Charley's Girl [OPEN]

[Aurora Jane Bates]

Rory leaned against the bookcase behind her with her feet up on the counter of The Sound Room, arguably the greatest job she'd had since moving to Manhattan two years ago at age 18.  She'd been a restaurant hostess, a coffee shop barista, front desk receptionist at a health club, and a nanny. The restaurant was snooty, the coffee shop hours were way to early in the morning, health club was boring, and Rory still nannied the same seven year old girl 2 days a week after school.  Now Rory was working here along with her part time nanny gig, and was running a fairly lucrative etsy store.  It helped that rent was cheap, for now.  As she turned the page of the graphic novel she was reading, Kick Ass it was today, she heard the bell of the store ding letting her know a customer was in.  She was supposed to say "Hi, welcome to the sound room, is there anything I can help you with?"  but Rory hardly glanced up with a, "Hey..."  "Hello," she heard an obviously British accent respond, and Rory glanced over the pages, "I heard you had vintage clothes here, is that right?"  Rory blinked back at Rosie Madison, or was it O'Reilly now? and brought her feet back down to rest on the stool she was sitting on, "Yeah, we do, all of our vintage apparel is upstairs.  Everything is priced as marked, unless its from the 70's, then its 10% off today."



Rory wasn't usually one to become star struck, not when you lived in a city that was crawling with celebrities, but still you would think running into them would happen more often.  It really didn't.  Rory leaned back in her seat again as Rosie headed up stairs and spoke to someone else who had come in with her that Rory hadn't noticed at first.  As she picked up her phone to text Jo, she identified the other person as Ethan Fox.  Rory knew who he was.  She'd seen the Hunger Games, and The Last Song.  He was dating Natalia Richmond, Rory wondered if he thought his fiance was as bonkers as everyone else did.  Still, he was looking through the records, reminding Rory that she hadn't even noticed she needed to flip over the one she had been listening too.  70's was 10% off today, so listening to a Lou Reed record from 1975 seemed fitting.  She reached over and flipped it, settling back in as the music started again and decided to let Ethan Fox peruse the records in peace.  Hot damn, he was hella fine though.  Especially in person.  Rory casually glanced over to where he was, checking out which albums he was looking through.  

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan sighed as Rosie decided she just needed to look at some vintage clothing. Because apparently the surplus amount of clothes she had in her closet wasn’t nearly enough. He stepped inside the store, listening to a mixture of Lou Reed and Rosie in the back ground talking to the clerk before disappearing off. There was a time when Ethan would follow her to help her pick out clothes. But now she was married and pretending to care about fashion had sailed its’ course. Ethan looked over his shoulder, the selection of albums catching his eye as he strode over. He reached up, grazing his fingers against the scruff that had appeared as a result of him forgetting to actually shave for the past couple of days. Ethan bit at the edge of his lip mindlessly as he picked up a few selections, placing them back carefully as he changed his mind on a few selections.

A smile spread across his lips slowly as he saw the top of an album and picked it up, turning it over to look at the back. Ethan gave himself a slight nod, almost confirming that this is something he wanted to purchase. He wasn’t done looking but he wanted to know if it would work well or if it would skip. Shane would surely get a kick out of this. Ethan walked to the back of the store where a young woman seemed to be working. “G’day,” he said in a quiet greeting before he turned the vinyl record to show her. “ Lou Reed is lovely, but do you think it’d be possible to get a quick listen to make sure this works? It’s for a mate,” he said, offering the album over to her. Ethan waited a moment for her to put it on before he tilt his head over his shoulder to gesture for her to get it up. “ Alright love, come on with it,” he said, taking a slight step back. This wasn’t a song you couldn’t dance to when you heard it. Even if you were just doing ridiculous 70s dance moves.

[Aurora Jane Bates]

Rory had all but forgotten for a good five seconds that there were famous people in the store when she opened a box that needed to be priced and got distracted by the good quality Steve Miller Band and a disappointing vinyl of JayZ.  Why would anyone want that?  When she heard the other accented voice speaking to her, Rory looked up to find Ethan Fox asking her to play something and showing her an Earth Wind and Fire record.  Not exactly what she would have imagined was his taste but hey, people had their quirks and Rory had seen people buy weirder things.  She almost snorted out a laugh, offering him a genuine teasing smile, "Sure it is.  Give it here."  Rory took the record out of the sleeve and put on on the player in place of Lou Reed, "One of my number one suggestions anyways, it's why I have 3 copies of Fleetwood Mac's Rumors.  They all skip some place different..." she mused as the music started up and she sat back down, eyeing him with a sideways glance.  She would love telling Jo about this later.  

She looked back up at him with a blank stare, was he being serious?  Yes he was.  "You're messing with me."  She stood up, pulling her shorts down that had ridden up, "Sure, I'll dance. How could I possibly turn down such a polite request," she joked, as he hadn't given her much choice.  She was half expecting someone to pop out with a camera.  "But I'll have you know I am a champ at wedding dance moves."  She would definitely have to tell Jo later about her dance off with Ethan Fox at work today.  Maybe she'd tell Jo he was shirtless just for the hell of it.  "Is that really all you got?"  Rory laughed, but admittedly he was not an awful dancer, at all actually.

Outfit

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan gave a lazy shake of his head with a smirk as she suggested that he was messing with her. He stepped back with his arm stretched out, wiggling his hand in a motion for her to come on out. How fun could it be to work in a place that had fun records if you didn’t dance every now and then anyway? “Ah, you can turn down many requests. This is New York and quite frankly people are strange.” he said, offering her a broader smile as she stepped out front. He jokingly shook his shoulders out in a dramatic way before stretching his neck out. Thinking back on all of the dance moves that he and Shane had displayed to this song at Rosie’s wedding, he stepped side to side before starting to move his head and shoulders in rhythm along with the music, knowing that he looked horribly tacky. But at least it was the theme of the music. “ Undoubtedly you are a better dancer than my brother in law,” he mused with a smile at her.

Ethan reached down, gripping her hand before he used his strength to spin her around quickly. Wrapping his free arm around her lower back he pulled her up closer to him, keeping his other hand around hers as he brought it up to their side and started to move his hips along to the music. Ethan closed his eyes, tilting his head back as he tried to sing in a higher pitched voice jokingly. “ Aaahh say that you remember, dancing in September… Never was a cloudy day,” Ethan smiled as he looked down at her, stretching his arms forward so that they were apart and then pulled her to both sides before draping his arm around her lower back and tilting her back. He smiled as he pulled her back to her feet, noticing for the first time that she really was a pretty girl. Plus, judging by her style she had a great taste in music.

[Aurora Jane Bates]

"People ARE strange!" she agreed, wholeheartedly, today he might even have made the list of strangest, but it occurred to her that it wasn't strange for a normal person to joke around with a stranger.  He could just be a normal guy, maybe he ate Cheetohs too and watched superhero movies.  And actually he was a great lead, speaking of his dancing.  Rory mimicked his style of dancing, appropriate for the song choice, without reserve, "Maybe your brother in laws pants are a tad too tight."  Rory did love a guy who could dance.  She loved to dance.  She couldn't keep the smile off her face when she was dancing and she knew it.  She loved it when a guy was a good lead.  Rory laughed when he started singing, she may have even joined in but started cracking up at his singing because it was cringe worthy and perfectly acceptable.  

But he was also strong and assertive, and when he dipped her by surprise and then pulled her back close she felt butterflies all in the pit of her stomach.  Goddammit.  She wasn't allowed to develop a crush on him, it was the biggest dead end road if there ever was one.  It was a fantasy even if he were single, but he was engaged, so she needn't start dreaming about Ethan Fox.  She felt herself blush just slightly at acknowledging her own thoughts.  She knew it was stupid to think that he was this unattainable celebrity, because clearly he was just a normal guy trying to have some fun on a day off, but she also refused to let herself think she could pursue anything the way she might if he were Joe Schmoe who had walked through the door.  She glanced up at him as the song came to an end, "Well surprise, surprise, you don't suck at dancing.  Who would have known?"  Rory stepped back slightly, "I'd say it's a keeper.  That song alone does it for me," she joked. 

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan gave a hearty laugh as she suggested that Shane’s pants were too tight. “ Not tight enough apparently,” he mused to himself at the thought of how he kept knocking up his little sister. But yet, he kept his smile as he danced, glad he hadn’t frightened her away. Sometimes it was nice just to forget about living up to whatever perception people thought he should be living up to and just enjoy moments, like this one. In his line of work it was rare to find real and genuine friends, but he had been fortunate to find Dan, Rose, Meredith and Declan. Shane was beyond friends now, he was family for life no matter what happened. He took a slight step back after the song ended, giving her some space incase she decided he was one of those actors who was in fact an absolute nutcase. Or maybe she thought he was gay.

“ Alright well clearly you’ve got a great taste in music then. Mind helping me find a couple of others? I’m sort of scrambling for gifts for some mates. It seems kind of cool to give vinyl’s to people who already have most of everything they could want or need..”[/]b he said quietly, before lifting his eyebrows. “ Wow, that was really..douchey.” he said with a quiet laugh to himself. “ I apologize. But um,.. I do know specifically I am looking for “ Africa” by Toto for a mate of mine. And then if you could help me pick out some others..” he said with a lift of his eyebrows in hope that she would help him out since Rosie seemed to be still trying on clothes.

[Aurora Jane Bates]

Rory shrugged when he mentioned her taste in music.  She supposed most people would agree, she just liked what she liked.  And she liked older music.  She nodded about finding some other things for him, smirking at his douchey comment after he apologized, "That's okay, I understand.  My mom already has everything pampered chef that could ever exist.  Now we just buy her candles at Christmas," she shrugged.  "Ummm, Toto....."  Rory spun around toward the far end of the store.  She knew the place back to front and upside down.  She pulled it out, noting it was in fairly good condition, "Feel free to throw that on the player too.  What else exactly are you looking for?"  Those were kind of two different kinds of songs, she was gonna need a little more to work with.  

That Rosie had been upstairs for some time and technically it was Rory's job to go up there and do the whole customer service thing but... wasn't she helping by keeping Ethan entertained?  She waited to see if he had any thing more specific to look for, adding, "You're really tall in person.  Do your feet hang off the bed?"

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan gave an amused expression as she said that her mother owned everything Pampered Chef. He wondered what it was like to have a nice mom. He watched as she headed off to look for the album and casually followed her along, trying to get a quick glance at what else the store had to offer. There were clothes upstairs, albums down. Maybe there were some other neat little finds in the store. If Shane and Claire’s relationship had taught him anything it’s that little treasures were where you least expected them ; whether it was finding your soulmate while babysitting or her wedding ring in an antique shop. “ Ah, brilliant,” he said as he looked at the album, making his way over to the player since she had given him permission. He was about to answer her question on what other sort of music he was looking for when she noted his height and how he was tall in person. “ Dan is not,” he quipped quickly. But when she questioned about whether or not his feet hung off the bed he jokingly cast an offended expression. “ That’s a bit personal isn’t it?” he mused before offering her a slow smile. “ I suppose it would depend whose bed I’m sleeping in,” he said before switching out the Toto and the Earth, Wind and Fire vinyls.

“ Alright,” he said, putting his hand together as he came to look back at the records. “I actually need a few more. I have a friend, Dan, and he is um.. well he’s a straight man to his girlfriends’ weird. I also have another friend who is dating a Latina.. and he is Italian. So if I could find some vinyls of maybe like.. Frank Sinatra.” he said before making a face. “ I have no idea on Italian and Spanish music. You’re the expert, right? Apparently all I’m good for is reaching things off the top shelf.” he said before smiling in her direction. “ Alright you asked a personal question about my height,” he said, squaring off his shoulders as he crossed his arms and looked at her, trying to think of a question revolving around hers. “ Are you allowed on rides at theme parks?”

[Aurora Jane Bates]

Ethan joked that her question was a bit personal but she remarked quickly, "Only if you take it personally."  She flipped through a few albums casually, adding, "So your feet hang off Dan's bed.  I understand," she teased, placing her hands on her hips.  He was really making her do her job today.  She wasn't complaining all too much.  "Ok so... straight laced classic, we're talking Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger classic?  Ooh John Mellencamp though..." she thought out loud as she started looking, "Frank Sinatra is over there, second shelf from the wall.  Next to that rack of Beatles 45's."  She thought for a second... Italian guy dating a Latina girl... it couldn't be really, she was thinking too much into it.  Still though, "You could always grab some Selena," she laughed.  

Rory knew there was a great Bruce Springsteen album on the top shelf of this one case, and it was fine because all the shelves were bolted to the wall.  She didn't weigh too much.  As long as her boss wasn't here she usually just climbed the shelves because, short people problems.  She gripped the shelf and pulled herself up before climbing up to the next one, and then the next reaching for the album she wanted, and Ethan asked her if she was allowed on rides, "Only with a guardian that meets the height requirement, says the girl who has to climb shelves to reach things" she said in mock seriousness.  She had the album in hand and began to climb down, harder going down than it was up.  "All these gifts for other people, what about yourself?"

[Ethan John Fox]

“ Dan is actually an extraordinary cuddler,” he chimed from experience. “Maybe John Mellencamp or Bruce Springsteen,” he agreed, thinking that sounded like a really good fit for Dan. He nodded to himself, thinking this would make some nice little surprise gifts. Ethan made his way over in the direction that she had pointed him out too and started looking for the Frank Sinatra. “ I don’t know if that is even Spanish enough for her,” he joked about her suggesting that he get Selena. Ethan looked through the Frank Sinatra collection, picking out the one that he thought would be most suitable for Jake before he turned and made his way back toward the girl who was becoming more and more helpful by the moment.

Ethan looked as she started climbing down and shook his head, trying not to laugh at the fact that he could probably just stretch his arm out easily to take the record off the top shelf. He had set the Frank Sinatra vinyl on the counter with the others so for now his hands were all free to cross his arms against his chest. “ A gift for myself?” he questioned with a lift of his eyebrow. “ I think that’s a bit self indulgent. I don’t need anything, I’d rather get stuff for my friends,” he said honestly with a slight shrug of his shoulder. ‘I’m not really a vinyl guy myself, anyway. My sister is into the hipster thing you’ve got going on ..well, hers is like a … “ he said taking in a deep breath while thinking “Hipster goes to an All Time Low concert dressed as a model and comes out with the lead singer look..But .. she’d like your little hipster thing. It’s charming.”

[Aurora Jane Bates]

Rory nodded smartly when Ethan said he would rather buy things for other people, "Well someone's been eating a slice of humble pie," and headed over to the register as it seemed he had all that he was looking for already.  She was a little sad to be ringing him up soon because that would mean he'd be leaving soon too.  Though Rosie hadn't been down, obviously he would wait for her.  Rory began adding up vinyl, listening to Ethan talk about his sister.  Yes she was certainly a different breed of hipster.  Rory laughed out loud when he said that she, Rory, was charming and mentioned her 'little hipster thing'.  Admittedly Rory was probably labeled a hipster before people had a term to start using.  "Hey back in the day, I think they called it unique," she smiled, shaking her head.  no she wasn't typical, she knew that much.  Never had been.  She'd always been drawn to paths less traveled and items least examined.  

Rosie had finally come back down carrying a matching pair of shorts and blazer jacket.  Rory had been eyeing them for a while, though they probably looked stellar on Rosie.  "Did you find everything okay?" Rory asked as she finished bagging up the albums.  "Oh yes, everything is just darling up there, you probably have such blast working here..." she trailed off, digging around her purse for her wallet.  "Some days are more fun than others," Rory added, glancing at Ethan with a small smile.  

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan placed his hands in his front pockets , looking up as he heard Rosie coming down. Of course she found something. His smile grew as he watched his friend walking down, “ I actually found some stuff for the guys,” he said, thinking she would be just as surprised that he was buying something from here as he was himself. Ethan looked down at Rosie starting to go through her purse, even though he already knew he wasn’t going to let her pay for anything. Ethan lift his eyebrows looking over at the girl, “ So I do need one last thing. What’s the best thing in the shop? If you could only pick one thing….. what would it be? Can I see it?” he questioned as he looked over at her.

Ethan looked at Rosie, giving her a quick smile. “ One more minute, love,” he said, patting Rosie on the arm before he moved past her to go find what was the girls favorite thing in the shop. “ My name is Ethan by the way,” he said, looking over at her. Even if she knew who he was, and by the way she was talking about Shane it seemed like she did, it still felt like it was the polite thing to introduce himself. Besides, if he introduced himself she was more likely to introduce herself. So really, it was a win- win all around. Ethan brought his hands out of his pockets, looking over his shoulder to find that Rosie had occupied herself again, seemingly putting her wallet away incase she found something else she wanted to buy while she was looking around.

[Aurora Jane Bates]

Rosie had gone and found herself looking around downstairs seeing as Ethan was still finishing up with his purchases and left her things on the counter.  Rory thought for a moment when Ethan asked about the best thing in the shop.  "If I could pick one thing?"  Rory thought about that.  There was all the vinyl she could ever want.  The clothes upstairs that were to die for, for someone majoring in fashion at NYU.  "Well... there is one thing that I think is cool."  Rory started toward the stair case with a key ring in hand, leaving Rosie down stairs.  Rory glanced back at Ethan who was following her, and had introduced himself.  As if she didn't know who he was, probably just being polite.  "Rory," she responded in acknowledgement of her own name.  At the top of the stairs there was a glass case and inside was a photographers bag that had been given to them with a vintage camera in it and multiple lenses.  It was honestly a priceless item.  

Rory unlocked the case and took the camera out, handing it to Ethan, "One of the best cameras ever made.  Came with all the lenses.  A priceless item, I don't know how my boss ended up deciding on a price."  Rory couldn't afford it but if she could pick ONE thing, it'd be that camera.  "It's pretty weird to think how people put filters on all their pictures to mimic the kind of image a camera like this produces.  Hipster movement," she laughed.  People were always trying to bring old things back, but no one actually wanted the old items, but they were gems in a treasure trove.  "Maybe you have a friend that likes photography?"

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan took a step back from the counter, following the girl over to the staircase. He held his hand onto the railing, looking over his shoulder to make sure Rosie was still occupied before he continued to follow the girl, who he now knew as Rory. “ Is that short for something?” he questioned as he reached the top level. When they reached the staircase, he looked inside of it, placing his hands in his front pockets again out of habit. “ That there?” he questioned, taking one hand out to point at the camera. He leaned down to look at it. “ And it works?” he asked as he cast a look in her direction. “ I know someone who could get some use of it, yeah. I’ll take it,” he said, not explaining any further before he began to head back downstairs.

“ Rosie, are you ready?” he questioned, seeing if she had anything else that she had decided she needed. Ethan licked his lips, placing the clothes she had picked out on top of his vinyl records and waited for Rory to come back down to ring everything up. “ Rory, this is Rosie. Rosie, this is Rory.” he said with a quick smile in order to be polite. “ You’ll probably be seeing Rosie a lot. Now she’s found a place that she probably considers a hidden gem,” he said with a nod, taking his wallet out so that he could pay for everything on the counter.

[Aurora Jane Bates]

Rory shook her head playfully when he asked if her name was short for something, "Not anything of importance."  Aurora.  She hated her name sometimes.  It was frilly and old fashioned and gave Jo an excuse to call her sleeping beauty, courtesy of her hippie parents.  She was lucky her name hadn't been Rainbow or Tiger Lily or something.  No, Aurora was bad enough.  The only person in New York that knew her name was Aurora was Jo, who actually started calling her AJ sometimes.  Ethan said he knew someone who would get use of the camera and Rory nodded, "Oh cool.  It works great, I'm sure they will."  Well, her boss would be happy to see that it sold.  Rory wished she could have bought it.  

Rory headed back to the register to ring everything up, seeing Ethan pile all their things together and smirked, ringing it up together and told him the total.  "Nice to meet you," Rory added to Rosie who smiled and said she would definitely be back sometime.  She also scoffed playfully at Ethan who had paid for all of it, but that apparently was the type of guy he was.  Rory supposed if she had the money she would do that too sometimes.  It wasn't so much pretentious as it was a nice gesture.  "Well, thanks for coming in, come back anytime.  We get new stuff weekly..." she added to Rosie who was probably mentally committing the entire place to memory.  Rosie said thanks and headed for the door, and Rory was genuinely sad to see them go.  Well, to see Ethan go.  He'd been really normal.  And fun.  And insanely attractive.  She'd be telling herself for a straight week not to develop a crush on someone that had a fiance.