Whiskey Serial: Connected

It was music to my ears… literally.

A song I’d never heard before began playing through my headphones.

I checked my laptop to find out the name of the song but it wasn’t coming from my playlist. Turns out I was so engrossed in my work I hadn’t noticed that my playlist had ended.

I checked my phone and it wasn’t coming from there either.

I pulled off my headphones to see if the coffee shop was playing it, but that wasn’t the case. It was definitely coming from my headphones.

The song ended and I started to play another of my playlists when a new song began. It was another I’d never heard before and it was even better than the last.

It became clear to me that I was listening to someone else’s playlist and it was good, real good. But how? Wouldn’t this person realize they’re not hearing the music they were trying to listen to.

Maybe they were like me. Fully engrossed in their nonsensical writing to realize the music they’d been listening to had stopped, and for some reason, was now being transmitted to a complete stranger in the coffee shop. Just then another song played and I was blown away.

It was now a matter of life and good taste that I find the mastermind behind this playlist because I had fallen for it… hard.

I looked around the crowded coffee shop at the sea a blue-lit faces click-clacking away at their laptops, nearly every one of them with headphones on.

This wasn’t going to be easy.

I was tempted to just crank up the volume on my headphones and Shazam the songs but that would only be a half-measure. I needed to get this playlist in full and more importantly to find the person who made this all possible.
Then the music stopped.

I waited for the next song to start but nothing came. I checked my headphones. They were still on and connected to bluetooth. I cranked up the volume, still nothing.

That’s when I noticed a guy across the shop close his laptop, pack up his bag and start to head out. I quickly gathered my stuff and rushed after him. He was nearly at the front door. I started to call out after him just when a new song BLARED in my ear.

I screamed, half in pain, half in shock, and everyone in the shop turned and looked at me like I was insane. Maybe I was.

I turned the volume down on my headphones and once the ringing in my ears stopped I was once again floored by the musical sound waves flooding into them.

There I was, standing in the middle of the shop, a look of pure joy plastered on my face. Where were these songs coming from?

I had to figure this out. The time for subtlety was over. It was time to break with coffee shop etiquette and do the unthinkable: Engage complete strangers in conversation. So I did… and people did not like it.

I was treated as if I were a homeless person holding out a cup and asking for change, but in my case I was holding out wireless headphones and asking for music.

The barista came over and told me I had to leave. I told him what was going on and he was not impressed at all.
I’ll never understand non-music lovers.

I sidestepped him and tried asking a few more people about the songs, but they seemed to have no idea what I was talking about.

Now the second barista had made their way over to me and both asked me to leave, while forcefully ushering me towards the exit. This left me with no choice.

I held my headphones high above my head and yelled out a rallying cry to everyone in the shop, “Does anyone know whose playlist this is?”

I was met with blank stares and annoyed looks.

It was the last thing I saw before being shoved out onto the sidewalk.

“Hey!” someone called out.

I turned and noticed a frustrated girl standing outside the laundromat next door.

“I just got these stupid things and I can’t figure out how to get them to connect,” she said.

She held up a pair of headphones and they were exactly the same as mine. My eyes lit up.

“Wait, is this the song you were trying to play?” I asked as I handed her my headphones.

She placed them over her ears and that’s when I saw it… that look of pure joy I had just experienced plastered on her face. She closed her eyes, taking a moment to let it sink in.

She opened her eyes and handed back my headphones.

“Yeah, how did you get it?” she asked.

“I don’t know but I’m glad I did. These songs are incredible.”

“They are, aren’t they?”

“I guess our bluetooth signals must have gotten mixed up somehow. Here, I’ll turn mine off. Now let’s just power your headphones down and once we turn them back on that should do it.”

She put her headphones on, her music finally coming through.

“It works now, thanks!” She removed her headphones, realizing from the look on my face that she just screamed this. “No, thank you. I was actually trying to find you so I could ask if you wouldn’t mind sharing your playlist with me?”

“Seems like it’s a little late for that, don’t you think?”

I couldn’t tell from the look on her face if she was joking or not.

“I’m joking. Of course I’ll share it with you, no problem. I’m glad you like it.”

Relieved, I decided to take it one step further.

“Actually, if you have time, I’d love to buy you a coffee and pick your brain about these songs and any other music recommendations you might have?”

“Sure, I got some time before my clothes need to go in the dryer.”

“I would suggest this place but I don’t think I’m allowed back in there,” I said, referring to the coffee shop I was just thrown out of.

She looked over and noticed the baristas and some of the Patrons were still glaring at me.

“What happened there?” she asked.

“Apparently they all hate music.”

“I’ll never understand non music lovers.”

“Right”

“It’s okay though,” she said. “These songs go better with whiskey anyway.”

“I know the perfect place.”