Page 3 of Lily
Chapter 2
Lily stretched her arms overhead. She had been sitting for far too long in the coffee shop, and her thoughts had run away from her. She had a habit of daydreaming when things were overwhelming, so it was no surprise that her mind had wandered with all the pressure she'd been under recently. She rose from her seat, shoved her spiral into her bag and set off toward the door with her coffee in hand.
"You're doing great," she whispered to herself, the words reassuring her even though she was the one who had said them. Anything was possible so long as there was coffee and a will. Lily smiled and took another sip of her coffee, the burn of it once more working as a touchstone for her to steady herself. She went on autopilot, her feet taking her to the diner where she worked. By then, her coffee had gone cold, but she didn't notice and tossed the paper cup away before she changed into her work uniform, a pastel blue and white dress that was a throwback to the diner of yesterday. She didn't hate the uniform, but she would have killed for a pair of pants in the winter. With any luck, Lily wouldn't have to be here for another winter.
The thought cheered her, a smile playing across her lips as she clocked in and took the diner floor.
"Hey, doll," a voice greeted her as she tied her apron. She looked up to see Darla, the diner's longest-standing waitress, leaning against the counter and smiling at her. Darla had started working at the diner when she was in high school three decades before and had just stayed put. Now she was like a mother figure to the other girls who worked there. Lily adored the older woman and was glad to see that she would be working with her that night. Darla's motherly touch was just the salve she needed after her little break-up.
She frowned at that. Had they ever truly been anything to qualify as a break-up? What did you call it when a Dom ended things so abruptly and with no communication or warning? That wasn't a break-up, was it? It couldn't possibly be. They had been exclusive for months but it hadn't felt intimate. Not natural, the way she knew their dynamicshould.Nothing had been terribly wrong between them, even if it hadn't been right. For that reason, Lily had let it go on.
Why had she done that?
She'd been afraid, she supposed. Her chest tightened painfully, the ache of it making her rub at it with a sigh. Why did it hurt like that? She knew she hadn't felt romantic feelings of the caliber necessary to make her feel this ache, yet here it was.
"Feelin' all right, doll?" Darla asked, giving her a curious look.
Lily pressed her hand against her chest and gave the other woman a strained smile. "Of course. Yeah."
"But you got a funny look on your face." Darla waved a finger at Lily's face. "You look like you're going to be sick."
"Ah, it's just acid reflux," Lily lied, turning to check the coffee pots behind her.
"You're a little young for that."
"Never too young for acid reflux. Besides, it happens when I get too much red wine, you know, something like that." Lily took a pot of coffee and nodded at the corner section of the diner. "I'm gonna go make the rounds."
"Sure thing. Stop drinking so much wine. You hear me?"
"I hear you," Lily called over her shoulder.
"And eat a sandwich, too! I'm having the kitchen make you one right now," Darla added, turning toward the counter where the cook took their orders. The older woman's concern was a comforting presence and Lily gladly leaned into it, taking the warmth of it with her like a warm sweater on a cold night. Darla was always one to put a smile on her face, a gift when so much in her life seemed to be going sideways.
But at least she had made it to work on time, the morning's earlier events were over, and she could concentrate on making what money she could before she hit the stage tonight. It would be a mental game to get herself back to the place where she needed to be to own her space as a performer, but thankfully, the predictable hustle and bustle of the diner was enough to give Lily a moment to breath, to come back to herself, and by the end of it, she felt a spark of the confidence that had carried her all of her life. How it had dried up on her, she didn't know, but today was the first step to claiming some measure of it back.
Seven hours later, one sandwich eaten to Darla's satisfaction, and a pocketful of tips saw Lily walking toward her apartment. A sense of dread began to settle into her bones, the weight of it growing heavier and heavier, the closer she got to her home. She paused on the sidewalk outside the building and looked up at the third floor windows that marked where her apartment was, where her room was, the space itself a bit rickety, but her room warm and clean.
The issue was not her bedroom, or even the state of her apartment, but her roommates. Or rather, two of them, Sarah and Xander. Lily shuddered thinking of them and wrapped her arms around her body, the chill of the winter air sinking through her coat and into her body so acutely that she knew she wouldn't be able to stay outside for very long before her teeth were chattering.
"No time like the present," she told herself and turned toward the door. The sooner she got inside, the sooner she could dress and get out the door and on her way to the club. Lily was used to spending her free time in clubs listening to the acts before hers, and an extra hour or two doing just that was fine with her so long as she wasn't around for her roommates’ drunken antics.
They mostly left her alone, especially given her tendency to spend as little time as possible in the common areas. There wasn't much to say when she made a beeline for her bedroom and kept her head down. She breathed deeply, standing outside of her apartment door, and she heard a thud on the other side that made her stifle a groan.
They were home.
"Perfect," she murmured, unlocking the door and opening it to reveal the scene of her roommates lounging in the apartment, a bottle of whiskey between the two of them with the smell of smoke heavy in the air.
"Oh hey, friend!" Sarah called to her, and while the words were friendly, the pitch was wrong. Too strained, too high pitched, too much.
Lily gave them a nod and closed the door behind her with a quick gesture. "Hi," she mumbled, already on the move toward her bedroom, but Xander sticking his leg out in front of her stopped her dead in her tracks.
"How come we haven't seen you lately?" he asked.
"Been busy," was all Lily was willing to offer, and the man threw his head back with a frown.
"Where's Ashley?" he asked, and Sarah groaned.
"Not this again. I hope she never comes back," the other woman said with a shake of her head. "That boyfriend of hers is scary."
