jukebox hero; stars in his eyes.

Freya smiled softly, watching him with adoration in her eyes. “God, I love you.” she said softly. She picked up her glass and rose it, a bright grin on her face. “Cheers to us and our future.” she repeated.

Nate blushed, offering a cheesy grin. “I love you more, babe. More than I’ve ever loved anything, even pizza. Just don’t tell pizza that.” He teased with a chuckle, taking a drink of his wine. “How was work today, babe? Anything crazy happen?” He inquired, taking a few bites of his dinner.

Devin gave him a soft smile “well that’s very kind of you but I would need your number to do that”. He told him. “Yeah I mean it comes with a lot of bad memories but yeah”. He replied with a shrug before asking “how do you like it here?”

Lia had been playing the piano since her early childhood, it was what had gotten her famous as a child and how she’d gotten her doctorate a few years earlier, she loved the piano, and it was her biggest passion.  Eventually, she’d get her piano from back in California delivered and she wouldn’t have to be bound to the store’s hours when she wanted to play.  “Oh,” she said, blushing a bit, “well I’m glad you like it.  Typically I try not to hijack the instruments here, but once I start playing I just kind of lose track of things.  I’m Lia, by the way, it’s nice to meet you,” she said, holding out her hand.

Lia’s piano hadn’t been delivered from California yet, not the good one at least, and until it arrived, she’d stopping in at No Strings Attached every other day just so she could play for a little while.  She was happy with the new life she’d created here in Crownsville, but it was a little lonely when she only knew a handful of people, and the piano was the perfect remedy for that.  She’d completely lost herself in the music that day, trying her hardest not to think about what she was going to do when her son went back to boarding school in a little over a week, she still wasn’t used to him not being around all the time and it was a pretty big adjustment.  She’d been playing for around twenty minutes when she realized that someone was there with her and she stopped playing, “I’m sorry, I was hogging the piano, did you want to play?” 

Nate had always loved music, starting piano and guitar lessons since he was young and continued to play into his adulthood, though not as much as he would have liked anymore due to his job. However, with wedding planning in fully swing, he was hoping to get his creative juices flowing to work on his vows that he planned on singing to Freya while accompanying himself on guitar. While in the midst of tuning, he broke a string and decided to stop by No Strings Attached to grab a new pack of them to re-tune his guitar. He was wandering aimlessly around the store, playing a quick lick on every guitar or bass he came across before ending up in the piano section, following the sound of a well-tuned piano. He hadn’t known how long he had been standing near the piano, contently listening to the woman behind the keys. As she turned around, he flushed slightly with embarrassment. “Oh, no, not at all. I was just enjoying the music.”

“Good.” she smiled, pressing her head against his chest for a few seconds, smiling when he pulled the chair out for her. “Why thank you.” Freya said, smoothing out her skirt as she sat down. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise when he mentioned what he had gone and done. “You did? I’m proud of you, babe.” she smiled. “Uhm…I don’t know right now.”

He nodded, pouring them each some wine from the bottle before responding. “Yeah, I wanna pull my own weight for this thing, you know. You shouldn’t be the only one doing all the work, plus I know how busy you are. I just wanna do my part.” He smiled. “Well, if you think of anything, just let me know. I’m happy to do  whatever so we have the perfect day, when I marry the perfect woman.” He gushed, raising his glass. “Cheers. To us, and to our future.”

“It’s honestly no problem at all. I only hope if I was in that position that someone would be kind enough to help”. He replied “oh pretty much my whole life”. He said “how about you?”

his eagerness to help her was appreciated. she didn’t ask for help often and was glad it had worked out well. “you’re far too kind, i hope i didn’t ruin your day or any plans that you had .” as he made his way in a way that seemed confident, roxie realized this small town wasn’t so small, there was a lot to see. “oh it’s fine, nice to meet you though. yeah like a few weeks new…good to know that it’ll take a while to adjust .” roxie’s eyes lit up when she heard him talk about the city. “oh me too, i miss it a lot but change is good.” 

                            this town was small in population, but large within the passion of music. that community was seemingly getting bigger, and bigger. though, who the HELL didn’t actually love music ?? that seemed to be the equivalent of not liking to breathe. lennon couldn’t possibly fathom a life without melancholic chords, bopping rhythms, overloading lines of poetry that folded over melodys that you never could forget. what was the point of living if their was no music ? no sound ? no joy over the sound of a busying city, or the calm peppering of rain ? the earth it’s self made music every day, and we were just a part of the orchestra.  lips curled in an appreciative expression. lennon admired happy couples, especially when a partner cherished, and supported the others deepest passions. “ i’m sure they’re grammy worthy in her eyes. - it’s gushy, but i like the knowing. ”  it kept her warm, even though the night was comfortable.  “ i take it she can be a muse for you ? ” the sort of mush that lennon adored. living in a current self-care, self-love era of being SINGLE, len still appreciated those relationship moments that influenced music herself. 

                            her excitement over the truck starting was cleared by a relieving sigh. learning about nate was humbling. when you met kind hearted people as such, you always left feeling lighter on your feet. “ as we live and breath, we have created LIFE, you might as well be Dr. Frankenstein. ”  getting out of her car, a small nod, and a look at her own vintage beauty was taken. “ yeah, no. ”  a soft laugh, and a rubbing of her temples. ( a gesture picked up from her father. ) “ i moved here a few years ago, ”  shrug, “ nothing too exciting. i’m from chicago, and i came here with my parents and two of my siblings. - my parents fell in love with the town after some spontaneous road trip they took once, and wanted to open a restaurant here … so here, i am. long story short.  “ i still get amazed over the silence around here. i couldn’t sleep for months, because i was so used to the rustle of a city. just expecting chatter, cars, or any sign of LIFE to be going on at all times. ” 

Nate took pride in the songs he wrote for Freya. He had grown up a guitar in hand, fingers carefully plucking chords on the piano in the living room of his family home. He was constantly humming some sort of song he heard, even as a child, so his parents took notice of his love for music and got him piano lessons. He started with piano to learn the basics, though he quickly gravitated to the guitar once he was old enough to properly hold one. He was thankful for his years at the piano, keeping up the skills he had learned over the years, but the guitar would always have his heart. He loved writing songs, playing to impress his friends at parties, and it was a great stress release to wind down after a long day. “Well, thank you. That’s very sweet of you to say. I hope they are. She seems to like them. And I’m sort of the king of gush.” He admitted. “Romance is my thing.” Nate nodded quickly. “She definitely is, for more than just music. She’s my better half.”

He chuckled, “Basically. The Creature is looking pretty good if I say so myself.” Though the truck was old and often didn’t start, he loved it and tinkered with it often in the driveway. He had always liked old cars and fixing them from the ground up. “Nothing like your beauty, though. Your car is sick.” Complimented the boy earnestly, gazing over to it once more. He nodded. “I see. I also moved from the city. I’m from New York, I went to university there to become a lawyer and that’s where I met Freya. We dated for years but broke up for a bit and I came here to win her over. Thankfully it all worked out. I like the peacefulness of Crownsville, but I definitely miss the city. I’m a city boy at heart, born and raised in Manhattan. How’s the restaurant? Is it still open?”

“Oh it’s no problem at all”. Devin assured him before shutting his window and driving over to where the others car was,pulling up alongside him.

roxie gave the person who had haulted to a stop a small wave and grin. whenever she encountered people that were so willing to help it made her feel more secure about living here now and being able to hopefully make friends. “thank goodness, i was really about to give up. and yeah i’d really appreciate that so thank you so much.” roxie readjusted her tote bag and made her way next to the stranger. while she had no idea what else to say, the silence was killing her a bit. “i’m roxie by the way, new in town.”

“If there was a serial killer lurking in the shadows, I would know. I can sense things, you see” she said and winked as she looked at the younger boy. “I have always been someone who would much rather stay at home. I don’t like being out and about all that much. But I have lived here all my life”

“Well, then you’ll be doing that until death do us part then.” Freya teased him, tapping her fingers on his chest. “Hmm. I really like that idea.” she said, nodding her head. That was one thing couples didn’t do enough, in her opinion. Especially once they had kids. “No, I definitely don’t mind that.”

Nate let out a laugh, a wide smile turning up at the corners of his lips. “You got it. Forever.” The boy promised, smiling down at her. “I’m glad you’re on board.” He cooed, never wanting the romance to die between them. “Good, I don’t either.” Nate agreed before walking over to pull her chair out for her before sitting down across from her at the candle-lit table. “Oh, by the way,” He remembered. “I called some venues in town for us to take a look at, ones that can hold all the people we’re gonna invite. And I’ve contacted the local bakery about doing a cake sample, I know we’re a little far out from the date but with so much to do, I wanna make sure we’re ahead of the game. Is there anything else you need me to do?”

“Well, you’re entitled to your opinion. Doesn’t mean I agree with it, though.” she laughed, shaking her head. She hardly saw herself as a rockstar, just someone who was thoroughly dedicated to what she did. “Aww, babe. You better stick to that promise. I expect date night once a week when we have kids.” Freya said, thinking about their future. “That’s true. Our nights always seem to end in sex.” she laughed, kissing him back.

“Good God, you’re the best.” Freya smiled, cupping his face with her hands. “A rockstar? That’s a bit of an overstatement, Nate.” she said with a laugh, pecking his lips quickly. “I hope you still do things like this when we’re finally married and have kids.” the brunette teased him. “Everything? Sweet baby Jesus. Is this night going to end with some fantastic sex too?”

“I do what I can.” He smiled. “But thank you, my love.” He quickly shook his head. “Not at all an overstatement, with all that you do, you’re basically a superhero. A rockstar is the perfect term in my opinion.” Nate stated confidently, not going to let her sway his opinion. She was a rockstar in his eyes, simple as that. “I’ll romance you like this forever, babe.” He promised. “And when we have kids, once a week I’m going to take you on a date, so you always know how much of a priority our love is to me.” At the mention of what they should do after dinner, he wiggled his eyebrows, laughing. “Don’t most of our nights end that way?” He countered, quickly spinning her into his arms fully and dipping her daringly, “Tonight is no different.” Nate promised, leaning down to kiss her passionately.

Freya had had a rough day at work, going over a file for a case she had to be the lawyer for. The trial was in 2 weeks, so she was stressing over that, and planning her and Nate’s wedding was stressful as well. As she turned her key into the lock of the apartment, she jumped a little when she heard Nate’s voice. “Oh, babe.” she laughed a little, setting her purse on the counter and unbuttoning her blazer and kicking her heels off. “You didn’t have to do this.”

Nate quickly made his way over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. He hummed, shaking his head. “I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to.” He smiled lovingly down at her, “I know how hard you work kicking ass every day as a lawyer, and I also know how much work it is to plan a wedding with a full time job. You’re a rockstar and I just wanted you to know how much I love and appreciate you.” He explained to her, kissing the top of her head. “I made your favourite dinner and everything.”

The teasing was fun, and Lena simply rolled her eyes in response. She listened intently to him mentioning his love for Halloween, and she smiled. “I love Halloween, too. You do? What costumes have you done?”

Nate raised a brow as she said she also loved loved Halloween. He always went above and beyond with his costumes. “I sure do. I make them myself, too. Well, my mom made them when I was a kid, but now I do the work myself.” He smiled. “My partner and I always dress up, too. I don’t know if it’s totally her thing but she humours me because she’s the best.” Chuckling, he thought about it for a moment. “One of my favourite costumes was when I was in elementary school... My mom made me a sweet Buzz Lightyear costume. Then, I went as Woody next year. I liked Toy Story a little. What are some of your favourites?”