Diamond Girl

8: Coffee Cups

{Lily's POV}

Lily felt like a zombie when Susan called her in for the Monday Meeting. She dragged her feet through the labyrinth and into a corner space on the second floor. She drug her feet over the old shag carpet before sinking into the rickety chair near the window. She was pretty sure this had once been the meditation room for a yoga studio, due to the poster permanently affixed to the wall, but she wasn't sure. She had labeled it Meditation Room on her map anyway, though.

She sighed as coworkers began to file it. She knew that Aaron would take the head of the table, and Susan the middle. She didn't even bother to look. 

It had been such an awful weekend. 

She had spent the last two days on an absolute roller-coaster of emotions. She'd revisited every stage of grief over her job: denial, anger, bargaining (with herself this time), depression, and... acceptance.

Yesterday she had forced herself to get up, shower, and work on her resume. She spent hours upon hours watching or reading tutorials on how to update hers. The entire process seemed unnecessarily complicated. So many sites recommended that she tailor her resume specifically toward the career and industry she was pursuing, but what if she wasn't sure what she was pursuing?

Working at Daveney had been... a fluke. A convenient job at an inconvenient time. So, where could she go from here? The possibilities felt (scarily) endless.

She had a degree in Mathematics but had never worked properly in the field. When she'd graduated early with her Bachelor's she'd been... burnt out on school. She needed a Master's to get into the fields she was most interested in, but she also really needed to take a break. 

Her father, who couldn't be bothered to come to any of her graduations, had mailed her a sizeable check for the occasion. She couldn't even be excited about when her mother handed it to her. Lily had watched her roommates interact with their dads all day, and she'd had to admit to herself that she'd stupidly hoped for the same. 

She remembered looking down at that check and wondering what to do with it when her aunt had come up to chat with her. Soon after, she found herself being offered a job. Her aunt had a wedding reception center and needed help. The pay was okay, and it would be interesting. Plus, it would only be for a summer, then she could re-evaluate.

A summer became a year and Lily used the check as a down-payment on a tiny condo nearby that overlooked the river. With her meager salary she became 'house poor' - mattress on the floor and instant noodles and all. But she felt it was a good investment and she nearly had her car paid off, so she thought it would be fine. 

Surprisingly, she'd found liked the various facets of the wedding industry, as her aunt loved involving her in it all.

Lily saved what she could and splurged on a new washer and dryer and a proper bedroom set (from IKEA, but still) for Christmas. The wedding venue was getting busier, and things were looking up about a raise... She could remember even now standing on her balcony with friends, hopes soaring as fireworks burst over the river on New Years Day, 2020.  Everything was looking up - that is, until Disneyland shut down. Then the NBA.

All because someone ate a bat on the other side of the world. 

It should have been a joke, but it wasn't. Big, indoor weddings were not the type of events people wanted during a pandemic. No one wanted wedding pictures filled with loved ones in masks made out of old T-shirts, bandanas, and socks- or the oh-so-humorless N-95s that came after. No one wanted sanitizing stations between the cake and the canapes, or risking Granny dying because she wanted to see the father-daughter dance.

By the beginning of her second summer out of school, Lily found herself watching her aunt tearfully explain to her part-time workers that she simply had no work for them. She'd never forget the bizarre experience of watching those employees leave behind their uniforms as her aunt exchanged them for boxes loaded with industrial sized toilet paper and sanitizing wipes- which had somehow become a currency all its own. Afterwards Lily had quietly lowered her own salary and sold her car; she'd walk. She would ride the hysteria out with her aunt. It wouldn't last that much longer anyway. 

Or so she'd thought.

She never imagined that months later she'd have to watch her aunt's dreams slipping through her fingers as she refused to stop paying her full-time employees so they could keep all their healthcare. So, Lily had had to do the hard thing so her aunt could keep her business.

She'd quit. 

She looked for the closest jobs she could find since she longer had a car, and when she saw Daveney's ad, which was also in the wedding business, she'd paused. 

At first, she hadn't known how they were hiring at such a time, but then it occurred to her that in the loneliness of the last several months, people were probably getting engaged more than ever. And it was close, only one mile away. So, she'd walked over to scope it out, and Mr. Daveney had hired her on sight.

But, what now? 

Perhaps overcome by the Mediation Room, the meeting became a low buzz of chatter. Susan was saying something about adding to training binders, but Lily's mind was far away. She was transfixed by a coffee cup. It was doing a twirling little dance through the parking lot, bolstered by the blustery wind. It was kind of... mesmerizing and sad all at once.

As she watched the Styrofoam dance, she amused herself with wondering what it would be like to be a barista. Mr. Daveney was always bemoaning her no longer having time to make him a cup. How much did proper baristas get paid? Did it have benefits? Would she finally be able to find a type of coffee she liked?

As if she'd manifested it, the distinct aroma hit her nose just as she thought Lars said her name. She shook herself and looked at him. He was holding out a Diet Coke.

Adoration for Lars flooded her. That was just what she needed. She thanked him and saw that she'd somehow completely the table having been filled with coffee cups and snacks. How much time had gone by?

She could feel Aamon's dark eyes boring into the side of her face, as she stared at the seemingly spawned display, but she was still too upset at him to even look at him. After blinking a few times she eventually picked up an green package of nuts touting 'Energy Pack' on the front.

Obviously she needed to check back in.

She sat and opened her things. Lars made a comment about Aaron that she only half paid attention to, as when she cracked open her soda it fizzed up way too much, nearly spilling over the brim, as though Lars had been shaking it or something.

Since Mr. Daveney hadn't gotten to work yet, Lily mumbled out a retort to Lars about Hell having frozen over for her own amusement, likely too quietly for anyone to hear, though. 

She definitely needed to re-engage. She hadn't quit yet, and she could think about the yawning maw of her life later. Like when she was supposed to be sleeping.

Sighing, she looked up. Sasha was whispering conspiratorially in Goldsmith Gary's ear. Mysteriously, he looked at her then at the Minotaur, then did it again as Sasha whispered away. He was shaking his head in denial, but he looked thoughtful, maybe even a little bewildered.

Confused, Lily finally looked over at the devil himself and found him looking intently at her 'Energy Pack' with a creepy, smug smile. His arms were up in that stupid, cocky position that he always adopted when he wanted to show off his muscles, or when he felt he won something...

Hadn't Lars said Aaron had gotten the snacks? 

Lily dropped the packet quickly and shoved it away from her. Aaron never got the snacks, he'd probably rubbed them all over his butt or something. Oh goodness, had the package been completely sealed before she'd opened it? Her mouth twisted in a moue of disgust.

Aaron looked... offended, thwarted? She smirked at him, 'can't fool me, ya toad' she tried to telegraph into his tiny brain. Mysteriously, he brightened at that and the smug look returned. She rolled her eyes and looked away.

At least she'd gotten the soda from Lars.