Lily
I was the kind of person who was well and truly wrapped in bubble wrap and cotton wool my entire youth. Warned the world was dangerous, but protected by privileges that prevented me from ever tumbling into danger.
Except I had. More tripped than tumbled into a world I thought only existed in the movies.
Dad had stories of the confronting things he had witnessed throughout his career, but he never mentioned anything to do with the Mafia. Maybe that was just another thing he kept from his family to keep that bubble wrap secured.
My bubble wrap had tears in it though, exposing me to the gritty underworld of the city. I wanted so badly to pull the bubble wrap back around myself and patch up the holes, but at the same time found myself realizing I had never felt more alive than I had in this past week.
I stood by the photocopier behind the front desk, listening to the rhythmical, repetitive click of the machine and stifling a yawn as I waited.
I didn’t sleep well last night, having arrived home way past midnight. I showered briefly and collapsed into bed in mismatched pajamas. The buttons on my pajama shirt weren’t even buttoned straight. When I finally drifted to sleep, all I dreamed of was the faces of Murphy’s friends, or his taunting Irish accent morphing into the similar one of the man who spiked my drink. Then came the dreams of my feet being stuck to the sidewalk, unable to step in as Dean’s blood was sprayed across the front window of The Den. It flipped to me facing Murphy’s fist. That last one caused me to physically launch myself from sleep, gasping as I woke up this morning.
The last of the papers slid from the photocopier (fliers for tomorrow’s school summer fair) and I moved to place them on the front desk. After last year’s dismal turnout, my mother wanted to advertise the fair as much as possible and show how one should be organized. And so, I was in charge of printing out fliers and handing them out to any clients who walked through the doors of the agency. It was an attempt by my mother to gain respect as this year’s new PTA president and to show she had the best school spirit.
Someone coughed from behind me and I jumped, tossing the pile of papers before they had even touched the desk. Candice, sitting behind her computer, gave me a blank stare from over the rim of her half-moon glasses and returned to tapping away at her keyboard with her bright pink acrylic nails.
James chuckled as he walked in behind the front desk to check his pigeonhole, stepping around the fliers as they fluttered to the carpet.
"Someone's a little jumpy," he joked, nose whistling a little every time he breathed out.
"Sorry." I quickly crouched down to gather the papers. I made the right choice by wearing pants today. There was no need to worry about the hemline of a skirt riding up or any unwarranted skin touching. I felt more protected.
"So, ladies. What are your plans for the weekend?" He pulled a file from his pigeonhole.
I began gathering the fliers a little faster, making sure he didn’t read the details on them.
"The fair," Candice said, nodding to some of the fliers I still hadn't collected. “Lily will be in the ticket booth.”
Thanks, Candice.
James turned his attention to the papers and picked one up closest to his foot. My skin crawled at the idea of him showing up tomorrow while I was stuck in a small box, selling tickets with nowhere to go if he let himself in.
I glanced up to find his eyes on me. No, his eyes were looking directly down the front of my top while I was crouched forward. My hand shot to my chest to press the fabric of the top closer to my body before I quickly gathered the last of the papers and got to my feet.
A smirk crept to James’s thin lips before he pulled his attention to the flier in his pudgy fingers. “Shame it's on at the same time as my golf club meeting, otherwise I would go."
The tightness in my chest eased slightly.
"That is a shame. I wouldn't mention that to Kate though," Candice chuckled. “She wants every one of us to be there in support.”
"I'll sneak out of work today before she can catch me for a chat," James joked, tapping Candice's shoulder playfully with the flier. His eyes skimmed to me. "Just have to make sure this one won't say anything.”
My throat bobbed but I managed a smile as I tidied the pile of fliers in my hands. “I won’t say anything,” I said.
“Anyone’s secret is safe with Lily. She’s always so quiet,” Candice added, waving a hand lazily in my direction as she went back to her typing again.
James hummed in response, his attention locked on me as his tongue darted out to wet his lips.
I wanted to shrink into the floor, or simply run away from this. But I was stuck. There was nowhere to go and no one to listen to me, no one to believe me when he was good friends with everyone in this office. Including my mother. They would take his side; and tell me I took his friendliness the wrong way.
James was the only one who managed to violate the bubble wrap my parents had suffocated me in.
Friday nights at The Den were a circus. Drink orders were constant as the patrons clocked off after a long week at work, ready to let their hair down and have a good time. Except for the ones who kept starting drunken bar fights. I only dared move out from behind the bar when collecting glasses was absolutely necessary and spent most of my shift polishing or ringing up orders on the cash register. Something I learned to do on the job as Jen and Xavier busily served the alcohol.
Our 15-minute breaks came slowly and ended too quickly when Roxy motioned for us to get back to the bar. There was barely any time to think, which made a good distraction to keep my mind from wandering.
I took a second to check my phone for the time, hoping what had felt like several hours of standing on my feet was true.
