Page 115 of Something Rad
“Lunatic,” I muttered to myself as I stood back up.
I started to shove the cassette back into my backpack, but I hesitated, flipping the tape over to look at the back side.
“You have work today, right, hon?”
I startled at my mom’s voice, looking up to see her applying her mascara in the mirror next to my doorway, dressed in her work uniform.
“Yep, like always,” I nodded.
“Alright. Well, be safe. There’s leftover meatloaf in the fridge.”
My brows pulled together, a memory instantly popping into my head of Robbie saying he’d expect my favorite food to be meatloaf. I still didn’t know what I thought of that.
“Okay. Thanks, Mom,” I replied.
“Sure, hon. Well, I’m off now,” Mom said, dropping her mascara into her purse. “Have a good evening. I won’t be back until late. Love you.” She moved away from the doorway, heading for the front door.
“Alright, love you too,” I said. Then, something pushed my feet forward. “Hey, Mom?”
“Yeah, hon?” she questioned, spinning to face me with her hand on the door handle.
“Do you mind if I borrow your Walkman?” I asked her.
“Oh,” she said, her brows pulling together. “Sure, hon. Of course. It’s in my nightstand in my bedroom.”
“Cool, thanks,” I smiled at her. “Have a good shift.”
She tossed me a wink before walking out of the door.
I quickly found the Walkman right where she said it’d be, and attached it to my hip before sliding the Journey tape inside and placing the headphones over my ears. I needed to clear my head, and cleaning always helped me to do that. I decided to start in my bedroom, pressing play on the tape.
The first track caught me off guard as it began, the fast-paced addictive melody instantly putting me in the zone. As much as I mentally tried to fight it, theSeparate Wayssong sucked me in, and, before I knew it, I had cleaned every room in the house from top to bottom and listened to the entire album two and a half times through. I ended up continuing to listen as I got ready for work and even ended up taking the Walkman with me for my walk to Groovy Movie.
By Sunday evening, I knew the album front and back, and by this morning, as I was snagging the Walkman from my desk after failing to convince myself to leave it at home, I was cursing Robbie Summers for being right about something.
I loved it. I loved the entire thing. I couldn’t get the songs out of my head. Even the one from his car that I had tried to change,Faithfully. I might have truly deserved that flick after all. That song is a religious experience. I have chills all over my body just thinking about it now
It took everything in me not to use the Walkman in the halls during the passing periods today where I cross paths with Robbie, or at lunch while I was studying at one of the tables out in the courtyard while he was tossing a football around with some of his basketball teammates. I knew he’d ask questions, and I was not prepared to admit defeat.But now…
Well, he’s not here now, is he?
A mischievous smile comes to my lips as I pull the Walkman out of my backpack. I hook it onto the front pocket of my jeans, sliding the headphones onto my head as I make my way back into the library. I weave my way through the rows of bookshelves, finding the full book cart I previously abandoned back here when my mind was too all over the place to focus and I put four books in a row in completely the wrong spot.
I weave the fingers of each of my hands together, stretch my arms over my head.
Well, we’re not gonna have that issue now.
Book cart, prepare to meet your maker.
I hit the play button, and the intro theSeparate Waysstarts flowing through my headphones.
Game on.
I start putting away books like it’s nobody’s business, my head bobbing along to the music. As the song builds, so does my pace. I feel like I’m stuck in a trance, totally alone in my own world as I put away book after book, barely needing to glance at the covers before I’m already drifting exactly towards where they need to go. The further into the song I get, the fancier I get with my movements, doing a little shimmy as I slide the book on to the shelf or adding in a little spin as I’m turning corners of aisles.
By the second chorus, I’m fully using the library as my dance floor, my eyes half closed as I sway my head from side to side, mouthing along to the lyrics that are basically imprinted on my brain at this point. I start to question if I’m going crazy when the lights of the library suddenly seem like spotlights between the bookshelves, and IknowI’m crazy when the blurry image of Robbie leaning up against a bookshelf and grinning at me flashes through my mind mid-spin. The moment I’m back forward, facing the bookshelf, the chorus hits again, and I throw my head back, bobbing it back and forth, whisper-shouting the lyrics into the silent space.
“Someday, love will find you! Break those chains that bind you!”
