AN: Hey hey hey! Unexpected one-shot more like it, am I right? (And for those of you wondering, of course you'll still be getting an update for Faint Hearts on Sunday. Think of this as some kind of compensation for ending the last chapter the way I did)
This is something I wrote on a whim yesterday and today. I think I just needed a break from my multi-chaps.
Hope you enjoy! Don't forget to review!
Unexpected Perks
"No, no, no, no, no, nooooo!" Lily's heels clicked against the tiles of the terminal as she saw the flashing digital sign that told her that her plane had already pulled away from the boarding zone. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and she felt as though she'd just lost at something. She'd never missed a flight before, she'd always been one of those people who arrived early. Like, enough time to have breakfast, get a coffee and read a couple chapters of whatever novel she had with her, that kind of early.
But do to circumstances that were outside of her control, she'd been late. Very late per her standards, and apparently she'd missed her flight.
She hitched her carry on up her shoulder and squeezed her phone in her other hand. What was she even supposed to do now? Did she have to buy a new ticket? Did she have to wait for a seat to open up on another flight? How was she meant to know what she was supposed to do when she'd never missed a flight before? And apart from that, it wasn't as though she spent a lot of time flying anywhere. This was probably her sixth time on a plane- or it would have been, had she made the flight.
She saw someone who looked about as flustered as she felt, talking to someone who worked at the airport at a desk right next to where she was supposed to board the plane. She assumed that this man had also missed the flight and headed in that direction. And even if she was wrong, talking to someone from the airport had to be a good first step on the road to fixing things, right?
"So you don't have another flight going out today?" The man was asking, sounding as though he was trying rather hard not to get upset. And even now, Lily could appreciate that. Because even though they'd missed their flight, it definitely wasn't this random employee's fault.
"I just told you that we didn't, sir. You'll have to wait until tomorrow." Lily walked up and stood directly next to the man, putting an arm on the desk because her bag was heavy and she needed to lean on something. She knew she shouldn't have worn heels to the airport.
"The plane took of almost fifteen minutes early, and you're telling me that I'm just going to have to be okay with that?" His hand jumped to his hair and Lily found herself momentarily distracted from her current predicament as she noticed that this trying-not-to-be-angry man who had also missed his flight, was quite fit. And his hair was quite distracting.
But then she registered what he'd said. "Fifteen minutes early!" She repeated, and instead of sounding surprised, she sounded as though she was backing him up, and both people turned too look at her. "Why have a schedule if you're not going to follow it?" He was doing much better than her at coming across not angry, but in her defense, she did feel as though she'd been cheated. She would have made the flight (possibly) if the plane hadn't left early.
"Sir, ma'am, I've very sorry, but there's nothing I can do. The plane isn't here anymore and there aren't anymore flights until tomorrow."
"I understand that you can't do anything about the plane being gone, or about us having to wait until tomorrow to get back home, but the plane left early," The man reiterated, now grouping Lily into the conversation as well. "I think there should be some sort of compensation for that. I mean, you can't expect us to spend the night here in the airport, can you?"
The woman behind the desk tapped her nails on the counter and pressed her lips together. "No, I suppose not. I'll call my manager and see if there's something that I can do."
"Thank you," The man said, pushing his glasses up his nose and then he looked over at Lily and smiled at her.
"Of course," The women picked up the phone and dialed a number. She turned her back to them as she spoke with her manager and Lily allowed herself to relax. So far, this whole ordeal was being taken care of much more easily then she would have thought. Though she still needed to figure out how to get a ticket for tomorrows flight. She couldn't really afford a second ticket. Not after the spending spree she'd been on the last few days.
"Alright," The woman turned around with a bright smile on her face, giving Lily the impression that she had good news and that she was happy to have good news. Working at an airport desk, she doubted that she ever had much good news to give. "So there is a conference in town, so our hotel is nearly full, but my manager was able to snag the last of the rooms. I've also been authorized to bump the two of you up from business class, to first class for tomorrows flight. I do apologize for the inconvenience." Lily was smiling even wider, a first-class ticket? And that was just included in all of this? Wonderful.
"Thank you so much," The man said, and Lily quickly repeated the sentiment.
"Of course," She looked much less stressed now that she didn't have disgruntled passengers to deal with.
"I'm sorry that I was so upset when I walked up here." Lily apologized, not sure if it was warranted or not, but thinking that the lady might appreciate all the same.
"Oh don't worry about it," She grinned. Lily heard the sound of a printer, and then she was being handed a new boarding pass. "And here is the information for your room." She slid another paper toward them. Just one single piece of paper. "Just present that to the front desk and they'll get you keys and whatnot. Have a great evening!"
"Wait," Lily narrowed her brow and skimmed over the paper. "This says there's just one room."
"Yes," She smiled, "Our last room at that. We got lucky."
The man looked at Lily and then at the woman trying to help them. "Alright, but I don't know this man." Lily said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
The woman looked back and forth between the two of them, her brow raised. "Oh dear, I'm terribly sorry."
oOo
"I'm James, by the way." James said as he slid into the back of a taxi. They had decided to head to the hotel together and see if they couldn't get it worked out there, since there was clearly nothing more that the woman from the airport could do, and Lily didn't feel right having her do anymore anyway.
"Lily," She said, sticking her hand out toward him. The handshake was made slightly awkward by the fact that they were both in the back of a cab, but still, she was once again struck with out fit he was. And his hands were soft and warm.
"Well Lily, this is quite an adventure no? I hope you didn't have anything too important to get back to in London." He leaned back against the seat and quickly gave the driver their destination.
"I like to pad my travel dates, so no, nothing too important. My plants will survive one more day without being watered," She shrugged and then frowned. "Well, probably." She had a roommate, but Mary was scatterbrained and hardly remembered to feed herself, let alone water Lily's plants.
James chuckled and started tapping his fingers on his knee. "I've never been able to keep plants alive for more than a week."
Lily smiled and looked over at him. "My thumbs been green since I was little. My grandmum's doing, really." She looked out the window for a moment, trying to see if anything around them looked familiar, but she'd only been here a few times, and so nothing did. But with the sky a dreadful shade of grey, everything just seemed so monochromatic. "What about you," She asked, looking back at him. "Do you have anything important you'll miss because the plane left early?"
He laughed again, and Lily's stomach tightened. She quite liked the sound of his laugh. "I mean, my friends will be a bit put out because I did promise them that I'd be back in time to watch tonight's game with them, but I'm sure they'll get over it."
"Tonight's game?" She raised a brow, wondering if she should somehow know what he was talking about.
"Yeah," He nodded. "The football match that's on tonight."
"Oh," She clicked her phone on for a moment to check the time. "I don't really watch much football."
She looked back at him to find that he was looking at her as though she'd just told him that she didn't normally wear pants when she went grocery shopping. "What do you mean you don't want football?"
It was Lily's turn to laugh. "Don't be so dramatic. I just mean that I don't watch much of it."
"Saying the same thing with different words doesn't make it better." He scoffed, shaking his head. "I'll have to take this room if it's all they have left, just for that."
Lily shook her head, "I'm not going to just let you have the room. My only other option was to spend the night in the airport, I can't afford anything else. I spent all my money already."
James narrowed her brow. "And what exactly did you spend all your money on here in Brussels?"
Lily grinned, "Beer, chocolate and books."
He smiled back at her, "Alright, good answer."
"I was here for a literary conference, and I always get carried away when it comes to books. I exceeded my predetermined book budget by… well, by a lot." He laughed again.
"A literary conference? Are you a writer or something?"
"Or something," She shrugged one of her shoulders and pursed her lips. "I've not been published yet, but I'm hopeful that it'll happen. Soon." She looked back at him. "I've recently sent something in to a few different publishers."
"Well that's brilliant! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you." He said, sounding genuinely happy for her and it made her heart feel fluttery.
"Thanks," She tried to suppress her grin, but he was very handsome looking at her like he was, and it wasn't as though she wasn't already thrilled and terrified with the prospect of getting a letter back from one of the houses.
They pulled up to the hotel and James pulled Lily's bag out of the boot of the car. She reached for it and he shook his head. "I've got it."
"Well thank you," She grinned.
"I'm only trying to be a gentleman now so that you won't be too upset with me when I take the room."
"I'm not letting you have the room. She wouldn't have offered the room to you if I hadn't come over and backed you up."
The people at the front desk reiterated what the lady at the airport had said and Lily sighed. She was tired, and she didn't want to worry about all of this nonsense. Without waiting for a response from either James or Lily, soon a pair of key cards were handed to them and they were left to work things out between themselves.
"Maybe the room has two beds," James said after a moment of silence. "I didn't really look at the details."
"I didn't either," Lily admitted. "Let's go and have a look." Though Lily was starting to wonder what her mother would say if she knew that Lily was debating bunking with a man that she'd only just met less than an hour ago. He was fit, but he was still a stranger.
"If it doesn't have a second bed, my offer is that I'll sleep on the couch."
"And if it doesn't have a couch?"
"Then I'll throw a fit for being stuck in a closet room." He shrugged and she laughed.
"You never told me what you were doing here," She said as she pressed the elevator button. "And I'm really hoping that it had nothing to do with murder or anything."
James shook his head and smirked at her. "You caught me. I got the plane to leave early so that I could get you alone."
"It's mighty impressive that you were able to buy up all the other rooms in the hotel aside from this one." She said, playing along.
"Yes well, this plan goes a lot further than you know." They stepped onto the elevator and he pushed the button for their floor. "Though truthfully, I was visiting my great aunt and my cousin. I've only got one cousin, and he's two decades older than me." He sounded jilted by this fact and Lily chuckled. "Anyway, my aunt asked me to come out to help her put in a new deck. But that just meant that she wanted me to do it, and I've never used power tools before so it was a waste of time in her opinion. I had a good time with Sam though."
"Your old cousin?"
"Yeah," He smiled at her again and then the doors opened.
They walked out into the hallway and Lily looked around. "I hate hotel art," She mused, passing a generic painting of a sailboat. "I mean, why put something on the wall if it's not worth looking at."
"Wow, Lily," James laughed. "Quite a strong opinion on that sailboat. I'm sure someone worked very hard to make it."
"Sure, but they could have added some color or a story or something." She chuckled. "I don't want to just look at a sailboat. I'm not a boat enthusiast."
"You don't like football and you don't like boats, anything else I should know about?"
"I don't like red wine," She said, the thought popping into her head as she passed another generic painting of a bottle of wine. She shook her head.
"No red wine?"
"Gives me a headache." She shrugged. "Unless it's cherry wine, I do like cherry wine. Still gives me a headache, but I figure it's worth it because of how delicious it is."
"Interesting."
"What?"
"I don't think I've ever had cherry wine before."
"Well you're missing out. Anyway, what did you end up doing with your cousin if you didn't build a deck?"
"Well first we hired someone else to build the deck," James grinned, running his hand through his hair. Lily had seen him do that a couple of times and wondered when he'd picked up the tick. "And then he took me to play tennis. My cousin Sam has been playing tennis much longer than I've been alive and he was semi-pro for a while so I did not beat him a single time and was a very sore loser about the whole thing."
"I would have been a sore loser too." Lily admitted.
"Why, do you normally think you're good at tennis, like I do?" She laughed and shook her head.
"No, I'm just generally a sore loser about everything- that is to say, I'm very competitive and stubborn so I don't take defeat well. I felt personally attacked that the plane left early because it felt like cheating."
James nodded and pulled out his key card as they walked up to the door, and she could tell he was trying not to laugh at her. "So we should under no circumstances start playing any games that pit the two of us against one another?"
"I'll crush you heart and soul if we do." She said, forgetting for a moment that she didn't really know this person that she was casually trash talking.
James raised his brow, hand frozen on the door handle. Then he started laughing and Lily pressed her lips together, "I'm sorry." She said, brushing back her hair. "It's a reflex. A sickness really, I can't help myself."
He just laughed some more and pushed open the door. It was still midday so the room was fairly well lit, the back wall of the room being made up almost entirely of windows. There was only one bed in the back corner of the room, and a rather decent sized sitting area with a television on the wall opposite the windows. There was a door that led to a bathroom and a small kitchenet, and while it was modest, it was also one of the nicer hotel rooms that Lily had stayed in.
"Looks like I'll be on the couch."
"Yeah, looks like," Lily agreed, flashing him and grin and he just shook his head and set their bags down on the edge of the couch. She walked over to the windows and looked out at the city. It wasn't a view of the more historic parts of the city, just intensely metropolitan as it was near the airport, but with snow falling down softly, it had it's own charm.
Lily unbuttoned her coat and tossed it onto the bed. She was unsure why she was so comfortable to agree to share the room with this stranger, but she still had plenty of time to change her mind if she needed too.
She looked back at James, wondering what he was thinking, if he might be expecting her to back out and let him have the room. Though she had just informed him of how competitive she is, so he shouldn't be thinking that.
"So, what's the plan now?" James asked.
"Well, if I hadn't had all my books checked and sent off on the plane without me, then I'd say that I was going to spend the next twelve hours reading… however, I only have one book and I finished it this morning so I suppose I can't do that." There was her phone though. She did have many books saved to her phone. And her laptop was in her carryon bag, she could spend some time writing.
But then she looked up at James again, and bit the inside of her cheek. There was something about this stranger that made him feel as though he wasn't a stranger, but instead someone that she'd known for quite a while. And she wanted to spend some time with him, strange as it seemed.
"I suppose you can't. We could go out and get some food though," He suggested, looking out the window. "I think we're near a place I've been that has good fish sandwiches." Lily made a face and James smirked. "You don't like fish?"
"Boats, red wine, football and fish." She nodded. "But your plan also involved going outside, and look, it just started to snow. We should not go outside."
"You don't like the snow either?"
"I do like the snow," She countered, holding up her hand. "But I didn't bring a hat, or mittens or proper footwear. Don't ask me why I wore heels to the airport, but I did and I'm not going to try and walk around the city when there's fresh snow coming down. I'll break at least four bones if I do that."
"Four bones?" He shook his head and let out a low whistled, causing her to laugh. "Alright, I suppose I can't have you leaving the hotel then, I don't want to be held responsible for any injury involving three broken bones."
"Exactly, it's for my safety. And to make sure you're not held liable." She crossed her arms over her chest and then stepped out of her heels, leaving them behind the couch. "We could just order room service and watch trash television."
He shrugged out of his coat and nodded. "You're plan sounds good. Relaxing after a day of rushing to the airport only to miss the bloody flight."
"Honestly, I didn't even know that it'd left early until you said something." She shook her head. "I just had the worst experience with public transportation of my life, and thought the world was out to get me."
James walked around to the front of the couch and fell back onto it. "Picky and dramatic, I'm learning all kinds of things about you." He reached for the remote and clicked the telly on.
"Dramatic was kind of a given, seeing as how I threatened you earlier at the mention of a competition." He snorted and turned on the guide. Lily had to sit in the middle of the couch since he'd put their things on the end he wasn't sitting on, and she reached for a menu that they had set out on the coffee table. "What sounds good to you?" She asked, looking over the options. "They have fish sandwiches if that's what you want."
"Well we're in Belgium, so we've got to get fries." He said with a smile that had her heart not quite racing, but it was getting there. Lily had always been a sucker for a good smile, and he had a damn good smile.
"Of course," She nodded. She'd had Belgium fries before and they were her favorite.
"I kind of want waffles too." She grinned as he said that, "I didn't get breakfast this morning."
"And again, we're in Belgium, right?" She chuckled and then stood up to find the room phone so that she could put in their order.
"Well, yeah, there's that too." He smirked.
She ordered fries, waffles, speculaas, tea and extra whipped cream before coming back to the couch and sitting back down. She pulled her legs up and tucked her feet under her. She wished that she had her checked bag so that she could put on a pair of nice thick socks. It was warm in the room, but there was something about knowing that it was snowing that made her toes think they were cold.
"Alright, what did you mean when you said trash television?" He asked after flipping through the guide.
"I don't know, something that you can watch for hours without feeling the need to take a break. Something that makes it feel like your brain is going numb."
"Okay, I don't want to insult a bunch of shows, but I'm going to tell you what's on. There's a marathon of Father Brown on-"
"I love Father Brown!"
He snorted again before continuing, "The Baking Show is on of course, it always is. There's a Belgian soap opera about an international spy. And then I found some movies as well." He flicked through the channels for a moment and then read them off. "Home Alone, which I think it's a bit premature to be showing that since it's just November. Anyway, Home Alone, The Birds, Robinhood with-"
"Robinhood." Lily interrupted. James turned to look at her.
"I didn't tell you which one it is."
"It's the one from 1991 with Kevin Costner. It's the only one they play on tv, and I want to watch it please." She tilted her head and gave him a cheesy grin.
"You like Kevin Costner?"
"I mean, I like Robinhood, and he's in Robinhood, so yes."
"Well alright then, I suppose we'll be watching Robinhood."
"Thank you," She bounced on the couch slightly, drumming her fingers on her leg.
oOo
Their food was mostly gone, but still sitting out on the coffee table for them to pick over. They had stolen blankets from the bed now, because James had said that daytime movies required blankets same as nighttime movies. Lily had whole heartedly agreed, especially since her toes still thought that they were cold.
"So what are you doing while you wait to become a famous author?" He asked, and Lily had to tear her gaze away from the screen. "Something typical of a writer? Coffee shop, bookshop, library?"
"Nah, I'm an assistant for this crazy editor. I mean, there are perks, including the conference I just went to for the last four days, but still, she's crazy."
"Is she one of the people reading your manuscript?" He asked, and Lily shook her head.
"No, I managed to get into the field that I love, but not the genre. I mean, I love to read all genres for the most part, but I write fantasy and we publish mystery and romance novels where I work."
"Romance?" He raised his brow and Lily grinned.
"I read all the 'scripts that come through before passing them on to my boss, so I have to read some pretty revolting stuff on occasion. I mean, most of the time you can tell what it's going to be like in the first few pages, but sometimes they surprise you. What about you? What do you do, James?"
"I'm still in school actually. Will be for a while. I'm going to be a doctor." Lily raised her brow, not sure why that surprised her.
"Really?"
He nodded, "I've wanted to be a doctor for quite a while." He said with a smile. "Since I was three I believe."
"You've wanted to be a doctor your whole life? You've never changed your mind?"
"I almost did in uni." He said. "I played football and I got offered a position on a professional team. That was a hard decision, but I don't regret it yet."
"Huh," She grinned, trying to picture him in a white coat, a stethoscope hanging around his neck. It was rather difficult, because despite the fact that she was watching Robinhood and drinking tea while cozied up with a blanket, she may also have been wondering what James would look like without his shirt on. Trying to picture him with additional clothes on was messing with her.
She wished that she'd had something to drink so that she could blame it on the alcohol. But it wasn't the alcohol, she was just very attracted to this bloke who she had to keep reminding herself that she didn't know.
"Well, If I'm being honest, that's not what I thought that you were going to say." She reached for her tea and took a sip.
"What did you think I was going to say?" He asked, busying his hand with the hem of the blanket he had on his lap.
"I suppose I don't really know you well enough to make any kind of guess, but if I were guessing anyway," She grinned at him as she set her tea back down. "I'd say that you were a..." She pursed her lips as she thought over what professions fit him- or what little she knew about him. He asked for compensation at the airport, and she knew a great number of people who wouldn't have done that. He didn't give up the room so that Lily could have it to herself when he found out it was the last one, but instead compromised that he would sleep on the couch without ever asking her if she was alright with that arrangement, he'd just assumed that she'd find a different place to sleep if she wasn't. He had also been flirting with her all morning and now most of the afternoon, which she was enjoying, though she didn't know if that would help her work out what job he should have.
"I'd have guessed a lawyer of some kind." She said after a moment, and James' chin dropped to his chest.
"Really?" He asked, swinging his head around to look at her.
She shrugged, "That's not a bad thing, I'm not going off of stereotypical lawyer things. You're good at arguing and banter, you're confident. I think you'd make a good lawyer."
He smiled at her, though he was trying to make it seem like he didn't want to smile at her. All that did was make Lily smile wider. "Okay, but don't ever let my mum hear you say anything like that."
"I do speak with your mum a lot." She said sarcastically, resting her elbow on the back of the sofa so she was facing James now.
"I just mean that she's spent her entire life telling me that I'd make a good lawyer."
"She's a lawyer then?" Lily grinned.
"And dad started off that way too." He nodded. "They're both ridiculously supportive with my career choice of course, but they both thought that I'd follow in their footsteps."
"Because you have the make of a good lawyer or the genes?"
"Both really," He chuckled and glanced back at the screen. Lily was aware that this was the least she'd paid attention to a Robinhood movie. Ever.
OOo
They'd finished Robinhood, and Lily, being the understanding and accommodating person that she was, allowed James to choose between two films that she loved equally and couldn't decide herself. And then he'd chosen correctly, so she didn't need to argue that they should watch the other one (because as soon as you let someone else decide between two things you say you like equally, you're quick to work out which one you actually like more.)
"When did you graduate?" James asked her as the opening credits started going over as an upbeat song from the eighties started playing.
"A couple years ago. I got my degrees in Classic Literature and English. You?"
"Well I've been in medical school for a year and a half now."
"And you're not dead!" Lily smiled at him. "My roommate Mary is in med school too."
He laughed and set his hand on her knee, "No, I'm not dead. And condolences for your friend."
Lily smiled and shook her head. "I do miss her. I mean, I currently live with her, and I still feel like I never see her." She looked at his hand on her knee and wondered when they'd gotten so close to one another. Her knees were touching the side of his legs now. They hadn't been like that when they were eating. Did she move closer, or was he moving closer? She'd gotten up to use the loo a few minutes ago, maybe she'd done this when she'd sat back down.
Whoever had done it, she wasn't upset about it.
She looked back up at him, and he had definitely been watching her face as she'd looked at his hand on her leg. "Why do you think that lady at the airport thought we were together?" She asked, because she was curious about what he would say, and she sort of wanted to put the idea in his head.
He kept his hand on her leg and looked at the telly for a moment. "I don't know." He shrugged a shoulder. "I suppose it's because you just walked up and stood next to me and started agreeing with me. Also, I think our original tickets were seated next to one another."
"Oh," Lily grinned. "So, if we hadn't missed the flight, I would have met you anyway." That idea made her heart flutter again. She'd always been a bit of a romantic, and hearing it put that way made it seem like fate. She was supposed to meet James today. "Perhaps that's why I had such a hard time getting to the airport this morning." She mused aloud.
He looked over at her, a smile that could almost be described as 'shy' spread over his face. "What does that mean?"
She looked back as his hand on her knee and reached up to put her own hand on top of his. "Are you going to make fun of me if I tell you that I'm starting to believe that we were supposed to meet each other?"
He slowly turned his hand around and laced their fingers together. "I don't think so. What did you say stopped you from getting there on time? A late bus, a track fire and an angry TSA agent at security? That's an awful lot of obstacles for it all to be a coincidence."
"I agree." She nodded, squeezing his hand lightly. "And to top it all off, there was only one room left in the hotel." It felt like it meant something.
"You feel familiar too." He added, pushing his glasses up his nose and looking at their hands.
"Familiar," She nodded. "That's a good word for it. I mean, under normal circumstances I would never willingly spend time alone with a complete stranger."
He grinned up at her. "Don't like meeting new people?"
"New people are fine, but I told you that I'm not keen on being murdered- not outright, but I did imply it." She scooted a bit closer to him, wondering if he'd think her too forward if she just curled up against his chest. That would be weird, right? Maybe. But maybe not.
"That's right, you did tell me that you didn't want me to murder you." He nodded as though he were being serious about the whole thing and then chuckled. "You're ridiculous."
"Only sometimes." She shrugged. "You do live in London, yes?"
"I do," He nodded.
"Good. You should give me your phone."
He leaned back against the couch, so he could reach into his pocket and she grinned when he handed it to her unlocked. She sent herself a text and saved her name with a football, sailboat and wine bottle emojis next to it.
She handed it back and he spun the phone around in his hand. "Perfect." He then leaned back again to put his phone in his pocket and when he went to sit upright again, he wrapped his arm around her and she got to curl up next to him. A big stupid smile on her face.
oOo
"Hey, Lily?" James tugged lightly at a strand of hair that he'd been playing with and she narrowed her brow and looked up at him.
"What?"
"Why did you text yourself 'James who should have been a lawyer?'" And she laughed.
"Well I didn't know that you were going to pull my hair when you saw it." She pulled blanket up further and leaned her head back against his shoulder.
"I do like all the emojis next to your name. Though you missed a few."
"There isn't a good way to transcribe hotel art with emojis."
"I was thinking of the fish."
"Ah, right." She nodded.
oOo
He talked her into going to the hotel restaurant for dinner. Saying some such nonsense about having to treat her to dinner since it's what the universe wanted. He sounded as though he was joking, but she was pretty sure that he was as convinced as she was that their meeting had been… well it wasn't accidental, whatever it was. Too many things had lined up perfectly.
While at dinner, he'd gone out of his way to be a gentleman, and Lily had made a joke about how he was still going to have to sleep on the couch, and he'd said 'Well, if it's all a lost cause…" And then he took the last breadstick that Lily had been reaching for. She'd laughed, and then taken it from him when he wasn't expecting it.
The entire day had felt like a date somehow, but this obviously was. And even though it was a first date, and Lily had never been on a first date without bringing a stick of deodorant in her purse (yes, she got the nervous sweats even when she wasn't super into a bloke) she didn't feel nervous once. She had butterflies in her stomach when he shot her that smile of his, and she felt her heart flutter whenever his flirting got more romantic than playful, and while she kept waiting for her nerves to show, they didn't. If she wanted to reach for his hand, she did. If she wanted to nudge her knee against his under the table, she did. It felt as though the uncertainty just wasn't there.
They walked back to their room after dinner, hand in hand, and Lily laughed as they stepped out of the elevator.
"What's so funny?" James asked, looking around the wall in front of him. "Did the sailboat do something to offend you?"
"No, you prat." She shook her head. "I just realized how ridiculous all of this seems. I mean, if someone had told me how today would go…." She sighed and squeezed his hand.
"I wouldn't have believed it either." He said.
"I mean, I wouldn't have believed any of it. Especially that part about me missing my flight." James laughed at her and she bit her bottom lip as she looked up at him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the key. "Wait,"
He raised his brow and looked at her. She moved so she was standing in front of him.
"Can we pretend for a moment that we're not in this really weird situation?" He chuckled and waited for her to continue. "I mean, I'm really glad that I met you today, and that I got to spend the whole day with you watching movies and eating hotel food, honestly and truly I wouldn't trade it for, I don't know, running into one another in the grocery or meeting at a pub or something, but there is just one thing that I'd like after our very nice dinner date."
He took a step closer to her and moved his hand that was still holding the key card, to her hip. He looked off to the side as though he was trying to work out what she meant, and she swotted him on the arm. He looked back at her, smiling, and she felt part of her melting. "A goodnight kiss?" He asked, his voice getting a bit lower and causing Lily's heart to jump up to her throat.
"Yeah," She nodded slowly, her hands going to rest on his arms, slowly pushing upward.
"I'd like that too." They were toe-to-toe now and she didn't know if she'd stepped forward or if he had again, not that it mattered, it was all semantics really. This too was supposed to happen, she could feel it.
When he closed the distance between the two of them, she was not disappointed. Her arms quickly wrapped around his neck as she stood up on her tiptoes, not having realized just how much taller he was than her. His arms snaked around her middle and he pulled her closer as well. It was slow, and sweet and a perfect first kiss.
When he pulled back, she let herself fall back onto the heels of her feet. When she opened her eyes, he was all but beaming down at her and it felt as though her heart might just be cracking open to make more room for all this feeling.
"I'm really glad that we met this way too," He said after a moment of the two of them just smiling at one another.
"Good. It's going to be a pretty great story."
James nodded as he reached over and unlocked the door. He pecked her lips once more before detangling himself from her, making sure to grab her hand before he pushed open the door and led her inside. "I can't wait to tell our kids." He said, his tone completely casual.
Lily pressed her lips together and tried to keep calm at the mention of the two of them having that kind of future together.
How had she only known him for one day?