The radio was playing overhead as usual as a woman with short dark hair and round glasses dusted some records. Sona Greene had been working at this record store since middle school. She wasn’t legally allowed to back then, but her childhood friend’s family owned it. It had been 12 years since she started here at age 13. There was only a single teenage customer in the store looking at their small collection of tapes as if he had never seen one in person before.

               It wasn’t so much that Sona was really into music or anything she had ulterior motives for working here. Her friend, Cassie, did not have a good family situation. Even though Sona’s parents had died right before she came to work here, her situation was better than her friends. The teenage customer shook his head confused and headed for the front door. “Have a nice day!” Sona called out to him even though the door was closed by the time she finished speaking.

               The song on the radio finished as the DJ began his usual peppy banter with whoever the guest was. Sona wasn’t paying attention to the voice she heard every day as she watched her boss finally show up for work, 5 hours late. He grunted as he closed his umbrella and glared at Sona. “Hey, Greene, Did you make sure to pull the new stock out today?” She put on her usual fake smile for him. “Yes. I did all the tasks you wrote for me.” She watched him go into the back office. “The new stock was yesterday you drunk…” she grumbled under her breath.

               The man she knew her whole life came back out of the office. “Cassie is coming into the store soon. Do me a favor and tell her I’ve been here all day.” He didn’t even look at her to see her response and just expected her to comply. Sona sighed and went back to organizing some CD’s that some kids moved around earlier.

               The sidewalk outside started to get busier as people started to get off work and head home in the rain. It had been a while since Sona had seen Cassie. They had a falling out a few months back. Cassie had landed a nice office job and had lied on her application. Her coworkers believed that she was from a well off family and that left no room for a best friend who was an orphan working at a record store. She had pushed away almost everyone, so it was a big moment for her father when she came to visit.

               Sona made her way back to the register and sat on her stool as her boss paced around the store looking at his watch. About an hour passed before Cassie finally showed up in the store. Sona held back her smile at seeing her wearing what was pretty much a disguise. A large coat and hat with a pair of dark sunglasses hiding her face behind her recently dyed blonde hair. Sona looked down at the register as her friend walked to her father. “What do you want dad? You know that I have an image I have to keep now.”

               The old man smiled at his daughter before it turned into a frown. “What did you do to your hair?” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “My boss likes me better blonde. It’s for work.” His frown turned into anger. “Why are you letting your boss decide your hair color? What was wrong with your natural hair?” Sona looked up at the two of them, sensing the tension rising as usual. Cassie fidgeted with her sunglasses and looked away. “Have you been drinking again? You said you were done with that…” Her father scoffed and turned away from his daughter. “I have been at work all day. How could I possibly be drinking again?” She took off her sunglasses and glared over at her useless parent. “You are drunk. I can smell it on you.” Sona stood up as her boss tensed up and quickly turned towards his daughter.

               “Don’t you dare tell me what I am or not. You are a thankless child who won’t even acknowledge her own family for a job!” He clenched his fist and quickly loosened it. “Just ask your friend over there. I was here all day.” Cassie groaned and rubbed her forehead as Sona came out from behind the counter. “I don’t care what she has to say. You are a drunkard even if you were at work. It doesn’t mean you couldn’t drink in your office.” Sona stopped next to the register, watching to make sure nothing was going to happen. Her boss’s face changed again to one of rage at not being believed. “I AM YOUR FATHER AND YOU WILL RESPECT ME!”

               Sona knew what was about to happen but before she could react, his hand slapped across his daughters face, knocking off her hat. Before he could do or say anything else, Sona already had Cassie’s hand and pulled her out the front door of the store.

               As soon as they were outside the door and standing on the sidewalk, Cassie pulled her hand out of her former friends grasp. “What do you think you are doing?!” The short haired woman just stood there confused as she continued yelling at her. “Why do you always interfere in things that have nothing to do with you? We aren’t children anymore!” The gentle rain kept falling as people stopped walking and stared at the girls causing a scene. Cassie rubbed her face and looked back into the store at her father who was pacing and screaming. Sona opened to speak but Cassie held her hand up. “Don’t even speak to me anymore. We aren’t children so I don’t need you.” She angrily pointed at her father. “LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID! YOU ONLY MAKE THINGS WORSE!” She screamed even louder before slapping her across the face. “Get out of my life.” She snarled at her before heading back into the store.

               Sona just stood there staring at the ground, not even realizing that people were staring at her. The light drizzle of rain kept falling on her as she stood there is shock. She wasn’t sure how to react to losing her best friend completely like this. She couldn’t tell if anyone was talking to her or passing her by.

               Suddenly she smelled pizza and was pulled against someone’s chest and led to the nearby bench. There were absolutely no thoughts in her head as voices spoke to her. She didn’t hear a single word of it. The first thing she could comprehend was hearing her Boss scream for her. His voice brought her back to awareness. She realized that she was now sitting under an umbrella between two men she didn’t recognize. Her boss’s voice called for her again even louder. The man who smelled like pizza put his arm around her shoulders as the blonde one on the other side lowered the umbrella to hide them from the screaming man.

               The dark haired man holding a single slice pizza box in one hand whispered in her ear. “Don’t go back.” She recognized his voice immediately. He was the radio DJ from the show playing earlier. She stared up at him. He was much taller than she expected. The DJ turned to look around the umbrella to check where her boss was. He was asking people angrily if they had seen his employee. The blonde one holding the umbrella was doing the same while keeping it between her and his boss.

               The DJ suddenly leaned forwards and planted his lips on hers as he dropped his pizza on the ground and put that hand in her hair. Her eyes opened wide as he kissed her deeper. His friend was suddenly standing in front of them and was speaking in a British accent she recognized as being the weekly guest on the radio show. “We haven’t seen your employee. Please pardon my brother and his girlfriend. He just proposed to her and they couldn’t contain themselves.” Sona suddenly realized what was happening and went along with it. Closing her eyes and grabbing onto the DJ’s jacket sleeves as she couldn’t help but let out tears now that she was back to her senses.

               She slowly opened her eyes as the DJ pulled away gently as his friend nudged his arm because her boss went back inside. He smiled at her. “I’m sorry I did that. It was the first thing I thought of.” Tears were still slowly flowing out of her eyes as she stared at him. He wiped a tear off her cheek. “My name is Benji. Thank you for going along with that. You can hit me now if you like.” She just stared as he flashed his stunning smile and perfect dimples. She wasn’t prepared for today.