Lush Corruption | Harry Styles AU | BOOK 2 ✓

03

Vicky West

I was resting my head on the countertop at work, Clarity was mopping the floor nearby while I muttered the lyrics of the song playing out through the café. I sighed at the thought of spending the rest of the night here, I hadn’t really gone out since things went bad with Harry; I spent the majority of my days moping around, while simultaneously being pissed that Harry still hadn’t called.

‘’Why are you so.. still?’’ Clarity asked, I huffed angrily at her untimely interruption of my thoughts — can’t you tell I’m trying to think of Harry lady? ‘’Engaging in conversation would be pleasant.’’ She advised me, but what was there to say? The boy I fell for turned his back on me, and couldn’t even tell me why. I hated my thoughts at this point, why in the world would I want to talk about it?

‘’I have nothing to say,’’

‘’You seem off,’’ Clarity said, and she started with cleaning the tables. ‘’I know something’s up. At least help me clean up, so that we can get out of here.’’ I lifted my head of the stone surface, turning to look at her before walking into the back to get a cloth to wipe off the tables. I could feel her eyes on me, expecting an explanation for my odd behaviour, but I couldn’t raise my eyes to her.

There’s no way to explain my emotions at this point, no way to put things that would make her understand.

‘’I don’t really want to talk about it,’’ I said. Red was the only person who knew everything, and I didn’t even want to tell her. The situation was too fucked up for anyone, who didn’t know Harry’s irrational ways, to understand.

‘’It’s okay, Vicks.’’ Clarity assured me, and it felt nice that my choices were tolerable. ‘’I’m not going to nag on you about something you don’t feel comfortable talking about.’’ I lifted my eyes to her, smiling slightly at her understanding tone.

‘’Are you busy tomorrow afternoon?’’ I asked her peculiarly.

‘’No, why?’’

‘’I just wanted to switch one of my shift’s, it’s not really a big deal to be honest.’’ I said nonchalantly, otherwise Clarity would call every employee and ask them if they had time to cover for me. ‘’Can’t we just leave and Veronica can finish up tomorrow?’’ I complained.

‘’I wish it was so easy!’’

‘’Sometimes I wish I could just quit this job,’’ I announced. ‘’It takes so much from me, and I accomplish nothing from working here. Comparing V’s Café to Moulin Rouge, at least I’m building a career over there.’’

‘’I never wanted to work here, Vicks.’’ Clarity told me, and she sat on the table. ‘’I just needed to pay my bills, and this was the job I got. I wanted to get out of here, travel even, but I can’t afford it. We take what we can get from this life.’’

‘’It’s just not my thing,’’ I confessed.

‘’A lot of people have it worse, Vicks.’’ Clarity said, and I knew she was speaking the truth. ‘’There are so many people begging employers to be on your spot. So don’t waste it, and be grateful for this opportunity you’ve been given. If you hadn’t been gotten the job from Veronica, you wouldn’t have been in LA long enough to audition for the Moulin Rouge.’’

I just nodded, and said I agreed with her words.

I wonder how different things would have been if I never auditioned… If I never met Harry…

…

I had packed my stuff, and walked to the entrance of the café. Clarity was gone, and I needed to close up. I was hoping on a nicer evening and spending some time with Red, but she was preoccupied — trying to find out exactly what was going on between her and the one-night-stand sex-god Zayn.