Chapter 2
“God I fucking hate closing” Dorcas whined to Lily as the two of them sat behind the register.
“Be happy we’re just cashiering poor Emm got stuck doing cans”. Lily comisireated.
“But at least she gets to wield a knife,” Dorcas retorted. “Hey, what time is it?”
Lily squinted to look at the time displayed in the corner of her register screen. “8:30”
“Just thirty more minutes” Dorcas whispered to herself like a mantra.
“And then we have to vacuum, pull garbages, do returns, sweep and lock the freezers,” Lily reminded them.
“Stop shitting on my dreams Evans” Dorcas said looking so truly and utterly miserable Lily couldn’t help but laugh a bit. She would never admit it especially not to Cas who despised the late shift with a burning fiery passion but Lily really didn’t mind closing all that much. Yes she usually preferred opening shifts because the first hour of facing aisles she could just put on her headphones and work without dealing with people but closing had a certain charm. The whir of the vacuum, the switch from the horrible radio station that played the same Gwen Stefani song over and over to Remus’s carefully curated closing playlist, the dimming of the lights and turning off of the blinking neon “Open!” sign all filled her with a warm sense of peace.
Nights like this were her favorite kinds of nights to close. The store had been slow since seven, only one or two customers trickling in for last minute pet emergencies and she was working with all her favorite coworkers. Dorcas was dry and sarcastic but also loud and dramatic and really funny, Emmeline was sweet and a total hopeless romantic always ranting to Lily about her customer crush of the day, Regulus was quiet but biting in his humor and always available to help customers despite how much he rolled his eyes and complained about it. And of course there was Remus. Remus who’d burst into her life all soft sweaters and chocolate in his pockets that first day of uni. Remus who made a whispered comment in a history lecture so lewd Lily almost choked on her own tongue trying to stop her laughter. Remus whose parents had never let him have a dog growing up and now got so excited every time one came into the store. Remus who was the best friend Lily had ever had.
Lily watched the clock on her screen waiting for nine when the store officially closed and she could be alone with the music, her thoughts, and people who were becoming more and more like friends. A few customers came in and checked out she had light chit chat with Dorcas and the minutes ticked by and suddenly it was 8:54. There were only about three people still in the store but they were taking their sweet time. Lily and Dorcas watched a woman dressed all in pepto bismol pink as she bought out nearly the entirety of the cat food aisle and undid all of Emm’s hard work and shared an annoyed eye roll. They both hated those people who came in ten minutes to close browsed for as long as they could and then racked up an eight foot receipt. Dorcas was mid rude gesture when the clock hit eight fifty five and Frank, the assistant manager, called over the walkie that it was time for closing announcements.
Dorcas' annoyance clearly had yet to wear off because when she picked up the phone her voice was tired and flat. “Attention all Fang and Fluffy customers the time is now 8:55 and we will be closing in five minutes so get your life together and bring all final purchases to the front thank you and have a great night” They finished hanging up the phone and Lily bit down hard on her lip to keep from laughing. The woman in pink was seemingly unmoved by the announcement and continued to stroll the store at a leisurely pace until she finally arrived at the checkout counter in front of Lily.
“Hi, you find everything okay today?” Lily asked with faux cheeriness. The woman simply huffed in response. Lily continued. “Do you have a savings card or phone number with us?”
“Yes I'm in here constantly you should have it memorized by now” Her voice stern. Lily enters the number and counts the seconds.
“Alright Dolores your total today is 318.22”
“These prices have completely skyrocketed you really need to talk to someone about it young lady it discourages returning customers”
Lily kept her fake smile firmly in place as she said “I’ll make sure to do that ma’am” as if she could pull any strings and suddenly change the entire state of the economy. Finally the horrid woman left and the store was empty of customers.
Dorcas made the final closing announcement and Remus switched the music. They had a sacred closing ritual: the playlist could never be shuffled, always played in order starting with Nine to Five by Dolly Parton and ending with Closing Time by Supersonic. Lily would vacuum and dance around while Dorcas would pull garbages and hum and on the final song of the playlist they all picked up the phones and sang Closing Time over the store speakers. It was Lily’s favorite part of every closing shift.
After their closing tradition Remus, Emm, Dorcas, and Lily all piled into Remus’s beat up honda civic and headed home. Dorcas and Emmeline lived together only about five blocks from Remus and Lily’s dingy little shared flat. As a rule Lily didn’t check her phone at work so she always had tons of notifications when she plugged into the aux cord in Remus’s car (she always played Taylor Swift, they played some of her stuff at work but it was never Taylor’s Version and that was a crime) today though she had far more than usual. She swiped her phone open and smiled in surprise at the barrage of messages
Unknown number: hi lily!!
it’s james
potter
actually i don’t think you knew my last name so that clears up absolutely nothing
i’m the guy from the pet store
you work at a pet store so i guess that also doesn’t clear anything up
i’m the guy with the glasses who bought the two goldfish and asked for your number
not in a romantic way
not that i wouldn’t be interested like in an alternate universe where you weren’t a lesbian and i didn’t have a massive crush on reggie
oh shit i just admitted that to you and you work with him
this has gotten out of hand
i just texted to see if i could add you and remus to a group chat with all our friends
i just think you’d fit in so we’ll with the group like our missing puzzle pieces
christ that was sappy
i’m shutting up now
Lily giggled. “Ooh” Emmeline cooed. “What’s got you smiling at your phone like that? Is a cute girl texting you?”
Lily sighed. “Sadly no just that guy who came in a few days ago the one I told you about”
“Oh the adorable pansexual idiot who came in with Reggie’s sibling and the girl you kept drooling over?” Remus asked, voice amused.
“Ok first of all, yes that guy, his name is James and second of all I have not been talking about Mary nearly as much as you’ve been ranting about Sirius’ stormy eyes” Lily retorted and Remus whacked her lightly in the arm.
“So what’s he want?” Dorcas asked, her voice tense. They too were a lesbian and had dealt with their fair share of fetishization so she was weary of overly friendly men.
“He wants to add me and Re to a group chat with all their friends and like ‘adopt us’ into their friend group. He’s coming on a little strong but, I don’t know, it’s sweet” Lily said, still smiling slightly.
“Will Mary be in this group chat?” Emm asked, her voice laden with unsaid implications.
“Probably” Lily could barely tamp down her blush.
“Oh you are so letting him add you!” she squealed and Lily laughed.
“Yeah yeah I think I will but on one condition”
Lily changed unknown number to James
Lily: hey james :)
yeah i remember you lol
and i promise i won’t say anything to reg about your crush
also i’d love to be added to the chat but is it ok if i add a couple other of our friends and coworkers?
Lily’s phone pinged almost immediately after she’d hit send.
James: oohhh yay more new friends!! yeah of course
James added Lily to “the potter fam”
James added Remus to the “potter fam”
Lily added Dorcas to “the potter fam”
Lily added Emmeline to “the potter fam”
James: everyone welcome our new friends!!
also please yell at reg for keeping them from us
Marlene: boooooo reggie
Sirius: REGGIE SUCKS REGGIE SUCKS
Mary: yea cmon reg u hoarded all the cool people and stuck us with sirius that’s just not on
Peter: hi new people!
Reg: i wasn’t hiding them from you i just like to keep work and personal separate
but we’re here now i guess so personal friends meet work friends
Dorcas: wow reggie work friends i’m hurt i thought we had something special
James: wait i don’t know that number
Dorcas: oh hey i’m dorcas she/they but you can call me cas i work with lils rem and reg
Emmeline: and im emmeline she/her i also work at the pet store
James: yay im james he/him (although i don’t mind a cheeky they them)
Sirius: i’m sirius they/he im reggie’s favorite sibling
Regulus: you’re my only sibling
Sirius: that you know of
Mary: im mary she/they im so excited for you all to join the family
Peter: i’m pete he/they/she nice to meet you all
Marlene: i’m marlene any pronouns also im muting this chat cause i’m trying to sleep and i know you fuckers won’t shut up
Dorcas looked up from their phone at Lily “Ok I approve” she said solemnly and Lily smiled.