Two weeks later things were looking better. There had only been two fights between the new roommates, one of which was caused by Melissa learning about Lily telling James about her boyfriend breaking up with her. The other was really only a little scuffle that started when Lily spilled Coke on the carpeting in the front room. Overall, James found things to be going pretty well.
The only thing left to worry about was finding a job.
When James had first started out for Chicago he had to switch the little money he had over to a new bank account. Thankfully Sirius had more money from his parents and allowed James to stay at the new apartment that he was renting. The only money James had in his account was enough to cover two and a half month's rent.
This was how James found himself sitting in another bus stop looking, once again, at the posters. "Drummer needed for rock band," James read aloud to himself; unlike the day when he had seen Melissa at the stop there was no one in there sharing the little glass box. "Pays two hundred dollars a week." James snorted. "How the Hell am I supposed to make a living off of that?"
James had looked over every poster except for one when the bus came. Thinking that he could make the bus if he read quick enough, he continued. On the yellow paper it read:
Bartender at Cozy's Bar
Five nights a week
Pay varies
Average pay $300 nightly
2659 Martin Luther King Drive
555-3125
James liked the sound of that and yanked the poster off of the cubical wall. He then started to walk out of the bus stop. It took him a full five seconds to realize that the bus was pulling away from the curb.
"Dammit!" He yelled, and started running to catch up with it. Cold air rushed into his face and chilly wind ruffled his hair. He strained his long legs to run as fast as they could as he bypassed mounds of snow and patches of ice. He was rewarded when the bus stopped at the curb.
James continued running until he was right up against the bus. The door opened for him and he came face to fact with a grinning bus driver. "Sonny," the man told him, "you run pretty fast." James blushed, embarrassed, and made his way towards an empty seat. Every face he saw was smiling and his face turned redder as he walked down the aisle.
He chose a spot in the back and lowered his head to the point where no one would be able to look at him. People all around him sniggered, and he pulled his lapels farther up against his neck to obscure the view even further. The bus ride continued in this fashion until it came to the stop at Martin Luther King Drive.
James hurried off of the bus as fast as he could. As soon as his feet touched the pavement outside he heard the bus driver laughing. At the same time he felt something wet and cold on his leg. Grimacing he looked down. His pant leg was soaked and had little white flurries it.
"Gah!" He yelled, shaking his leg in the air to rid himself of the wetness. All that happened from this action was the water soaked even further into his sock. Realizing it was a useless battle James walked down the street, his foot squishing unpleasantly in his shoe.
He didn't have far to walk, as Cozy's was but a few yards away from the bus stop. Cozy's was a little hole in the wall bar, James mused. It was made entirely out of red brick and had a neon green sign with the insignia of the pub above it.
"Well," he said, the grimace still on his face. "Here goes nothing." He opened up the door and walked inside.
Although it looked small from the outside Cozy's was actually fairly large. It had multiple sets of booths, a dance floor, a stage, and an island in the middle. Behind the bar was a man. As soon as James stepped inside he looked up and said, "Dude, it's ten A.M. We're closed."
"I know that," James answered. "I'm here for the job."
The man behind the counted looked him over. He was an extremely tall man, standing at probably somewhere along six foot six. He had short cropped blonde hair, light blue eyes, and a hard body that was pressed tightly into a white T-shirt and jeans.
He nodded, walked out from behind the bar, and headed over to James. As soon as he stood in front of him
he extended his hand. "Jack Ricall," he said, as he pumped James' hand.
"James Potter," he answered and gestured around the bar. "Great place you got here."
"Thanks." He looked James over again. "You from England or something? You've got an accent."
James sent him a sheepish smile. "Yea. That's usually the first thing people notice."
"Right." He nodded his head. "Follow me."
Guess the guy doesn't talk much, James thought as he followed Jack through. This was a contrast to the hospitality that James had grown up with his entire life while living in England.
Jack led James to the stage that he had noticed earlier. They both walked up the stairs and towards the center where there was a piano. For a moment James marveled at it --Cozy's didn't seem like the place for a piano--, then once again followed Jack as he walked over to the piano.
"OK, let's see what you got."
James looked at the instrument and then back to Jack. Then back to the piano. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. Sit down. Lets see how well you play this baby."
Still, James stared at the piano like it was a Chinese torture device. "I'm sorry, I think there's some kind of misunderstanding. I don't play the piano."
"I thought that all English people learned to play. Like it was some sort of... law or something."
Then James looked at him. "No, sorry to disappoint you, but the only instrument I play is the guitar. Besides, I'm here for the--"
Jack cut him off, laughing. "You play the guitar? I didn't think that a lot of English people played the guitar."
James had to fight the urge to remind this man of the Beatles, but decided against it; after all, he was there for a job. Besides, the guy was just an asshole. And since he lived with Melissa, vulgar comments just rolled right off him.
For the most part. He was brought up a gentleman.
"Yes, I play the guitar. Pretty damn well too, I might add. But that's pretty irrelevant considering I came here for the bartending job."
"Bartending job?" Jack asked after he stopped laughing. "You don't seem like the kind of guy to work in a bar. You know," he flashed a grin, "English propriety and all that crap."
Once again, James had to stop himself from doing an un-gentlemanly action. Like shoving his boot straight up this guy's ass. Instead, he went with, "You'd be surprised by all the pubs we have over in England. Most of us are drunk." Ok, so that wasn't really true. But Jack didn't really need to know that, did he?
"Riiiight...." Jack replied. He couldn't think of much else to say, so he nodded his head towards the bar. "Follow me then."
Once they had arrived at the bar, Jack sat on one of the many stools and motioned for James to get behind the bar. He did so without talking, and stationed himself by the alcohol. After a moments silence, he asked, "What can I get you?"
"None of that pansy-ass stuff," Jack said. "Please." He shook his head as if ridding himself of such thoughts. "I'll have a martini."
James raised an eyebrow. "Martini?" Jack just didn't seem like the kind of guy....
"Did I stutter?" Jack smiled as if this was hilarious. "Yes, a martini. And make it good. You're possible job is on the line."
James nodded his head and got to work. After all of the parties his mother and father had had while he was younger, catering to the rich and famous was pretty much a key to life. And since most of them wanted martinis --disgusting things that they were-- he had to know how to make them, and make them well.
When he was done pouring the drink into a glass, he pushed it across the bar top towards Jack. He waited --not exactly patiently either-- while Jack took a sip... and then another. And another until finally Jack set down the glass and looked at James.
"Not bad, Pansy-Boy," Jack said, as James asked himself, 'Pansy-Boy? What the Hell?'. "Looks like you got yourself a job."
****
"Yea, I got a job," James said into the payphone. "How is that remarkable?"
"I dunno," Sirius replied. "You just don't seem like the kind of guy to go out and actually get a job. Anyhoo, where is it and how much do you make?"
"It's Cozy's Bar and I get roughly three-hundred a night."
"Three hundred?" He whistled. "That's some big bucks, man. What do you gotta do? Strip down to your tighty-whities and wiggle what your momma gave you?"
"Nothing so perverse, no. More like I serve drinks. I'm a bartender."
"With all the alcohol we consumed in our rowdier years, and with all the drinks you had to make for your mom and dad and stuff, you should do pretty well."
"I'm glad you have faith in me."
"Eh, you know how I am. I'm always looking for the good of mankind."
"And how, exactly, is my being a bartender doing something good for mankind?"
"Hey, I didn't say that I found what you were doing good for mankind. I just said that I was looking for it."
"OK, first of, that made no sense. Second of all, I gotta go. There's this woman behind me glaring daggers at me."
"Kay, Peace man. I'll catch you on the flip-side."
"Oh, and Sirius?"
"Yea, brother?"
"Never say that again."
"Gotcha. Peace."
"Bye."
****
Remus searched along the many aisles of books, a container filled with cookies in his arm. Austynne was nowhere to be seen, and to be honest, the little kids eyeing the cookies and licking their lips were starting to scare him. But he was here on a mission, and he wasn't going to be daunted.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, he saw her bent over one of the tables, a large book on top. For a minute all he could do was stare, but then he drew in a breath, gained some courage, and then walked over to her.
As soon as she heard his footsteps upon the group she looked up and a smile formed on her face. The smile caused Remus' courage to falter a bit, but in the end, he decided to go ahead anyway. After all, what did he have to loose? Just his ego and the friendship of the woman he possibly loved.
OK, maybe he did have some things to loose. But like they said, you had to try. And if there was one thing everyone knew about Remus Lupin, it was that he wasn't afraid to try anything once.
But of course, he had never had to try anything quite like this. Aw Hell, if he was going to feel like this around her all the time, maybe he should just drop this whole idea of asking her out and just get on with his life...
"Oi! Remus, over here."
Hearing Austynne's voice, Remus closed his eyes. Did he really want to do this?
"Hey. Remus, you OK?"
Suddenly, after hearing her voice, everything that had been analyzed and reanalyzed went out the window. So what if he got horribly rebuffed? So what if his ego was shattered? At least he would know-- Aw Hell. If he got refused, he would probably cry or bake a cake or something.
"Remus?" Remus opened his eyes to see her standing in front of him, waving a hand in front of his face. "Earth to Remus. You there?"
"Uh....." Remus answered, staring into her blue eyes. "HI. Sorry. Just got a little dizzy there for a moment."
Austynne sent him a lop-sided smile. "OK...." She nodded her head towards the table she was bent over just a few moments before. "C'mon then. I saved a seat for you."
"Oh... thanks," Remus replied. He let out a whoosh of air. "I made some cookies."
They were at the table, and as soon as Remus said that, Austynne made a grab for the cookies. "Ooooh, Cookies!" She yelled, opening the box. "What kind are they?"
"Chocolate Chip. You said that they were your favorite so..."
"Aw, Remus! You shouldn't have." She said the last bit around a mouthful of cookie. She swallowed and sent him a smile. "Wow, these are really good. Where'd you learn to make them?"
Remus stood up, shrugging out of his jacket. "I don't know. I just picked it up I guess. My mom was always baking cookies and cakes and pies and things when I was younger, so I just kind of learned."
"Well, thank your mom for me the next time you see her. 'Cause these are the best damn cookies I've ever had."
"I'll be sure to do that," Remus said, thinking that if he ever saw his mother again, there was another question he'd like an answer to. Like why exactly she never wanted to see him again....
"Anyhoo," Austynne said, breaking him from his thoughts. "What are you up do? I haven't seen you around for a while. Thought maybe you had second thoughts about being my friend and all that happiness."
Remus smiled and pulled one of the books closer to him. "You know that would never happen." He looked up just as she popped another cookie into her mouth. She smiled a smile that sent a jolt through him. He needed to get things over with and soon, before he barfed or wet his pants or something.
"Well, that's good. But it still doesn't answer my question about what you've been up to. Besides baking awesome cookies I mean."
"Nothing much, I'm afraid. Two of my mates from England just moved here, and I'm just trying to spend and much time as I can with them--"
Suddenly, there was a great roar as if a foghorn had gone off inside Remus' head before he was pitched into darkness.
****
OK, well, that took me a long time to get up. Sorry about the delay. I've just been so busy with my school musical and this giant project for my Science class (and not I've been entered in this contest sponsored by ComEd) that I haven't been able to get much writing done. So thanks to all of you who emailed and IMed me and sent me reviews telling me to get my butt in gear. THANKS!
Oh, and since they have that new rule about Author's Messages, I can no longer do the author responses that I love to do. Sorry for those of you who actually liked it when I did those.... So besides a Disclaimer, I won't have an authors' notes. Sorry to those of you who actually read them... :D
THANKS AUS!!! (Thought you might like that, my biggest fan/fanfiction friend!) I changed that line just for you. :)
And people! Austynne is pronounced Austin. Liiike.. the capital of Texas. Ok? OK! (There you go Aus, happy now?)
Melissa