Feast your eyes on...
Time to Get Started
I stared into his eyes, willing myself not to blink.
He stared into my eyes, with a hint of a smile on his face. I could tell he was trying very hard to restrain himself from full-out grinning like an over-excited idiot.
The determined look in my eyes softened after a while. This wasn't so bad…all I had to do was NOT BLINK. Which was proving to be extremely hard, by the way. By this time, I was threatening myself to keep my eyes from blinking. I told myself I would not eat for a week if I even thought about blinking my eyes.
He, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying himself. I wonder how he's so relaxed, not worried in the least about blinking. Isn't he worried about his punishment? Gah, what if he jinxed his eyes to be open? Knowing him, he probably put some curse on himself so that not one eyelid would even so much as twitch.
My eyes were blurring up. And yet, through this suffering, I couldn't help but notice that amid his hazel eyes were tiny specks of green (yes, I was so close to him that I was able to notice this…damn my friends for insisting that my face is only six inches away from his). Oh yes, I could also see that he had the faintest scar above his right eye…it looks like he banged his head against something hard. He probably was sleepwalking or something and accidentally walked into the door. Hmm, maybe he does sleepwalk. Why else would he randomly leave his dormitory in the middle of the night?
He still looked as if he had no objection to this thing we're being forced to do. Oh wait, he doesn't. He's been probably dreaming about staring into my eyes as if there is nothing else in the world that matters. His eyes suddenly became more serious, his amuse smile changed into something more thoughtful, as if he was contemplating what shade of green my eyes are.
My eyes now completely blurred over, thanks to the buildup of unshed tears in them. I could feel a trail of tears falling from my eyes now…but that's not enough to make me blink—
"That's it, I can't do it any longer, I'm done," I yelled, covering up my face in my hands. Meh, my plan to not blink failed miserably. I must now brace myself for impending doom…kissing James.
Please don't make me, please don't make me, please don't make me… I chanted inside my head.
And as I was busy praying to God this won't happen, my friends, including Mr. James Potter himself, surrounded me, whispering under their breaths. I still had my face in my hands, refusing to show my defeated face to everyone. My wonderful friends, apparently, took this as a gesture of depression.
"What do you think she's doing?" I could hear Alice asking Evelyn, my two best friends. Evelyn is very good at reading people's faces and interpreting them.
"I think she's crying…" Sirius said, slowly. Sirius and I have gotten very close as friends due to something really stupid he did during fifth year. He went out with Evelyn for a few months, broke up with her, and immediately asked out some other girl from Hufflepuff. Evelyn wasn't upset that he broke up with her; she was just really angry that Sirius was not appreciating their relationship and didn't care about her feelings. She went on to say she doubts Sirius will ever be friends with a girl, because he seems to be trampling their feelings left and right. Sirius made bet with her: he said he will be close friends with one girl within a year. "You watch me," he said to Evelyn.
And evidently, I'm the one Sirius chose to become friends with.
Lucky me!
Note the sarcasm.
Oh great, now I sound like I hate him or something. Nope. Quite the contrary, in fact. Sirius is…he's just Sirius. He never ceases to cheer me up. Whatever mood I'm in is irrelevant. After an hour full of Sirius, you can't help but be happy afterwards. I learned many things being a friend of a Marauder…sneaking into the kitchens being one of my favorites. The first time I went with him to the kitchens, I still remember…
Let's just say I was mesmerized by my experience for a loooooooooooooooooong time.
But Sirius's friendship also brought James into the picture. I have never personally cared about James…sure, he used to make fun of me and make me really annoyed and cause me to yell at him so loudly for the whole school to hear…but that was it. There was never anything else.
But as we shared a friend, we got to know each other. I learned to see James in a different light, as someone more just a person that annoys me.
When we came back to school for sixth year,though, James's character turned around. He started using dorky pick-up lines on me ("Did you know they changed the order of the alphabet? I hear they put U and I together now"), and created a new ritual of asking me out every night. I always refused, not because I didn't like him, but because I wasn't sure what his intentions were. Does he persistently ask me out for the chase, or does he actually like me? And what's there to like about me, anyway? I personally think I'm the most boring person in our little friends group…hmm, maybe other than Peter. But I still don't understand why Peter is in our group.
ANYHOW (yeah, see how easily I get distracted?)
All my friends were around me, worried that I was crying or descending into depression. And I bet James is the one worrying the most…he's cute like that sometimes.
Notice the keyword: sometimes.
James took the initiative, and decided to talk to me. "Lily," he asked tentatively, unsure if he was doing the right thing. "What's wrong?"
And for some yet unknown reason, that set me off. I started laughing like a crazy madwoman into my hands that were still covering my face. I tried to stifle my laughter and ended up sounding like I was bawling excessively. My friends, apparently, had the same impression, and concluded that I must have lost my mind during the staring contest and must be grieving over my lost sanity.
How far from the truth they were.
One of the boys (must be Sirius) wrapped his hands around my wrists and tried grabbing my hands away from my face. I was shaking with laughter so much that it really was not hard for whoever it was to succeed. My hands fell apart from my face and everyone saw what really was happening to me.
I was transfiguring into my real self…Lucius Malfoy.
Nawwww, just kidding. I'm still the good (or not), old (actually I'm only 17) Lily.
But everyone did see that I was in a state of forever laughing and not crying, and sighed a breath of relief.
And then, of course, they became mad at my "not so funny" antics of pretending to be bawling.
"LILY! We were worried about you, girl…and this is what you do to us?!?" asked Alice.
I was still in a state of mad giggling, and couldn't reply. I tried opening my mouth to say something, though, and a snort escaped.
Everyone, including me, started at me surprisingly (well, I didn't stare at myself, but you get the point), until Sirius just bowls over and cracks up, setting all of us off.
As I was pointlessly laughing, I couldn't help but notice how carefree our lives were. We were just content laughing about absolutely nothing, and I quickly promised myself that I would preserve this moment for as long as possible.
But of course, after like twenty minutes, the laughing subsides and everyone is holding their stomachs, unable to laugh anymore. During that laughing episode, I somehow ended up next to James and our legs were entangled.
Stupid chortling fool. Trying to take advantage of me when I was unconscious with laughing?
I turned my face towards him to reprimand his actions. He spoke first, though.
"Ready?" He asked, his face still all smiley.
I was taken aback. Is he asking me if I'm ready to pick a fight with him? (I do that a lot). "Wuhh??"
He raised his right eyebrow suggestively. "Kiss me?"
And then it all came back crashing next to me, as clichéd as that sounds. Sirius thought it would be a grand idea to play Spin the Bottle (well, we spun a wand). And magically, I was supposed to kiss James.
"He's cheating. I bet he jinxed the wand to stop at me," I had said when the wand stopped exactly at me after he spun it.
But we were using my wand to play, so that made no sense. I still didn't want to kiss him, and refused to do so. Remus, the oh-so-smart man, came up with a deal.
"Lily and James will have a staring contest. It's simply, really," Remus said when I sent an angry glare at him. "Lily will have to stare into James's eyes, and James will do the same into Lily's eyes. If Lily blinks first, she'll have to kiss James. If James blinks first, he will have to kiss, say, Gertrude Hopkins. Do we have a deal?" (Gertrude Hopkins is the dirtiest—literally—girl I have ever laid eyes on.)
UGGGH, why did I agree to it? Why did I play Spin the effing Bottle….err, Wand….in the first place? WHY??
Either way, I lost the deal, and I have to kiss James now. Which I still do NOT want to do. So I pursed my lips and stood up, wanting to defend myself.
"I don't want to," I told Remus, the official contender of our deal.
Remus smiled at me in a saccharine way. "Too bad, Lily, you're going to have to. The rules say so." Agh, this boy and his stinking rules.
I turned to Sirius…he should understand. He knows all about my hesitation regarding James.
"Sirius, saaaaave me. These people are trying to kill me!!" Yep, leave it to me to make it melodramatic.
He gave me a bored look. "What's wrong, Lily?" He talked to me as if I was seven years old. "Afraid of cooties?"
I punched him on his jaw. It didn't hurt him much, of course, and so, he just gave me a goofy grin back.
I turned around to ask Alice or Evelyn for help, but THEY LEFT! How can they call themselves my friends when they don't even come to my aid? Fine, I'm alone in this battle. So what? I can do it. I'll fight.
I'll surprise him. I'll give him the best kiss he's ever had.
I'll blow him away.
I turned around, my face determined once again.
I grabbed James by his collar and dragged him up the stairs of the Heads' common room. I pushed him into my room, and against the wall.
Time to get started.
A/N: This is my first L/J story...I just wanted to try it out with a one-shot. So yep...looks around...a review would be nice...tell me how it went.
