Chapter Text
1, 2, 3, 4 — Ingrid shouted before playing her guitar in her garage. A completely teenage scenario when it doesn't mention the fact that:
1. The house belongs to Ingrid herself, meaning no parents can get in the way of rehearsals, but also no snacks to be offered.
2. She works full-time in marketing for a company, is a photographer in her spare time and also has a cover band that plays at bars on the weekends.
3. She's really good at playing the guitar, that's what she always says.
Right after the song ends, Ingrid places the guitar on its stand and drinks a glass of water that was on the old coffee table that was greased in that garage.
— Can we play One Way or Another later? — Asked the Norwegian, tying her hair after putting the glass of water back on the table.
— We rehearsed this one 3 times today, isn't that good enough? — Asked Frido jokingly. — I swear if I sing any more I won't have the voice for anything else next week.
— I think we can stop for today, huh? — Asked Patri, the drummer.
— Okay, you won, so what are you doing tonight? — Asked Ingrid while tuning her guitar.
The friends' band was called Women's on Fire, in Ingrid and Aitana's minds it was a reference to the band The Runaways, which they both listened to a lot when they met, where It all started in college. At first, they would just meet up in each other's dorms, Ingrid with her guitar and Aitana with the bass. Ingrid would sometimes play a little, but even though she had a very beautiful voice, she didn't dare to sing in public. It was the search for a vocalist that led them both to Frido, who was studying art history at the time.
Later, they met Patri, who became their drummer, and sometimes his girlfriend, Pina, would participate in rehearsals and shows using a keyboard or a synthesizer when bands that used that sound played.
All five women were together in that garage, they all left work and went straight to rehearsal, stopping only for a sandwich in between.
Now, at five o'clock, we were sitting on the couches that Ingrid had spread around the garage. She didn't have a car at the moment, so the garage served as a storage area for her stuff and a rehearsal space.
— What's our schedule like, Aitana? — The vocalist asked.
— We're free tonight. Next Friday, we have a show at Sex O'Bomb, next Saturday, we also have a show at Shine, and Sunday, we have nothing.
— Shall we go out for drinks today? Who's with me? — Frido picked up the glass of water from the table and all the girls got up soon after.
After her friends left, Ingrid took the opportunity to practice the arrangement of Paramore's The Only Exception on her guitar.
Ingrid was a very musical person. She learned to play the guitar at the age of 8, then switched to the bass, and perfected her guitar playing. Despite her talent, she never had any interest in pursuing a career in music, but rehearsing and playing with her band is what really keeps her going.
While she was tiring herself out with the chorus, leaning against one of the sofas in her garage, the thinnest string on her guitar broke.
“Shit,” she whispered to herself.
Ingrid left the guitar on the sofa and went to the built-in closet in the garage to look for new strings to replace the ones on her guitar. However, despite having opened all the drawers and doors of the closet, the most she found was an empty package.
The clock on her cell phone read 4:50 p.m., Ingrid she wasn't sure what time the music store near her house closed, but she grabbed the package she found in the cupboard and went for a quick walk to the music store on the next avenue.
The Norwegian took 5 minutes less than the time it usually took to get to the establishment, put her forehead to the window and saw a girl she had never seen before at the store's counter. She had lived in that basement for 2 years, and had been going to the same store ever since, and it was always the same short, awkward clerk who helped her when she needed to buy some equipment.
However, when she adjusted her face a little more in the window, she realized that the person behind the counter was a girl with wavy brown hair and some tattoos on her arms.
Ingrid snapped out of her thoughts when she saw the woman put her backpack on her back and close the cash register. She quickly straightened up and walked through the front door, accidentally bumping her forehead with the clerk.
"Ouch." The two shouted in unison. Ingrid opened her eyes first and noticed the woman in front of her massaging her forehead with her hand.
"Sorry, did I hurt you?" the Norwegian asked.
"It's not okay, I just wasn't looking where I was going." The girl replied, who had already taken her hand off her forehead and opened her eyes to look at Ingrid.
She had the most beautiful eyes Ingrid had ever seen in her life.
— Do you need anything? I was just about to close the store. — The unknown woman took Ingrid out of her thoughts.
— Oh yes, sorry about that. — Ingrid took the crumpled plastic from her pocket and handed it to the brown-eyed woman. — I need these steel strings for my guitar, I'm out of stock.
The brown-haired woman took the package and examined it closely. — I'll check if they have any for you. — She walked towards the wall next to the counter. Ingrid followed her.
— How many packages can that be?
— Five.
— You're going to finish my stock like this. — The woman said, tucking her hair behind her ear.
— Well, I wasn't going to keep you stuck at work because of a small purchase. — Said the Norwegian woman, trying to be a little adventurous.
— It came to 70 euros in total.
— Sorry, that was way below what I expected. — The Norwegian woman smiled, trying to make the woman laugh, who smiled back.
Ingrid said goodbye to the woman, who was closing the store's cash register, but before she could put her hand on the door handle, Ingrid ran back as if she had forgotten something extremely important.
— Sorry, what's your name? — Ingrid approached, breaking the woman's concentration.
— You can call me Mapi. — She replied smiling.
— Hello Mapi, I'm Ingrid. — The Norwegian said, extending her hand.
— Hello Ingrid. — Mapi greeted her.
Right after leaving the store, Ingrid was in ecstasy, as if she were a teenager experiencing the first love of her life. Well, part of that wouldn't be a lie, Ingrid has total 0 experience with relationships, so she always acts like a teenager when she sees one.