It is an awful day for late March. Usually, Lily enjoys curling up in bed with a good book, a mug of hot chocolate on her nightstand, the rumbling, yet soothing sound of thunder and rain outsider her apartment.
However, Lily doesn't appreciate stormy weather when she is trying to leave her house for a lecture, she is already late, the street is crowded and her umbrella appears to be broken.
She decides that she doesn't have time for it anyway, and so she runs to her car, hoping that the rain won't turn her into a shopping wet mess.
Once she reaches her blue Mini, she finds that it's not working. She tries the breaks, to turn it on and off repeatedly, but it's no avail. She is going to have to walk to school (at least it's not very far) and her umbrella won't cooperate.
Swearing like a mad woman she comes out of her car and runs into the nearest coffee shop. Crouching under the jamb she sticks her umbrella forward, clicking the button like her life depends on it.
"Come on!" She mumbles. "Open you stupid idiot!" She shakes the bloody thing in every direction, thrusting it up into the hair, back to the ground… and into someone's crotch.
"Ouch!"
"Oh my God, I am so, so sorry!" Lily's cheeks flush red and the umbrella falls to the floor, forgotten.
"It's alright. I just… need a minute." For the first time, Lily notices the appearance of the person she hit, a young man who appeared to be in his late teens or early, early twenties. He had incredibly messy hair, wire rimmed spectacles and appeared to be in a rush as well.
"I'm so sorry, shit, I'm a mess-" She tries to apologize even further, but he cuts her off. Lily thinks that someone up in heaven must have a personal vendetta against her.
"It's okay, it's okay. The name's James." The boy attempts to grin at her, but his pain is still obvious.
"I'm Lily. Again, I'm really sorry. I was just late and my car broke down and the stupid thing wouldn't open-"
"Stop apologizing. And, I'm sorry your day is being shit. Do you need a ride?" She knows she shouldn't have accepted, but Lily is just so desperate at that point that for all she cared he could be a mass murderer and she would still have said yes.
"Where to?" The boy inquires. She leads the way.
James takes in how beautiful the girl actually is. When they arrive she hurries off, thanking him for the ride and apologizing once more for hitting him with her umbrella. He tells her, once again that it's okay, nevermind it, but since it is his birthday and she feels so wretched already, then maybe she could grab a coffee with him after the lecture.
"Oh, happy birthday!" She sort of screams it at him, feeling flustered at the proposal.
"You'll be late to your lecture." He points out, noticing she hasn't answered him yet.
Lily takes a strand of hair and tucks it behind her ear. The lecture has probably already begun by now. She figures that even if she went, she wouldn't pay much attention to it, that she'd spend the whole time thinking about the bespectacled boy she met earlier that day.
"It's okay, and I'm already late." She smiles at him. "Professor Stower is having another one next week, I can come then."
"Alright then. Want to grab that coffee now?" James lifts his eyebrows at her, causing her to laugh. Even though Lily just met him, she feels comfortable around the boy.
"Sure."
They make their way to the coffee shop where they met. For memories' sake, he tells her. Lily lets out na unattractive snort, which only causes him to grin at her.
"Ill be right back." She gets up from the little booth they are sat in and directs herself to the counter. When she returns, she brings with her a large orange muffin, and to his big surprise, there's a birthday candle on top of the cake.
"Oh, wow." James begins laughing and Lily sits back down. "You didn't have to."
"Oh, it's not for you." She smirks. "It just so happens that I'm hungry and take a fancy to birthday candles."
"Sarcastic. You little shit." James lifts his hand and ruffles her hair, causing her to slap his arm (in a friendly way, of course.) "I really am wonderful." He lets out.
"Is that so?"
"Yep. Don't even know your surname and you've already got me a muffin." He smiles at her.
"Oh shut it. I was just trying to apologize for hitting your manly area a while ago." Before he even opens his mouth to reply, she continues. "But now that I've noticed how big of a dick you actually are, I figure I shouldn't be apologizing at all."
"Yet here you are with me instead of that lecture." James shoots a cheeky grin her way and she can't help but smile in return.
Time flies by. The two of them only met a couple of hours ago but they both feel like they've known each other for ages. The conversation flows easily and they feel comfortable around each other. They bicker and laugh at their own unfunny jokes, and suddenly it's six in the afternoon and Lily says she's sorry but she really has to go, and so she leaves, but not before giving James her number.
Once she reaches her home, her phone vibrates.
"Hey :p
- I still don't know your last name."
The text message reads.
It takes her no time to reply.
"I really do hate you.
- It's Evans, by the way."
She wonders briefly if this whole thing is a mistake, if it is normal to feel so much affection for a stranger. But then again, they really do feel like old childhood friends and that maybe, just maybe, he might feel as at ease with her as she feels around him.
So, Lily decides to keep texting.
Suddenly, it has been three days of non-stop texting. Eventually, they move on to phone calls, very long, interesting phone calls that last all night long. She meets his friends, Sirius, Remus and Peter, and finds that the lot of them are probably insane, but still good in the heart. He gets to know hers. They dance around each other for two months, meeting here and there, hanging out all the time, knowing each other like no one has before.
James is crazy about her. Even though he'll never admit it, all he wants to know is if she is alright, if there is anything he can do, if she is happy and if he can help making her feel even happier.
Lily goes mental when he's not around. Because just two months ago – even if two months feels like a lifetime – she was living on her own, making meals for one person, and now it's like he's part of the furniture.
They don't kiss. They don't hold hands, they don't cuddle. They sit on her sofa watching a movie every single day. She eats all his food. They are in a relationship without being in one. And none of them knows how the other feels about them.
One year later, he's madly in love with her. Now, it's her birthday and not his. He buys her an umbrella, for old times' sake, he says, and for the first time since they met, she stops worrying and does what she's wanted to do for a long time. She kisses him.
It's messy, it's fast. Frankly, it's dangerous. They hold onto each other like their whole lives depend on it. Suddenly, in the midst of their display of affection, Lily accidentally clicks a button, and the whole umbrella hits James in the crotch.
"Shit, I'm so sorry!"
"You really do have to stop doing that." He groans in pain. She doesn't plan on ever stopping.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this litte drabble! Please don't forget to tell me what you think in the little review box below!