A/N: Written for Ollivander's Challenge (Prompt #5: "You're a terrible liar") on Tumblr. Not sure if I made the deadline for the challenge, but regardless I'm very proud of this fanfic. I worked on it pretty much all night and ended up adding about 2000 more words than I had originally intended. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: These lovely characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
Update (7/9/13): I won my round of the challenge :) Excited to go on to the final round! Also, thank you to everyone who has read, favorited, followed, or reviewed this story! This will definitely remain a one-shot for now, but I do have a few scattered ideas jotted down for ways to continue it so never say never. As for the immediate future, I am focusing on my entry for the final round of the challenge and then the next chapter of my multi-chapter Neville/Hannah story, "Something More."
As James' friends finished off their ice cream and discussed weekend plans, James stared blankly out the window. His summer had been painstakingly monotonous so far. The usual group: James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, were sitting at their usual table, playing at making plans when they all knew exactly what they would end up doing that weekend. He loved his mates, but all they did lately was hang out in each other's basements or plan pranks they hardly ever went through with.
The bell rang out as another round of customers walked through the door. Accustomed to the bell's occasional ringing, the rest of the group barely reacted, but James looked up at the sound. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red enter the ice cream parlor. Turning toward the entrance, he watched as a group of girls, around the same age as he and his mates, walked in and sat down at the counter.
The rest of the girls blended together in James' mind, but the girl with the red hair caught his attention. Her hair fell down her back in cascading waves and her pale skin glowed under the shop's fluorescent lights. When she turned to order, he caught a glimpse of emerald green eyes. They lit up with excitement as she ordered a Chocolate Overload sundae with chocolate fudge and chocolate sprinkles on top. James couldn't help but grin at the choice; this girl clearly loved her chocolate.
"WAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaHHHHHHhhhhhh!" James' attention was diverted by the loud wails of a little boy on the other side of the shop.
The boy's face and hands were covered in melted chocolate and sticky green ice cream; it looked like Mint Chocolate Chip. Continuing to wail, the boy clutched his now-empty cone and glared at the ground where his ice cream lay. James observed the scene from his seat, wishing he could just wave a wand to magically fix the problem. Instead, he continued watching as the mother desperately attempted to calm down her son. She looked positively mortified. Glancing around the room, she threw a tight-lipped smile to the disrupted customers as she struggled to shush her son without attracting any more attention.
Trying to give the mother her wish, James turned back to the girl, but he was surprised to find she was getting out of her seat and walking toward the commotion. Kneeling down to the little boy's height, she offered him her own ice cream cup. The mother hastily assured her that it was unnecessary, but the girl insisted. Both son and mother grinned, the boy with childish delight and the mother with relief. The girl's smile shone even more brightly, though. It was a mesmerizing sight.
As she turned back to the counter to order another ice cream, their eyes met. Her smile had dimmed slightly and a curious expression graced her features. It was just a short moment, but before she turned around fully, her lips turned up into a small smile.
"James!" Sirius exclaimed with mild frustration.
"Sorry, what?" James uttered, finally waking up from the girl's spell.
"I said, let's go to Pete's house and watch a movie or something," Sirius repeated.
"Oh, uh, right, ok," James mumbled distractedly.
"Oy, earth to Prongs, what's up with you?" Sirius grumbled, thoroughly annoyed with his best mate's lack of enthusiasm by this point. The use of their childhood nicknames pulled James out of his daze.
"I think what Sirius meant to say was, are you alright?" Remus amended.
"Yeah, totally," James insisted. "Never better," he added with a goofy smile. Remus smirked at this change in attitude while Sirius shot him a puzzled look.
"Huh, looked like you were staring at those girls over there," Peter piped up, conspicuously pointing his finger at the front counter.
Slightly intrigued, Sirius looked over at the girls. A few were staring back and whispering to each other. Sirius sent them a sly wink, while James groaned at his friend's antics. Fortunately, the red-haired girl with the smile was preoccupied, her ice cream managing to hold her attention.
"Ok, ok, I think we've been here long enough," James concluded, "let's head out."
"Yes, sir," Sirius exclaimed with a mock salute. Peter followed suit and the two marched out of the ice cream parlor singing, "Left, right, left, right, left."
James and Remus shared an amused look. "So, why are we friends with them, again?" Remus joked.
James shook his head and muttered with a laugh, "No idea." Before they left, he looked toward the girl again, but she was facing the other direction. Sighing, James followed Remus out the door, but his mind was elsewhere.
The car was parked a few shops down. Sirius and Peter were already standing by, chuckling to themselves about something or another, as they waited for Remus to open the car. James played absentmindedly with his phone as he and Remus strolled along. Then, suddenly, he had an idea.
Shoving the phone into his back pocket, he called out to the rest of the gang, "Be right back!" They stared at his back in confusion, as he sprinted back to the ice cream parlor. He swung the door open, causing the bell to ring noisily as he rushed inside. His eyes immediately found the girl, but first they roamed the shop frantically searching for something.
After a few seconds of searching, he walked straight up to the red-haired girl. He ignored the other girls, directing his gaze at her and her alone. She sent him a look of concern at his seemingly agitated state and opened her mouth to speak, but James spoke up first. Slightly out of breath, he asked, "Have you seen a phone anywhere? I think I just lost mine."
"Uhh, sorry, I don't think I've seen one." She quickly scanned the area around her, confirming her answer with a short nod. "Do you need help looking for it?" she offered politely.
"Actually, could you call it for me? You know, if you don't mind."
"Sure, no problem," she agreed congenially. She took out her own phone and waited for him to tell her the number.
"Oh, and I'm James, by the way," he remarked before reciting his phone number.
"Lily," she answered with a small smile. After dialing the numbers, she held the phone up to her ear to make sure it was ringing.
"Thanks for doing this," he insisted.
Before she could answer, they both heard a phone buzzing from behind him. Retrieving the phone from his back pocket, where he knew it had been all along, James groaned with false embarrassment. Running a hand through his hair, he looked up at Lily with a sheepish grin. "Ugh, I am such an idiot," he muttered. "I can't believe it was in my pocket the whole time," he continued, shaking his head.
Instead of laughing along with him, she sent him a strange look. "You're a terrible liar," she responded with a smirk, directing James' attention to his mates who were standing near the door, practically falling over each other in silent laughter.
"Oh, no, that's, umm…" James trailed off. He had no trouble looking embarrassed now.
Lily smiled mischievously, slightly enjoying his discomfort. "Well, I guess you have your phone now, right? You don't need anything else, do you?" she asked sweetly.
"Right, no," James answered slowly. Attempting to salvage the moment, he blurted out, "You can keep the number, you know, if you want."
"Heh, thanks, I'll keep that in mind," she responded sarcastically.
"Real smooth," Sirius muttered, collapsing with laughter again. Even Remus struggled to hold it in.
Scowling at his friends, James stalked out the door and back toward the car. That certainly hadn't gone as planned.
The next day, James, Remus, and Peter sat around Remus' television, waiting for Sirius to finally get there. James was still slightly annoyed at his friends, but they apologized, or Remus apologized while Sirius and Peter nodded in agreement to whatever Remus was spouting off about. Attempting to appease James, they decided to let him pick both the food and the movie that night, but Sirius was running late as usual.
"I've texted him like 4 times," Peter insisted.
"Ugh, I'll call him, see if he picks up," James offered.
Hardly glancing at his phone, James typed "S" into his contacts search bar and called the first name that came up.
"When are you coming over?" James sighed out irritably. "We've been sitting on our arses for practically 45 minutes waiting on you."
"Excuse me?" the voice on the other end responded shrilly. That was definitely not Sirius' voice. James looked at his phone and groaned. He had apparently called "Smile Girl" by accident.
"Are you that guy from the other night?" Lily asked with a tired voice. "Sorry, but I'm really not interested," she finished.
"Oh, uhh, wait, no, I didn't mean—," James stuttered, but she had already hung up. Of course, he had to put her name in as "Smile Girl," instead of "Lily." She probably thought he was a crazy stalker or something.
Later that night, James and his mates sat in Remus' basement and attempted to plan a good prank, but all four of the self-called Marauders struggled to come up with any ideas.
"Well, we could always silly-string Professor Flitwick's car," Peter offered.
"We're looking for semi-decent ideas," Sirius responded. Peter shrugged and scratched his head in thought.
"Remus, you're smart, why don't you think of something?" Sirius wondered. "And James, I thought you lived for this stuff or whatever." Remus answered with a half-hearted shrug as he flipped through an idle book. James ran a hand through his hair, similarly useless. Sirius sighed frustratedly.
A few moments later, James' phone rang, temporarily excusing anyone from further thinking.
The caller-ID claimed it was "Smile Girl." Puzzled, James accepted the call. "Hello?" James said.
There was a pause on the other line. "Oh, it's you again," Lily exclaimed loudly with slurred speech. "Why'd you call me?"
"Uhh, you called me," he corrected. Noting her slurred speech and the distant music in the background, James asked, "Are you drunk?"
"No, of course not," she said with an unconvincing hiccup. "Uhh, whatever, just leave me alone. Stupid friends leaving me behind…I was just trying to call a cab," she explained with an exaggerated groan.
"Do you need a ride?" he asked unsurely. He doubted she would accept a ride from him anyhow, but she sounded like she really wanted to get out of there.
There was another pause on her end. "Actually, yes, that would be great," she exclaimed loudly.
Surprised by her eagerness, James didn't answer. "Heeeelllooo, are you still there?" she called out.
"Oh, yeah, sorry. What's the address?" James answered. She gave him the address and he nodded to himself before closing the phone. Putting the phone in his pocket, he started to get up from his seated position on the floor.
"Where do you think you're going?" Sirius exclaimed incredulously.
"Uh, Lily needs a ride home from a party."
"Lily? You mean that bird from the ice cream parlor? The one you tried and failed to pick up the other day?"
James winced at the memory. "Yeah, that's the one."
"And you think this is a good idea because…?" Sirius prompted doubtfully.
Remus looked equally doubtful. "You should probably just leave the poor girl alone. How do you even expect to get there?"
"Oh, right, could I take your car?" James inquired hopefully.
Remus sighed and shook his head tiredly, wondering when James would get over this apparent hero complex. He was the one who had brought them all together in the first place. Before, Remus was just a shy boy who had been diagnosed with cancer at a young age. He was afraid to get too attached to any of his classmates, fearing they would have to deal with his death, but James was different. James insisted on being his friend and he and the other Marauders were the ones who helped pull him through chemo. Remus owed some of the best years of his life to James, so James had to be doing something right.
"Ok, fine, but you're just driving her home," Remus acquiesced. He threw the keys at James and he caught them easily.
Sirius was dumbfounded at this response, as he had assumed he and Remus were on the same page for once.
Giving up on winning this fight, Sirius let out a bark-like laugh, "Fine, go save your damsel in distress," he snorted with a smirk.
James grinned and looked at Peter. "Good luck, mate," Peter said with a salute.
James started to leave, but turned around right before reaching the door. "Hey, Remus, you still have that chocolate stash."
"Yeah, why?"
"I have a feeling she's going to want some chocolate," he answered. Remus smiled at this and threw him a candy bar from the box under his bed. James caught the bar with his free hand and waved goodbye with the keys.
"See you guys in a bit," James called out as he left the room.
James pulled up to the address Lily had given him over the phone. He observed the red cups strewn across the lawn and the music blasting from the house, not exactly the scene he had expected of the girl. Adjusting to the darkness, James spotted a red-haired girl sitting on the front steps. He rolled down the window and called out Lily's name, leaning out to send an awkward wave through the open window. As she stepped closer to the streetlight, he could tell it was definitely her, though the hair had been a pretty good indication.
Stuffing her hands in her hooded sweatshirt, she shuffled toward the car and opened the passenger door. Her hair was in a ponytail and now he could see mascara lines running down her cheeks. She had been crying. "Hey," she greeted him quietly, staring at her hands.
He wasn't quite sure what to do, especially considering their brief history of encounters. "Hey, so where to?" he prompted quietly, matching her voice level.
"Umm, would it be okay if we didn't head to my house just yet?" Upon realizing the inherent implications of her request, she immediately clarified, "Don't get any ideas. I just want to avoid going home for a little while longer."
James chuckled lightly. "Don't worry, I'll be a perfect gentleman. Wherever you want to go."
"There's a playground a few streets over," she considered.
"Seems good to me," James answered, pulling the car into drive. They sat in silence the majority of the ride; the only words coming from either of them were her occasional directions.
James parked the car on the side of the road and Lily jumped out. She immediately walked to the swing sets. Getting out of the car, he followed her. He sat down next to her, but neither spoke. Both swayed on their individual swings, staring up at the stars.
After a few minutes of silence, he heard her sniffling. Turning toward her, he saw that she was crying again. Sporadic tears streamed down her face, creating more black watercolor lines. Feeling his gaze on her face, she rubbed at her eyes and stared blankly ahead, attempting to hide her emotions.
"You alright?" James asked.
"I'm f-fine," she hiccupped. He paused at her lie, unsure of how to continue without crossing a line.
"You're a terrible liar," he responded with a smirk, echoing her previous words.
"Heh," she laughed and it gave way to a grin. For a brief moment, he caught sight of that mesmerizing smile. The same one she wore at the ice cream parlor.
She sighed shakily and started to talk. "My best friend and I were going to this stupid party. Neither of us even particularly wanted to go, but I don't know, I thought it might be fun, something different, like, a way to get my mind off of things. But then, halfway through he gets a call and he tells me has to go. Of course, he can't tell me why he has to go, but he just expects me to go along with whatever lie he's going to make up next. I'm sick of it. I know he was just going to hang out with his stupid gang or whatever. What does he think he's doing? He's going to get hurt. I keep on telling him how dangerous they are, but apparently he's too cool to see reason, too cool to realize that I needed him, especially tonight."
"Oh, so you and him, you two are dating or something?" James wondered aloud.
Wiping tears from the corners of her eyes, Lily shook her head. "No, just friends. Except, he's not being much of a friend at the moment," she muttered angrily. She leapt off the swing and sat on the wooden edge of the swing set area. He followed her, sitting a few feet to her right.
"I'm sensing there's more to this than some idiot friend who clearly doesn't deserve you," James concluded.
Tears coming more easily now, Lily nodded. "Uh, yeah, my parents d-died pretty recently. It's, uh, it's been really tough."
James nodded but didn't respond, instead letting her decide if she wanted to continue. He knew from experience that saying he was sorry for her loss wouldn't bring them back. It would just be polite and polite never benefits the heartbroken.
"Th-they were p-picking me up from f-f-ootball practice. P-Petunia b-blames me. She-she said it was my f-fault they d-died." He rubbed his hand across her back, signaling her to stop talking. Rather than pulling away, she sobbed into his shirt. Neither spoke until her weeping had slowed and her breathing had become regular.
"Sorry," she murmured, lifting her face from his shoulder.
"It's ok," he insisted. When she was sitting in an upright position again, he turned to face her. "You know it wasn't your fault, right?"
"I-I know."
"No, I'm serious." He clutched her shoulders and forced her to face him. With piercing conviction, his brown eyes met her emerald ones and he repeated himself, "It wasn't your fault."
She nodded, but he continued to lock her with a stern gaze. "I know it wasn't my fault," she voiced, "I didn't kill them."
Satisfied, James removed his hands from her shoulders and placed them in his sweatshirt pockets. His hands found something he had forgotten until then. Taking the candy bar out, James offered it to her. "Chocolate?" he asked with a grin.
Lily accepted the candy bar happily. Remus always said that chocolate healed all wounds, and in that particular moment, James could see his point.
"Feeling any better now?"
"A little," she admitted. Glancing at her phone, she realized it was now 1:00 in the morning. "I should probably head home."
"Yeah, no problem, I need to return the car."
"This isn't your car?" she asked, puzzled.
"It's no big deal, I'm just borrowing it from a friend," he replied, shrugging it off.
"Well, thanks." James faced her as she elaborated. "Well, you know, for borrowing your friend's car and picking me up and driving me here and letting me cry on you and, well, just thank you for everything."
James smiled. "It's the least I can do for the person who helped me find my phone," he joked.
"I was being serious," she insisted.
"Yeah, I know, but it was no problem," he explained, "I didn't mind doing all those things because, because I wanted to help you. It wasn't a burden, it was a choice."
Lily smiled at his response, but didn't add her own to it. Sliding into the car, both sat in comfortable silence, again punctuated by her driving instructions.
"This is me," she announced with a half-hearted smile, nothing like the one he had seen before. She pointed to a well-sized blue house on the corner of a cul-de-sac. He stared at the white picket fence and navy-blue shuttered windows. The house looked like it belonged on the cover of a real-estate magazine.
"Nice flowers," he commented.
"Thanks, my sister is obsessed with having a 'presentable front yard,'" she explained with air quotes. "I planted the lilies, though. They were my mum's favorite. Hence the name," she added.
"Oh, those ones are my favorite, too," he remarked. Her pensive expression transformed with an amused snort and rolled eyes.
"So, I guess I won't thank you this time. Apparently, you're too modest for that," Lily considered. "Regardless, thank you," she said with complete sincerity. Her emerald eyes searched his and they briefly fluttered down to his lips. Unthinkingly, she leaned toward him, closing the minuscule space between them in the small car. He leaned forward, too, but he intentionally missed her face and hugged her, instead. He squeezed her tightly and then let go.
"Have a good night, Lily."
"You too," she responded with a puzzled smile.
For the third time in three days, James' phone rang and the caller-ID read "Smile Girl."
"Lily?" James answered, the confusion evident in his tone. "Uh, I think you might have called the wrong number again," he remarked. Before he could say anything else she cut him off.
"No, I didn't," she assured him, rushing her words to make sure they got out. Then, more slowly, "This is definitely the right number." She paused and heaved out a nervous laugh before starting over: "Hey, James."
They talked non-stop for hours, but even when they both hung up, their conversation was far from over. It had only just begun.
A/N: I would really appreciate it if you could write a review if you feel so inclined because they help me to learn both what I'm doing well and what I could improve on. As many writers will tell you, reviews are basically a writer's oxygen. Whether or not you right a review, thank you for reading!
EDIT (7/11/13): I made a few minor corrections (I didn't really have time to proof-read this before submitting it). Also, thank you to Prongs4Evans for pointing out a small consistency problem! And thank you to comealongmarlene tumblr for pointing out another mistake. Almost forgot they were British! Football, not soccer (smh)!