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The evening sun shone onto the cobblestones Lucy walked on as she made her way home, clad with a box of Arif’s doughnuts. George and Lockwood were becoming increasingly more distant with her since the hire of Holly Munro and she was determined to set things straight. And of course, the first part of her plan was powdery, fluffy doughnuts filled with jam from the corner shop. Her flip flops snapped on the ground beneath her as she basked in the June sun. It was 7pm, and due to it now being British summertime sunset was only just falling, the streets still warm but a cool breeze now wafting her hair.
She knocked on the door, her arms too full to reach for her key, but no one answered. She rolled her eyes. They must be busy in the basement. Placing the box down on the floor, she dug her set of keys out of her pocket and rummaged around until the found the right one and locked the door. Expecting to hear sounds of rapiers clashing or George shouting at the skull, she was surprised when she was greeted with nothing but silence.
“I’m back!” She called out, expecting George to come barrelling down the stairs at the prospect of fresh doughnuts. Nothing. Not a clatter from downstairs, not a footstep from above. She walked into the kitchen, setting the box down and searching the house fruitlessly. No one was home. Frowning, she dug her phone out of her pocket and scrolled to Lockwood contact.
“Hey. Where are you?”
The double ticks indicated that he had read her message, but it took a good couple minutes for the bubbles to appear and a text to come through.
“Me and George have gone to meet Holly at a restaurant.”
The dry response she had been expecting. The content not so much.
She knew the boys were drawing closer and closer to Holly, but the fact they had left the house while she was at the shop to meet her gave her a tight feeling in her chest. She didn’t know why. They had every right to spend time without her. But maybe it was the fact that they were a team of 4, and she was the only one not there. And maybe it was the fact Lockwood and George were her only real friends, and now she was sat at home alone on a Friday night because even they didn’t seem to want her around anymore.
But when she thought about it more, she realised that this wasn’t even the first time. A couple nights ago, Lockwood and George had gone out to “Discuss a case with Holly” and “Let her stay at home because she deserved a break.” And around a week ago, they had mysteriously disappeared just like they had tonight. The thought made her throat feel tight. She wasn’t angry at them, she was just upset. Hurt. This realisation had made her acknowledge the fact she was lonely. She didn’t know how to respond to the text, so she just replied with a simple “okay.”
She had expected him to leave her on read, but shockingly not.
“Do you want us to bring you something back? The food here is nice.”
Somehow, that made her feel even worse.
“No thanks. I’m gonna order takeaway.”
“Alright. I’ll see you later.”
“See you.”
That was the end of their conversation.
She walked downstairs to the kitchen, and even with the last rays of sunshine blaring through the window it felt like rain. She ordered a Chinese takeaway, and just leant against the counter, staring at the wall. She tried to think of something she could do, someone she could talk to, but there was no one. She wasn’t close enough with Kipps or any of the Fittes team to contact them, and Norrie was ghost-locked a 6 hour drive away. She had no one. She wasn’t wanted. She would never be wanted.
Once her takeaway arrived, she managed to eat half of it before storing the rest in the fridge for later. She drew the blinds in the living room and flopped back on the sofa, turning the tv on to some random film and staring at the screen blankly. It’s not like she had anything better to do. Because her place had now been taken by one Holly Munro, and she no longer had plans for Friday night unless it was a job.
A text pinged through her phone, and she absentmindedly picked it up, expecting it to be a Vinted notification or something. Instead, Lockwood’s name appeared.
“Are you okay?” He had sent.
“Yeah.” She responded.
“Are you sure? What are you up to.”
For a minute she considered lying to make it sound more interesting, but she knew he would see right through her.
“Watching a movie.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, we’ll be back soon. Are you sure you don’t want anything bringing back?”
“No thanks. I ordered takeaway.”
“If you say so. See you later, then.”
“See you later.”
She turned her attention back to the screen and continued to watch Bridget Jones Diary. Despite being a 17 year old girl, she found that she actually resonated with the woman.
Around 20 minutes later, Lockwood and George arrived home. George gave her a fleeting “hello” before disappearing up the stairs, trousers hanging on for life, while Lockwood stood in the doorway holding a paper bag.
“Hey.” He said awkwardly, as if he felt he had done something wrong.
“Hey.”
He lifted the back up, smiling weakly. “I know you said you didn’t want anything, but I saw sticky toffee pudding and I thought of you and...” he trailed off, masking his speechlessness with a cough.
“Thanks. I’ll have it later.”
He nodded and set the bag down in the kitchen, before returning and taking a look at her. She was wearing red flannel pyjamas, her hair tied in a knot at the top of her head, and he didn’t think he’d ever seen her looking so... forlorn. She was stretched out across the sofa on her side, her arms crossed beneath her head on the arm of the chair. He then took a look at the screen, and nearly laughed when he saw what he was watching.
“Bridget Jones, hmm?” He asked. She would never admit it, but she loved those kinds of films. He had seen one of her CD’s while digging for a case file the other day, including 2000’s hits from every chick-flick he could imagine.
“Nothing else on.” She mumbled.
“Right.” He grinned, and sat down on the other side of the sofa where her feet were. Normally, she would’ve thrown her legs over his lap. But today she stiffened, and his suspicions were confirmed. She was upset with him.
“Luce...”
She didn’t respond, and he felt frustration and guilt rise.
“Lucy. Answer me.”
She turned to face him, disgruntled. “Yeah?”
He was silent for a couple seconds, then “Are you annoyed?”
She turned her head back around to the way it was before, and sighed. There was no point trying to hide it.
“I’m not annoyed, Lockwood, I’m just... upset.”
Well. That was even worse.
“Is it because we didn’t invite you?” He asked.
“I just don’t understand what I’ve really done wrong.” She responded, fiddling with the hem of her pyjama sleeve. “I mean, I know the entire Wintergarden thing happened, but I thought we were past that. And it doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to just start pushing me out.”
He ran a hand through his hair, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to think of something to say. “It’s not that, Lucy. That’s not it at all. It’s just that Holly is new, and we’re trying to help her settle in. And it’s clear you two aren’t quite... hitting it off yet. And we just want to make her as comfortable as possible.”
“Have you ever thought that maybe the reason I’m not warming up to Holly is because I feel like she’s taking my place? And you and George suddenly deciding you don’t want me around anymore isn’t really helping that. I’m not stupid, Lockwood, I know this isn’t the first time. And I also know I don’t have anyone else other than you two. You’re my only friends, and now that you’re not doing anything with me anymore, I’m spending my entire life alone! I’m sat at home, alone, on a Friday night watching 2000’s romcoms while the rest of my team snuck off to hang around without me and didn’t even bother to tell me!” She didn’t yell, or shout. She simply stated it in a deadpan tone, tears threatening to spill now. Lockwood's jaw was slightly agape, and now only guilt filled his eyes, all signs of frustration gone.
“God, Luce, I’m so sorry. I don’t... I don’t even have an excuse. We’re a team, and we should’ve asked you. Every time. We just... this sounds so fake but we really didn’t think you’d want to come with Holly there.” He reached over and squeezed her hand, and she felt some of the tension leave her body. “I’m sorry.”
Lucy sighed. She knew she wasn’t mad, and Lockwood hadn’t really done anything wrong. She supposed that maybe it was due to always being the last choice in her blood family. Or maybe it was because she didn’t have the ability to make friends easily. Either way, she couldn’t resist digging the knife a little deeper.
“There’s doughnuts for you and George in the kitchen. I bought them when I went to Arif’s, but you were gone.” She said this half-heartedly, making it clear she had forgiven him easily, but he still pressed his palm to his temple like he was pained.
“Luce...” Suddenly, he bolted up, swiftly pulling his sleeve up and checking his watch. “It’s only 8:15. Let’s do something.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “Like what?”
“Let’s go to the cinema. I’ll buy the tickets. And popcorn.”
She found herself grinning as he jumped up, grabbing her hand and pulling her up off the sofa after him.