3,000 words. That was all that was between Lily Evans and the next four weeks off. 3,000 measly words for her environmental politics class about Russia, America, and the Kyoto protocol, and then she was free. However, three coffees in and countless papers strewn haphazardly across her table at the cafe, Lily was not any closer to that end goal. She sighed and rubbed her eyes and wished she were just done already.
Coming to this cafe was normally a source of great relaxation and enjoyment for Lily, but no such luck today. Lily had stumbled across this cafe in her first year when the campus cafe was closed and Lily was so desperate for caffeine that anyone breathing too loudly was liable to have their head bitten off by an overworked and sleep deprived red head. She had walked into town, found The Daily Grind, and that was it. Love at first espresso.
Now well into her third year, Lily still came loyally nearly every day for a coffee and a chat with the lovely owners and locals. A few students came in from time to time, but it was mostly a local spot.
Recently a messy black haired bespectacled young man by the name of James Potter had commandeered her coffee stops and quiet work time. They met when he bounced in with a flourish, took one look at her book, and declared her reading about the slave trade around the tomato industry "too depressing for a Tuesday at 11, good lord woman, are you trying to cry here in public" and proceeded to switch it for his copy of "A Midsummers Nights Dream" and told her that for each dirty joke and innuendo she found, he would buy her a coffee.
Seventeen coffees and hours of ceaseless laughter later, James Potter had wedged himself in as a regular fix in Lily's life. An English major, James would always have books aplenty on hand and whenever Lily's politics became too depressing or frustrating or overwhelming James would whip out a copy of whichever book was "the best book ever, no seriously Evans I MEAN it this time, don't roll your eyes because honestly the comedic timing is GENIUS" on that particular day.
Sometimes his fellow English major Peter Pettigrew would join him, or his best mate Sirius who studied Philosophy (half-heartedly he assured her whenever the chance to show off how little he cared for his degree came about. Lily and James however knew better and would snigger when he left about how nerdy he was about it really). A pleasant surprise for Lily was that fellow politics student Remus Lupin was chummy with James, and though they hadn't really spoken before then, they had a chance to get acquainted and develop a friendship which often involved deep political discussions and debates and laughing at the others faces when they got pedantic and too technical for the others to follow.
Yes, thought lily happily, they weren't a bad lot at all.
Deciding that a fourth coffee would inspire like the previous three had failed to do, Lily got up to order another flat white and dug out another few quid. Lily paid for her coffee, thanked the barista, and walked back to her table. So busy debating if she should go back and get a slice of lemon tart in order to elongate her procrastination efforts, she didn't notice the other chair on her table was occupied.
Lily stopped short in front of her table to see that very same young man with messy raven hair she had just been thinking of and she sighed.
"James, I really don't have time for your company today, and though I would love to debate the difference between a flat white and a latte again for another hour, I really can't. This paper…."
She trailed off with her sentence and wordlessly gestured to the mess that was her table.
"That bad huh? Normally you love this sort of stuff. It's your favourite class! I'm sure it isn't that bad. You're probably nearly done and just panicking because you want a first with honours " James teased.
Without saying anything, Lily turned her laptop to face James as he read her paper….. the whole single sentence of it.
"The United States of America's initial decision not to ratify the Kyoto protocol was a diva move and Russia ratifying it was petty af as it was just to shove in Americas face"
"two weeks of reading and research and four hours of trying to work today and this is what I have to show for it." Lily deadpanned.
James looked at her unhappy expression, then read the sentence again, and burst out laughing. For what seemed like hours, James just rocked back and forth howling with mirth, and could occasionally be heard quoting her.
"Diva move…. petty af… Christ Lils, three years of higher education weren't wasted on you hey?"
Once he was over his laughing fit, tears wiped away, and a few hiccups later, James said
"ok ok, I get it. you need the time to write, Ill leave you be. keep up the stellar work love!" he chucked as he called over his shoulder while sauntering out of the cafe.
Lily shook her head, sighed, and got back to it.
Five hours later, Lily was back at home, in her pyjamas, and still unsuccessfully tackling the paper. She had progressed from her original sentence (which she stood by thank you very much), but it was no way near the 3,000-word mark. Her doorbell rang, and she grumbled as she went to answer the door. If Marlene had ordered dinner without her, Lily would probably cry and throw a tantrum. She was not above it and she was so stressed and overwhelmed and….
For the second time that day, the sight of James Potter had stopped her short.
He and his mates were standing at her door with pizzas, cake, and sweet lord, "is that a packet of The Daily Grinds coffee beans?!" Lily exclaimed as she reached out to grab it from Sirius.
He snatched his hand back as he exclaimed, "blimey you don't mess around with coffee do you Evans? You'll poke a lads eye out with your talons reaching for it like that"
He smirked while she stuck her tongue out at him and walked into the kitchen.
"As lovely as it is to see you all, I NEED to finish this paper, and lord help me if it isn't done by tomorrow afternoon. So thanks for dinner, but I need you all to leave me to suffer in peace"
"Ah but my dear lily" began James who had been oddly silent since she opened the door and saw her in her pyjama shorts and top, "we are not here to bother you."
Remus snorted at that so James conceded "well, we are not here with the express goal of bothering you; we are here to help"
"what?" Lily asked dumbly. "That's really sweet, but I need to write this paper myself, and no offence, but I don't know how much you guys even know about environmental politics….."
"Lily, lily, lily " said James, back to his normal irritating (albeit charming) way.
"we aren't going to write it for you, that would be not be in line with the academic integrity we adhere to so vehemently"
Remus snorted again alongside lily, which earned him a joking frown from Sirius.
"If you're not able to do anything but scoff at our flawless and perfect academic integrity, you can go make the coffee" Sirius said in a mocking tone of affront.
Remus laughed, remarked something rude to Sirius and headed to the kettle.
"Anyways" continued James as the other three boys began bickering affectionately about their experiences with plagiarism ("I was not copying Remus, I was using James old paper as inspiration" "yeah right, and it inspired you to write the same thing word for word did it?")
"We thought we might help by talking it out. You're always so good at explaining politics and stuff when I ask you, so I thought, if we sort of have a mock debate and have Peter scribe it, we could get some good points for you to expand on"
Lily was taken aback by not only what a good idea it was, but by how sweet it was that these four boys would take their evening off to help a friend write a paper. Lily was oddly touched. She grinned at James.
"Ok, lets do it."
Hours later, after screaming matches and team USA vs Russia debates ("that's it you're all exiled to Siberia!" was Sirius' catchphrase for the evening), Lily had a really solid outline with excellent points to make, and was ready to type it all up in the morning. She was yawning as she put the finishing touches on her outline when she looked over to see Sirius, Peter, James, and Remus out cold on her couches. She smiled and went into Marlene's room (who was away at her parents for the week) and grabbed blankets and pillows for the boys. As she placed one on James he stirred sleepily.
"Shit Lils I'm sorry, we fell asleep. I'll get these sods up in a minute. Did you finish your paper?"
Smiling, Lily replied, "Don't worry, you've done more than enough for me. You can stay here tonight if you want. I know it's not that comfy, but I'll cook you all breakfast in the morning. You more than deserve it"
James smiled at lily, and she was smiling back. She was filled with such affection for the four lads sprawled across her flat.
"James can I ask…. Why did you do it? I mean don't get me wrong, I so appreciate the help, but it seemed like a lot for you to do and to drag your friends into."
"ah, well…." James ran his hand through his hair and looked rather embarrassed? Lily thought
"it's just that… y'know…. we have become friends, and I love seeing you at the cafe, and you're always so happy and bright and funny, and you just looked so miserable with this paper that I thought 'that won't do' and I just wanted to help and…"
James was cut off by a soft kiss to the lips from Lily. He was stunned with surprise and remained still for a moment, but when lily began to pull back thinking she had just made a huge mistake he recaptured her lips. They stayed together for a moment, foreheads touching, just enjoying the quite and each other's company when James grinned and said,
"So, you want to go for a coffee sometime? I know this great place."
Lily just laughed and kissed him again.