FULL CIRCLE

O1.

🎶 Now playing: Sunshine by Cleo Sol.

The morning sun lit the shop up lightly as Antonio opened the blinds. With a melody stuck in his head, he hummed softly to match it with a miniature head bop. Almost 3 years after having graduated, he still couldn't shake the feeling of dissatisfaction off. Most people would tell him how decent he turned out, being the owner of the music store everyone loved, considering the small city they resided in. Most people considered him to be well off, especially with his father being a known businessman.

After flipping the open sign he headed to the safe and back to the cash register to prepare for the day. A smile plastered on his face as the woman dear to his heart walked in. "Good morning baby," Ms Maya joyfully said as she headed to the store room to put her things down. "Good morning mama, you're in early today, I told you I'd open the store." Antonio replied as the smile on his face refused to disappear.

Ms Maya used to babysit him when he was younger and practically took over once his mother passed. He considered her to be his mother and many would agree that she did a great job raising him. It was unspoken that they were the best of friends on top of the great respect and love he held in his heart for her.

"Two pairs of hands are always better than one. Did you close the books like I asked yesterday?" She fixed her cat eyed reading classes as she skimmed through the books. "Yes ma'am. We've got inventory coming in today so I'll do some stocktaking later on," Antonio spoke as he turned the music on, Blxst softly playing in the store. Music kept him going; he was passionate about it and hoped everyone would hear his records someday.

"You know, we should train that Luna girl, she's been here for some time and she's the only one who hasn't done the store's cash up. She needs to learn." Ms Maya replied in deep thought as she held her pen to her Ruby red lips.

"I hear you, I'll get Jonah to train her since I'll be busy with the stock," Antonio would exchange looks between Ms Maya and packing some new headphone boxes onto the shelves. "Are you staying over tonight? You know it's always awkward with just me and Pop..."

She looked at him and saw the sadness that he tried to conceal. "You clearly need some meat on them bones so I'll be over there to cook y'all a nice dinner." She replied to cheer him up.

"You're right, I need to put on some muscle... and I could never say no to your food." Antonio spoke up as they shared a laugh. The bell on the door went off to alert them that someone had entered the store. "Good morning Ms Maya," Justine greeted warmly as Ms Maya returned the greeting with a sly smile. She placed the box on one of the cashier counters with a signed invoice. "Hey baby..." her hands snaked around Antonio's waist as he somewhat crumbled at her touch. He turned around to hug her and resisted her kiss, noticing the small glares out of the white cat eyed reading glasses that sat on Ms Maya's graceful face.

"My bad," Justine giggled softly. "Some new stock came in. Is that all we're expecting for today?" She asked as her hands moved from his waist to intertwine with his. "A couple more boxes, I'll be busy in the store room all day..." He sighed.

Antonio and Justine had been on and off since college but you could say in they were currently in a relationship. They both felt like they needed each other to pass time and not necessarily because of their true feelings. Living in such a small town meant settling; it was a common mentality for most of them. So they just settled for each other. Justine didn't really work at the store but she would help out where she could and just hang around for the sake of being around her man.

If anything, Ms Maya considered her to be a distraction for Antonio but always kept mum with her opinions. At the end of the day, they were all adults.

"How about we go back there so I can help you out?" She softly said, never failing to captivate him with her gaze and seduction. Antonio tucked his bottom lip in between his well structured teeth as she led the way into the store room.

After an hour or so, Justine rushed out of the storeroom and dodged Ms Maya's stares, heading out. The person she paid mind to came out about ten minutes after. Antonio paused in his tracks and turned around hurriedly to zip his pants up properly. A few customers had been parading around the store and shopping.

"Antonio baby, let me ask you a question?" Ms Maya spoke up after kindly sending a customer off. Without taking his eyes off the invoices, he answered so that she could proceed. "Why are you with that girl?"

Antonio's gaze found its way back to Ms Maya. They always had open conversations in the store because customers would be too occupied by the new equipment or instruments, whatever the case.

"I mean, we've been together for a while now so I'm not sure I understand your question mama?" He walked over to where she was, filing the papers neatly. "You guys have nothing in common, you're lustful towards each other and that's about it." She expressed honestly as his train of thought wandered off again.

Why am I with Justine?

"I just want you to be careful, that's all. Roman was outside looking for you, I'm sure you'll still find him smoking that stuff of his." She said as Antonio walked out of the store to greet his friend, shaking his head jokingly at her comment.

"Only 9:30, can you believe it?" Roman said as he lit his blunt up. "Time moves slow when you aren't living your best life..." Antonio replied more to himself as he stared into the distance with his arms crossed.

"What's up with you man?" Roman asked as he offered Antonio a blunt he rejected. "I don't know bro... I've just been thinking a lot about where I am in life versus where I want to be, you know?"

Roman shook his head, relating deeply to Antonio's statement, but chose to be optimistic. "We just have to keep pushing bro, ain't no other way around it." He replied back only for them to stand in silence, looking at the park across the street and just general people watching. "In other news, I saw Justine earlier on, where she headed?"

"I... I don't know. We actually didn't get a chance to speak, now that I think of it." Antonio replied, only to end up watching Roman roll up another blunt for later. As usual, Antonio would stand quietly and just observe his surroundings, while being deep in his head. His eyes would follow the joggers casually, one after the other and on to the next, but he found himself staring a little longer this time.

The Nike running shoes on her feet, black tights and matching cropped shirt, her caramel skin, all the way up to her short hair that was pulled back. The girl kept a steady pace as she went off into the trail.

"Man, who is that?" His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he tried to comprehend the feelings he'd just experienced.