Can't Get You Out of My Head (please get out of my head I'm begging) (bxb)

8 | now Heinz is shipping them too

Having Ethan working next door, I can hear his thoughts all through the day. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. Ethan spends most of his time thinking about books. And he sometimes has the cutest thoughts about life, the universe, and my dimples.

I smile as I work the register. Ethan is still feeling righteously indignant about the Revan book. They just spoke about how the Jedi and the Sith had to join forces to catch him. Whatever that means. When he's not scanning items or helping out customers, he buries his nose in another book or series he hasn't read yet.

At around 12pm, he comes to the record store through the connecting door, only hesitating for a moment before walking in.

"Hey Lukas!" You look so cute with your hair falling over your eyes like that!

"Hey Ethan." I smile. "How are things going next door?"

"Great!" he says enthusiastically. "I've already finished sorting everything out—there are so many books! I could read a new one every day and never run out."

"Yeah, we don't sell as much as we rent so there's a lot of stock." I tap my pencil against the counter. His bubbly thoughts are infectious. Ethan has a way of spreading his excitement.

"Are you on your lunch break?" He leans against the counter, trying to look nonchalant. Okay, now how do I casually ask him out for lunch? Will you go out for lunch with me? No, that doesn't sound casual at all. Wanna grab a bite to eat? Yeah, that one's perfect! It's so ambiguous, he'd never assume....

"Yeah, wanna grab a bite to eat?" I ask, biting down on my bottom lip at I try not to grin at his expression.

"Sure...sounds good." Dammit! I was going to ask that...and it is really ambiguous! I have no idea how he means it.

"There's a great diner on Main Street. The one we passed by that day?"

"Yeah," he nods vigorously, "I remember it." Diner date?

I open the door for him and we walk down the cobblestone road. Ethan gazes at all the vintage store fronts, and looks at the flower planters that decorate the street. I've never seen a town with this many flowers before. It's so pretty...I like this little red one. I wonder what it's called.

I can't reply directly to his thoughts so I say, "I love seeing the Verbena bloom in summer, that's the red one. They look pretty against the Four Nerve Daisy." When he looks lost, I point. "Yellow."

"Oh..." Lukas can name flowers? Can he possibly get any hotter?!

We get to the diner. It has a retro vibe with a checkboard floor and wooden accents. Rustic beer steins decorate the tables, and hanging pendant lights give the place an overall warm glow. We slip into a red-vinyl booth.

"I thought you might like the burgers here. It's probably not the same as in Florida, but I guess it's as close as you can get."

"I like the food here! Though I've only eaten at the B&B so far. Mr Müller is really nice; he makes eggs, and lots of different kinds of sausages. I didn't even know there were so many types."

"We love our sausages," I joke. I immediately regret it afterwards because Ethan's mind falls into the gutter.

Luckily the server comes just then to take our order. "Guten tag! I'm Heinz. What can I get you today?" Are you on a date, Lukas? I've literally never seen you here on a date before.

"Uh, burger?" I ask Ethan. I have been on dates, Heinz. You wouldn't know because it's not like I invite you along.

Ethan nods, curls falling over his eyes at the action. "Yes please."

Heinz grins. You think he's so cute. You like curly hair, don't you Lukey?

"We'll take two. Thanks!" Also, shut up!

He smirks and skates away. I glance at Ethan sitting opposite me, drumming his fingers on the wooden table. His straight-edged nails make a rhythmic tapping sound.

"What's it like in Florida?" I ask. Since Ethan's arrival and his thoughts of travel, I've been thinking about how I've never left Brambleburg.

"It's not as nice as here," he says flippantly. It's pretty shit actually.

"Have you travelled anywhere else?"

"Hm...no. I had a direct flight to Germany, and ended up here on the second day." He pauses. "I never even left the state before."

"I've never left Brambleburg." No one here has.

"Why would you want to leave?" He smiles widely. I wouldn't want to leave, I wish I could stay here forever.

My eyes widen in alarm. Ethan really is spellbound, stuck in our town's magic weave. I pick my words carefully. "Where are you planning to travel next?"

"You know, I actually have no idea." He shrugs. "Honestly, since I came here, I don't even remember the plans I had." Lukas seems curious about Florida. I guess I was really interested in travelling too...before I came here. "Florida is...big. Not as much nature as here—there are those skinny trees placed at regular intervals along the road. It's all so planned, I guess...there's no natural beauty. Just a lot of wide roads; tarmac ones—no cute cobblestones like here."

From Ethan's memories I see flashes of big empty spaces and something called a 'Wendy's' standing ominously in the distance.

"I lived near a lake—well, I don't know if it counts as a lake. It was a big rectangle next to a highway, a man-made one, y'know? Actually, now that I come to think of it...it might have been a reservoir?"

Heinz picks that moment to saunter by. "Here are your burgers." Lukas! You should take him to Schattenmärchen! The Big Lake!

"Thank you." Hush, Heinz.

The burgers are in pretzel buns, topped with sauerkraut and served with a beer-infused sauce.

"Thanks! These look great!" Ethan picks it up, taking a big bite.

"You know, there's a lake not far from here," I say as Heinz walks away. I can hear his pleased thoughts from a table over.

"Oh yeah?" His eyes widen. Lukas mentioned a lake before, though he said it's not very interesting. I hope it's not a rectangle. This burger is really good!

"Yeah, it's a natural lake," I assure him, smiling. "There are even boats you can take out on the water."

"That sounds nice."

"I'll show it to you sometime."

A/n: these are verbenas btw, I thought they were pretty :)