⌜ chapter seven ⌟

"Alright, can you straighten up—"

"Done." Letty says as she puts more film in her camera.

"You don't even know what I was gonna say." Tyler argues.

"I straightened all the shelves when I got here, and we've only had two customers since." She tells him. "They didn't screw anything up because they didn't buy anything."

"And you straightened up behind the counter?"

"Mhm."

"And this is why you're now harassing me with that stupid camera?" He quirks an eyebrow, and she smiles as she looks at him over the device that's driving him crazy.

"Well, it's kinda hard to be sad when I'm bugging you. You're my emotional support Tyler." She tells him, and he narrows his blue eyes at her. "Like a dog. Only I don't have to clean up after you... That, and Alec said that I can't have a dog."

With that, Tyler walks away to find something to make her do while she takes pictures around the shop. He doesn't understand what she's doing, and she doesn't care what he thinks. He ignores her when she takes a few pictures of him, but then her lens is suddenly blocked by two twenties.

"Go down to Chubbie's, get us some dinner." The older boy tells her. "Take your time."

"This is too much for food from Chubbie's." She says as she takes the cash from between his fingers.

"I don't care — it's an early Halloween bonus. Get out."

"Well, that's rude." She mutters as she stuffs the money in her back pocket. "Luckily, I don't care, and I like money. What do you want?"

"Burger, fries, soda."

"Could you possibly eat more like a hunter?" She questions.

"Didn't say anything about beer." He says, and she tilts her head to the side in half shrug, knowing that that's actually a pretty good point.

"Be back in half an hour."

"Make it an hour."

"And I thought Reggie was the— Hi. Welcome to Price's Bookstore." The brunette greets the two teenagers that just walked in. "Feel free to look around. If you need any help, the guy right over there in the red t-shirt will be more than happy to answer any questions you have."

"Thank you." The older woman walking in behind them smiles at her, and then she heads out of the shop to walk over to Chubbie's.

She's walking down the steps into the restaurant when she hears a female voice singing. "...for listening to my songs, and only taking two calls. And I'll try to be more edgy, but I can't right now 'cause I'm looking at a...dandelion." She's playing a guitar as she sings in one of the booths.

"What kind of drugs do you think she's on?" A familiar voice asks as he walks up behind Letty, having just gotten to Chubbie's as well.

"I'm thinking pot. I get serious hippie vibes just lookin' at this girl." She says, and Danny chuckles.

"I forgot you were funny, Black."

"Yeah. Well, I didn't forget that you're an ass, Sommers." Letty says as she looks up at him. "No girls to terrorize tonight?" She asks, and he sighs.

"Listen, Scarlett—"

"Ooh, you know, after hearing that question—" Tyler gets their attention as he walks down the stairs. "—I'm thinkin' get lost."

"And who the hell are you?" Danny questions as he looks up at him.

"My older brother's friend." Letty tells him.

"See ya." He walks past her and goes to find his friends.

"What are you doing here?" The brunette asks as Tyler walks the rest of the way down the stairs to where she's standing.

"I've got a book on hold for that family, and nobody else was in there. Figured since I was a dick to you because I was in a bad mood about sales, I could at least come down here and not let you eat alone." He says. "They've got a pool table here, right?" He asks, and she nods.

"Yeah, and a dart board."

"Alright, cool. You wanna grab a bite and then play whichever one opens up first before we head back to the house?" He asks, and she nods.

"Yeah, we can do that." She says, and they walk over to the counter to order.

Letty's ordering her food, and her voice catches the attention of Eric, who's sitting at the table with the girl who was singing before. He turns and looks up at the brunette as she then reaches for Tyler's right hand. The Price boy glances at her as he places his own order, but otherwise ignores her as she looks at the ring that he's wearing on his middle finger.

Eric hates watching her as she fidgets with another guy's hand, her eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. Tyler snaps, literally snapping her out of her daze, and she then uses the money that he gave her to pay for their food.

"Hey, give me my change, you little punk." Tyler says, but she quickly walks away from him.

The girl with the guitar is too busy plucking the strings to realize that Eric's not paying any attention to her. He's still watching Letty as she walks backward, holding the money out toward Tyler, who's shaking his head at her childish actions as he follows her to a table. They sit down in two chairs across from each other, and then Letty notices Eric.

Her eyes flicker between him and the guitar girl and then she looks down at her hands as they rest on the tabletop. Tyler glances over his shoulder, and Eric makes eye contact with him before quickly returning his attention to the girl sitting across from him. The older boy faces Letty again, and then starts up a conversation to distract her.

A little while later, Tyler's walking back over to their table with their food when the guitar girl starts singing again. Eric sits up in his seat, obviously just as annoyed as everyone else in the restaurant, though he's trying to be nice to her. Letty looks over and sees the tower of fries that he built, and she takes a deep breath as they listen to this girl sing.

"Oh, you. Oh, you. I'm glad I know you, and I'm glad you know-ow-ow me too." People get up to leave as she continues singing. "We'll never get the flu, and go achoo-choo-choo."

"Okay!" Eric quickly reaches across the table and grabs the neck of the guitar, successfully putting a stop to her annoying songs.

"I guess he can't do any better than you." Tyler says, and Letty smirks as she shakes her head at his comment.

"Hey, if she sticks around, can we raincheck on that game of pool?" The brunette asks.

"Hell, yeah." He nods, and she chuckles. Eric starts yelling for a check, and Tyler looks over at them. "Alright, you know what, let's just get the hell out of here before one of them goes postal on the other. Grab your burger, and we'll eat on the way home."

"Yeah." Letty nods, and they get up from the table. Eric looks up then and sees the two of them heading out of the restaurant.

—

Letty and Tyler are working in the bookstore, and he's got the radio on as they sort through books in different aisles. The brunette's humming along to the song that's on as she climbs the ladder to get to a higher shelf.

"You're tuned in to FM-109. Well, if you thought Alanis held a grudge, you ain't heard nothing yet." The announcer for the station is saying. "Her name is Corinna, and she's real angry at some pitiful creep named Eric Matthews. This one ought to be on the charts for twenty years."

Tyler walks out of the aisle that he's in and looks at Letty as she looks down at him. "Your ex and the freak from Chubbie's last night?" He asks, and she shrugs.

"I'm guessin'."

"Hey!" Reggie yells as he rushes into the store to find his best friend's sister. "You — tiny and angry." He holds a CD out toward Letty, and she takes it from him after she climbs down from the ladder. "Track two."

"Eric Matthews, You're So Vain You Probably Didn't Know The Song Before This Was About You."

"You think Alanis can sue?" Tyler asks, and the others chuckle.

"You can't make this stuff up." Letty shakes her head. "Though if something like this were gonna happen, and so fast, it'd definitely be to Eric."

"This doesn't bother you?"

"That he broke up with some insane girl?" She shakes her head. "No. I say good for him. Smart move."

"I don't know. I mean, those crazy ones— Ow!" Reggie glares at his older brother, who punched him after Letty started walking away from them.

After work, Letty heads over to the Matthews' house to talk to Mr. Matthews, but she walks into the living room and finds his wife and Cory instead. "Hey, Scarlett, how are you doing?" She asks as she looks at the brunette.

"I'm alright. I was hoping to talk to Mr. Matthews. Is he home?"

"Not yet, sweetie, but you're welcome to wait for him." She tells her as the front door opens.

"Hey, now I'm a maladjusted, woman hating, loser freak." Eric says as he shuts the door behind him.

"Huh. I must've lost that memo when we were together." Letty says, and he looks at her.

"Hi."

"Hi." She offers him a small smile. "You cut your hair."

"Uh, yeah — got a trim anyway." He nods, and she takes a deep breath as she looks at him.

"So...that Corinna chick came out with another new song, huh?" She asks, and then Morgan walks down the stairs singing.

"He's a loser freak, loser freak. He's a maladjusted loser freak. He's a woman-hatin', maladjusted loser freak." The little blonde takes off her headphones as she looks at Eric. "I can't believe you're my brother. Ew! No wonder Scarlett broke up with you." She says as she then turns around.

"Morgan!" The brunette yells, but she just keeps walking out of the room and into the kitchen, still singing the song. Letty shakes her head as she looks back at Eric, taking a step toward him in the process. "You are none of those things. And anybody who knows you, knows that."

"This is your fault." Eric tells her. "You told me to move on. So, I went out with a girl who was totally opposite from you, in every way."

"Meaning I'm sane, and she's lost her marbles?"

"She was perky and saw the good in literally everything."

"Yeah, you're right. That sounds nothing like me." Letty mutters as she looks down, and he sighs as he walks over to her.

"That's not what I meant." Eric shakes his head. "It came out wrong. I—"

"It's okay, Eric. I get it." She tells him. "I'm not Little Miss Sunshine, I don't live on cloud nine...or in blissful ignorance." The brunette says, seeming mildly amused as she thinks back on the girl from the other night, and then Morgan makes her way back into the living room.

"And he doesn't like girls. 'Cause he's afraid of them, afraid of them. I think he likes boys, if you know what I'm sayin'." The little blonde heads up the stairs, and Letty rolls her lips over her teeth to keep from laughing.

"If it makes you feel any better, I can't escape the songs either. Reggie keeps playing them on the speaker system at the house." She tells him as the front door opens again, and Eric turns to see his dad walking in.

"Ah, Eric. You remember that girl who was playing guitar in front of our store?" Mr. Matthews asks his oldest.

"No." He says sarcastically.

"Uh, well, um..." He starts fidgeting with something in his jacket pocket. "She's looking for you; she gave me this." He hands him a folded piece of paper.

"Ah, she wants to meet me later. I bet she wants to apologize." Eric says after reading the note.

"Or she ran out of material." Letty says, and he shoots her a dirty look before leaving the house, going back out the front door.

"Alan, Scarlett wanted to talk to you." Mrs. Matthews tells her husband.

"Yeah, uh... Asking Eric's dad for a favor after what just happened doesn't really feel right."

"Nonsense." Mr. Matthews shakes his head. "What do you need?"

"Well, Tyler can't afford to have me working more than a couple days a week, so I was hoping that I could work for you as well. Mrs. Matthews mentioned that you were thinking about hiring me, and I was hoping that the offer was still on the table... Maybe on Eric's days off, if three minutes ago was telling of anything." She says, and he nods.

"I could use some extra help around the store." He tells her. "Let me just go over some things, and I'll let you know in the next couple of days."

"Great, thanks." She smiles, and then excuses herself.

A couple hours later, she and Tyler are heading into Chubbie's when they see Eric with the girl who apparently hates his guts. "Should we just leave now?" He asks as he looks at the brunette.

"And show up back at the house without Reggie's food?" She raises her eyebrows, and he nods, knowing that she's right about that being a bad idea.

"I'm surprised you had the guts to show up." Corinna's saying to Eric as the other two walk past them.

"I'm surprised you're out when the sun is up." Eric retorts.

Letty and Tyler are playing darts, waiting for their food to be ready, when they hear Eric and his crazy ex singing a song from Annie. They look over, and Tyler shakes his head when he sees them putting on some weird performance on the other end of the restaurant.

"And you dated that?" He questions, and Letty punches him. "Ow!"

"Keep it up, and I'll throw a dart at you next."

"Aw, you love him." He reaches over and pinches her cheek.

"Stop touching me." She swats at his hand, and then their order's called so she shoves him in the direction of the counter.

"You're adorable when you're cranky." Tyler chuckles, and she rolls her eyes as she follows after him.