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Liam loves the record store. Even though stupid streaming is an option, he’d much rather purchase music to y’know, support the artists. Poor kids these days can’t make a living because music is 0.001p per stream, absolutely dumb numbers.
What it would seem though is that his brother who he hadn’t spoke to for almost 15 years, also really appreciates going to the record store and purchasing music to support the artists.
Liam was utterly petrified, quivering in the corner of the store which was unfortunately very far away from the exit. In his hands was a random record he picked up upon spotting his brother walking in. He had it positioned vertically and 10cm away from his face as if he had the worst eyesight known to man.
His heart was pounding a thousand beats per second and Liam was sure that it was going to explode at any second, which would certainly give his location and identity away. It was absolutely outrageous that this was his reaction after seeing his fucking brother, the person he practically lived on top of for most of his life.
Liam could only hold the bloody record in front of his face for so long and Noel didn’t look like he was planning to just pop in and back out again. His arms were beginning to ache so, he put it down and started flipping through the folk section, his back turned. Hopefully, it had been long enough since Noel had seen Liam and he wouldn’t be able to recognise him from the back. Liam wasn’t sure about that though, he recognised Noel from 15 metres away whilst he was still half blocked by the door frame.
What the fuck.
What the actual fuck, London was so mind bogglingly big and that cunt had to walk into the exact same shop he was in? Now that he thought about it though, it was surprising they hadn’t run into each other by accident before now. Maybe they had. Maybe the two of them were in another record store together but it was Noel cowering in a corner hiding behind a record. The image he conjured up of that scene calmed him down a bit. It was an absolutely ridiculous picture. Almost as ridiculous as his current situation.
Fuck Fuck Fuck. He was coming his way. Liam had absolutely no idea what to do, there was no hiding now, and he didn’t really want Noel to know that he was hiding in the first place. Actually, how amazing would it be if he just started sorting through the records and then acted completely unperturbed when Noel recognised him? That scenario was definitely not going to happen though, Liam’s breath was audibly quickening and becoming raggedy.
He looked back down to the records and started sorting through the classic rock, if Noel wanted to talk to him, he would.
Shit, what if that did happen? What if they did make amends in the middle of the fucking record store? The paps were totally gonna get them. And, Liam was also 100% sure that the moment Noel speaks or even looks at him, he’ll just burst into tears. It had been 15 years for fucks sake and he had bloody well missed his brother.
Suddenly, Liam realised he’d go home feeling very disappointed and shitty if nothing did happen. He could imagine himself lying in bed tonight staring at the ceiling wondering ‘what if he and Noel did talk in the record shop today?’
Somehow, Liam managed to summon some sort of confidence from thin air. Noel was 3 metres away from him now, still oblivious to his presence. Fuck, what if he wasn’t and he was just ignoring and taunting Liam on purpose? He decided to shove that thought out of his mind. Now was his chance.
Liam moved to the next row of records, more rock.
2 metres away.
Shit, should he think up something funny to say? Should he put on a funny voice and ask for Noel to hand him a record and then scare the fuck out of him? Should he say nothing and just get really really close until Noel gets confused and looks up and jumps out his pants? All those scenarios did seem very funny but for some reason, Liam thought comedy wasn’t the best way to go about striking up a conversation with his estranged big brother.
Liam moved to the next row, his fingers brushing over some folk records, pushing them to the back so he could sort through them. He wasn’t particularly interested in the genre, but to the untrained eye, he looked fascinated.
Liam had ceased to pay attention to the records, however, the world decided to shove fucking ‘definitely maybe’ in his face which he couldn’t help but recognise. It was in the wrong section for fucks sake, absolute jump scare.
Fuck, the urge to nudge his brother and ask him if he liked the album was so so appealing.
Maybe he should just do it.
He was going to do it, it was going to be so funny.
1 metre away.
He was going to do it. He fucking was. He was going to speak to his brother after 15 years.
50cm away.
They were going to bash into each other if Liam procrastinated it anymore. So, he lifted his arm which was actually trembling, and tapped him on the shoulder. Liam went to say the funny thing he cooked up about their album, but nothing came out. The two of them just stared wide eyed into each other for at least 20 seconds until Noel actually broke the silence.
“Hi?” Liam could already tell by the look on his brother’s face, and the tone of his voice that their stupid feud was over. And true to his previous predictions, he could feel his eyes start to well up with tears. He couldn’t fucking start crying in the middle of the record shop for fucks sake. This was gonna be a disaster for his image.
Finally he managed to say something back.
“Hi” His voice broke even on the single syllable and now he wanted to cry even more because Noel was smiling and also looked like he was about to cry.
“We need to get out of here.” Noel whispered with a deep voice but not without a hint of excitement.
“Yeah.” Liam replied, it was the only thing he could cook up in his very overwhelmed brain at that moment.
“Pub?” Noel helpfully suggested, smiling through the word.
“Yeah.” Even after all these years, Noel knew him all too well.