Nora Mallone had never been one to cause trouble. When she moved to downtown Toronto at age eighteen, she had plans to attend university and make a life for herself alongside her best friend. But all of it went down the drain when she lost her paren...
When Nora got home, it was just past five o'clock. She was lucky to live within walking distance of the Castle, even if it meant listening to the bustle of Toronto nightlife on the evenings she wasn't working.
The whole walk home, she hadn't stopped thinking about Auston. The way he looked at her. How he smiled at her when she made him her favorite drink—the one she knew he would hate enough to give back to her. She didn't want to think about him anymore. It felt stupid and childish. He was a customer and a famous hockey player. All in all, Auston Matthews was the last thing that Nora needed.
Lex, to Nora's surprise, was still at the counter with her textbook—only now her head was on top of it, and she was snoring loudly against the pages. With a laugh, Nora approached to prod her friend gently.
"What?" Lex snapped, sitting up. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and glanced around, disoriented.
"Found a new napping spot?" Nora teased. It was far from the first time Lex had fallen asleep in a new, increasingly bizarre spot. A month ago, it was on the floor right next to Lex's own bed, and a couple weeks after that, Nora discovered her beside the washing machine, her head resting against it.
Lex hummed. "Yeah, I guess so," she remarked.
"You're not sleeping enough," Nora concluded as she sat down on the couch. "You need more breaks from studying."
It was the last thing Lex would ever do—she was studying to be a doctor, so Nora understood: not too long ago, it's what they had both wanted. That, of course, was before the car accident that killed both of Nora's parents. She shook away the memory, opting instead to reach for Lex's hand.
"I know, I know," Lex replied with a groan. "I haven't left this house for anything except class in days."
Nora was close to pointing out that it was definitely more like weeks, but she knew Lex didn't need reminding. "Why don't you go take a nap?" suggested Nora, cocking her head down the hall towards Lex's room.
Lex sighed and rose to her feet. "Okay," she conceded. "Can we go out tonight?" she asked. "I know it's your day off, so if you don't want to, it's okay. I just—I feel like I need to be somewhere that isn't here."
Admittedly, Nora hated going out—even before she started working in nightlife. Clubbing in unfamiliar places made her anxious, even when she was surrounded by friends. Still, working at the Castle meant it was easy to get into a place Nora knew and knew well. Plus, last year, before Lex's schooling got so intense, the two would often go to the bar on Nora's nights off and make up ridiculous celebrity personas whenever someone approached them to talk about their status.
And so, to Lex, Nora replied, "Of course—but only if you get plenty of sleep first." She raised her eyebrows at Lex, who smiled.
"Sure thing, Mom," she muttered, brushing past Nora on the way to her room.
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Conversation with Trick Gainsley
Nora hi lex and i are at the castle tonight hanging if you wanna come tooooooo 🤩
Trick hmmm how late will u guys be there?
Nora hmmmm idk probs a while am gonna get drunk off my ass and hopefully get lex to do the same she needs it
Trick lmao all right crazy, i'll try to make an appearance. ill text.
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"Think he'll actually show?" Lex asked as Nora handed her a glass of wine.
Nora thanked Annika behind the bar and then started towards one of the booths on the other side of the dance floor. "I don't know," she admitted. Trick, once strictly a co-worker, had—over the years—become one of her best friends, as had the other employees at the Castle, though perhaps none were as close as Trick and Nora. He was the life of every party, which is likely what prompted Lex to have Nora invite him out.
As Lex sunk into the seat on one side of the booth, she piped up, "I never asked what happened when you came to give that person their card earlier. Did they find it?"
Nora couldn't fight back a groan as she sipped from her drink. "Yes," she muttered, returning the glass to the table. "But it was that fucking hockey player who broke the table like six months ago."
"Yikes," Lex winced. "That Matthews guy?"
"The one and only," mused Nora as she rolled her eyes.
It made Lex laugh. "So," she began, "who are we being tonight?"
Nora's eyes swept the bar, which, at ten o'clock, was just starting to fill up for the night. She recognized a few Blue Jays players, another from the Raptors, and then several entrepreneurs who always showed up on the weekends. "We could go with the classic porn star approach," Nora suggested.
"That is one of my favorites," Lex confessed with a smile, "but you play that part so much better than me." She glanced towards the bar and then to the dance floor. "I'm gonna go with award-winning author," she concluded.
"Oh yeah?" Nora countered. "What's your most famous novel?"
Because feigning celebrity was one of Lex's many talents, she was quick to reply, "It's called the Breath of the Elderflower. You probably wouldn't know about it, since it's a meditation on the metaphysics of abstraction."
Determined to stump her, Nora tried, "What awards did it win?"
Lex scoffed. "A better question is what awards didn't it win. Pulitzer, Newberry—even made it onto Oprah's list of recommendations, but even she admitted it was a tad too sophisticated for her." Nonchalantly, Lex gulped down half of her wine glass. "I'm actually on a book tour for my next novel." She raised her eyebrows at Nora, who waved her off.
"I hate how good you are at this," she remarked with a shake of the head. Lex feigned humility and continued her scan of the bar. Abruptly, Nora saw her eyes stop on the other side of the dance floor. "What is it?" Nora prompted, following her gaze.
Lex didn't have to answer—Nora already saw what she was looking at. In the Maple Leafs' usual section was several players, hanging around fucking Justin Bieber and his wife.
Through the crowd, Auston Matthews met Nora's gaze.
