"Padfoot, do you think Lily likes me?" James asked one night, as he stared up at the hangings of his bed. The question had started keeping him up at night ever since Lily began setting him up on more and more dates with her friends.
Sirius groaned in response from the bed next to James, and after some rustling and muffled swearing, Sirius replied with, "Maybe, maybe not. Why don't you find out?"
"Well, I've tried asking her out but every time I try, I can never get past 'Would you like' before she interrupts and sets me up on a date with someone else. I've gone out with Mary three times! Three times Sirius, even she doesn't want to hang around me anymore!" James exclaimed.
Before Sirius could respond to that however, there came a growl of frustration from the bed on the other side of James and the voice of Peter joined the conversation momentarily.
"I swear to God, if both of you don't shut up I will kill you in your sleep, this is getting ridiculous," Peter threatened and then shoved his face back in his pillow.
"Love you too Wormtail," James and Sirius chorused.
"Have you tried just outright telling her this instead of asking her out?" Sirius asked, his eyes beginning to droop.
"You think that'll work?" james asked skeptically.
"As much as this may surprise you mate, but being upfront and honest about things usually works," Sirius replied, and a few moments later, began to snore loudly.
"Lily, can I talk to you for a moment?" James called out to her. It was just after lunch and Lily was on the way to her Potions class with a few of her friends. She told the others she'd meet them in class and waited until James had caught up with her. He was aware of the fact that the two of them were blocking the hallway and of the dirty looks being thrown at them by the other students but he was far too nervous to care.
"Sure, what's up?" she asked him with a bright smile.
"Okay, promise me that you won't say anything until I'm finished talking," he waited for Lily to nod before continuing on. "Lily, I like you. A lot. I like you a lot. Like, very much."
James wanted very much to kick himself, he wasn't sure when his vocabulary had shrunk to include only the words 'like' 'a lot' and 'very much.' When he imagined confessing to Lily that he liked her, he had pictured a much more eloquent speech than what he was currently coming up.
"I like you too James," Lily said, patting his arm. James grinned at her, a weight lifting off his chest. This was going better than planned, his inability to form together proper sentences wasn't putting her off, this was good.
"Really?"
"Yeah, you're a great friend!" Lily exclaimed.
Wait.
This was not going according to plan. That was not how James had meant his confession to come across. That's not what he meant at all, how could she take it to mean that he liked her as a friend. Was Lily even listening at this point?
"That's not how I-"
"Anyway, I've got to get to class, see you later yeah!" Lily said to him and before James could stutter out an answer, she was gone, away to her Potions class, leaving James staring at the wall in shock and confusion at what had just happened. He stood still as people moved around him to get to class, and he was still standing and staring once the bell rang and the corridor emptied.
When James finally did manage to move from his spot, he made his way back to the common room where he would spend his spare period torturing Sirius and then sacrificing him to the Whomping Willow.
He gave the password to the Fat Lady, entered the common room and marched over to where Sirius was seated and reading through a textbook. James whacked him in the head as hard as he could with his bag before taking a seat next to his idiot of a mate.
"Oi, what was that for?!" Sirius cried out, rubbing his head.
"Your advice sucked," James snapped at him.
"You told Lily, you liked her?" Sirius asked, closing up his textbook and setting it on the table in front of him.
"Yes."
"And?" Sirius pushed.
"She thought I meant I liked her as a friend," James said after a beat.
"You're joking," Sirius replied incredulously.
"This would be a pretty shitty joke," James deadpanned. "I'm done I give up it's like trying to talk to a wall if she wants to go out with me she can come to me, I give up."
James gave a sigh and buried his face in his hands. He had never tried this hard before to let a girl know that he was interested, they usually picked up on it, but not Lily. It was exhausting.
"I'm sorry, you did what?" Dorcas Meadowes demanded once Lily finished speaking. They'd made their way back to their dorm after Potions, which had been their last class of the day and Lily told them about her conversation with James.
"What? He said he liked me as a friend and I said I felt the same way, what did I do wrong?" Lily asked, eyes wide in astonishment. She hadn't been rude or anything so she couldn't understand why her friends were looking at her as if they were trying to teach a Mountain Troll English.
"Dorcas, put your shoe back on," Marlene said with a firm grip on Dorcas's wrist, who had indeed taken off her shoe.
"Well someone's gotta knock some sense into her!" Dorcas exclaimed.
"Yes but you're not going to beat her with your goddamn shoe," Marlene insisted. Dorcas glared at her friend but nevertheless put her shoe back on. She crossed her arms with a huff.
"Now, Lily, did James say that he liked you as a friend, did the words leave his mouth at all?" Marlene asked.
"Well, no, he just said that he likes me, but I mean how else could he mean it?" Lily asked with a shrug.
"Now can I-" Dorcas started.
"No," Marlene interrupted firmly. "Lily, if he never said as a friend then he meant that he would like to date you."
"But James doesn't like me in that way, otherwise he would've told me," Lily insisted.
"You nitwit, he just told you that he likes you, and he's been trying to ask you out but you never let him finish before you set him up with one of us!" Dorcas exclaimed, her voice growing louder and louder with each word.
And now that Lily thought about it, James did spend a lot of time around her, and he made the dumbest jokes because he knew that she laughed at them. And he was always waiting up for her after class, and helping her carry her things, and keeping her company in the library so she wouldn't be lonely.
And she found herself smiling more and more around him, and looking forward to his company, and laughing when he laughing. For the longest time she entertained the idea of going on a date with him, and holding hands, and . . . other things. But she had accepted that they would forever be friends because he didn't feel the same way. Now she finds out that she could've done all of that sooner if she hadn't been so stupid.
"Oh God," Lily groaned, burying her face in her hands.
"Brightest witch of our age my foot," Dorcas muttered with a roll of her eyes.
"I have to go find James," Lily said suddenly.
"Yes, please, put the poor boy out of his misery!" Dorcas yelled after her. Lily was out the door, down the stairs, and across the common room within seconds. She took the stairs up the boys dormitory two at a time until she finally reached the seventh year dorm.
She banged on it three times while she caught her breath and waited for the door to be opened. She came face to face with Sirius, who took in her red face and messy hair with amusement.
"Speak … James … in there … please?" Lily gasped out.
"James, Lily has something she wants to say, I think," Sirius added and then disappeared so that James could take his place.
"Are you okay?" James asked Lily, concern lacing his voice.
"Ace," she replied, form an O with her index finger and thumb.
"Do you need anything?" James asked her.
"It has come to my attention that you've been trying to ask me out this entire time and I being the dolt that I am, didn't realise that. So, James Potter, would you do me the honour of going out on a date with me?" and Lily got down on one knee and put her hand over her heart for effect.
James grinned down at her. "Why Lily Evans, I never thought you'd ask, I would love to go out on a date with you," and he put his hand in Lily's.