck with that, Haley. "No."

"How did you even find this place?" she asked curiously.

"Came to Seattle and walked around aimlessly for a while."

She could've blamed it on some internal radar for record stores, but the truth would have to do.

"Three or four months ago."

"And you're back."

Obviously.

"In Seattle. Where Sam lives. But he doesn't know. Because you're not dating anymore. Confusing."

"I've been back before." Not that that made it any less weird and confusing. "Our lack of dating doesn't mean I've blacklisted places in the world and can't go there anymore. Especially places I liked."

"I didn't say that but, if I remember Sam correctly, you broke up with him because he was too far away but you're still spending time here?"

Did she have that right?

"Like I said. Confusing."

She was just gonna judge the both of them.

And Natalie was going to give her a dry look for it.

"Once every month and a half or so isn't really that often."

"Pretty often," Haley said, almost smirking at the look she was getting. "You found anything good here?"

"A Nancy Sinatra best of," Natalie offered, shrugging. "And some peace of mind."

One of those things was more important than the other.

"What's the peace of mind about?" Haley didn't have many boundaries.

Natalie wasn't entirely surprised. She returned her attention to the records. Or at least pretended to.

"A friend's in trouble," she replied mildly. "And there's nothing I can do."

"You could be optimistic and think that things will turn out okay," Haley suggested. "Think good thoughts and all."

Natalie gave her... kind of a withering look, for that one.

"I didn't say I wasn't doing that."

She just had her own ways of dealing with this sort of thing.

Haley wasn't fussed by that look. "You're not the optimistic type."

Call her crazy, but she didn't really give that vibe off.

"How would you know?"

There was no bite to her words. They were just dry and mild.

"Intuition," Haley retorted immediately. And maybe a little input from Sam.

"Uh huh," Natalie drawled. "And that intuition in no part has a name like Samhain, either, I'm sure."

"You dated my brother for a year," Haley said, letting her tone get as dry as hers. "I can make some observations of my own, you know."

"I guess." Natalie's tone was rapidly going back to just plain mild. Neutral. "You have the ability and the right."

Maybe she just wasn't feeling like having an argument with her ex-boyfriend's little sister.

"I'm sorry about your friend," Haley told her sincerely. "I hope he or she gets back safely from whatever they're doing. Sam did. And he's hopeless."

"Whereas Clint's a professional," Natalie replied. Half muttering the words. "So I don't think he leaves the kind of messages he did lightly. But it's just a waiting game now, I know."

"I can take you to lunch, if you want," Haley suggested. "I know some good places."

Natalie raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you about twelve?" No, no she was not. And Natalie knew that. "You're not taking me to lunch. But I can come with you."

She took refuge in semantics when she was stressed. Deal with her, Haley. It could have been much worse.

"I'm not twelve," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "And you know what I meant but I know you're difficult."

She smiled.

"And yes, Sam did tell me that." She started for the door.

Natalie rolled her eyes as she followed, but didn't say anything.

The bittersweet LaCroix annoyance/fondness she felt probably went without saying.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A Record Store in Seattle, Friday Afternoon

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject