harmony hall 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬

ii.

THE DAY PICKED UP QUICKLY, AND SOON, THE ARCADE WAS BUSTLING WITH NOISE AND USUAL LOUD CHATTER. Ophelia was stationed behind the prize counter, her shift over, but her replacement wasn't here yet, so she was stuck. Not that she minded, she enjoyed her job, she was just getting tired of the long hours of being on her feet and Talia had already abandoned her for a nap.

Ophelia reached up behind her to grab a prize when she heard the counter swing open. "You're late again, Sam." She heard him groan as she turned around, handing the prize to the kid at the counter. She shifted her attention to him.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. I tried to bake bread and I might have wrecked the machine." Samuel Bradbury had a sheepish grin on his face as he reached a hand up to run it through his short, dark hair. Sam was constantly rotating through different hobbies, trying to find one that he was good at with little results.

Ophelia chuckled at him before turning to another kid who had approached the table, handing her a large stack of tickets before pointing up to one of the top shelves. "I don't think aunt Abigail is gonna let you sleep on our couch again if your mom kicks you out for the sixth time." She began feeding the tickets into the machine, counting them quickly before she smiled, reaching behind her. She handed the large toy to the also grinning boy at the counter. He thanked her before turning back to his friends, holding it over his head in victory. They let out an enthusiastic cheer in support, before immediately grabbing him and ruffling him up. Ophelia smiled at the exchange, before again returning her gaze to her late coworker.

Sam just smirked at her, tossing his own beat up Walkman into his locker. Music was one of his hobbies that always seemed to stick, and that was probably one of the reasons the two were friends. "Oh come on, O! Y'know Abi loves me!"

Ophelia rolled her eyes, leaning her hip against the counter, "More like she puts up with you 'cause you're Dally's friend."

The boy gasped, holding a hand over his heart, "Just Dally's friend? Is that all I am to you?" He didn't wait for an answer before he pulled open her locker, grabbing her Walkman and popping it open. His mouth dropped open lightly as he pulled the cassette out, "When the hell did you get this?"

"It came in the mail just the other day." Ophelia grinned as he flipped it over, reading the track list.

"Shit," Sam drug out the word, "I tried to get one-a these but they were all sold out!"

"Well you'll be happy to learn I've got a surprise for you the next time you're hanging out with Dal." Turning his attention away from the cassette as she turned hers to a new customer with a wad of tickets in her hand, he closed the two lockers before closing the 'EMPLOYEE USE ONLY' door.

"Well you'll be happy to learn that I was planning to tonight, but I might not have much of a choice once ma sees what I did to her bread machine."

Ophelia sat crosslegged on the brown shag carpeted floor of her room. Her cassettes were spread in front of her, her focus on the blank ones. Talia lay on her stomach across Ophelia's bed, which was really just a mattress on the floor. Her blanket was bright red, which clashed with her lime green pillowcase. It was an interesting combo, but her usual grey and blue spread was in the wash. Ophelia's room wasn't especially clean, the closet behind her open with clothes falling from the hangers and littering the floor, but her desk was probably the messiest. There were cassettes, cassette cases, glue, scraps of paper, and track lists written on pieces of paper scattered across its surface. She had been kind enough to make her bed, but it's not like Talia was one to judge. Ophelia had seen her room at its worst.

The darker girl was flipping through one of Ophelia's many magazines, a lot of them being outdated ones from her aunt. Ophelia was humming along to one of her mixtapes that played softly through the room. Talia's head was bobbing along.