A/N: I got the inspiration and title for this one shot from the Katy Perry song 'If it's not like the movies'. I heard the song and I just had to write this story, so I hope you enjoy it.
I don't own the Harry Potter series or the song, full credit goes to J. and Katy Perry.
If It's Not like the Movies
"You want some Chinese?" asked Rose, after he opened his door to find her standing there holding up a takeout bag with a smile on her face.
Scorpius looked at her in confusion. "I'm in my boxers and it's eleven o'clock on a Thursday night."
"So?" said Rose, cocking an eyebrow up. "When has that ever stopped us? Now do you want to share this delicious Chinese with me or should I sit out in this hallway and pig out on it all by myself?"
"Well, have you ever seen me turn down food?" grinned Scorpius, opening the door wider, taking the bag off of her as she walked into his apartment.
Rose took off her grey duffel coat and slung it over the back of the black leather couch as she too sat on it. Scorpius rolled his eyes and picked up her coat, hanging it on his coat rack before walking towards the kitchen area of his open plan apartment. He started pulling plates out of his cupboard as he studied Rose. They had been best friends since the day they'd both been sorted into the Ravenclaw house and that was fifteen years ago. Albus often stated that they had an unhealthy relationship, far too dependent on each other and definitely far too close to be 'just friends'. Girlfriends had broken up with him purely because they were jealous or too insecure about his friendship of Rose. Mainly, because they had good right to be. All girlfriends had to pass Rose's approval, and let's face it he was never going to be in a long term relationship with anyone whilst he was friends with Rose.
They could never match up to her.
"So what's with the random Chinese stop by?" asked Scorpius, sitting down whilst placing the plates on the coffee table in front of them. "Not that I don't appreciate it, but you can't deny it's not random."
"You're my best friend," said Rose frowning, shoving a fork of noodles into her mouth. "If I want to see you, I will."
"You eat so ladylike," smirked Scorpius sarcastically. "Sometimes, I forget you're your father's daughter, and then, I see you eat."
"Hey, be nice, I brought you food!" exclaimed Rose, hitting him with a cushion.
"I thought you were with Lorcan this evening," commented Scorpius. Lorcan Scamander had initially been a family friend of the Weasley's but just over a year ago, he had started dating Rose. He was an okay bloke and Scorpius trusted him with Rose, but he couldn't help but think that he was a little bit boring.
"I was, and now I'm not," replied Rose quickly. "You know what we need with this food? Some wine. Yes, definitely, we definitely need some wine."
Rose got up presumably to get some wine but Scorpius grabbed her arm to stop her. "What's going on Rose? And don't insult me by saying it's nothing, I know you better than anyone else, and something is definitely the matter with you."
"Nothing is wrong, Scorpius, I'm fine," said Rose, with a measured smile. "Nothing a big gulp of wine won't fix."
"You're not a drinker," said Scorpius, pulling her closer to him. "Please tell me, Rose. Otherwise I'll worry and make you feel guilty."
"I'll show you then," said Rose reluctantly. Scorpius let go of her, and watched her walk over to her coat, digging into the pocket to get something out. It was small, enclosed in her hand. He only saw it when she had sat down back next him on the couch and opened up her fist.
Scorpius widened his eyes. "That's an engagement ring."
"It's my engagement ring," smiled Rose weakly. "Lorcan proposed and I said yes."
"And then you came here and pretended it never happened?" said Scorpius confused, not taking his eyes of the sparkly engagement ring; a thin gold band with a row of three diamonds.
"I panicked okay," admitted Rose, placing the ring on the table in front of them. "I wasn't expecting it and I panicked. You're the first person I turned to."
Contemplating, Scorpius stared at her for a moment. Why did he feel a tug in his heart when he saw that ring? A ring that was totally wrong for her! It was too plain and reflected Lorcan's personality more than her own.
"You shouldn't have panicked," said Scorpius slowly. "You should have felt fireworks, butterflies and all that crap."
"What? I did, of course I did," flustered Rose.
"Then you should be at your apartment, making delirious love to Lorcan," exclaimed Scorpius, ignoring the sick feeling in his stomach. "Not here having Chinese with me."
"If you want me to go, just say," said Rose, standing up.
"No that's not what I meant," sighed Scorpius, getting up on his feet. "I'm saying it should have been like one of those cheesy romantic films. You deserve that fairy tale feeling and you clearly didn't get it otherwise you wouldn't be here. If it's not like the movies then I think you shouldn't have said yes."
"Scorp, we're not in a movie!" said Rose angrily. "This is real life. This is because you don't like Lorcan but do you know what? This is my decision."
"Well it's a crappy decision."
"I came here because I thought you'd be happy for me."
"No, you came here for reassurance that you have done the right thing by saying yes," shouted Scorpius, with one hand on his hip and the other buried deep in his hair. It aggravated him that he always had to help Rose with her love-life dilemmas when she was too blind to see what to do herself. Too blind to see how he struggled to remain strictly friends. "And if you wanted that, you came to wrong guy."
"Scorpius!" cried Rose furiously. "You're supposed to be my friend."
"I am your friend, which is why I can't stand here and give you the go ahead," explained Scorpius. He walked towards her despite the immense glare on her face. He grabbed her hands and held on to them tightly as she tried to pull away. "You shouldn't marry him if you're not one hundred percent sure, and I don't think if you are. I just want you to be happy."
He gazed down at her face and saw vulnerability he knew she would only share with him. The usual bright and vivacious face his mind pictured when he thought of her was scrunched up. Her big blue eyes were dark and a swirling confusion like a stormy ocean. Her pink plump bottom lip was been so teasingly bitten by her top teeth. She had always hated her two front teeth; she thought they were a little on the large side. He personally had always liked them, and now he couldn't wrench his eyes away.
"Are you happy, Rose?" asked Scorpius, surprised how husky his voice sounded.
"I think I'm happy right here," admitted Rose, softly. His gaze locked with hers with a look he had never received from her before. If it was anyone but Rose he would have named it lust. His breath hitched and the temperature seemed to rise. He could feel his heart beating hard inside his chest, and his head was wailing at him, telling him to stop. He ignored it all. He gently pressed his mouth to hers.
"Are you still happy?" asked Scorpius, murmuring against her lips, as his hands trailed down her sides.
"Yes," whispered Rose, digging her hands into his hair.
"Wait," gasped Scorpius, placing his hands on her delicate dustily freckled shoulders and pushing her away to arm's length distance. He swallowed hard and closed his eyes shut to block out the blatant temptation she was offering. "We shouldn't be doing this.
"Don't you want me?"
His eyes snapped open. "Not want you? Don't be an idiot." He pulled her flush against his body, holding back a groan at the warmth of her soft curves, knowing that his groin was nuzzling into her lower belly. "You can feel how much I want you, Rose."
"Then shush," purred Rose, threading her fingers through his and leading her into his bedroom. The room was dark except the sensual low light coming from the bedside lamp he'd left on. She pushed him down on the bed. She hovered in front of him as he sat on the bed in anticipation still holding her hands. He pulled her on top of him needing contact with her body. As she perched on top, she bent her head down, her red hair spilling around his face with a tickle, and she placed her mouth against his with parted lips. She tasted wonderfully right to him. The kiss making his skin tingle with need. Need for her skin.
He broke the kiss and pulled her black vest top off over head. He groaned as he realised she hadn't been wearing a bra and was gloriously naked. He flipped them over so she was lying underneath him with a delicious smile on her face.
"Were you expecting something else?" she asked mischievously.
"Kind of," smirked Scorpius. "But I'm certainly not complaining."
Rose shivered with delight as his fingers smoothed over her skin... around her ribcage... across the sensitive skin of her neck. She moaned against his mouth as he touched her and arched upwards when his fingers found her nipples. His fingers moved, caressing, playing with the pebbles of flesh. At last his hands moved away, and she moaned in disappointment as he braced them against her and moved her away from her.
He grinned at her sullen face and took in her naked sight. He couldn't help but groan as his mouth closed in on the tip of her breast. He couldn't help but feel satisfied as she shuddered underneath him. She was so caught up in the pleasure she didn't seem to noticed his hand working its way lower to undo the buttons on her jeans. He wriggled them down just enough so that he could slip his hand in between her thighs.
A wild moan broke from her as he caressed her most intimate area. "Scorpius, stop," interrupted Rose breathlessly. "I can't go on like this. I need you properly."
He didn't need telling twice. He impatiently tugged down her jeans and knickers as she slipped her hands under the waistband of his boxers pushing them down.
"I want you, I want you, I want you," muttered Scorpius, over and over again fervently between kisses as he slipped inside of her.
It felt so good he could barely contain himself. Almost frantically he rode deeper into her, motivated by her increasing moans. As he felt muscles of her inner walls start to clench and shudder, and heard her cries of ecstasy, with one last thrust he moaned as his own pleasure was released.
Not being able to hold his own weight anymore he pulled out with her and sank into the mattress, gathering her sweat glistening body into his arms. She snuggled up to him and laid her arm across his chest. They were both breathing deeply, not yet speaking to each other. Scorpius didn't know what to say. Whilst caught up in the moment the course they took seemed natural; right. Reality was now kicking in. Rose was his best friend. His engaged best friend. Not once had she ever shown an interest in him this way.
"Rose?" murmured Scorpius, turning slightly to get a better view of her face. He smoothed back her wild hair to find her eyes closed.
He sighed. He was going to ask her how she felt about what had just happened because he couldn't get his head around it. It was... amazing. There was no other word to describe what had transpired between them. He never dreamed it would happen. Well, actually, he had dreamed about it many a times but he never thought it would occur in real life. He'd buried his attraction for Rose when he realised she didn't feel that way about him and there was no way he'd ruin their friendship trying to find out. All of the times they had been drunk together, shared the same bed platonically, all the times she had cried on his shoulder, not once had he made a move when he so easily could. He had instead dated other women and in time he had taught himself she was just a friend. Had she done the same thing?
After getting past that, what was left was guilt. He didn't particularly like Lorcan; whether this was the fact he was a serious boyfriend of Rose's or because of personality differences, he wasn't sure. He never would have wanted to do this to him though. The guy had just proposed, was probably feeling the happiest he had ever felt, and then his girlfriend had gone and slept with someone else. It made him feel sick to be in this position. He looked down at Rose's sleeping face. Despite the guilt he couldn't help but smile and pull her closer.
"Scorp, Scorp, wake up," urged Rose, shaking him. He rubbed his eyes as he opened them adjusting to the light. He looked at Rose and it took a moment for the memories of last night to come flooding back. Rose was sat up with the bed sheets wrapped around her chest. Even first thing in the morning she was beautiful; from her wild tangled hair to her naked freckled shoulders. He was shaken out of his thoughts from a loud banging.
"What the-"
"Someone's knocking on the door," said Rose quickly, biting her lip nervously. "They have been for quite a while."
"Okay," replied Scorpius. He shot her a small smile to try soothe her nervous. She seemed anxious – was it about the morning after talk they so obviously needed to have? "I'll go answer it, send them away and then me and you need to talk." Rose nodded wordlessly and he left the room, pausing to pull on a pair of boxers and a t-shirt.
The knocking had not ceased but instead had gotten louder. "Alright I'm coming, calm down," shouted Scorpius, before swinging open his front door. "Oh, Lorcan." He stepped outside into the hallway and closed the door firmly behind him. "What are you doing here?"
He'd asked the question despite the fact he knew perfectly well what he was doing here. Lorcan was wearing a white shirt and black suit pants, both of which were wrinkled and creased. His dirty blonde hair which was usually so tidily kept was ruffled. It was obvious he had not changed from the previous night.
"I'm looking for Rose," explained Lorcan, with a tone in his voice that implied a dislike for having to see Scorpius. "We got engaged last night."
"Congrats," said Scorpius, trying to act surprised and confused at the same time. "Why isn't she with you then?"
"I think she wasn't expecting the proposal and wanted some time alone to process things," said Lorcan. "I thought she'd be at her flat but she's not. Nor is she at her parent's or at work. I just thought she might have come running to you."
Scorpius heard the bitter tones but chose not to respond to it. "Well she's not here, Scamander. I don't tend to invite her round when I'm... entertaining shall we say."
"Sorry for interrupting," replied Lorcan snidely. "If Rose does drop by, will you tell her that I'm worried about her and that I love her."
"Yeah, sure," said Scorpius with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, guilt pooling in the pit of his stomach.
Lorcan gave him a curt nod and disapparated on the spot. Scorpius returned to his apartment, closed the door behind him and then banged his head on the door with a groan.
"Who was it?" asked Rose from the doorway of his bedroom. She was fully dressed and by the solemn expression on her face it seemed she knew the answer to her own question.
"Your fiancé," answered Scorpius, seriously. "He wants me to tell you that he's worried about you and that he loves you."
Rose glanced away guiltily. "Did you tell him I was here?"
"Of course I didn't," scowled Scorpius. "I didn't really fancy getting beaten up for shagging his bird to be honest."
"Thank you," smiled Rose, taking his hands in hers. "What happened was a mistake. I don't want to ruin everything for a moment's lapse in judgement. This means that we can go back to normal."
Scorpius pushed her away from him. "Didn't last night mean anything to you?"
Rose looked taken aback. "Well, of course it did but there's nothing else to do but go back to normal."
"I don't think I can," admitted Scorpius quietly.
"So you're going to tell Lorcan?" asked Rose, incredulous.
"No," replied Scorpius angrily, after a moment's thought. "Don't worry, I won't tell your fiancé what we did but nor am I going to let what happened between us be forgotten."
"What does this mean for us then?" demanded Rose, her arms folded confrontationally.
"It means I can't be your best friend anymore," said Scorpius firmly.
"Why are you being like this?" asked Rose angrily.
"Because I love you!" snapped Scorpius furiously. "And I'm not going to be pretend to be your best friend whilst you marry some git that's not right for you.
"You love me?"
"Of course I do, I probably always have," confessed Scorpius with a mirthless laugh. "Have you never once felt about me in that way?"
"You were always my friend," said Rose slowly. She looked confused and sad. "I-I didn't realise you felt this way."
"I don't think I always did either to be honest."
"I'm sorry, Scorp," said Rose pitifully, trying to touch him. "If I knew... well I don't know. Please don't let this stop you being my best friend."
"Well I'm sorry too then, Rose, because I can't," apologised Scorpius, meaning it truthfully. "We can't go back to being friends and you have a decision to make; me or him."
"Don't make me do this," said Rose, shaking her head.
"I've got to protect myself and this is the only way."
"Then I've got to leave now," said Rose sadly. She walked over to the coffee table and picked up her engagement ring. With one last lingering glance at Scorpius, she grabbed her coat and then left.
"Fuck, fuck fuck."
"Where were you last night?" asked Albus angrily, walking through Scorpius's front door without invite.
"Oh hello Albus, oh yes why don't you just come right in," muttered Scorpius sarcastically as he swung the door shut. "What about last night?"
"You missed Rose's engagement party," exclaimed Albus, sitting down on the couch looking up expectantly at Scorpius for an explanation.
"That was last night?" asked Scorpius nonchalantly. "I had loads of work to do."
"I think your best friend's engagement party is a bit more important than paperwork," drawled Albus. "And I can see the invite on your kitchen counter from here so I think you definitely knew when it was. She wouldn't tell me why you weren't there either but she looked miserable all night."
"Miserable?"
"Yeah," said Albus, in thought. "Because you weren't there. Why?"
Scorpius sighed and grabbed a couple of beers from the kitchen before joining Albus on the couch, to tell him the sorry tale of what happened on the night of Rose's engagement.
"No wonder she looked miserable," said Albus, with his eyebrows raised. "It was too soon for you to make her choose; it was mean of you to make her choose at all."
"I was protecting my own heart," admitted Scorpius, taking a swig of beer. "After what we did, it would be too painful to act the best friend."
"I think she needed more time to adjust," explained Albus, wisely. "I know how you've felt about her – yeah, it was kind of obvious, other than to her – but she never has. I don't think she's ever felt about you that way before that night and then she was confused. Maybe she did see you in a new light but she wanted things to get back to normal because she had too many thoughts whirring about her head that she didn't understand. I think if you'd have made her choose between Lorcan and 'Scorpius the best friend', she'd have chosen you."
"But my point is that I don't want to be her best friend!"
"I know that," said Albus sharply, stopping Scorpius from arguing. "But like I said she's confused. If you had just said to forget about it, I reckon she would have started noticing you in a new light and it wouldn't have been too long before she realised she loved you too."
"Do you think she does?" asked Scorpius quietly, not making eye contact. "Love me, I mean."
"I don't know," answered Albus honestly. "I do know that you mean a lot to her and without you she's unhappy. You've always been there for her and now you're not. If she was ever to realise she loves you it would be after what happened between you, but making her choose was a bad move. I reckon Rose would be spiteful enough not tell you she loved you if she did because of that."
"Well I realise this now," muttered Scorpius darkly. "Rose's friendship has always been the most special thing to me but now I resent it for being in the way of something more."
"And the fiancé," added Albus, somewhat unhelpfully. "He's also in the way."
"Thanks for the reminder. It doesn't really matter what happens because I doubt he's going to just stand aside and say 'yeah, that's fine,'."
"He can't do anything," scoffed Albus. "It's up to Rose now. Lorcan's a wimp anyway."
"Hear, hear," cheered Scorpius, clinking his bottle to Albus'. A knocking on the door made him frown and put down his drink. "Aren't I the popular boy tonight?"
He opened his door to find himself hit with a wave of déjà vu. Rose was stood in the hallway holding up a bag of Chinese not dissimilar to that particular night.
"We never did get round to actually eating," she said quietly with a nervous half smile.
He said nothing but hold the door open wider to let her pass. He closed it behind her with a heavy effort.
"I'd have brought more food if I knew you were here, Al," said Rose with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Scorpius knew she was trying to act as normal as possible now that she knew Albus was here for she didn't know that he knew.
"It's okay, I was just leaving anyway," said Albus, knowing when he was not needed. After giving Scorpius a smile of encouragement, he turned and disapparated on the spot, leaving Rose and Scorpius alone.
"So," said Scorpius aimlessly. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife and he had no idea what to say to her. It had never been like that between them. "I'm sorry I didn't go to your party."
Rose looked up and caught his eye. Scorpius wished she hadn't because now he could tell from her eyes how sad she looked. "It's okay. I never expected you to come."
"I should have though, because I was wrong to make you choose like that," explained Scorpius softly. "It was cruel and selfish of me. If you need me as a friend in your life I will be there as your friend."
"It wasn't cruel, it was a wake- up call," admitted Rose, as she put down the bag of food and stood to face Scorpius properly. "All these years, I've gone from boyfriend to boyfriend, with you picking up the pieces in between. You've always been there for me and I think I was the one who was selfish. You did everything for me and I never stopped to consider you. To consider how you might have felt for me... for how I feel for you. And then you were out of my life and I was forced to consider."
"Rose," started Scorpius, not knowing whether or not he wanted to know what was coming next.
"Please, hear me out," interrupted Rose, with a small smile. "I was thinking about some of times we've had together and how natural they felt to be with you; about how when we slept together it felt right. I wanted you to tell me it was okay to forget about it because I was so confused. It felt like I was seeing you for the first time and then you told me how you felt about me – it made me question everything about our friendship. I think we've actually been in a relationship for about ten years but neither of us realised it until we slept together."
Scorpius didn't smile, he was still unsure as to where this was going and what would happen. "And what about the other relationship you're in?"
Rose shook her head. "I'm not in any other relationship. I told Lorcan that someone else had already claimed my heart years ago, I just didn't know until now."
"I need you to be sure that this is how you really feel, Rose, and not just because you're still confused or doing this so make sure I'll be in your life," warned Scorpius. "Because if you don't feel the same way then it's my problem – I will deal with it and still be your best friend. If you tell me later that you've changed your mind I'm pretty sure my heart will break."
He watched sadly as Rose walked towards him. She cupped one of her cheeks with her soft hand and pressed her mouth gently against her own. Scorpius buried his hands in her curly hair. If this was some sort of a goodbye kiss he wanted to prolong it enough so that he could remember it forever.
"I love you," exclaimed Rose, smiling as she rested her forehead against his. "I don't want you in my life as my friend because that's not enough for me anymore. That night you gave me a taste of something more and now that's what I want the most. I want you, all of you."
"You have no idea how happy you have just made me feel," grinned Scorpius, hugging her so close her feet left the ground and spinning. "I love you too, Rose."
"And do you know what?"
"What?"
"It feels exactly like it does in the movies."
