Her eyes opened and a smile formed on her lips as she stared at the ceiling of her hostel room .

' James Potter.'

Flashbacks of the drunk evening spent with her friends and the arrival of the mysterious stranger came in snippets . Her smile widened into a grin and she let a giggle escape . It had been a while since she'd felt this way , the butterflies in her tummy which had seemed to have taken permanent refuge somewhere else were back , at this moment she was not just Lily Evans , final year medical student , but just another young woman enchanted and smitten by a man she'd been waiting for all her life .

That's when the stench hit her. Her nostrils flared and she scrunched up her face , the smile disappearing within seconds to be replaced by an expression of sheer panic when she turned to see vomit on her pillow case , her dressing robe and her hair .

In an instant she got up . And then the real version of events that had transpired that evening came rushing to her , attacking her mind viciously .

She was drunk . Heavily drunk when her so called friends dropped her back at the hostel . There were other girls in the parking lot , the security guards who'd all noticed and stared in disapproval as they watched her friends help her incapacitated self walk upstairs to her room . Her friends had even paused on the way to have a little chat with her orthodox, gossiping batchmates .

They had opened her door , dumped her on her bed and left her. Alone.

'Fuck.' she cried as she rushed to the mirror and checked her nose to see if there was any vomit there. The news of a fellow batchmate having been admitted in the ICU following aspiration of vomit from alcohol intoxication should've been a lesson enough for anyone to not let drunk people sleep unsupervised!

But then , those girls weren't really her friends were they ?

Once the initial shock and panic of the vomiting in her sleep had subsided , she checked her phone .

2:30 am.

She'd been passed out for over 9 hours !

'Nicky, I have something really important to tell you!' she typed excitedly on her phone.

'What?' was Nicola's prompt reply.

'I like him. I actually like him a lot ! James. James Potter!'

There was a pause as she watched the 'typing..' sign

'Well, Lily.. We just got back . We're out with him.'

She stared incredulously at her phone. What could she have possibly meant! Yes , James had dropped her and the two girls at the hostel . But hadn't he left after that ? What was going on ? What about curfew ..where are these people ?

'After we dropped you back at your room , we went out for drinks . Again . Then had some dinner and have been out for a drive since then . We just got back. Are at Rhea's place.'

'Okay... But I like him. That's what I'm trying to tell you! He's the first guy I've liked since ...you know who!'

'Lily , I'm sorry but I think he likes Annette ! They've been talking all night , are still chatting actually .'

Tears formed furiously in her eyes . She tried to blink them back but they started rolling down her cheeks at an alarmingly fast rate. Her breathing became uneven and a lump started forming painfully in her throat as she stifled a sob.

'But I thought he likes me! '

'I'm sorry , Lily.'

And that was it. She couldn't stop crying now . She fell on her bed and buried herself in her sheets , stifling her loud frantic sobs , her head hurting , her long auburn hair drenched now, with tears and sweat and dried up vomit.

'How could you people do this to me? I woke up next to congealed vomit on my pillow and hair . I could've died ' she typed and flung her phone away .

After what seemed like hours of crying or maybe it was just minutes , she didn't know , she didn't care , all she wanted was someone with her , right now. This couldn't be happening .. Not now , not when she thought she'd found the one.

'I won't give up like this.' she thought .

Flashback

'Oh my god ! Nicky ! I'm so happy for you and Pete ! Can't believe you guys have talked about marriage already !' Lily squealed excitedly as she held her friend's hand. Nicola was the first one in their group to hook up with a resident . Being undergraduate students , it was considered a big deal in medical school to be dating a postgraduate.

'I wish I could find a resident too! But for now this drink would do just fine .' She grinned , taking off her specs and smiling sheepishly at her best friend Rhea who was just as drunk as her.

Nicky on the other hand seemed barely interested in their concersation . She was busy texting on the phone .

'Who are you talking to ?' Lily asked her.

'Ron. The surgery resident. He said he'll come over.'

'What ? Here ? Now ?' Lily exclaimed . She didn't know if that would be such a good idea . Two of them were acting pretty goofy by now. They didn't want a resident at the bar with them . Not now !

'Oh look there he is ! Hi, Reggie ! Over here .'

Lily looked around to see the tall red head surgeon walk to their table . He was followed by a slightly shorter guy. This guy had black unkempt hair , was lanky ,wore round spectacles and had a smug look on his face .

'Hi . I'm James Potter.'

His voice . Was the only thing she could registered . It was deep , low , manly and definitely the sexiest voice she'd ever heard in her life! She quickly shifted her seat so that she was sitting next to him .

The rest of the conversation, if she even had one with him she couldn't remember . She knew she was instantly drawn to him . The casual air he had about him and the way she was laughing quite loud every time he said something funny . Which was every few minutes . Soon she had her arm around his shoulder and was pretty much clinging to him . That was when Annette joined the table .

What the fuck is she doing here ? She thought angrily as she glared at Nicky who ignored her . Annette and Lily hated each other since their second year . It was common knowledge and anybody who knew her well would know better than to invite Annette over when Lily was there . To her horror , Annette started talking to James and he soon started ignoring her .

She got up and walked to the ladies room to clear her head and Annette followed . She knew what she was doing when she asked her , feigning concern if she was alright . The next thing she knew , Rhea had spilled her beer over James and he was dropping Lily back to her hostel room with the other girls. Meanwhile Reggie dropped Rhea back to her flat .'

Flashback over

' I have to try . Annette can't take him from me. Not him.'

She opened Facebook , searched for him , and wrote the first thing she could think of -

'Sir, positively abashed right now. This usually doesn't happen. Really sorry if i was being ...umm..inappropriate ? :-X '

A few minutes later , he replied .

'Lol, don't worry.. Get me high, and I'll act stupid, then you can consider us even then ?'

She read his message thrice unable to believe it. Then finally she smiled , closed her eyes and went back to sleep.