It was the first time in a while that Sarah indulged herself with buying something for herself. There were several things the young woman wanted to actually have. A new CD was one of them.

The music store was quiet, probably due to the early hour. The store had just opened an hour before. The teen at the counter was almost asleep, not that it bothered her any. The quiet was good for her. Now all she needed was to find the CD she wanted.

"This place needs better organization," she muttered to herself. "Third rack and I'm finding soundtracks in the hip-hop area. This is going to take a bit."

And so she began searching for her desired CD once again. There was no way she would be asking the teen at the counter for help. He had already glared at her when she entered. Though she had been rather cheerful.

Kara didn't often find herself looking for music in stores. She usually browsed iTunes for new songs, and if they were sorely overpriced, she'd just pirate them off the internet. Music stores were almost totally out of the question. Too many people in waaay too close a proximity, with low shelves that prevented easy access to hidey-holes in case of emergency. Too many creeps, nowhere to hide. Too many creeps, nowhere to hide.

That sentence set itself on repeat as Kara stared into the music store.

She'd been avoiding going in for a while now. She'd wanted to get here immediately after the little store opened, to avoid the usual influx of people that Murphy's Law dictated would show up soon if not now. But in her panicked state, she'd gotten lost on the walk over, until she'd arrived half an hour late. Then she'd spent the other half-hour wringing her hands, pacing nervously up and down the block, and even walking around the block a few times, trying to tell herself that it wasn't worth the new Uh Huh Her album. But every time she talked herself out of it, she remembered that iTunes had decided not to carry it, presumably to save room for another copy of the Eminem single. And since her go-to pirating website had been SOPA'd and PIPA'd into the ground, she was stuck in the lukewarm mid-morning air, wringing her hands and listing all the reasons why it most certainly would not be okay.

"Come on, Carragail," she muttered to herself, fixing her bobby pin for the fifth time. "The sooner you find that album, the sooner you're out of there."

She glanced at her reflection in the store window. Jeans, check. Converse, tied. Jacket, still buttoned over her plain black shirt. Hair...well...

'Come on, Kara! It's pinned out of your eyes, what more do you want!?' she mentally told herself

She half-heartedly poked at the horribly-brushed black mess.

'GET A MOVE ON ALREADY!'

"Okay, okay, fine," she muttered to herself. Looking at her reflection, she straightened her jacket and said, "Any last words?" She took a deep breath, ground her eyes shut, and with a terrified, "I really hope this is worth it!", she charged around the corner and stumbled into the music store.

The place was empty. Well, empty save some woman browsing through CDs and the kid manning the counter. And to be fair, the kid manning the counter didn't even count, seeing as he looked like he'd been napping for a while. So it was just the strange 20-something to worry about.

Kara immediately beelined for the section labeled "U-V", whereupon she started frantically scanning artists.

Usher, U2, Unicorn Table...

"Come on, Kara. In and out. In and out," she muttered under her breath.

Unified Theory, Metallica, Unlimited Natio...wait...Metallica?

Kara grabbed the Metallica album off the shelf. What was Metallica doing in the U section? Looking around, she noticed even more alphabetizing mishaps.

"Oh, God," she muttered to herself. "This is only gonna take forever."

Sarah looked up briefly to see a teenaged girl walk into the store. After she got a good look at the girl, she went back to her search for her desired CD. After a moment she heard the girl complain about the organization. Looking over her shoulder, the woman spotted the teen at a rack she had already looked through.

"Whatcha looking for?" she asked, trying not to wake the sleeping teen at the counter. "That rack is about the best here. Though it's missing a whole bunch."

The woman made her way over to the girl. If the girl was lucky, Sarah might have already spotted the CD. If not, they could work together to sort through the racks. It would be a win-win for the girl. With a shrug the human woman wondered if the girl had other plans for the day.

"Whatcha you looking for?"

Kara immediately and instinctively whizzed around, wide-eyed and clutching the Metallica album in front of her as if it were some kind of shield. Some kind of four-inches-square shield, that was made of weak plastic and filled with half-rate metal music from the 90s.

Hey, a surprised, panicked Kara is not thinking clearly.

However, once she saw that it was just the harmless 20-something she noticed earlier, she relaxed a little. A little. Meaning she gingerly replaced the Metallica album into the closest spot (which certainly didn't help the alphabetization problem), never once taking her eyes off the woman, who was already fast-approaching the danger zone.

"I...um...uh..." Kara stuttered to herself, literally to surprised and panicked to speak. She instinctively grabbed for her anxiolytics, but realized that she still had yet to find them. And all the while, a little voice in the back of her head murmured, 'Too close, too close, too close...'

"That rack is about the best here. Though it's missing a whole bunch."

Kara slowly nodded, petrified out of terror. But slowly, she managed to swallow enough fear to talk coherently. "Um...yeah. That and it's all out of order. And...um...just a new album...from a band I like. You?"

She breathed a mental sigh of relief, before gingerly taking a couple steps back to keep the stranger out of the Danger Zone. It didn't hurt to be a little careful.

Sarah noticed the girl's fear and stopped walking, letting her decide what the safe distance would be. The fear was obvious. The teen was holding a CD in front of her as protection. The brunette recognized the signs easily.

Her reply to the question was kind of sweet. She didn't give a lot of information but the brunette wouldn't force her. Instead she smiled softly hoping that the girl wouldn't be afraid again.

"Maybe I can help you find it. I've been looking for about twenty minutes now. Maybe longer. I might have spotted it," she told the girl softly.

Sarah looked over to the sleeping teen and rolled her eyes. Two people in the store and they could easily steal anything. Not that they would, but if someone happened to come rob the place he would probably sleep right through it.

The minute the stranger stopped moving towards her, Kara let herself relax some more. There was no deadly intent here (so far), and `she seemed pretty respectful of personal bubbles. She probably just didn't know that Kara had an exceptionally large personal bubble.

Probably.

"Maybe I can help you find it. I've been looking for about twenty minutes now. Maybe longer. I might have spotted it."

Kara nodded slowly, processing this turn of events. On one hand, two pairs of eyes were a lot better than one, especially in a place as badly organized as this one. And it'd be good to at least pretend that the only other person in this accursed place was more intent on CD cases than on her (again, the person behind the counter didn't really count). And who knows? Maybe this person would be a nice, lifelong friend.

On the other hand...

Um...

"Okay," Kara muttered. "And...didn't you say you were...you know...looking for an album too? Maybe if we...you know, knew what we were both looking for...maybe we could cover more ground? I'm looking for an album called...um...Nocturnes...by Uh Huh Her."

>>"And...didn't you say you were...you know...looking for an album too? Maybe if we...you know, knew what we were both looking for...maybe we could cover more ground? I'm looking for an album called...um...Nocturnes...by Uh Huh Her."

Sarah frowned as she thought back to all of the CDs she had looked at. Had she seen something like that? It didn't sound familiar.

"I don't think I've seen it so far. I am looking for my own though so I may have missed it," she answered. "It's called The Strange Case Of by Halestorm. I've already looked in the H's. That's when I started looking through all the racks."

The brunette looked away from the girl to the store front. There were people walked past the doors, most of them adults. Who she figured were on their way to work or some other engagment. A glance at the counter told her the boy had started to snore. The brunette rolled her eyes at him. Some people's kids.

"Where do you want to start?" she asked as she took a step away from the girl.

"I don't think I've seen it so far. I am looking for my own though so I may have missed it. It's called The Strange Case Of by Halestorm. I've already looked in the H's. That's when I started looking through all the racks."

Kara nodded quickly, thinking hard. She hadn't seen that album. To be fair, she hadn't so much as thought about looking for it, but still.

Then Kara saw the stranger looking at the door. She immediately began to panic. Her brain went on hyperdrive. What was she looking at? Was she giving some kind of signal? Was she trying to feign Kara into looking away so that she could...do...something...?

Kara breathed an annoyed sigh, mentally cursing herself for being such a paranoid nut job.

A loud noise behind her made Kara jump, turning her head so that she could see where the noise was coming from. And behold the wonderfully glorious sight of a sleeping punk teenager, who was loudly snoring his way right through a customer service fiasco waiting to happen.

She breathed a long sigh of relief at the observation.

"Where do you want to start?"

The stranger's voice cut through whatever panicky thoughts were undoubtedly going through the teenager's mind at the time. And...Kara couldn't help but notice that she took a step back as she did so. What was that for?

"Why don't we start on either side and work our way in?" she blurted out without thinking. Immediately, she regretted it. What if the stranger was offended by the notion? Did she suddenly think that Kara didn't like her or something?

She immediately made her best attempt at recovery.

"If that's...um...okay. You know...with you."

>>"Why don't we start on either side and work our way in?"

It seemed like a good enough idea. Sarah briefly, and mentally, figured out which girl should start on which side. She had already looked through the side the other girl was on, so it would be a good idea for a fresh set of eyes now that there were two different CDs to be found.

>>"If that's...um...okay. You know...with you."

A soft smile flitted onto the twenty-three year old's lips. Poor thing seemed so scared and uncertain.

"It sounds good to me. Why don't you start here and I start on the other end? That way if I did see your CD, and just don't-" A loud snore broke Sarah's train of thought. She had to fight with herself to keep from glaring at the poor boy. Finally she finished her thought. "-don't remember, you have a chance of finding it. How's that sound?"

"It sounds good to me. Why don't you start here and I start on the other end? That way if I did see your CD, and just don't--don't remember, you have a chance of finding it. How's that sound?"

Kara nodded, slowly beginning to slink towards the nearest end of the shelf. "Sounds good," she muttered in confirmation. "I'll just...um...get started then." And with that, she turned around so that she could actually see where she was going before she tripped and embarrassed herself.

It was a little dark here in the back of the store. Not too dark to make the teenager unable to see, but definitely not something to read by. She honestly didn't know why this store kept their lights so dim. Honestly, the place was only reasonably lit because the sun was at a good angle. Kara quickly made the assumption that the dim lights had something to do with the sleeping teen behind the counter.

Straining to read one of the CD cases, she vaguely made out, 'The Alchemist.' Shaking her head, as if telling herself it was incorrect, she attempted to move on to the next one, which had an especially fancy font that made her slightly dizzy.

'Okay, this isn't working,' she thought to herself. Then, out of the blue, a truly bright idea popped into her head.

Quickly glancing around to make sure no one could see, she faintly illuminated one of her fingers, just enough to help her read if she held it close to the case. She had to force it a little bit, but she still got it working.

Suddenly, one of the CDs caught her eye. She immediately dashed over and snatched it off the shelf. She stared long and hard at the cover art, and made out the word Halestrom, but couldn't see any other text.

She held it up over her head and loudly whispered to the strange woman, "Hey...um...you. Is this right?"

Sarah let the other female go to her side of the store. Without another word the brunette started searching for the two CDs. She had found 'The Killers', 'Toybox', 'Cher', and 'Bon Jovi', among others, in the wrong places. As she traveled down the racks, she had picked up a basket --Why a CD store needed a basket she'd never know-- and was putting all misplaced CDs in it.

If she passed the place, or general area, the case belonged in, she would place it there. It was a slow process that had her wondering why she was doing it in the first place. Then she remembered: she had worked at a music store for some time while in high school and college. 'Old habits die hard,' she sighed.

>>"Hey...um...you. Is this right?"

"Sarah," she gave automatically. Being called 'you' was not something she liked.

Then she paid attention to the question. In the girl's hands was one of the CDs Halestorm had put out. She knew instantly that the case in her hands wasn't the one she wanted. While it was the same artist, she already had that one.

Shaking her head she began to speak. "It is the same artist, but that's a slightly older CD. The one I'm looking for is gray in color, I think. And the words 'The Strange Case of' is on it. I'm sorry, I don't have a picture."

"Sarah." The woman's response was sharp, immediate, and...was that a hint of annoyance, or was that Kara's brain playing tricks on her again? Kara assumed it was simply her brain and nodded. Sarah, Sarah...she mentally processed the name.

'Sarah and Kara went into a store,' her brain began to rhyme.

Thankfully, the stran--Sarah, interrupted her thoughts before her brain could write any more of that little jingle.

"It is the same artist, but that's a slightly older CD. The one I'm looking for is gray in color, I think. And the words 'The Strange Case of' is on it. I'm sorry, I don't have a picture."

"It's fine, it's...fine. That helps...a lot, actually." Kara's response came stumbling out of her mouth. She was just saying it to be polite, but it was partly true. This made her life a lot easier. Now she could almost go browsing through the CDs by color as opposed to straining to read every single freaking tidbit of miniscule text. And she could rule out all the ones with wild, zany colors and pictures on the fronts.

Kara went to put the Halestrom CD back, but then she paused.

And thought...

Finally, curiosity got the better of her. "Um...what...what kind of music...do these guys do? Halestrom, I mean. What genre?"

>>"It's fine, it's...fine. That helps...a lot, actually."

Sarah nodded and went back to sifting through the CDs. She had picked up a few more misplaced cases when the girl had spoken up again.

>>"Um...what...what kind of music...do these guys do? Halestrom, I mean. What genre?"

She paused as she thought about how to answer her. The band was one that her brother had gotten into and forced her to listen to hours of. Some of the music was heavier than others, but there was one genre they all fit in.

"They're a rock band. Some of its heavy. Others are little on the scream-o side. All of it is rock. Lzzy Hale is the band's singer and only female," she answered. "What about Uh Huh Her?"

"They're a rock band. Some of its heavy. Others are little on the scream-o side. All of it is rock. Lzzy Hale is the band's singer and only female."

Kara grimaced and set down the album. She'd never been a fan of hard rock or scream-o. She'd heard some band in that genre...Escape the Fate or something similar. She was stuck wringing out her ears and brain for a very long time afterwards. After that, she just never had a taste for anything similar.

Again, though, curiosity kicked in, and she reached back for the album. And again, she retracted and moved on. $12 was too much for a band she probably wouldn't like. She'd just youtube them later or something.

"What about Uh Huh Her?"

"Oh...um..." she thought about it for a bit. How would you describe them? She explained the first thing that came to mind. "Um...two girls...electronica...kind of like The Pretty Reckless...if it were raised by Metric."

Kara blinked.

Mentally, she facepalmed. 'Oh, Kara, tell me you did not just use that explanation,' she thought to herself. 'Why don't you just hire a skywriter to say, "Look at me, the indie hipster music nerd!"'

'It could be worse,' she thought back. 'A lot worse.'

Then Kara realized that she'd just been standing there still for the whole ten seconds it took to have that mental conversation. She started to apologize, then stuttered, then burst out into a nervous chuckle, before finally stammering, "I...I'm sorry. That--Those were really obscure references."

Satisfied with her apology, she nervously re-lit her finger and returned to scanning shelves, blushing slightly.

>>"Um...two girls...electronica...kind of like The Pretty Reckless...if it were raised by Metric."

Sarah nodded. That sounded kind of interesting actually. She liked The Pretty Reckless. They were a pretty good band. The lead singer was the little girl in the Grinch movie. Metric was a band her mom listened to a lot, so she knew that one too.

>>"I...I'm sorry. That--Those were really obscure references."

"Hmm?" Okay, so she hadn't been paying a lot of attention in the last ten seconds. She had been thinking of how the two bands would have sounded combined. "Oh, actually it wasn't that bad of an explanation. I know both bands, the last one rather reluctantly though. All-in-all, it sounds like a good group. I'll probably listen to them some time." Probably not until another free day came up, but she'd try to remember.

The brunette had looked up to see a small glow coming from the girl's area. Though she wrote it off as a cell phone. It wouldn't have surprised her if the teen was using one to see the cases. She herself had trouble reading the names. Maybe she should carry a small flashlight with her.

After a long silence, Sarah spoke up. Silence was not fun, especially when you had a snoring teen in the background. "What other types of bands do you like?"