AN: This fic was written for Alicia Mirza (I hope you enjoy it!) as a part of the Seasonless Secret Santa Challenge, and was also entered in the Muggleize it Competition, both on the HPFC forum.
This is AU in which there is no magic and Hogwarts doesn't exist. Keep that in mind so you're not terribly confused as to why Lily and James are driving cars and using cell phones.
Lily Evans was in a particularly bad mood on this fine Sunday afternoon.
Scratch that, she was in an atrocious mood. Everything that could possibly have gone wrong today, did exactly that. A supposedly laid back visit to her parent's house had ended in disaster when her sister, Petunia had shown up. On top of that, during the drive back home, Lily's car had somehow stalled out, and ended up breaking down in the middle of the freeway.
Lily clenched her fists, trying to maintain at least some semblance of control. She didn't want to go about screaming at the poor man towing her car.
"You want me to call you a taxi or something?" The man said, gesturing to Lily's wreck of a car, which was now being attached to the tow truck. He was a meek looking guy, not much older than Lily herself, and he seemed to be rather busy with her car, which was now being set up to go to the nearest mechanic.
"No thanks, I'll just call someone to pick me up," she waved him off, pulling her mobile out of her purse.
Looking at her phone, Lily's face paled as she realized something: she had no one to call. She definitely couldn't call her parents after what had happened earlier that day, and there was no way Petunia would ever do it. The next best choice was Severus, but he didn't own a car, and they were also currently in a fight. Then there was Marlene. Marlene and Lily had been best friends for years, and would do this sort of thing for each other in a heartbeat. The only problem with that particular plan was that Marlene was visiting her parents for the weekend, and she had brought along her boyfriend, Sirius Black. At the thought of Sirius, however, Lily did think of someone she could ask.
James Potter, Sirius' best friend, and the boy who had been chasing after Lily since the first day of Uni. James Potter, the guy she had disliked for most of the past three years. Right now, James Potter seemed like her only hope.
Lily sighed, weighing this option. James was irritating, and Lily had always hated the way he teased Severus, one of her closest friends. Looking at the cars zooming past her on the highway, she wondered if hitchhiking would be a better option.
"No, just call Potter," she whispered to herself, dialing in his number and waiting for him to pick up.
"Please pick up," Lily mumbled, knowing that it would be getting late soon, and she didn't want to be trapped on the side of a highway.
"Evans?" James' voice rang through the line loud and clear. He sounded surprised to get her call.
"James, I need your help," she said, fighting the urge to say something rude and vent her anger.
"What is it?" He asked, sounding concerned, "I thought you were at your parents' place?"
"I was driving home and my car broke down," she took a deep breath, "I need you to come pick me up."
There was a long pause before James responded, "Where are you?"
Lily smiled, "I'm about an hour north, not quite sure exactly."
"I'll head over, call you when I'm close," he said curtly.
"Thanks," Lily murmured, feeling that maybe she had misjudged James in the past. He was so willing to do this for her.
"No problem," he said, "bye."
"Bye."
The line went dead, and Lily just stood there for a long moment, before finally bringing the phone away from her ear. She just couldn't get over the fact that he'd been so quick to agree to help her. Sitting on the side of the highway, as the air started to cool off, Lily began to realize that she probably didn't deserve this from him. She had only ever really been mean to him. Every time he had ever asked her to get dinner, or coffee, or to see a movie; she had turned him down. He had taken all of it in stride, and now here he was, driving two hours to bring her back home.
The mechanic was there for a while, ensuring that Lily wasn't completely alone while she waited. It was still annoying: having her car break down after an absolutely terrible visit to her mum and dad, and then sitting out in the cold for an hour.
James arrived eventually, and when he did, Lily could not have been more happy to see him and his old, beat up car. It wasn't much of a ride, but was adequate for a part-time working university student.
"Hello there," James said, grinning proudly as he pulled over to the shoulder.
"Hi," Lily sighed, sliding into the passenger seat and the immediate warmth of a heated car. "Thanks for doing this."
"Anytime."
James pulled back onto the highway, and managed to turn around in the right direction, not saying anything for a while. Lily guessed that he could probably sense her bad mood. Finally, however, he spoke.
"So what happened?"
"What do you mean?" Lily replied, "my car broke down, that's what happened."
He was focused on the road, but she could see his eyes flicking over to her every few seconds. "Remus said that you were supposed to stay the night with your parents."
Lily grimaced. She shouldn't have told Remus that… "My sister was there. We got in a bit of a fight, and I decided to leave early."
"Is everything okay?" His eyes were still intently focused on the two lane highway.
"My sister is just… difficult…"
He raised an eyebrow, as if urging her on. Lily took a deep breath, wincing at the memory of her rather disastrous afternoon. "Petunia and I used to get along really well. She's older than me, and she was the superior older sister for a long time. Eventually, though, I tested into a scholarship for the private school that she had always wanted to go to." The young woman let out a small laugh, despite her expression being relatively somber, "we didn't really get along much after that. She picks fights with me about the silliest things, and I think it makes her especially angry that I'm in Uni now."
James nodded, "What were you fighting about today?"
Lily considered him for a moment. James Potter would normally never be the person she would discuss her troubling sister with, but he was being so agreeable. Afterall, the boy had driven an hour to come pick Lily up off the side of the highway. If anything, James was fiercely loyal to the people he liked.
"Oh, just the normal stuff," Lily sighed, picking her legs up so she could rest her chin atop her denim-clad knees. "Petunia didn't want to hear any of my stories from school, and I definitely didn't want to hear anything about her new boyfriend." Lily trailed off with a sneer.
James chuckled, "well I'm sorry your sister is such a problem."
Lily shrugged waving him off. For a moment they were silent, before Lily spoke again, "What's your family like?"
James smiled, "Well, I'm an only child, but my parents are great. And of course, I've got Sirius. He's been living with me for a few years now."
Lily frowned at the mention of Sirius. She had never liked him much… he was always hanging around James and getting into trouble.
"Sirius isn't that bad once you get to know him," James mumbled, sensing Lily's thoughts on the subject.
Lily simply gave him a unbelieving look.
"Hey, you can't be so judgemental, you're friends with Snivellus," James snapped.
Lily grimaced at him, knowing quite well where this conversation was going. It seemed that anytime she talked to James, he always made an attempt to bring up Severus. "Don't call him that," Lily replied, not letting her irritation show.
"Sorry," James said, his voice softer now. When she looked at him, it almost seemed… genuine.
"I'm sure he's a good friend to you," he continued, "I guess I just have some trouble finding common ground with him."
Lily gaped, staring at James' serious expression as he watched the road, one hand nonchalantly perched on the steering wheel.
Did James Potter actually just say that? Her mind was reeling. This was completely out of character for him. He was definitely not the type of guy to just go around saying something like that.
Maybe he was making an effort. Maybe he was done being cocky and full of himself. Maybe he was actually learning to be a little understanding.
In that strange moment, Lily realized that she had misjudged the boy sitting next to her. She had always thought he was a complete tool, never once doubting that idea. Now, however, she was beginning to realize that he could be nice and observant and somewhat tactful. This whole evening had been stirring that thought in the back of her mind, but now she finally understood it.
After a long pause, Lily spoke up. "I suppose it's the same with Sirius and I," she muttered, "we're not very alike, you know…"
James nodded absently in agreement.
"Hey… you wanna go get some food?"
Lily found that the question was out of her mouth before she had much time at all to think on it.
He waited a moment, a small smile curling up his lips as he stared out the windshield. Finally, after an agonizing wait, James nodded, "Sure."
It had struck Lily how positively and horribly ironic it was that she had basically just asked James out. For essentially the whole time she had known him, James had always been trying to ask her out. Now here they were, sitting in a cramped booth of some fast food restaurant next to a highway exit, and she had asked him here.
"How are your classes?" James asked, picking at his fries.
"They're alright," she said, shrugging off her jacket, "though psychology is a killer."
"Peter's in that class with you, right?" he smirked, "I think he's failing it."
Lily scoffed, "Oh I'm sure he's failing. Poor kid is terrified of the teacher." She had always disliked Peter, perhaps by his association with James and Sirius, but in truth, he was just a meek kid that James had taken under his wing. She had to appreciate James' kindness towards Pettigrew.
"Maybe you should offer to tutor him," James suggested, combing a hand through his unruly hair in a manner that was vaguely charming.
Lily giggled at that moment, because James surely knew how busy she was, and that she would never in a million years be a decent tutor. She was far too nit-picky and short-tempered to be a helpful tutor.
He let out a short laugh alongside her, and once again, Lily was reminded of the strangeness surrounding her situation. Here she was, having a laugh with James Potter, and she was actually enjoying herself.
"How about your classes?" She asked, sipping her water.
"Good…" he furrowed his brow, "I think I might just graduate."
The couple once again broke into a small fit of chuckling.
"I think Sirius is the one we've got to worry about," Lily murmured pointedly.
"Oh, you know he can manage. He's got the natural intelligence gene somewhere within him."
"You do too," she responded, knowing that there had always been some sort of competitiveness between the two friends. "But Remus will always have you beat."
A few moments later found James and Lily exiting the restaurant and hopping back into James' car. Both were in a significantly better mood than they had been earlier. They continued the drive home, talking about plans for after they graduated.
"James," she addressed him, examining his profile as he merged off the highway at their exit. They were almost home.
"Yeah?"
'Thank you," she mumbled, "so much. You've really helped me out here. I'm sorry that I've been so rotten to you in the past.
The sun was setting somewhere behind him, leaving his face dark. All she could see was the hard outline of his face. She let her eyes trace over his spiky hair, then the outward curve of his nose, and the pointy line of his chin. He was just a jumble of stony-straight and disheveled lines shadowed by the falling sun. He was a paradox; perplexing and misjudged.
"You're welcome," He sighed, "and don't worry about it, I've not been very respectful to you in the past either."
"But this…" she took a deep breath, "I don't know why you did this for me, and I don't know how I'll repay you."
"You know why I did this for you," he said in a solid voice, as if he hadn't a doubt in the world.
Lily had a feeling that she knew, but wanted to hear him say it, "why?"
He didn't speak for a long moment, pulling down to her street, where the flat she shared with Marlene and Alice stood in the outskirts of campus.
Finally, he pulled over, putting the car in park with a disgruntled putter from the engine. "You know why," he said once again, meeting her eyes with such seriousness.
She didn't want to say anything. She was too captivated by the look in his eyes, which were temporarily illuminated by the streetlight just outside the car.
Finally, Lily realized that they had been sitting in the car, staring at each other for a full minute or so. She weighed the options in her mind for a short moment, before leaning towards him ever so slightly. "Thank you," she whispered, the words ghosting out of her mouth.
They were already close, but James still had to move a few inches to close the distance between the two of them.
It was an unexpected ending to an extraordinarily curious day. If she had heard it only twenty-four hours earlier, Lily would have almost died of laughter at the thought of kissing James Potter.
But here she was, lips tentatively meeting his as they sat in his little old car. She let herself admire the way his dark hair spewed about and the way his hand came up to meet her cheek. It was, quite possibly, the best kiss she had ever experienced.
How strange that it had come from James Potter.
They broke apart after a moment. Lily chewed her lip shyly, while James let the largest grin spread across his face. "You're welcome," he said softly.
Lily looked at him for a long moment, before regaining her bearings and nodding. "Bye, then," she murmured, opening the passenger door and hopping out.
"See ya, Evans," he said, that mad grin still plastered on his face as he drove away.
Lily made her way inside tentatively, knowing that tonight she had a lot of thinking to do about James Potter.