A/N: Here's chapter 4. A bit bigger, at least. Please review! I love those reviews!
Disclaimer: I've forgottten to tell you all that I own Lilly Emerson. How silly of me. Don't steal her. I don't own Vince and Howard though, so I guess you're free to steal them. Good luck, Howard can't be put in a box. He'll eat the box. And wash it down with a cup of hot steaming rules. He's just that kind of guy. I believe they call them mavericks.
Lilly was sitting at one of the small tables in the Velvet Onion, looking around at all the strange characters in the room. There were a lot of folks milling about in outfits that reminded her of the one that effeminate man she'd met earlier was wearing. Bright colours and crazy hairstyles seemed to be what was popular these days. Looking at them just made Lilly feel old and out of style.
She wasn't actually that old and she would have been in style had she had the energy and patience to follow those sorts of things. Lilly liked to think she had her own sense of style and – although she didn't conform to the others around her – she wasn't a complete loss to the fashion world. She did know which colours went with which and which fabrics she should stay away from.
Lilly's fashion musings were interrupted by the mass of people around her. Suddenly, the room was full and she couldn't breathe; so much for conquering her fear of crowds. She tried to squeeze her way to the back and ended up getting pushed to the front. Before she could turn a try to muscle her way back, she was pushed up against the corner of the stage.
'Well, this is going to be comfortable.' She thought, just as Vince and Howard took the stage.
The performance was short but successful gaining the Mighty Boosh torrential applause and a lot of screaming from the audience. Lilly had been blown away by the mixing of styles. There was electro and there was pop and Lilly thought she even heard a little bit of jazz mixed in. She was thoroughly impressed.
Howard had been disappointed with the whole ordeal. Then again, he was a perfectionist and was never really happy with the way things turned out. Vince had stayed on stage to receive great bouquets of flowers and pledges of love from adoring fans. Howard knew better than to think any of it was for him, so he'd exited the stage as gracefully as possible and was approaching the bar for a drink.
"That was great, Howard! Thanks for inviting me!"
Howard started for the second time that evening – nearly dropping his glass on the floor. He turned to see none other than Lilly, the girl that had spoken to him earlier that day.
"I really enjoyed the keyboards. You do some amazing work up there." She gestured towards the stage, "I can't believe you let Vince take all the credit."
Howard glanced up to the stage, where Vince was signing autographs and chatting with some fanatical looking girls, "That's just his style."
Lilly gestured to a table and looked over to Howard, still smiling, "Care to sit, sir?"
She was being silly, Howard could tell and – although she was mocking a word that he clearly used quite often – he couldn't help but smile, "Of course."
After sitting down in a more secluded spot, they'd gotten to talking about music. Howard had told Lilly about his love of the music known as jazz and he'd been amazed when she'd told him that – although she didn't love it as much as he did – she did appreciate it. She assured him that her neck didn't swell when she was in its presence.
"Oi, Howard! You crazy chestnut! What are you doing in the corner?" Vince came sidling up to their table, ignoring the crowd that was clearly still following him.
Howard rolled his eyes and he couldn't help but admit that his heart sank a bit. He knew that Lilly had met Vince but he was hoping that she hadn't really gotten to know him. He thought he might actually have a shot with this girl but if Vince was around there was no way he'd have any chance. Vince always overshadowed Howard.
Vince sat down in the chair next to Howard and peered at Lilly, "Have we met? You look familiar."
Lilly smiled politely but Howard noticed that she wasn't fawning over Vince. She even looked a bit perturbed that Vince had interrupted their conversation.
"Um – I think we met earlier today. I'm Lilly?" She ran a hand nervously through her hair, suddenly feeling her social ineptness hanging over her head. She'd been doing well so far but she was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed.
"Oh yeah! I was on my way to Topshop when I met you." Vince grinned and nodded at the memory, it was a good one, "Howard isn't boring you with his jazz talk, is he?" Vince smiled fondly at Howard and Lilly realized that – although Howard was glaring openly at Vince – they must have been great friends.
"Well, no." Lilly looked between Howard and Vince, trying to plan what the smart course of action would be. What did she want here? She didn't even know.
Vince winked at her cheekily and Lilly found herself openly smiling, his good mood was infectious, "I see how it is. Poor Howard is a bit of a social piranha, especially when it comes to girls."
Howard was about two seconds away from telling Vince to sod off. This had been a great chance and he'd really liked Lilly so far – so much for that. Vince was going to take another girl right from underneath his nose.
Not if he could help it.
"Hey, Vince, isn't that the head of Pieface Records over there?" Howard pointed to the other side of the room and silently prayed that he'd take the bait.
"What?! No way!" Vince was off in a flurry of light, pushing through the crowds to try to get a look at the head of Pieface Records.
Lilly laughed and looked at Howard, who was clearly breathing a sigh of relief, "He's a character, isn't he?"
Howard laughed right along with her, "At the best of times. So anyway, about Billy 'Twelve Toes' Malone…"
Vince was not a vengeful person. He had never been jealous of Howard at any point in all of their years together. In fact, if he thought about it, it might have been the other way around. Howard had always sort of followed behind Vince, sweeping up the confetti and swatting the flies.
Vince was startled then, when Howard had tricked him in order to stop him from flirting with a girl. Since when had Howard been interested in any of the girls that went to their gigs? Then again, this girl didn't exactly fit the persona of the others. If anything, she was a bit boring. But Vince was determined to prove that there was no girl he couldn't charm.
So, when the girl had walked into the shop the next day and Howard had been in the back doing stock taking, Vince turned on the charm.
"Hi Vince. I'm looking for Howard. He said he might show me around today. If you're not too busy here, that is."
They both looked around the shop and – seeing only Henry the cricket (who'd since been allowed back in) sitting in the corner, munching on a Twix and reading a copy of Cheekbone – decided that they were not too busy.
"Oh, Howard is in the back doing something." Vince thought for a minute but couldn't come up with a specific activity. Was it stock taking? He couldn't remember.
"Oh, well, I can come back –" Lilly started to back out of the shop. She was a little worried by the look on Vince's face and she was still trying to get used to his upfront personality.
"Don't be silly! I can show you around! No one is going to come in today anyway. Howard lost the 'Open' sign so no one will know whether we're open or not." Vince came out from around the counter – where he'd been playing with his toy car – and put his hand on Lilly's shoulder, guiding her out, "You know, with a bit of customizing, that shirt would look great!"
Howard was – in fact – doing stock taking and by the time he'd gotten out from underneath the pile of stock and out into the shop, Vince had escorted a rather confused Lilly out.
