Lauren Jauregui walked cautiously to the barred door of the little storefront on the corner of Chelsea St and Yancy Lane. She'd been inside millions of times before, it was a daily occurrence after all. But today she worried about what might be on the other side of the door. She'd delayed coming down here as best she could. She'd gotten out of bed a few hours than earlier, a testament to her last night's adventures at the local pub in addition to her reluctance to come to the shop, and had stopped for coffee at the giant chain coffee store at the corner of what had used to be her funky little bohemian neighbourhood. Now there were just a few independent places in what was a rapidly gentrifying area. There was the vintage second-hand clothes place, the little Mom and Pop Caribbean restaurant and there was Valkyries and Vixens.
Valkyries and Vixens was Lauren's place of business. She'd just gotten out of college, armed with an almost entirely useless degree in Modern Literature, when her Uncle Nigel had died. Lauren hadn't been close with her childless Uncle but she was the only child of his only sibling and so she assumed he'd left her the money by default. Rather than face the prospect of trying to use her education to earn a living, Lauren had used the considerable sum to open up a store dedicated to her first real love; Comic Books.
Lauren had always loved Comic Books. Even before she could read she loved the pictures and the excitement. When she could read she loved them even more. Her parents had always thought it bizarre but they'd indulged her. Her tastes had grown with her. She'd started with the comics her parents had bought her that were intended for little girls but she soon wanted to read the ones full of action and adventure she'd see the boys reading. The ones with the guys in spandex tights beating the colourful villains. Then it was on to the ones for young adults and regular adults that dealt with life and heartbreak and sexuality and history and anything else that could be written about. Lauren never lost her taste for any of them.
They'd also been a large part of Lauren discovering her sexuality. She'd never quite understood why she'd liked looking at The Invisible Woman and Supergirl so much when she was young, why doing the same for the muscular men had held very little appeal but she'd understood as soon as she'd gotten to high school. Lauren had come out to her parents at 15.
So comics held a very special place in her heart. That was why she wanted to sell them. To introduce other kids to what had filled her often lonely, confused youth with so much wonder and excitement. More over, she didn't want a real job and wanted to read comics all day. That was why she pulled the heavy door open and walked under the sign that read Valkyries and Vixens: A Feminist Comic Book Shop.
The store was mainly empty. Behind the glass display cases at the front was a slim young man with a stylish mess of black hair and bushy, mutton chop sideburns who was too engrossed with the pencil drawing he was doing on the thin art board he held on his lap to pretend to be keeping an eye on the two shoppers who were leafing through the stacks of books in the back. He was also too engrossed to look up at the door opening. Lauren crept in, barely a few inches inside the door.
"Is she gone?" Lauren asked the girl doing the drawing.
"Who? You mean Lucy ?" Normani asked, though still not looking up. Normani was Laurens lone employee. She'd hung around the shop, from opening until closing, since the day it'd opened. When the business began doing well enough that Lauren wanted someone to cover for her late nights and her desire for days off, she'd simply found it easier to hire the girl who was always there anyway. Lauren couldn't pay her well but she'd offered the apartment above the shop to her at a reduced rate and she'd begrudgingly accepted her generous offer of employment. Provided it didn't interfere with her artistic pursuits, of course.
"Yes. Lucy, your ex-girlfriend, is gone. Lucy came by an hour earlier and got the box of her stuff you'd left. Lucy said to tell you that she was sorry and that she wishes you well." Normani continued, carefully examining something she'd drawn before erasing it and starting again. "Lucy then lucy and Lucy Lucy."
