It was her favorite thing to do.
She would spend hours running her finger through the paper covers of records, both new and old. Flickering through brand-new ones, still wrapped in plastic, and old ones that held history in each of their tears.
The only thing she liked looking at as much as the collection of records was the young boy who seemed to be working every time she walked in.
He would catch her eye. She would catch his.
Every time, discussing the latest news.
"The Eagles are getting back together," she would say.
"They've been saying that for years," he replied.
This record store was the kind of record store that also had a small collection of books. He would always be quick to point out the new ones when they arrived.
"How good do these old pages smell?" he said while smiling.
"Like I'm being transported back to a simpler time. That, and pumpkin. I smell a bit of pumpkin," she smirked.
They would laugh as they looked through old vinyl for hours, changing out the black discs for new ones on the record player that stood just behind the checkout desk.
"You know what would make this store perfect?"
He didn't.
"If the records were on display in the order of color instead of name!"
He thought for a moment, smiled, and nodded, but later said he disagreed.
She held up a Moody Blues record, smiling, knowing she wanted it, but it wasn't the right time.
In the end, this one wasn't for her. She waited until sunset and the calm settled. She left the store with a smile, saying she would return, but didn't.
She loved him, but she could never get over the suspicion that he was just her favorite thing in the store.