Cracked

Disclaimer: Not mine.

And it's already gone too far.

They said that if you go in hard,

You wont get hurt.

Lily Evans tossed her hair back, her emerald green eyes skimming over the pages of her book. She was wearing a white sweater; the one James liked the most, with the long sleeves and the elegant neckline. He could look at her for hours; just stare at her. Even if she never even noticed. And she never did, no matter how many things he did to try and catch her attention. James ruffled his hair, and then dropped his hand when he remembered how much Lily hated that gesture. He sighed, sliding down on his seat, and closing his eyes.

He'd tried showing off, flaunting his name and his good looks. Talking with everyone and helping the Gryffindor quidditch team win the cup for the past years. All he'd earned with that attitude had been cold glares and sarcastic remarks. Then he'd tried mocking her, turning around everything he liked about her to make it sound ugly and stupid, he said her green eyes were the color of rotten lettuce and that her hair was painful to look at. Sirius said that girls thought a guy mocking them was cool. That time, Lily had tossed him into the black lake and had turned his nose purple for a week. Needless to say, he never followed Sirius' advice again. Next he'd tried to make her jealous, up to the point of having a girlfriend per week and flirting and kissing them shamelessly in front of her. It hadn't seemed to work, because after a few weeks, Lily herself had gotten a boyfriend herself, they'd lasted 4 months, 3 weeks, and 1 day: James knew because it been a heartbreaking time, one that, in James' opinion had lasted for too long. And then Lily had broken things up with no apparent reason.

Finally he'd given up pretending, and now he was just plain old James: as lazy, childish, proud, and funny as he'd always been around his friends. This didn't seem to be working either. But at least he didn't fight with her anymore, and they could talk almost comfortably when they were left alone in the Head's Common Room. Or spend time together quietly; like now. He sighed, ruffling his hair again and opening his eyes. He jumped, startled, when he found Lily sitting in front of him, arms crossed in front of her, head tilted to the side.

"Are you okay?" She asked as he straitened up, blinking. He smiled at her, scowling slightly as he tried to remember when she'd changed places.

"Just thinking," he muttered. Lily nodded, looking at him for a few seconds and then standing up and walking back toward her own place to pick her book up.

She'd almost reached her door when he turned to look back at him and quirked an eyebrow. "Hey, James?" she asked, her voice sounding almost mocking.

"Yeah?" He asked, sitting up straight in his seat. Lily laughed at his reaction, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"You know the Hogsmeade weekend is coming up?" She asked, tilting his head to the side slightly. James felt his eyebrows shooting up as the question took him by surprise.

"Yeah?" He felt like cursing himself at the uncertainty obvious in his voice, even to him.

"Do you want to go with me?" She asked, rushing through the question and turning a beautiful shade of pink. James blinked, surprised, wondering if he'd heard right.

"Uh…what?"

Lily's blush turned even darker. "Um… I was... uh…" She stopped for a moment, biting her lip uncomfortably. "I was wondering if you, you know, maybe, you wanted, to go Hogsmeade, with um… with me?"

"Oh! Right!" James said, eyebrows shooting up. Staying sitting down where he was, was taking all of his self-control. "Eh… sure. Um… see you then I guess." Lily nodded rushing into her room.

James blinked, sliding down on his seat again. Maybe Remus was right after all. Maybe if you fell down hard eventually someone would catch you. Maybe it was true; maybe love, when it worked, was not overrated. Maybe there was a reason for all those songs. He smiled, ruffling his hair before racing out of the door to tell Sirius.

(A/N: The last quote the overrated love and music thing is not mine either, Sarah Dessen is the genius behind that quote. Hope you enjoyed!! And I'm sorry I went a little overboard with the word count… but I couldn't find the way to make it shorter =0)