As Is
Chapter Two
Subtitled: You Would Be in Some Good Company
Quotation: "Here's to alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems." - Homer Simpson
"So," Lily said, twirling before Ann. "What do you think?" she asked, her red dress clinging to her every curve.
Ann nodded her head appreciatively from the bed as she sifted through her jewlery. "Hot."
Lily smiled, and took one last look at herself in the mirrow. She walked to the closet that she was sharing with Ann and pulled out two pairs of shoes. "What do you think? Gold or red?" she asked
Ann observed each critically before pointing to the pair on the right. "Gold, definitely gold!"
Lily tossed the red shoes back into the closet and sat on her own bed to put on the gold ones. Their hotel room was spacious and well appointed if not specifically luxurious. Ann cashed in on three birthday promises from her grandparents, who were more than thrilled to spoil their only granddaughter with a mini-break. Of course they were under the impression that it would involve lounging on the beach with her roommate and not clubbing all night. But then what granny didn't know, couldn't hurt her.
Lily glanced over at Ann as she finished her right shoe and moved to her left. Her stomach twisted painfully with a feeling she knew all too well. She knew she looked good, but no one could hold a candle to Ann, especially when she made an effort. Ann's silky chestnut hair was up in an elegant bun. Her skin was lightly tanned, her cheeks sun-kissed and her long legs, the desire of every man she encountered, were shown off beautifully by her little black dress. Lily loved her friend. And she knew Ann had designed this trip specifically for her but she couldn't help feeling jealous. She knew they'd have fun tonight, but it would hurt a little when every guy that approached would make a beeline for Ann, or, even worse, pay attention to Lily simply to get Ann's attention. A small part of Lily, a very small part of which she was desperately ashamed, even resented Ann for being a pureblood. There was a tiny voice in the back of Lily's mind that kept unhelpfully reminding her of an ugly truth: had their blood status been reversed, Lily would never have been fired. The second she acknowledged the feeling, though, Lily quashed it, her face heating with shame.
"Hey," Ann said, looking up for the first time, as she finished putting in her earring. "You alright there?"
Lily's face flushed even more, her skin now matching her dress. "Oh yeah, just thinking about what I'm going to do about work when we get back." She fibbed.
Ann stood up, her outfit now complete. "Well cut it out! No worrying tonight!" She grinned and Lily nodded, standing up too, her shoes now securely fastened.
"Right." Lily agreed, and grabbed her purse. She grabbed her wand and muttered a spell, invisibly enlarging the purse. She stuck her hand out, and Ann handed her her wand. Lily opened her purse and placed both inside. It was comical to watch two objects, each almost a foot in length, fit so neatly in Lily's tiny evening bag.
"Ready to tie one on?" Ann asked, eyes dancing with excitement.
Lily grinned. "Aren't I always?"
"Wormy, Moony, you know I love you, mates, but if you think I'm going to spend the whole night betting on Quidditch then you're absolutely barmy!" Sirius muttered, toying with his half-empty lager as Peter placed yet another bet.
"Come on, Sirius!" Peter whined. "It's a close game and I know the Magpies are going to win this one!"
Remus observed Sirius calmly, before smiling. "Look, I'll stay with Pete. You guys go ahead. Go meet some girls." He said mildly.
James hesitated. "Are you sure? I don't want to just leave you guys here."
Remus waved his protests away. "Look, somebody's got to watch Pete. Remember that time he tried to mortgage his mother's house?"
They all grimaced except Peter who was far too engrossed in the match.
"But –" James started to protest.
Remus smiled kindly. "No buts. The whole point of this trip was for you to go blow off some steam. And besides, Sirius is a far better wingman then I!"
"No arguments there." Sirius put in smugly. James rolled his eyes.
"Well if you're sure." James conceded, downing the last of his own beer. "Look we'll be at the club across the hotel lobby. The Myrtle. Just come meet us when it's over."
Sirius had never been a patient man and with freedom so close to his grasp, what little he did have was finally spent. "He's sure." Sirius said before Remus could even reply. He grasped James by the arm and practically dragged him out of the pub.
"I think I can manage walking on my own." James grumbled and eye Sirius' hand that was still gripping his arm as they walked through the lobby. "Plus it will be pretty hard to meet girls if they think we've come here on a romantic weekend for two."
Sirius practically threw James across the room as he let go of him. James laughed and dusted himself off. They entered the Myrtle moments later, a much more comfortable distance having been established between them (twenty-five inches) and walked to the bar where they could more easily peruse the situation. It was not yet eleven and the club was not nearly as crowded as it would be in the coming hours. The Apellons, a current favorite of magical clubs, played loudly over the Wizarding Wireless and waitresses zoomed around on Comet StarSavers, obviously a sponsor of the club.
James and Sirius stationed themselves at that bar and after a few quick glances provided little in the way of promising leads, they turned to the barkeep.
"Two firewhiskeys, straight up." James ordered.
"James, I like mine of the rocks." Sirius reminded him.
"Well then order that. Those are for me." James said simply. Sirius stared at him silently for a moment, blinking in shock before letting out a huge whoop.
"My best mate is back!" he cried and turned to the bartender. "Three firewhiskeys, on the rocks, please! We're celebrating!" The bartender looked completely unfazed, probably from years of people 'celebrating' in his presence and he fetched the drinks.
Somewhere between drinks two and three Sirius let a low, appreciative whistle.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" He said.
James followed his gaze and nodded in appreciation at the object of his interest, two girls slightly younger then themselves, took a circular booth across the room. James looked at them with unabashed interest. The taller one was clearly the prettier of the two, and she had that cold, aloof look of a girl who was well aware of her own attractiveness. Everything from her tiny dress, to her perfect hair had been designed with the intention of highlighting just exactly how desirable she really was. The second of the two was shorter by a good four inches, even in heels, and while not as classically attractive as her friend, there was something nice about her, soft almost. James liked the way her cheeks dimpled crookedly when she smiled. And while he had never gone for redheads before her hair was alluring, inviting almost.
"I call dibs on the brunette." Sirius said. James stifled the urge to roll his eyes.
"Fine by me." James said, and meant it. To his thinking it was almost a gift. The redhead was bound to be an easier lay, uglier girls always were. Sirius turned to the barkeep to order two girlier drinks and James shoved five galleons towards him. Sirius handed one of the drinks to James and they walked to the table.
"Ladies," Sirius said in his most charming voice. "May we join you?"
Lily looked up in surprise as she heard a male voice. It wasn't that men never approached her and Ann when they went out, it was just that it usually took more then three minutes. They had barely gotten settled when the guys had shown up.
"Of course," Ann said smoothly, before Lily even got a good look at them. Lily started to scoot away from the booth to make room for both guys on Ann's side when she realized one of them was moving to sit by her. He was tall, a little more then six feet and had messy black hair. He wore glasses and was dressed well, in navy blue, tailored suit. She was especially taken by his hazel eyes; the green and brown swirled around intermingling in his irises.
"James," he said holding out his hand. Lily took it and smiled.
"I'm Lily," she said, "and this is my friend Ann." She gestured to Ann who nodded encouragingly.
"And I'm Sirius," Sirius said and grinned broadly. "So where are you girls from?"
Lily was beginning to feel a bit light headed. She was entirely sure what round of drinks they were on but she did think that both boys seemed to only get cuter as the night wore on. Suddenly James' arm fell around her shoulders as he gestured to the nearest zooming waitress for another round. Far from uncomfortable Lily grinned and then did something completely out of character. She stood up, extended a hand to James, and smiled the smile she'd seen Ann flash a thousand times before. A smile that oozed sex. Ann watched her in amazement as she dragged a grinning James onto the dance floor…by his necktie. Soon they were swaying in the middle of a very large, very drunk crowd.
"You're friend is…" Sirius coughed. "very friendly. "He watched the whole thing, amused and pleased. This was, after all, exactly why they had come to Luxus.
Ann watched James grab Lily by the hips and they began to gyrate with abandon. She raised her eyebrows. "So is yours." She said coolly.
Lily wasn't really sure of the time, or, for that matter where she was, and the room seemed to blur past her. "Okay I have one!" a familiar voice said sloppily and Lily turned her head a little too quickly to latch onto the voice. It was Ann. "I dare you," she said pointing messily at Sirius. "To jump into the pool with all your clothes on!"
Lily burst into giggles and covered her face, shrieking slightly as she almost fell off the bench. James barely reaching out in time to catch her.
"Fine!" Sirius cried jumping to his feet. "Away I shall goooooo!" he cried slurring the middle bit of the sentence. They all rushed to follow him.
The room was spinning. There was music everywhere. People were laughing.
"So what are you doing here?" Lily cried over the music.
"I have to… uh marry to somebody!" James cried back, more jumping to the music that dancing.
"Get married?" Lily supplied.
James nodded a little too vigorously, threatening to land them both on the floor.
"To who?" Lily called back, holding onto him, the room was spinning dangerously.
James grinned and shrugged.
Suddenly Sirius was laughing really hard. Lily tilted her head, trying to focus her vision. Was he wet? How did that happen? . "Oh Merlin, do you know what would be so funny?" Sirius cried.
BEEP
BEEP
BEEP
"Sirius shut the fuck up!" James cried. Lily's eyes shot open. She looked over at James and screamed. James jumped out of bed so fast he left the sheets behind.
BEEP
BEEP
Lily scrambled to her bedside table where she had put her wand. She grabbed it and gave it a small wave, silencing it. She tossed it back to the table. Her entire body hurt but she barely had to register the pain as she became acutely aware of the naked man standing six feet from her.
"Alarm." She said by way of explanation, drawing her knees to her chest, careful to have sheet cover her. She covered her eyes and handed James a pillow to cover himself up. He accepted it gratefully.
"James." He reminded her cautiously, furiously trying to remember the night.
Her face was bright, bright red. "Yeah I remember." She said, feeling her body discreetly under the sheets for clothes. No luck.
For a moment James looked relieved. "You do?"
"Well your name anyway." She said quietly, going through her evening as best she could, breathing deep in an attempt to stay calm. "Why, do you?" she looked at him hopefully.
He shrugged miserably. "Well I remember meeting you, Lily" he put in quickly as though to prove to her he knew her name. His voice had cracked on 'you' and he knew the panic was apparent in his voice. "And I think we had a few drinks."
Lily snorted. "Uhh I think we had the whole bar." She gripped her throbbing head, partly out of pain and partly out of shame.
"Right, er, well then, er, I guess we shagged." James finished lamely, when suddenly a glint of gold caught his eye. James felt as though he had been punched in the stomach. He couldn't breathe. His heart was racing so hard it was painful. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his pounding heart. "Lily,"
"Hmm?" she asked, her head still buried in her hands.
"What's that on your hand?" he asked, terrified to look down at his own hands.
"What do you mean?" she asked looking up and then she saw it too. She stared at it, horrified. There it was. The worst thing possible, sitting calm as could be on the fourth finger of her left hand.
"That -" James gulped painfully. "That wasn't there before, was it?" James whispered, ashamed that he was actually hoping he had shagged a married woman. Of course it was certainly better then the alternative…
She shook her head and met his eyes. Very, very slowly they both looked down at
James' left hand, which was clutching a pillow to his privates.
Lily nearly burst into tears. There it was, a wedding ring on James' fourth finger. James saw the tears gather in her eyes and felt fairly certain that of all the one night stands he had ever had, or that Sirius had ever had or that anyone since the dawn of time had had, this was clearly the worst. one. ever.
All of the sudden there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," James said. "I'm already up anyway. Would you…uh…mind?" he asked gesturing to his naked body.
Lily shut her eyes dutifully.
"Just a moment!" James called to the door, slightly panicked as he thrust on his slacks and put on his undershirt, not even caring that he pulled it on backwards. He walked to the door. In the most horrible confluence of situations ever stood all three of his friends as well as a girl he recognized as Lily's friend.
James hesitated, unsure if he should tell them all to leave or if he wanted to jump into Remus' arms and beg him to take him far away from here. Unfortunately, neither Ann nor Sirius were the type to wait for someone else to make a move they pushed past him without another thought.
"I needed to get to my stuff." Ann said curtly. "Not that sharing a room with three complete strangers wasn't a blast, but I fancy a shower."
"And Remus insisted we all come get you." Sirius said resentfully, holding an ice pack to his head with one hand and holding a bottle of water in the other.
Lily's entire body was lobster red as all these strange men entered her room. She was suddenly aware of just how thin the sheet she was wrapped in really was. Fortunately, Ann took pity on her.
"Everyone turn around please." Ann said authoritatively offering Lily a pair of jeans and a shirt from her suitcase. Once she was sure everyone had their eyes trained the opposite direction, Lily took the proffered clothes and sprinted to the bathroom. She emerged a minute later, fully dressed and sat on the bed next to Ann, who looked nearly as hung-over as Lily. Although Sirius took the cake on that one, his skin actually looked green.
Remus spoke first. "Well, James, care to explain yourself now?"
James mind raced with confusion. What else had he done?
Remus eyed James oddly. He looked over to Sirius and then Ann. They all looked completely clueless. Remus was beginning to feel seriously alarmed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Everyone exchanged confused looks. Remus handed the paper to James. James took one look at it and his heart sank completely. Any hope he once had was now completely gone.
"What is it?" Sirius asked, trying hard to avoid the sunlight that currently splitting his head into two pieces.
"It's a marriage license. " James said softly and handed the paper to Lily who looked absolutely heartbroken.
"What?" Ann cried. "Let me see that!" she ripped the paper from Lily's hands. "What? It says I was a witness. I don't remember that!" but then something flashed in her head - music, Ann twirling down the aisle throwing roses haphazardly. Her hands flew to her mouth, dropping the license in the process. "Oh!" she cried.
"I can't believe none of you remember!" Remus cried. "You gave it to me for safekeeping!"
"Remus why didn't you stop up?" James asked, looking pained.
"I wasn't with you guys. Pete and I went to look for you after the game but you weren't at that club so we went to bed." Remus said. "We're we stayed till you lot stumbled in at four AM."
Peter nodded. "It's true."
Lily vaguely remembered the escalating game of truth or dare. Sirius still smelled faintly of chlorine. She sighed and gently picked the license off the floor at Ann's feet. She stared at for a moment. "Your surname is Potter." She said softly.
James nodded.
"Mine's Evans." She said.
"Not anymore," Sirius muttered and Remus elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Ow Moony!"
Lily face colored.
"So what are you guys going to do?" Ann asked after a moment had passed. Lily and James locked eyes for a moment and they both shrugged.
"I don't know." They said.
And they didn't.
A/N – There we are, a nice proper long chapter. I hope you guys got a kick out this chapter! Next time we deal with the aftermath, deals are made, alliances are formed and relationships are staged. Oh my!
Thanks so much to Potterslittlesister, horse-james-book-lily-worm, ladyjade, mei fa-chen, sarahluebahdoo and walking-on-a-dream for reviewing.
Potterslittlesister – I hope you're liking the story as much as the summary!
LadyJade – Thank you so much, your review was very flattering and I appreciate the details in your review. I'm also glad that you are a fan of proper grammar. Unfortunately, I think it's a disappearing art!
Walking-on-a-dream – the first couple of chapters were lacking in exposition but that was by design. I wanted to get to Luxus as soon as possible. This chapter is a much better barometer for the amount I usually use, and I hope you liked it!!
So thanks again for reading and please review!!!
