Her smile faltered a little when she spotted the glare on his face at the fact that she’d moved the chair out of the way for him, and she hoped that hadn’t been presumptuous of her to do. She just figured it’d be easier, not taking into account that he many not have wanted her help, and averted her gaze down to the table guiltily hoping that he wouldn’t be upset with her. While she thought it was just the polite thing to do he might feel differently, and she should have thought about that beforehand.
Luckily he didn’t seem upset, at any rate he didn’t say anything, though he did seem vaguely disinterested in the conversation at hand and she shifted in her seat awkwardly. He clearly knew Billy, that was obvious now, given the glances he was throwing in their direction and the blunt way by which the boy in front of her responded, and she figured they were just good friends. Joe and Levi teased each other in a similar way all the time, though, so maybe they were related, but she didn’t much feel like asking.
He’d missed her question as his attention had been quickly turned to the man at the counter and she sat quietly until he turned back to her, answering with a casual shrug and stating that he wanted to be a ‘piano man’ and she gave him a small smile. “I suppose so, tha’s what I’ve heard anyway.” she said, wondering if he had someone in mind that he wanted to impress and that’s why he’d called for a lesson. “I don’t see why not. Everyone likes music, righ’?” she said, recalling Alice talking to her for a solid half hour once about how Jay played the guitar and following it with a hasty ‘whatever, though’ once she spotted the look on Ailene’s face.
It startled her slightly when he suddenly let out a laugh and she watched hesitantly as he instead asked her if she could play. “Well, yeah. It’d be a bit shite of me t’put out flyers sayin’ I could teach if I couldn’t actually.” she said slowly, a slightly questioning look on her face, though she perked back up when he smiled at her across the table. She liked to think that since Clint she’d gotten much better at reading people, she enjoyed being friendly but there was a part of her also looking out for any red flags, but Chase was different. She didn’t see red flags but she couldn’t really get a read on him either, she wasn’t sure whether he’d laugh or frown or even what he might say to her next and she wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“Oh, I mean, y’don’t have t’do tha’. S’alright…” she said, trailing off when he snapped his fingers and called to Billy with what she could only assume was an insult given the way he was glowering at Chase over the counter, and she gave him a shrug when he glanced in her direction, not quite sure what to do with herself.
“Uh, if y’had any music tha’ y’wanted t’start with I can get some sheet music if y’want?” she said after a moment, turning her attention back to him and giving him a small smile.
Despite his wish to stay as condescending and awkward as possible, the corner of Chase’s mouth quirked upwards at Ailene’s comment about the flyers. In truth, he hadn’t expected her to curse. Maybe it was the cheery attitude and bright blue eyes, blown wide open like they had been drawn by some kids’ cartoonist, but he’d thought she might be the kind of person who’d gasp and touch a hand to her chest if she ever heard any sort of foul language.
“Yeah, it would be a bit shite,” he mimicked, trying his best to nail an imitation of her accent and failing miserably, probably insulting the whole population of Ireland in the process. His poor and potentially offensive effort wasn’t something he was ready to apologise for though.
“I’ll bite though,” he nodded. He was sure that any other possible candidate for a piano teacher would have been scared off long before they’d had the chance to sit at a table and talk things through. Ailene had looked nervous initially, but now a happy smile had plastered itself across her face. Or maybe she was just a good actress. In any case, she didn’t smell of musky perfume and a cigarette filled bingo hall, so Chase decided she would do for now.
Her reassurance that she didn’t need to call on one of A Novel Idea’s employee was lost amidst his obnoxiously clicking fingers. He continued to snap insistently at Simon who peered at him gormlessly for a moment, probably wondering why Chase was calling on him instead of wheeling his chair behind the counter and making the coffee himself, like Billy had explicitly told him not to do before. He ignored the dirty looks that his cousin continued to send him. After all, he was only following Billy’s rules, just maybe in less of a polite way than the bookstore owner had hoped for.
When Simon hurried over, pen and pad in hand to take their orders, Chase simply screeched an ‘AMERICANO WITH SIX SUGARS’ at him, delighting in the way the man’s face morphed into one of complete distress. Simon’s eyes darted between Chase and Billy before he sighed in resignation and tucked his pad back into his apron and presumably figured it would be best for Billy to decide how many sugars were appropriate for the smug boy sitting there.
Before, Simon could pull away though, Chase snapped his fingers once more.
“Aaaand the lady,” he said, pointedly before tipping his snapback in Ailene’s direction.
“What are you having? My treat,” he grinned. He knew Billy would be completely frazzled to hear about Chase’s uncharacteristic display of chivalry and that alone was worth forking out the three dollars for a coffee that would probably end up filled with salt instead of sugar if Simon Hudson was the one making it.
After finally allowing Simon to scurry away, he raised an eyebrow at Ailene then considered her question. He wasn’t actually sure what sort of music Lena Proctor would like, but he figured it was a niche sort of taste given how picky she was about everything else in life. He blew out through his lips and figured he’d need to get Chet and Trent to look into that for him before his next lesson with Ailene. For the moment, he was happy to meddle with her some more.
“Do you have sheet music for Hotline Bling?” he asked her, the smile on his face intact even when Simon came hurrying back over with their coffees and quickly set them down. Chase wasn’t sure he wanted to even attempt and try his.
Instead, he used one hand to drum out a rhythm on the wooden table top, while the other reached out for a teaspoon. He clenched it in his fist and raised it to his lips like he would a microphone and began belting into it.
“You used to call me on my cell phone, late night when you neeeed my love,” he sang loudly, attracting the attention of the rest of the shop’s patrons. Chase may have been gifted with an ear for a good beat and tune to go with it, but his own singing voice left a lot to be desired. He continued to garble on with the song regardless.
“And I know when that hotline bling, that can only mean – take it away, Piano Girl!” he instructed, pointing the teaspoon in her direction and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
origamiaround
areudirty
pixelskylines
kianamaiart
gracieabrams
tangentwithtanner