[spinners] hazy afternoon [Ezra]

July 2003

"Ezraaa." She fake whined from behind the counter as she fed Camille her afternoon snacks. "You have got to stop telling customer's I'm your girlfriend." Rheya teased him with a flirty smile and wink. She liked him, he was funny and he always had some story to tell or joke to make. He made her day go by faster even though she loved working at Spinners part time. It was a good place to be, it felt like home, and most everyone who came around was like minded. She didn't have to worry about going off the rails on some persnickety witch who didn't like rock music. Those types didn't come in this door. She finished feeding the chameleon and put the little container back under the glass counter and slid the panel shut again.

She looked back across the store and past Ezra to a couple that was headed for the beaded room. Their eyes were already illuminated by the glowing lights behind the beaded curtain. "Watch the counter for me?" She asked the seventeen year old because she trusted him but also because her coworker was taking a smoke break out back. She helped the customers in the adults only room and then resurfaced in a minute or two. Rustling out from behind the beads she made sure none of them got caught up in her braids.

Her long shirt, which she wore like it was a dress, fell just above her knobby knees and showed off her skinny legs. It had a wizarding band from the seventies on the front and the bottom hem was starting to fray a little. Her feet were covered with worn down sneakers with mismatched neon laces strung in them. She had little make up on, a little liner and eye shadow, but enough tattoos to spare running up and down her long arms. Returning to Ezra and the shop front she leaned up against the glass show case and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"So are you gonna' buy anything today or?"

Ezra loved it in this shop. It felt like home to him, even smelled like home. He loved being surrounded by music, around bar food and drinks and accessories for some of his favorite hobbies. He loved everything about it, but he especially adored Rheya. He knew well enough that she was out of his league, but that didn’t stop the boy from trying. He loved the banter they had back and forth. While he really knew in his heart she wasn’t going to date him, he kind of hoped one day to get a pity kiss or something. He was pretty funny, too, so that helped. He had a feeling if she ever did go out with him, she would like him, but that was a shot in the dark—so naturally he needed to try for it a dozen times.

“Maybe if I say it enough, it’ll be true.” He teased back. “Don’t deny our love, Rheya. I know you got a giant boner for me.” He laughed. Not as big as the one I got for you. He thought, but that was too crude to truly say aloud. He told her he’d watch the shopfront for her when she went into the back room, but she wasn’t gone for long. He wouldn’t steal anything or let anyone else steal. He was a good boy, very honest and loyal—also he didn’t want to disappoint her.

He eyed up her outfit when he got a good look at it, but tried his best not to objectify her. As hot as she was, it wasn’t really that that attracted him. She was funny and sweet. She was nice. He liked that. He considered her question. “Got anything new?” He asked. “You know, we’ve been looking for a giant hookah for the apartment, one of the big ones. You sell any of those in that back room of yours?” He asked, a little playful but also dead serious. They all smoked so much at his apartment; it would be nice to have something they could use socially.

“Otherwise, what’s the special tonight? I’m starving.”

She rolled her eyes at him playfully, finding his little crush adorable and honestly hoping it didn't go away. She didn't think she was really leading him on, since she told him every other sentence that there wasn't anything going on between them, but she was never cruel about it. The witch laughed at his words as she walked toward the other room with the customers. "Yeah a big one." She teased and gave him a wink before she disapeared behind the beaded curtains. Of course none of that was true. She thought he was cute, for someone fives years younger than her, and his radio show was pretty awesome, but she had no intentions of dating him or breaking his heart.

Returning she was happy to see he had kept the place safe for the five minutes she'd been gone. She leaned up against the counter as she spoke to him, waiting for the set of customers to finish browsing the main store before she rung them up for the pipe and screens they'd picked out from the back. "Of course we do, the big, big ones." She joked with him again, wiggling her hips a little as she laughed. She pointed a thin tattooed hand up toward the sign that hung over the door, just wanting to mess with him a little bit more. "Assuming your of age now right?" She knew he was eighteen, but she still had to tease.

His next words caused her to all out chuckle. "It's hilarious that you think we have specials." Spinner's wasn't a restaurant, it was barely even a bar, but they did have some foods. Only things that the owner/bartender/chef could deep fry in the one enchanted vat he had in the back of course. And it wasn't by order, he'd cook up a thing of french fries on a whim and anyone who wanted a plate could buy some. Things like that. She motioned to the vending machine that glowed faintly near the stairs that led to the back. "I think Gino added some sour cream and onion crisps?" She offered, crossing her arms and grinning at him.

The couple finished shopping and she turned around to walk away from Ezra and back toward behind the counter to ring them up. She did so quickly, wrapping the pipe in paper and plastic before putting it into a black label-less bag and handing it off to them. "Have a good one." She told them before returning her gaze to Ezra as they left out the front.

"So you want me to show you the big one?"

“I take offense to that, don’t you believe I’m fourty?” He teased back, knowing that no one could possibly believe he was 40. He looked about 12. He was of age, though. He didn’t understand how selling certain specialty at items wasn’t a special, but he supposed the owner hadn’t gotten a craving for French Fries tonight. Sour cream and onion crisps were his favorite, though, so he nodded at her eagerly. “Perfect. I’ll be right back.” He let her focus on checking out her customers as he slid his money into the slots, pulling out a pack of the delicious crisps. He started chomping on them inside the shop without even a ounce of shame and made his way back to Rheya.

“Your big one, or the one in the back?” He teased. “No I’m just kidding, let’s go look. You don’t know the price off the cuff, do you?” He had a pretty thick bag of cash, but probably not enough for a serious purchase right off the bat unless it was ridiculously reasonable, which he doubted. He also couldn’t just ask his mom for the money—she didn’t approve of the smoking, and often shrieked if she thought she smelled anything on him. He had been caught a few times when she snooped around his room and lectured. His dad had given him tips on hiding it better, but he couldn’t really ask him for the money either. He would need to save up. Maybe Jam and Janae would even go partly in on it with him.

“So I heard you guys have been playing some shows around town. When’re you gonna invite me to one?” He teased, but was seriously interested. “I’ll show you my band if you show me yours.”

She shook her head at him, a little smile playing on her lips when he asked if she'd believe he was forty. "Maybe forty inches tall, but you're still not tall enough to ride this ride." She gave him a flirty waggle of her eyebrows. She knew she should probably stop encouraging the crush they both knew he had, but sometimes it was just too much fun to play with him. If he were a few years older, she probably would have dated him in a second. Rheya was far from shy about things like hookups, but she did have a couple of rules, and babies straight out of Hogwarts were one of those restrictions. Brown eyes followed him as he ran off to score a bag of crisps, and she finished up with the customers at the register.

When he returned, she laughed loudly at his words. "It's 32 Galleons, but I'll give you the employee discount." She gave him a wink as she followed him toward the beaded curtain and then the large display of water pipes. The one she had been telling him about was near three-foot-tall, had enough hookups for four people, and was made of blue and green blown glass with golden metal pieces. Standing next to it, she folded her thin arms across her chest and let him take a look.

"Oh, soon, soon." She told him with a little bit of apprehension. As much as Rheya loved being a part of Oliver Rigby's band and the fact that their music was being well received after they returned from California, the young witch was still struggling to deal with being known. She didn't quite care for even the small amount of spotlight that had been cast at them so far. "I'll let you know the next time we play in London, deal?" She offered with a little grin and shook her head at his teasing. "How are Jam and Janae?" She asked, feeling like she knew them for how much Ezra had told her.

Thirty-two galleons was kind of steep, but it was so gorgeous. He thought he had about forty in his wallet right then, so he could technically pay for it—but could he afford it? He wasn’t sure yet. The more he looked at it the more he really wanted it. “Oh wow, this is beautiful.” He praised. “Almost as beautiful as you.” He teased. “Seriously. I think I have to have it.” He admitted. “I don’t know if I can afford food this week, but I think I’ll take it….” He swallowed. He was already feeling a little guilty about parting with so much money at once, but he really wanted it.

“I sure hope you really do let me know next time you guys play London, though. I’ll make a sign for you.” He teased. “No, really, I’d love to see you guys play. I’ll let you know if we get any actual gigs too? We’ve been making demo tapes in the apartment, but they’re obviously low quality. We should probably go to an actual studio. I might be able to talk dad into letting us use the radio studio….” He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of that before.

“and Jam and Janae are doing fine, I guess. They’re both working real jobs. Can you believe Jam decided he wanted to be an auror? Janae is going to beauty school and working at this swanky club that I keep getting kicked out of.” He laughed. “We’re doing okay, honestly.” He admitted. “The apartment is really nice. Our friend Sid keeps crashing on our couch, and this girl Circe keeps spending the night with Jae, so…” He blushed a little at the mention of Circe. “I mean, Circe’s cool. She’s a friend too.” He was choking up a bit. He had crushed on Circe for years.

“It’s kinda a full house lately, yeah.”

She shook her head at his flirting, but a playful smile was present on her lips. Rheya could have stopped him and told him it was never going to happen, but truthfully she thought his interest was adorable. And flattering too. She didn't lead him on, she thought, not really, but there was no reason they couldn't have fun. What was a bit of banter between friends, right? Leading him to the counter, she nodded as he went through the motions of deciding whether or not he wanted to purchase it. "Well, for you, it'll be twenty-eight, just don't tell Spinner," Rheya said the last part in a whisper, not that the owner of the establishment would have really fired her or anything over it. She knew the cost, she knew he was still making a bit of profit, and Spin had always been a big fan of customer retention. And with a product like this, Rheya was pretty sure Ezra would be back to purchase more.

"You have ta' eat, though." She demanded, pulling her wand out of her pocket and flicking it toward the vending machine he'd been enamored with a moment ago. Two more bags of crisps fell to the bottom, and she grinned. Rheya had always played it fast and loose with these sorts of things, rules were meant to be bent. Not broken, not quite, but bent, always. Once he'd decided Rheya set in on wrapping it and getting it ready for him to purchase. Listening to him talking, her eyes flicking from the merchandise up to his face, a warm smile on hers.

"Just, like don't put my name on it though, on the sign I mean." Rheya hated the attention. One on one she might have enjoyed it, but being on stage, being cheered for individually sounded like one of her worst nightmares. She made sure to stick to the back of the stage, have the lighting on her low enough that they might not see her face, and snuck out the end after the set. Rheya didn't like being recognized as some of her bandmates might have. And she was perfectly fine with letting them have all of the spotlights. She hoped Ezra would succeed, she hoped his band would hit the big time and get everything they wanted. "Hang rugs on the walls helps with the vibrations." She told him as she finished wrapping up and packing the pipe into a box to keep it protected. There wasn't much in the muggle world Rheya could make sense of, but music recordings were something she'd learned about in California.

At the words 'real jobs,' Rheya's eyes shot up to meet Ezra's with a bit of a confused look. She hadn't seen that coming, maybe for Janae because she had always been so passionate about makeup and stuff, but hearing that Jam was headed for Auror training took her mind for a loop. "No shit, really?" She said softly and gave a quick nod. "Well damn, good for them, I gotta' catch up with Janae soon. No one braids quite like her," Rheya pushed the box toward him on the counter and leaned up against it. Leaning over with her boney elbows on the glass, she propped her chin up in her hand and gave Ezra her full attention. Brown eyes followed him as he told her about the rest of the house, Sid and Circe. By the end, she was beaming at him, loving this for him, it seemed like he was thriving, and she wanted nothing less.

"Sounds chaotic and wonderful," Rheya missed living in France, in the house full of random artists who were always coming and going, it was like a hostel for creative souls. There was always something going on, always someone to talk to, someone to party with, and it had been just the distracted she'd needed after finally escaping Hogwarts. Moving back to London had been something she never thought she'd do. And it took some convincing. People like Ezra made the return worth it, she had missed his friendship, and now that they were all graduated and working in the same backyard, she hoped they'd get to see one another more. "What about you, though? Any dates? You know I need details, Ezra." She toyed with him, winking a little, and waiting for an answer.

Ezra laughed. “Never any dates.” He teased. “You know I only have eyes for you.” He laughed again. “I mean, I was on the pull the other week at the karaoke bar. Was chatting up this girl who was literally a model and it was going pretty well. I looked away to talk to the bartender and Sid came up and then she left with him, so that’s about how good my dating life is going.” He laughed a third time, but this one was drier. He wasn’t happy about that. He had been so angry at Sid about that that he had nearly hit him. Sid never hit back, which only encouraged Ezra’s temper more. He got away with more than he probably should’ve with Sid, only because the two had previously been involved. Sid hadn’t been interested lately, though.

“Wait, wait, so I have actually been talking to this Hufflepuff girl the year below me. I think we are going out sometime soon, but I don’t know where that’s going. She has to go back to school soon anyway, so I don’t see that going anywhere.” He shrugged.

“What about you? How jealous should I be?” He teased.