“Hey, you've got a USB music player in here,” I said as I saw the car's stereo. “A little bit of modern technology in this thing, huh?”
“It was a birthday gift,” she replied. “Turn it on if you want.”
“All right,” I replied, turning it on as I pulled out onto the road.
I was very surprised when a Nirvana song started playing.
“Nirvana? No way, you listen to this?”
“I like a lot of classic rock.”
I couldn't help but chuckle. “This is 'classic rock,' huh?”
“Well, it is like 25 years old, right?”
I nodded and sighed. “Yeah, true. I remember hearing this on the radio when it came out back when I was in elementary school and thinking it was about the coolest music I'd ever heard. Man, that makes me feel a bit old, to be honest.”
“You're only, uh, 32, though, right?”
“Yeah, 33 later this year.”
“You totally don't look it,” she blurted out abruptly. “I mean, if I were to guess, not knowing your age, I wouldn't put you a day older than 25.”
Suddenly, she blushed; I didn't think she had meant to be as open with her compliment. Still, I couldn't help but flash her a smile in response.
“Thank you, Eryn. I may not play pro anymore, but I still train hard every day and eat clean. I’m guessing you do, as well, right?”
“Yes,” she replied, somewhat uneasily. It appeared she regretted complimenting me, and was now feeling a bit uncomfortable about it. I decided to switch the conversation topic back to music.
“So, do you like any other 'classic rock' from the ‘90s?” I asked. “Man, I sure do miss those days, being a kid in the ‘90s.”
“I wish I had grown up then. Things changed after the ‘90s, growing up with Facebook, social media, and YouTube really isn’t all it’s been made out to be. But yeah, I like plenty of classic stuff from the ‘90s. I mean, rock was just so… I dunno, fresh and passionate then, right? Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, The Pixies, Soundgarden, Green Day…”
I couldn't help but flash her a massive grin. “Damn, Eryn, you know all that stuff?!”
She returned the smile, seeming happier to chat about this than compliments.
“Yeah, totally! It's one advantage of living in this age – I can just go on YouTube and find music from pretty much any era, and I also get more recommendations and discover other great stuff from Spotify.”
“Yeah, I guess I would have loved to have had access to stuff like that when I was growing up. For me, it was the radio and MTV. Back in the days when MTV, ya know, played more music than reality shows and other crap like that.”
“Ah, that must have been nice.”
“It was! I feel like music videos were a lot more creative then – in addition to the music being more diverse and interesting, too. I mean, no offense to the kids today, but the stuff that's out there…sheesh, it just seems like they're not really trying very hard.”
“I totally agree. I'm kinda ashamed of the sort of stuff that my generation is putting out. It's all really just shallow and materialistic.”
I was about to comment on how I knew all about shallow and materialistic garbage from my days in Los Angeles, but didn't really want to bring that up, so I held my tongue. By now, though, we'd come back to Eryn's apartment block, so I pulled the car over and switched the motor off.
“Well, this old girl seems to be all right overall,” I said, patting the dashboard, “but when I was looking at the motor earlier, I did notice a few things that probably don't have too much life left in them. If you want, I can pick you up a few more parts and install them for you.”
Eryn looked kind of embarrassed when I said this, and a blush reddened her cheeks. “Well, that's very generous of you, but I don't think I can, um, really afford to do much more maintenance now. I’m sure you remember that college students are usually broke,” she laughed.
“It's fine! I'll buy the stuff.”
She looked shocked. “But it's just not right; I can't ask you to do that. Not for free. I mean, it’s a big drain on your time, even aside from the money question.”
“I told you, I have an interest in fixing cars. I enjoy tinkering with motors. And besides, I wouldn't want one of my players to miss a game because her car broke down somewhere.”