Madeline smiles as she wipes down the red and white checkered countertop in front of her, turning her head up slightly to spot the speaker in the corner of the ceiling. The radio is blaring, filling the small café with a homey atmosphere even though it's nearing two in the morning. The song ends and Madeline leans against the freshly cleaned counter to listen in carefully to the host.

"You people actually like this shit? Well alright then have another," The host says and Madeline giggles with a small shake of her head. Though this host may be a bit on the risky side, he's her favorite of the hosts to her favorite radio station. It's a locally run channel, broadcasting to the college town they live in. The hosts are very popular and their show actually gets fairly good ratings. It's the only station she allows to be played in her establishment.

When the music starts up again she walks around the counter to start wiping down the few wooden tables they actually have inside. The café she owns is small, a simple hole in the wall kind of place but one of the few open all day and night for those who have lost control of their lives and need caffeine at four in the morning. She's rather a night owl so it works out well for her.

When the song ends once more, she pauses and looks up to the speaker, waiting for the host to make some sort of sarcastic comment. He does and she laughs like every other time. It's her favorite time of day, when she can clean and listen to the man over the speaker.

She grips her rag tight in her hand as the memory once again comes back to her. She remembers like it happened yesterday. Amelia dragged her to some party or another about 3 hours from where they live, telling her it would be the best party ever, then telling her to not drink because they needed a designated driver.

"Amelia," She sighs and crosses her arms, chiding her sister who simply shrugs and pulls her farther into the throng of people. Madeline is not one for big crowds, finding that she gets lost really easily when forced to intermingle. It's not long into the night that she ends up alone with Amelia already dancing with a group of people in the center of the room. Madeline heads for the kitchen to get herself a water.

She spends most of the night in the kitchen, barely venturing out to check and see if Amelia is alive and not passed out drunk. Very few people come by that aren't already somewhat buzzed. She hops up onto the counter and pulls her legs to her, not wondering for sure why Amelia takes her places when she knows Madeline isn't very sociable.

"Aren't you gunna go dance?" She snaps her head up to the white haired boy at the door, leaning up against the frame with a water bottle in his hand and small smirk on his face. She shakes her head letting her hair flow around her shoulders. The boy shrugs and comes closer to lean up to the counter.

"So you don't dance, you don't drink," He gestures to the water bottle in her hands and she nearly subconsciously hides it. He snickers at her subtle motion.

"What the fuck you do for fun then?" He smirks up at her and she twists up her nose unimpressed by his words. In the end she shrugs and takes a sip of her water to keep her hands busy.

"I listen to music," It comes out a little quiet and the boy tilts his head to hear her. Once her words register his face lights up.

"Me too, damn have you heard about-" He prattles off a few bands that she's actually heard of, prompting her to talk more, much to both their enjoyment. She finds herself giggling and smiling at this strange boy in the kitchen while random people filtered in and out of getting drinks.

"No but if you listen to music near five in the morning it sounds so much better," She says. He cackles loudly and nods his head.

"I hear that, music I play at night just sounds better," He flashes her a quick smile and she tilts her head.

"You play?" She asks, letting her legs down from their crossed position from before. His near red eyes light up once more.

"Yeah me and a few friends own a local radio station, I do the night shift," He winks at her in an overdramatic way and she scoffs, pushing at his shoulder playfully. He snickers again and rests his arm on her leg in an act of familiarity. She doesn't bother to push him off. He's fairly attractive and oh so mischievously charming. For the remaining hours of the party they talk music, going over their favorite brands and styles, favorite artists and even exchanging a few that the other never heard of before.

He skips out to go check on his friends and Madeline does the same for Amelia. She finds her sister hanging off a random stranger, cooing about his strength or something when Madeline interrupts the complimenting fest to take her sister home.

"Did you see him? He was- so- is. Wow he's- wow I just-" Madeline closes the door to the car on her sister, watching as she lays down in the back seat, probably still muttering to herself about the person she clung to.

"Leaving already?" She whips around at the slightly sad tone to the boy from before now with his hands in his pockets. She nods and vaguely gestures to Amelia in the back seat.

"Yeah she's a little off it right now. And I have to. We do. Uhm." Her words stumble the closer the boy walks to her. Part of her wants to shy away but she ends up smiling softly at the smirk he has on his face. He rubs the back of his head and then sighs.

"I wanna try something right quick." He says in a rush of air. Madeline can see it coming and she makes no effort to stop him from grabbing her face, tangling his fingertips in her hair, and pulling her to him. It's a sweet kiss and she melts into it. She places a hand over his when he pulls back, holding it gently.

"I'll see you later?" He semi-questions taking a step back. She nods and follows suit. Their hands stay linked for another second until Amelia bangs on the door to get her attention. Madeline smiles up at the boy once more, trying to commit his smirk to memory as she finally let's go to get into the car and drive home.

She doesn't have to try hard to remember him. That night she flipped through the stations, not stopping until she heard his voice on the radio. She stayed up the whole night listening to him talk. He sounded so confident, so casual, just like he did when they talked 2 months ago.

Maybe it's a little dumb, but she can't help it. Her heart jumps just a little every time she can hear him speaking, almost as if he's trying to reach her somehow through the speakers. She knows that's not how it works, that someone like him wouldn't do that. They met at a party, a fling at most. The kiss burns inside her mind though, the conversation they had, the soft click she felt with him. It's just a hopeless feeling, but it still makes her happy to hear her favorite songs played by him. She doesn't even know his name and yet her heart still pounds to the beat of the music he airs.

Later in her shift some people come in, looking for a late night caffeine fix and maybe a few sandwiches she can prepare right quick. She sings to herself as she cleans more of the café, letting the customers make themselves at home inside. When she's cleaned everything she stops and listens to the music playing, mentally adding some to her list to look up later. Nearly 6 in the morning is when Amelia comes in, smiling brightly though the customers that will be coming in will be groggy and painful to deal with.

Madeline supresses her sigh when her favorite host signs of, passing over the talking to his partner. She'll have to keep her head high until night comes once more and she can lose herself in the songs that he plays.

"Alright night birds, it's time to go to bed, or get up who knows what you're doing at this time anyway. Until tonight birdies, here's your morning glory~" Gilbert covers the microphone in front of him, leaning over to see through the glass at Antonio smiling his head off and beginning to speak. He takes a deep breath and takes off the headphones squishing his ears to his head, flicking the microphone off finally. He takes a moment to lean back in his swivel chair, taking in the momentary silence until a song starts out slow over the speakers signaling Antonio's morning session has officially started.

He taps on the glass between them and makes a ridiculous face to his friend, getting him to burst into a side splitting laughter and nearly fall off his chair. Gilbert rolls his eyes. There's no one else in the world who can be as cheerful and happy as Antonio is so early in the morning. Luckily he keeps the heavy stuff for a later time, easing people into their mornings with a light mixture of music.

Gilbert sighs and collects his notes through the night, his little tidbits and funny lines he thought of and lists of songs he has to look into getting for them. He catches sight of a napkin scrawled with a playlist and bands given to him 2 months ago. He smiles down at the flimsy thing, folding it carefully to put in his pocket. He takes his more proper list and heads to give it to Matthias.

"Yo loser check these ones out," He throws it at his co-worker, having the paper fly over easily since he folded it into an airplane shape. Matthias fumbles to catch it without crunching it in his hands and waves Gilbert off. He's not actually sure when Matthias sleeps, but he's always on his computer, getting new songs in order and buying the new ones they want. They probably wouldn't have lasted as long without him.

Gilbert catches the first bus back to his rinky apartment, fiddling with the napkin he stowed away. As soon as he gets inside his home he falls to the floor and sprawls out. His job isn't hard but the shifts are long. He's rather in love with what he does. Talk to random people that might be listening, play some music, and chill. With a few minor groans he pulls the napkin up to his face, staring at the scrawl on it. It may be his handwriting, but the words on it came from someone else. He pushes up to find his computer as that night comes back to him.

He saw her in passing at first, catching just smallest glimpse of her long hair as it disappeared around the corner. He's not sure how she knew about Francis's party and at that moment didn't care, he wanted to find her. He walks around the house, peeking into every corner, trying to find her if only just to see if he didn't imagine her. She didn't look like the girls that normally showed up at Francis's gatherings, he's never seen her before at least.

He cracks open his water bottle, not wanting to lose his head to fast with beer in his system. It could use some ice though. He heads to the kitchen to see if he can break a few cubes to put in Iit. He freezes in the doorway, finding her sitting on the counter top with her own water in her hands. He can't help the smirk on his face at accomplishing his goal even if only by accident.

"Aren't you gunna go dance?" He asks from his spot near the door. She snaps her head up to see him and he knocks down the urge to smirk more. When she shakes her head he goes closer, mildly wondering if he's being creepy. He gets a full look at her bright purple eyes and his heart pounds in his chest. She's fucking adorable.

"So you don't dance, you don't drink," He laughs when she pulls her water closer to her, possibly feeling judged. He has no room to talk with water in his hand as well. It's cute though.

"What the fuck you do for fun then?" His smirk stays on his face even though she looks down at him with a slightly disgusted expression. Maybe he is coming on a bit strong, but there's no one else here that's sober enough to have a conversation with. He waits patiently for her to find words to say.

"I listen to music," He has to strain to hear her when she finally does talk but he catches her meaning easily enough. He smiles brightly at her.

"Me too, damn have you heard about-" Even while the words leave his mouth he starts to internally cringe. He gets on a music topic and he can't stop. It's been his life for the past year or so now and it's the one thing he can sound vaguely smart about. He finishes prattling and waits for her to shut him down but instead a miracle happens.

"Oh I've heard them before, their fourth album is my favorite, have you heard-" A soft smile comes to her face and he can feel his growing. Someone to engage in a music talk with doesn't happen often and he's going to take it for all it's worth. When she rattles off a few of her favorite songs he remembers them the best he can to write them down later. It's exciting being able to talk to someone so openly about his passion.

"No but if you listen to music near five in the morning it sounds so much better," She says to him and he laughs loudly, for a moment he thinks she's not real. There's no way he found someone who is so close to his musical soul mate like this.

"I hear that, music I play at night just sounds better," He smiles at her all real. She gives him a skeptical look.

"You play?" Her tone is clearly judging him. She lets her legs down from the counter and he shrugs.

"Yeah me and a few friends own a local radio station, I do the night shift," He winks playfully at her. She scoffs and pushes at his shoulder. Another laugh comes from him and without thinking he places his arm on her leg, not in a super touchy way. He prepares himself to be picked off but she lets him stay there. His excitement seems never ending. She's sweet and cute, and just a little playful, not to mention totally into his music sense. He gets his chance to write down her songs when she takes out her phone to write down a few of the bands he suggested to her. Even if she's just messing with him personally, he's a little happy she takes the music to heart.

He excuses himself to go find Francis, hoping to high heaven and back his friend isn't plastered drunk and trying to hug someone who does not want to be touched. Luckily he doesn't find that. Antonio is more than willing to snuggle with Francis much to everyone's amusement. He heads back to the kitchen to talk with the girl only to find her gone. He feels crestfallen. Maybe it was dumb to get his hopes up. He turns around and spies her walking away with another girl strung over her shoulder.

He weaves through the people to get outside, reaching the porch just as she closes the door on the girl now in the backseat. He sighs and takes a chance. She's cool, and seemed partially interested in him too.

"Leaving already?" He puts his hands in his pockets and smirks as she turns to face him. She nods and waves at the person stuffed in the backseat.

"Yeah she's a little off it right now. And I have to. We do. Uhm." He walks closer to her as she talks, taking a small sense of pride in the fact her words get jumbled the closer he is. He stops just in front of her to see her face clearly even in the darkness. Sure he could have better ideas, but the one inside his head is a damn good one. He scratches the back of his head and thinks to himself 'fuck it'.

"I wanna try something right quick." He breathes out. He reaches for her and she doesn't shy away making it seem like a better idea the more he pulls her to him. He can feel his fingers getting tangled in her hair as he presses their lips together. He nearly jumps for joy when she kisses him back. He pulls away and stares down at her, smiling when she grabs his hand gently in a different confirmation that she wanted that too.

"I'll see you later?" He tries to keep the crack out of his voice. He's not really sad per se to see her go, but he would have liked to talk to her more. It doesn't help his question is probably a big lie and they both know it. They're left holding onto each other's fingers when that girl in the backseat bangs on the window startling them both. She finally lets go and Gilbert feels a different kind of lonely. She smiles up at him and slips inside her car and away from him. He watches her tail lights when he's left with the stunning knowledge that he has no idea what her name is.

He's been mentally cursing himself for that blunder for 2 months. He knows a plethora of her favorite songs but not her name. He downloaded them to a playlist labeled specifically for her. Songs that strike a nerve or songs she suggested. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair.

Part of him has the stupid hope that she listens to their radio station. Maybe she listens for the music or maybe she listens for him, but he hopes she does. She'll never know he plays music for her now. Just a few days ago he had a whole hour where he played music she outright suggested to him, subtly trying to convey the message he still thinks about her even though it's probably stupid. She might not have been one of the girls or guys Francis tends to go for in a fling, but it had been a party they met at. It could have just been some easy fun for her.

He taps his fingers on his computer to the tune of the song now sounding out in his apartment. Even if he had been just easy fun, he wouldn't mind having more with her.