The Lux

Breakfast is oddly quiet. Marlene woke up only a few minutes ago, her hair sticking out in different directions and her makeup smudged underneath her eyes. Yet she’s scarfing down her burnt toast carelessly. Mary is eating her porridge in silence, as she usually does. Her dark curly hair is pushed back with a headband and her make-up is done precisely, sharp lines surround her eyes and a gloss on her lips. I stare down at the bowl in front of me, full and cold. I lost my appetite some time ago.
“What happened to your pad?” I ask Marlene, deciding to break the crippling silence. Marlene drops her toast, “The skuzz who was renting the place out to me told me he’s selling it,” She spits a crumb at me and I try not to wince, “Oh, no. That’s a bummer,” Mary speaks up for the first time this morning, “You should really ask Sirius if he knows anyone with some spare space,” Marlene nods, “We’re goin’ to a gig later,” She looks back at me, “You should come along, Lil, it’s gonna be a blast,” I haven’t been to a gig with Marlene in awhile, “Maybe I will,” I turn my head back to Mary, who’s putting her bowl in the sink, “How ‘bout you, Mary?” She takes a moment to reply, holding my eyes in her gaze as she takes her final sip of coffee. She rests her elbow against the counter, “I might. Sirius was telling me about his new friend Remus, he’s playing tonight,” Marlene jumps out of her seat, leaving her dirty plate behind, “Neat, I’m headin’ out. Workin’ the diner from 9 ‘til 6,” She grabs her abnormally capicious bag and hurries the door, late again. It’s this that reminds me, I’m also late. I look at Mary dressed and ready to leave and I realise I’m only wearing my dress. I quickly dump my bowl and scurry to put my tights and shoes on.
Working as secretary will guarntee you three things; never-ending paper cuts, angry people shouting down a telephone at you, and a sleezey boss. I’d give anything to sit in a booth of stale food all day and jam with my friends all night, like Sirius does. Or maybe serve greasy food and chime out orders, like Marlene. I wouldn’t like to be Mary, nursing at an old folks home. I sit down at my desk opposite a door labeled ‘Mr.Snape’, and prepare myself for another day of loud voices and lewd remarks.
By the time I finish work it’s 7 o’clock, an hour after Marlene finished and two hours before I have to meet her. I’m not sure where she told me to meet her, in fact I don’t think she ever told me. So I decide to go home, have a bath and sleep for a few. I’ll pop by The Lux and see if I can catch Sirius before he leaves. I don’t end up needing to do this after all, because there’s a suscipiously Marlene shaped pile of blankets on the sofa. I poke her, “Marly, get up,” She groans, mumbling, “Ge’ off,” I leave her be for the moment.
I’ve barely dipped my toes in the icy bath water when Marlene barges in. I should’ve turned the immersion on, but I’m lazy to get up and do it now. I submerge myself in the water, hiding from her, before telling her off,” Marlene. You can’t just walk into a bathroom when someone is using it,” She ignores me, looking in the mirror at her no longer smudged make-up and combed hair,“Do you have any eye-shadow that I could borrow?” “Top drawer in my room. There’s a mirror in there too, now please, leave?” I ask as nicely as one could when somebody is watching you take a bath, on purpose or not. She takes the hint, slamming the door as she goes. Loud and dramatic, as always. I sink back into the water, shoulders relaxing. At some point, I become too numb to notice the lack of warmth in the room, and I drift asleep.
An hour later Marlene is dragging me out of the building and I’m start to regret agreeing to this. I said earlier that I should be talking to more people, be sociable, but really I think I talk to enough already. The walk to the bar isn’t far, but it’s far enough that my feet are hurting. Marlene, ever so energetic after crashing on our sofa all evening, is bouncing off of the alley walls. “Mary is already there,” She told me earlier,”She got a ride with Sirius after work,” I didn’t say anything, but I can’t help but wonder if this is another way to avoid me. I’m not even certain she is avoiding me, it could be me avoiding her. I should talk to her soon. But, I don’t have time to think about it anymore, because we’re here.
Marlene spots Sirius immediately and speeds across the room. He’s talking to a tall, lanky, fella with brown,wavy, hair. It’s impossible not to notice him for a few reasons. His height being the most obvious one. He has a scar running down his neck, a untidy line from his ear to his collarbone and if he wasn’t talking to Sirius I doubt I would approach him at all. But, I shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, so I follow Marlene.
“Hey, man,” Marlene drawls the ‘y’ out, flashing Sirius a grin. Sirius smiles back and quickly introduces the odd boy, “This is Remus. Remus, this is Marlene and Lily,” Ah. That makes sense now. The boy he’d told us about before. “Hey,” I say, “So, are you playing tonight?” Remus smiles kindly at me, “Yeah, gotta go on in a few,” Surprisingly soft spoken, not what I thought he was going to sound like, “Speaking of the band, James should be here. He plays the bass and I think he’s late again,” He trails off and his eyes move away from me to something or someone behind me. I turn around. Another tall man. I’ve ever seen more tonight than I have in the past week. He’s standing less than a meter away from me, smiling brightly at Remus. (If tall, dark, and handsome was a person, I just met him.)
“Hey, Remus. You’re Sirius? And Sirius’ friends I’m guessin’?” He looks at us slowly, as if he genuinely wants to memorise our faces. How odd. He seems to hang on every word they say, paying attention to their opinouns and adding onto them. How odd, indeed. They’re rapping about the gig and a man called “Pete” or “Peter”, but I’m not really listening. I look around, Mary isn’t here yet. I thought she got here before us? Maybe Marlene was wrong. She might be in the bathroom or helping somebody backstage. While I’m searching the room my eyes meet James’. He holds my gaze for a moment. Sirius is talking to him, but he doesn’t seem to be listening.
I feel somebody staring at me. Not James. I look away, scanning the room. Mary is standing at the bar, leaning on the counter. She’s drinking something slowly, I can’t quite see what. Her eyes are burning into me. Maybe she was avoiding me, or maybe she’s still mad about yesterday. I thought she was done being angry after last night, breakfast was fine, or so I thought. I realise how close me and James are, it felt fine until I had turned around to face him, our faces being closer now. I smile awkwardly at him as I take a step back, but he doesn’t seem to notice my uneasiness. They’re talking about a woman that came into the diner and started cursing out Marlene. I think she told me about that earlier. I’m standing slightly outside the circle, but I can still feel her eyes on me.