addiction - draco malfoy

fifty

i pooled out of the taxi at the first place we found to stop on oxford street, leaning over and kissing draco softly on the lips. 'are you sure you don't want me to get out and walk you to them?' he checked.
'nah' i shrugged 'how hard can it be to find them? and besides, if you abandon this taxi, you'll never find another one home'. he leant over and kissed me again, catching my wrist as i grabbed my bag and smiling at the bracelet on my wrist. 'i'll catch another taxi and meet you here again at eight tonight, okay?'
'cool' i smiled 'thanks'. i shook my wrist free, slamming the door shut behind me and standing in place on the curb, waving as the taxi pulled away.

i turned left and right, trying to deduce which way was up oxford street and which way would lead me off it. i took a gamble, figuring it was best to follow the crowds of people. for once my gamble paid off, and i smiled to myself as i saw 'selfridges' come into view. none of us had ever been in, but we knew it was one of the most obvious shops on this street, and therefore one of the easiest to find. me, emma and lily had decided we needed to do something together before we went back to school, but with all the murders around school we had agreed that the muggle world felt safer than the wizarding.

i smiled, seeing lily coming into sight outside of the shop. she was leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette and blowing perfect smoke rings into the air. she looked mind numbingly perfect as usual, making me wish i'd tried harder with my baggy jeans and a t-shirt combo. lily always had that effect though, she always managed to one up you. her hair was perfectly curled, and although at first glance it looked as if she was wearing no makeup, she was actually carefully made up to look flawless. a certain amount of glassy foundation had been applied to the skin, giving her a glowy perfected look. some kind of blusher and bronzer had been applied to, but neither of them had any texture to it, making it look as though it was already part of her skin. her lashes were thinly coated with some kind of separating mascara, in a way that just emphasised their natural perfectness rather than coating them in thick product. she'd quite obviously rubbed some kind of product on her lips too, because they looked even pinker than usual. i looked her up and down, taking in her outfit. the short pink checkered skirt, the just-the-right-amount-of-oversized blazer. yep, she'd definitely outshone me.

'hey' i grinned 'nice outfit'.
'thanks' she laughed, holding out the packet of cigarettes for me. they were the expensive ones too, the kind that only people like draco and lily would bother to finance for. 'want one?'
'no thanks' i said awkwardly 'i'm trying to stay clean. i know it's not like hard drugs, but you know what my self control is like. if i give into one, it'll just spiral'
'oh. right' she paused for a minute, dropping her cigarette on the floor and stubbing it out with the toe of her heeled boot 'i'm proud of you, you know?'
'thank you' i said quietly 'it means a lot'.

we were silent then, right up until emma rounded the corner towards us. she looked lily up and down and then looked back at her own t-shirt, frowning slightly. she was clearly having the same problem as me. she wrapped me and lily in a hug upon approaching, lily waisted no time in linking our arms, talking about some cafe inside selfridges she'd heard was meant to be 'gorgeous'. as excited as i was that lily was talking about food like this, i forced myself to pause for a second. 'is it expensive? can we not find somewhere, cheaper?' i asked. i hated that i had to ask and kill her mood, but i knew emma would be mentally worrying about it, just too shy to ask.

'my treat' lily grinned, opening up her purse and showing us the wad of cash she had stashed in it 'i've got loads, see'
'no, we can't let you pay' emma protested.
'don't be stupid' lily laughed 'i'm the spoilt little rich girl, it's why people hang around with me. my treat'.
'we hang around with you because we like you, you idiot' i sighed, linking back my arm with her. she rolled her eyes, shrugging. 'same thing, now stop moaning, both of you. i have a strawberry meringue in my future'.

she did order the strawberry meringue, but she barely touched it, picking off two strawberries from the pile and scraping the cream off of those before nibbling on them tenderly. me and emma both ordered huge slabs of cake and then ate them heartily, even finishing off lily's between us. it made her feel worse to have a full plate in front of her, we'd learnt that a while ago, it was like a reminder of her failure to eat. we were tucked away in a window booth in selfridges cafe on the top floor, overlooking oxford street and all of its christmas decor. well, emma and lily were overlooking oxford street. my angle on the booth was actually overlooking a small alley way to the side of selfridges, but i didn't much mind.

'so we're gonna go shopping first, sticking mainly to oxford street unless there's a shop somewhere else that you desperately want to go to, and then i booked us tickets to go see a show at the royal ballet, and then i thought we could go on the london eye-'
'lily' i interrupted 'you do realise we're only here until eight tonight, don't you? like you're not under the impression that this is a week long holiday?'
'no i know' lily nodded 'and then i thought we could-'
'lily' i tried again 'we're not gonna have time to do all this. we're gonna have to just choose a couple. i for one vote for the shopping, and maybe we could do one other thing?'
'the ballet' emma chimed in 'if you've already booked it's a waste. and besides, i've always wanted to see a show at the royal ballet'. i watched over emma's shoulder into the alleyway behind as she talked. there was two homeless men, seemingly snorting something off a sheet of cardboard. it must be so easy, to not have anyone to disappoint like that. i guess it showed how fucked up i was, if i thought that being homeless and free to fuck my life up with drugs was easier than staying clean. 'elizabeth?' emma asked, nudging me 'i was just saying, we should see the royal ballet instead of the london eye. is that cool with you?'
'yeah' i nodded 'you're right, we won't have time to see everything'.
'okay' lily shrugged, unbothered 'but we have two hours before then to shop, and i for one feel like doing some charity work. elizabeth?' she turned to me, a glint in her eye. i cast one last look over emma's shoulder at the homeless men, now being shooed away by a police officer, before turning back to emma and lily. 'what?' i asked warily, eyeing her 'let's go shop'.