ACHING
As Lucia's eyes flickered open, she registered her unfamiliar surroundings. The memories of the night before came rushing into her consciousness and she sat up abruptly.
If only it had been a dream.
She felt horrendous, a dreadful combination of coming down from what she'd taken, being hungover and having cried and thrown up the whole evening.
After adjusting to the light streaming in through the window, Lucia slid out of bed and made her way to the bedroom door. She opened it, revealing Mel seated in front of her TV with the morning news playing. She had a coffee held between her hands, and was already in a black work skirt and white blouse.
Mel looked up upon hearing the door open.
"Morning, how are you feeling?" She asked warmly, sipping her coffee.
"Like shit." Lucia chuckled, running her hands through her hair that was still slightly wet from the night before. These were the kind of times she regretted not being able to use magic, such as a trusty drying charm, but there was no way she could in front of Mel.
"There's coffee on the bench, and feel free to have anything you find in the kitchen to eat." Mel informed her, eyeing the dark circles under Lucia's eyes.
"Thanks so much Mel. Again I'm sorry for springing myself on you with no notice last night." Lucia spoke as she poured coffee into a large mug.
"Enough of that, you know it's my pleasure," Mel assured, "I have to go to work today though, but feel free to use my Netflix or have a bath, literally whatever you want."
"That sounds great, thank you." Lucia said as she sat down beside her on the couch, "You haven't seen my phone, have you? I can't remember whether I had it with me last night."
"I think you may have left it at the hotel." Mel said carefully, not wanting questions from Lucia as to why she knew this early in the morning with Lucia obviously in a fragile state.
"Oh, right." Lucia frowned, thinking of nothing worse than going back to the hotel room.
They watched the news for a while, Lucia guiltily enjoying the distraction of other peoples' misfortune.
"I better go now." Mel announced after a few moments, standing up from the couch to put her mug in the sink, "You can call me from the home phone if you need, my number is on the bench."
"Thanks Mel." Lucia smiled, leaning into the soft back of the cream-coloured couch.
There was a jingle of keys and a click of the door as Mel left.
Lucia sighed, taking another sip from her mug and zoning out from the chatter on the TV.
Her piercing headache was rather distracting, and the constant nausea caused her appetite to waver in and out of presence.
Lucia decided that food would likely settle her stomach, so she got up to put a piece of bread in the toaster. This seemed like the only thing she could force down right now.
After spreading it with butter, she sat down again and began scrolling through shows on Netflix to pass the time as she ate.
***
It was past lunch time, and Lucia was still feeling rather uneasy, so she decided a bath might calm her senses.
After filling the tub with hot water and some of the pink bubble bath on the sink, she stepped in. The water was almost painful on her cold feet, but after moving them around for a few seconds she managed to lower herself in.
As she lay there, closing her eyes, she began to consider that maybe this was a bad idea. Without the sound of the TV to distract her, the thoughts she'd attempted to supress waged their way into her consciousness.
She saw vividly the bone-white skin of his face, blood-red piercing eyes and the snake-like nose. She shivered despite the hot temperature surrounding her.
But she also saw his dark curls, his brown eyes and his soft pink lips. She could easily kid herself that they weren't two timestamps of the same person, there was really no similarity in their appearances.
She thought to the broken boy she had imagined at the orphanage, not an ounce of love or affection his whole childhood.
Lucia could see how one of these versions led to another, in a tumultuous string of contiguity caused by a multitude of unfortunate circumstances throughout Tom's life.
It made her heart hurt.
It was only when the bath water turned cold and all the bubbles were gone that she finally teared herself away from her thoughts.
***
"I'm back!" Mel called as she walked through the door again that evening, "And I brought Indian take-away!"
Lucia stood up from the couch to help Mel set up the tableware, and they sat at the small dining table to eat.
"I have to go to Kings Cross tomorrow to catch the train to school." Lucia announced as she took a bite of her roti.
"I can drop you off on the way to my internship, no worries." Mel assured, "Are you sure you'll be okay going to school with everything going on? You're more than welcome to stay here a bit longer if you need."
"No, it's okay. It's my last year, I better be there from the start." Lucia shook her head, "I think it will be nice to get a bit of distance from London at the moment anyway, be with some different people."
"That is true." Mel agreed, bringing a bite of curry to her mouth.
"I can't wait for this year to be over though, to finally be finished school." Lucia thought out loud, "I can finally get a job, my own place... just start fresh, you know?"
"It's the best feeling, cutting heaps of your ties from school." Mel confirmed, considering she was three years older than Lucia, "During those years, you feel so bound to your identity there, but once you get out, you can really be whoever you want."
Lucia smiled lightly, "Definitely looking forward to it."
"How have you been going with... what we kind of talked about at the bar a couple of weeks ago?" Mel asked carefully.
"You mean drugs?" Lucia scoffed, "C'mon Mel, you know I'm not that stupid."
"So you haven't done anything but smoke a bit of weed?" Mel cocked an eyebrow, unsure at Lucia's seemingly defensive answer.
"Well..." Lucia looked at her lap.
"Lucia..." Mel said sternly.
"Ugh... Well Darcy may have chucked a little coke in with the weed, and last night I may have taken molly." Lucia said guiltily, avoiding Mel's gaze.
"Fuck's sake Lucia, you promised you were just using the weed for stress. I warned you not to let it go further." Mel sighed, but kept her tone calm, "I'm going to fucking kill Darcy, how often with the coke?"
"Just a couple of times..." Lucia winced.
"A day? Fucking hell, you don't have any more do you?" Mel asked in disbelief.
"No." Lucia said truthfully.
"Okay as long as you don't get more. It's really not good for you Lucia, you know that." Mel spoke sternly.
"I know Mel, I know." Lucia put her head in her hands to take a few deep breaths, "It's just so hard."
"Are you sure you don't need to go somewhere for a bit, a rehab, before you go back to school?" Mel asked worriedly.
"Don't be ridiculous, I'm fine. Once I get to school I'll be fine." Lucia rushed.
"If you say so." Mel looked concentrated in thought, "I'm really worried about you Lucia."
"Please don't be." Lucia looked at her, "I- I will work this out."
"I just don't like the thought of you going off into the fucking Scottish Highlands without anyone watching over you." Mel sighed.
"I have friends at school who will watch over me," Lucia assured, "I just need time and space from this shit and I'll get past it."
A few moments of silence passed.
"Tom called me last night." Mel revealed, feeling uneasy at keeping it from Lucia any longer.
"He- He did?" Lucia froze.
"You left your phone at the hotel, so he called me from it and wanted to talk to you or come here. I told him you wouldn't want him to and that he needed to give you time to think." Mel explained carefully.
"Oh," Lucia took in the information, "Thank you for not letting him come, I don't think I can handle that right now."
"I thought that. He just wanted to know you were safe." Mel said softly.
Lucia felt tears well up in her eyes again, and she cursed them bitterly. She hadn't cried this much in a long time, she was usually more of a suffer in silence type.
"I can tell he really cares about you, Lucia." Mel spoke again.
Lucia exhaled deeply, "I know."
After dinner, Lucia made sure she had all her things together to leave the following morning, and they watched some Netflix until both their eyes were threatening to close.
As she lay beside Mel, Lucia stared at the ceiling.
She was nervous to go back to Hogwarts.
Things had changed since she was last there, she had changed.
She wished so badly to stay watching TV on Mel's couch instead, but she couldn't. She had to get away from this, not dwell on the past (or people who were from the past). Instead, her focus needed to be on her future.
It was the only way to soothe the aching in her chest.
author's note
sorry this was a bit of a depressing filler, but guess where we're going next chapter! :o
thank you all for sticking with me through the chapters where they're apart, I know you guys probably just want them together but I'll try make it worth it :)