Dedication: For my darling bestie, AJ, who is the James to my Lily and the method to my madness. Thank you for everything, sis. Love you, and I hope you enjoy.

Written for Gobstones (Grey Stone: Friendship, (action) yawning, (dialogue) "It's not my fault," (colour) bubble-gum pink), Showtime (Infected: Fixed), and 1986 (Movie: (word) scrumptious).

A/N: Alternating POV for James and Lily. Muggle Coffee Shop!AU.

o.O.o

"Padfoot."

Sirius Black looked up from where he was lying on the break room floor, Remus's crossword sprawled out beside him, despite both a couch and an answer sheet being nearby. The paper was crumbled, clearly from where it had been thrown away after Sirius had gotten frustrated with it.

"What's up, Prongs?" Sirius asked, cracking a mischievous smile at the nickname for his best friend. "It's not time for me to go home yet, right? Moony will kill me if I'm late for yet another date."

James grimaced, letting out an exhausted yawn as he fixed the paper to the best of his abilities. "You're scheduled to work till the am today, Padfoot."

Sirius jumped up in protest, mouth dropping open. "HOW? But I checked earlier, my shift hadn't been changed—"

"It's not my fault Avery skived off," James said grimly. "We still need someone to serve customers."

Sirius let out a growl, dropping his face into his hands. "Is there nobody else, Prongs?" He asked desperately.

"I don't think so," James said thoughtfully, trying to recall the calendar in his head. "Dorcas is out clubbing already, I doubt she's sober enough to come in, I think Marlene has a date with Gideon, so it just leaves you and Alice, who has a meeting with her wedding planner, so you're out of luck there."

Suddenly, Sirius's eyes lit up. "And what are your plans?"

"No." James stared at his best friend in a mixture of horror and shock. "You've got to be kidding me, Padfoot, I've worked a four-hour shift already and I still have to go to our apartment—"

"And water the plants?" Sirius mocked. "Prongs, I'll owe you one. I'll do whatever you want."

James met Sirius's eyes, already feeling his resolve cracking at the sight of his best friend's puppy eyes. "Fine." He sighed. "But you're cooking all week, and going shopping, plus—"

"Ya, ya, sure," Sirius called distractedly, already shrugging his jacket on. He kissed James's forehead, ruffling his hair, and winked before disappearing out the door.

James watched him go, feeling more tired than ever before.

o.O.o

Lily's head hurt, a painful throb that made her feel like she was dying. The road was especially bad that night: the fast approaching storm had created traffic that was impossible to navigate out of and she was exhausted down to the bones.

The moment that the car beside her, a clearly classy and expensive Porsche, honked at her, she snapped.

She was clearly in some kind of small town, the town with nothing but small coffee shops, and she swerved off the main road, pulling into the nearest one.

Grabbing her bag, Lily ran out of the car. The rain soaked her as the wind picked up, turning her hair into a twisted mess of wet curls that she knew would take hours at a minimum to untangle into something resembling normality.

She let out an exhausted sigh. It had been a bad day, a bad month, a bad year. Since everything with Petunia had gotten progressively worse, she hadn't been able to catch a break and today seemed to be no exception.

The bells on top of the door jingled as she walked in, no doubt dragging a puddle of water alongside. The shop was completely deserted, not a single person seated at the tables or at the bubble-gum pink counter.

Lily sighed, plopping down into an empty chair. The door had been open and the weather outside was dangerous to drive in—surely that was an excuse for breaking into a coffee shop?

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps caused her to swerve, bumping straight into something firm, but not painfully hard. Lily rubbed at her head and looked up.

Her mouth went dry. Standing in front of her was the most gorgeous boy she had ever seen—messy black hair, a mischievous smile, kind but sleepy eyes—and he was gaping at her like he had seen an angel.

o.O.o

James took the longest lunch of his life that day, napping on the break room couch for over two hours. The shop was always busy, but with the absence of good weather, his already small town had dwindled into being a ghost town.

Rubbing at his eyes, James stumbled lazily to the stand to grab his glasses. Hell, if no one was here, he might as well treat himself to a cookie or ten—they were baked freshly every day anyways, no one would notice if the stack he threw out today was slightly smaller.

James pushed the door open, going behind the counter to grab cookies and a cup of coffee. He considered just sitting on the counter out of spite, but his mother's voice warned him against it in his head and he walked over to the chair area, ignoring a flash of red hair—

Wait. That wasn't right. James turned around to see a girl seated, her head in the palm of her hands. He blushed, clearly he had messed up upon thinking nobody would come in today. Hopefully, she hadn't been seated for too long.

James walked over to approach the girl when she turned around and promptly let out a scream, falling off her chair in shock.

o.O.o

Lily crashed onto the floor with a loud thud and promptly winced. The boy in front of her was looking at her with a mixture of shock and guilt and Lily wanted to laugh despite herself.

"I'm so sorry—" the boy began at the same time as Lily said, "Woah, you scared me there."

They stared at each other for a second, green eyes meeting hazel, until Lily couldn't do it anymore and burst into laughter, clutching at her injured sides. The boy joined in a second later and within a minute, they were clutching at each other like old friends instead of strangers.

"I'm James Potter," the boy offered as their laughter faded. "I'm sorry for the terrible first impression, I usually don't fail at my job and scare the customers."

Lily sank into a chair, grinning back at him. "Lily Evans, and trust me, that was a wonderful reminder that I need to wake up if I want to get to my destination on time."

"Where are you going?" James asked instantly, before standing up. "Wait, don't answer that yet. I'm going to get food and drinks and then you can tell me all about how you ended up driving through the ghost town of Hogwarts during a storm."

Lily watched as James went behind the counter and scooped up a number of pastries onto a plate. The amount slowly rose and rose as he considered his options and Lily laughed quietly at the thought of him trying to bring that almost-spilling bowl to where they were sitting.

She walked over to James and he grinned lopsidedly as he poured half on it on another plate. "I'm talented," he said as they walked back together, "but not to that extreme yet. I'm going to get there though, Lils, don't worry."

Lily cocked her head towards him. "Lils?" She chuckled in teasing mockery.

James threw an arm over her shoulder. A cookie or two fell with it, but Lily was too distracted by the warmth of his body against hers. It felt like electricity was coursing through her veins and she blushed.

"Yes, Lils," he said, emphasizing the nickname. "All the cool people get nicknames and luckily for you, I've decided you're one of us."

Lily sat down, watching him sit across from her. Popping a cookie in his mouth, James continued, "so, you promised me a story, Lils. Don't let me down like this"

"It's not a very exciting story," Lily admitted with a forced laugh. "My sister, Petunia, is getting married and she wanted an high-class, very expensive type wedding. I'm talking over a hundred guests and that's just hers. So, since my mother and father won't pay for even a cent if I'm not attendance, I have to make my way over there unless I want to face her wrath."

"Are you two not close?" James and Lily shook her head, not wanting to say another word on the topic. Petunia and her fight had been a vicious, cutting thing, and the last thing Lily wanted was to end the peaceful moment she found herself in currently.

James watched her for a second and Lily winced at the force of his scrutinizing stare. Trying to distract herself Lily bit into what looked like a lemon cake and promptly almost fainted from the sheer scrumptiousness.

"What is this?" She exclaimed, waving a piece in emphasis.

James blushed, ducking his head. "It's my secret recipe," he explained, his cheeks still a flushed red. "My father loved to cook and before he passed away, he left all of that information to me. I've been working over here ever since. This was his favourite cafe."'

"That's sweet of you to honour his memory like that," Lily said wistfully, thinking about her own strained relationship with her family.

James nodded, looking lost in his thoughts. The two of them lapsed into a comfortable silence, each a million years away.

When Lily's phone rang, it startled both of them and Lily jumped up in shock. "Fuck," she whispered, rifling through her pockets in search of the device. It ended up being the second last pocket and she grabbed at it blindly.

"Yes?" she said, answering the call in her politest tone.

"Are you close by already?" The voice on the other side of the phone demanded, their tone sharp and cold. Lily hated the way her sister sounded right now, but the idea of hearing that voice in person scared her far more. "I can't wait forever. Mom and Dad did tell you that you needed to be there by tomorrow morning, right? If you don't, Vernon and I will be forced to write you out of the wedding, and I'm sure Mom and Dad will understand."

Lily rolled her eyes. The calm she had felt mere moments ago was gone, replaced by dread and uncertainty. "I'll be there on time," Lily promised and hung up before her sister could fit in another chiding word.

"Shit," James voiced out loud and Lily let out a bitter snort.

"You have no idea," she said, rolling her eyes. "This is Petunia in a good mood. I wouldn't dare hang up on her on a bad one."

James reached over and before Lily could even think about it, his arms were wrapped around her. The hug was warm and tight and Lily breathed in the scent of James's cologne. He smelt like pine, cookies, and the feeling of coming home, and all she wanted to do was bottle the scent and take it with her.

"I don't want to go," Lily whispered and his arms tightened around her. "I don't want to see Petunia again and I don't want to be a bridesmaid. Hell, James, I don't even get how to balance in heels properly and I just know she got me a pair just to embarrass me."

James pulled away a little, just enough that she was still in his arms, but far enough that he could also see her face. "I have an idea, but you're not going to like it," he warned.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Try me."

"You don't want to go to this wedding alone and I don't have any shifts for the rest of the week," James said. "I can go with you—only if you want, I completely get it if you say no, we barely know each other, after all, but I'd love to help."

Lily watched him for a minute. He had a genuineness about him that was like nobody she had ever seen before. Talking to James felt like drinking freshwater after growing up with nothing but salt water.

"Yeah," she said slowly. "Yeah, I'd love that."

James lit up like he was receiving the best present of his life and Lily felt almost guilty at the torture he'd experience by meeting Petunia. Still, she didn't feel bad enough to say no. He was already one his way to becoming one of her closest friends.

He was on the phone almost instantly, asking to borrow a tuxedo and a tie, and Lily sat down to watch him make his calls.

Perhaps, she mused as he caught her eye while grinning, this might end with more than just friendship.