A/N: A little holiday gift to all of my fellow Jily shippers!

Since I am not the wonderful JK Rowling, I don't own these fabulous characters

She was the pretty redheaded waitress who worked at the coffee shop across the street from his apartment, and he'd been absolutely besotted with her from the first day he walked in and saw her wiping the counter.

Usually he was pretty smooth around girls. He'd casually saunter up to them and flirt playfully, before asking for their number and winking as he sauntered away. They would swoon and flirt back and be totally hooked.

But for some reason, he always seemed to make a complete fool of himself in front of her.

The first time he saw her, he started to saunter up to the counter – before tripping over his untied shoelace.

By the time he picked himself up, he saw her stifling a laugh behind her hand at his disheveled appearance and ridiculous fall. Blushing, he stammered out his order to go and quickly left the scene.

The second time he tried to ask her out, she was talking to a customer – an attractive male customer – and was smiling and laughing along with him. James lost his nerve.

After that, he just couldn't seem to build up the courage to talk to her.

Sirius thought he was being ridiculous.

"You just need a good shag, mate!" he told him, when James stumbled back into their apartment, dejected once again. "You only think you fancy her because you feel like you can't get her. So go out, shag someone else and your problem will be solved!"

"Ignore him, James," Remus snorted. "Sirius thinks the solution to any problem is shagging."

"So what do you reckon I do?" James whined.

Remus shrugged. "Just go up to the counter and start a polite conversation with her, and things will go from there."

Peter just nodded in agreement.

James decided to go with Remus' plan, because Remus was usually right about these things, whereas Sirius was almost always wrong. But he figured he would need backup. So he dragged his friends with him to the coffee shop the next morning and the four of them plopped down at a table – one at the perfect angle to sneakily cast looks at the object of James' affection.

"You weren't joking, Prongs – she's quite shaggable," Sirius said with a grin.

James punched him in the shoulder. "Lay off," he hissed. He missed the way his best mate grinned and chuckled at him.

"She's pretty," Peter observed.

James rolled his eyes. "No duh, Pete."

Remus hesitated before saying quietly, "She's got lovely eyes. She seems very intelligent too – she's reading Dostoyevsky when she's not serving customers."

James grinned. "I know," he said, almost proudly. "She's always reading. It's adorable."

"So what's her name?" Sirius asked. He squinted. "I can't read her name tag."

His mate coughed and rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans. "Well, um, I –"

Sirius snorted. "You're such a berk. You don't even know her name, do you?"

James didn't say anything and bit his lip.

His best mate howled with laughter.

"Prongs, you just went from mildly pathetic to incredibly pitiful," he cackled, and Pete soon joined in.

James blushed, and he looked over to Remus for support, but even his sensible friend was fighting back a smile.

"It's not like I haven't tried," James started, desperately trying to defend himself. "It's not like I've just been coming here like a pathetic –"

"That's exactly what it's like!" Sirius cried, chuckling.

James scowled, crossing his arms. "I –"

"Did you boys want to order anything?"

Sirius fell out of his chair. Peter's jaw dropped. Remus hid a smile of amusement behind his hand. James just gaped.

Because standing in front of them was none other than the redheaded girl herself.

Her curly, gorgeous red hair was tied back in a braid, and she had a pen stuck behind her ear. Little wisps of hair were coming out of her braid, and it made James go from mildly smitten to hopelessly besotted in an instant. She held a notepad in one hand, and when she didn't receive a reply, she raised an eyebrow.

"You boys have been sitting here for a while staring at the counter, so I thought I'd come over and check on you. Did you want to order something?" she tried again.

Sirius quickly picked himself up and Remus – ever the sensible one – spoke up.

"Do you happen to have earl grey tea?" he inquired.

The girl nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah. Did you want a pot?"

Remus glanced at his three friends – one of whom only drank beer, one who only ate food, and the other who was too busy drooling to drink – and shook his head.

"Just a cup of it will be fine," he said with a small smile.

The girl nodded, taking out her pen and scribbling the order down. She looked up expectantly at the three other boys.

"Anything else?" she asked.

Sirius grinned mischievously. "Are you single?" he asked, resting his chin on his fist.

James whipped around and glared at his so-called "best mate."

The girl narrowed her eyes at Sirius. "What's it to you?" she snapped.

He grinned. "Just curious. I was wondering if you were busy this weekend–"

"I'm not going out with you, if that's what you're getting at," she snapped. "I don't go out with tossers who hit on me without even knowing my name."

Peter chuckled and Remus smiled behind his hand. Sirius grinned, and James' heart sank in his chest. She definitely thought he was a prat.

Sirius shook his head and replied, "Love, you got it wrong. I wasn't the one who was going to ask you out."

The girl's eyes slunk over to James almost involuntarily. When she met his gaze, she quickly looked away and – did she blush?

"But," Sirius continued. "Since you seem so eager to tell us, what's your name?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, but pointed to the nametag pinned to her shirt.

"Lily," she said icily.

"That's a pretty name," James blurted, before he could stop himself.

Lily glanced over at him and blushed furiously. It warmed his heart.

"Thanks," she murmured.

Remus, Sirius and Peter all glanced at each other with knowing smirks.

"I'm Sirius," Sirius said. "And this is Remus, Peter and, my best mate, James Potter," Sirius said, clapping his friend on the back.

Lily shot another glance at him and, blushing profusely, looked back down at her notepad.

"So, Lily," Sirius drawled. "You haven't answered the question: are you single?"

Lily eyed him carefully before replying, "Yes."

James felt his heart leap out of his chest. That bloke he'd seen her speaking to before must have just been a friend or something! He had a shot!

"What's the best muffin you have here?" Peter asked suddenly, squinting to look at the menu display behind the counter.

Lily's shoulder visibly relaxed. Clearly Sirius' questioning had made her tense and uncomfortable. James silently reminded himself to pound his best mate later.

"Carrot," she responded, relieved at the change of topic.

Peter nodded. "I'll get two carrot muffins then," he said, licking his lips in anticipation.

Lily scribbled down the order in her notepad and turned to James, biting her lip.

"Uh, did you want anything?" she asked quietly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

James blushed. "Um, no, that's okay."

She nodded, and – was he imagining it, or did she look almost disappointed?

"I'll get your orders in a mo," she said to them, before turning around and starting back towards the counter.

As soon as her back was turned, Remus nudged James.

"Go," he hissed. "Ask her out. You know her name now so you're not entirely pathetic. Come on!"

James stumbled out of his chair and nearly sprinted to the counter. As soon as he got there, face to face with possibly the girl of his dreams, he realized he had no idea what to say.

Lily stared at him expectantly. "Um, did you want something?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

James opened his mouth, and then closed it. He did it a couple of times, like a gaping fish, he realized. Quickly he shut his mouth again.

"Look, sir –"

"Do you want to go out with me on Saturday?" James blurted.

Lily stopped and stared at him, shocked. "You… are you asking me out?" she demanded.

James blushed and nodded. "I-I've been trying to for the last few weeks," he admitted sheepishly. "I came in here several times but I always seemed to make a berk of myself every time I tried. I figured you thought I was just a prat."

Lily laughed. "No, I thought you were adorable," she admitted. "You always looked so unsure of yourself. It was cute."

James scrunched his nose. "Cute? Not dashing? Or charming? Or handsome?"

Lily laughed again, but didn't respond. James found himself smiling back at her.

"So… about that date on Saturday?" he asked, biting his lip. Christ, he felt like he was fifteen again – nervous and awkward and in love all at once.

But then Lily smiled at him and said; "I get off work at six."

And when he sauntered back to the boys with her phone number in his hand and her kiss on his cheek, he figured he didn't mind being hopelessly besotted after all.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and please review. Happy Holidays! :)