Work was both a blessing and a curse. It offered him a distraction and a way out of his apartment, but the hours felt longer. He kept checking his watch, expecting his shift to be over, only to realize twenty minutes had gone by. Time was weird. Halfway through his shift, control of the tape deck was wrested away after he subjected everyone to The Bitterest Pill by the Jam. Depression wasn’t good for sales.

So now it was Depeche Mode. Happy people bought things, or so his boss insisted, which was confusing because every time Brian spent too much it was because he felt like shit, but he wasn’t going to argue the point. So People Are People pumped from the speakers and his boss pretended to spin records behind the cash register. Slow night.

He looked up from organizing a row of cassettes. From way his face brightened, Holly was a welcome intrusion. “Hey.” He shoved Madonna’s lace corset into the rack. “So what, I’m not worth getting elbowed in the face? I’d take an elbow for you.”