James was trying, in vain, to fix his hair for his dinner with Lily. C'mon man, this is it, your last shot to prove to her that you've changed, James thought to himself.
He finally gave up and, realizing that he had five minutes to get to Lily, James took one last look over his clean blue jeans, white tee shirt, and blazer. He looked good. Time to go, he thought and he apparated to the hotel Lily was staying at.
When James arrived he looked at his watch and saw that he was three minutes early. He took a seat in one of the seats in the hotel lobby. Realizing that he might be waiting for a bit, he looked at the folder of music he brought with to show Lily.
After about ten minutes James heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. He looked up and saw Lily standing in front of him. She was wearing a red tank top with a white sweater and a pair of cutoffs. Her hair was in a side braid that fell off her
left shoulder, and her lips and nails were a matching shade of bright red.
James jumped up when he saw her. His hand went directly to mess up his already unruly hair. "Hey," he said lamely, bring his arm around for Lily to grab.
"Hey yourself," she replied with a smirk. "You ready?" She asked taking his arm.
"Yeah, I'm excited, how about you?"
"I'm excited too, I can't wait to join our bands together, I think it'll be fun."
"Me too, so where do you want to eat?"
Lily looked at James, shocked.
"You didn't make a reservation?" She asked with a laugh.
"Er, no?" James said, running another nervous hand through his hair. "Was I supposed to?"
"That is what people tend to do on dates," Lily said, "It's ok, I made one at this little place I love."
"On a date?" James asked, shocked.
"Well yeah," Lily said, "that is what this is right?"
"Um, sure," James replied. "I'm not going to say no," he said with a smirk.
Lily rolled her eyes, trying to cover up her heart fluttering at his beautiful smirk.
"Let's go," she said, pulling his arm out to the street to get a cab.
They rode mostly in silence to the cafe. Both singers were nervous to be alone with their old childhood crush.
"So…" Lily said after a few minutes. "How has your Post Hogwarts life been?"
"It's been good," James replied quickly, glad for an excuse to talk to Lily. "We got a few offers for our band from some labels and took one that gave us this little muggle America tour. I'm saving up enough to pay for auror training. How
about you?"
"That sounds awesome," Lily replied before answering his question. "My Post Hogwarts life has been a bit of a shell shocking experience to be honest. I mean, I'm no longer a mudblood, I get to express myself in ways I was never able to
do at Hogwarts, and I get to spend time with some of my favorite people. It's also been kinda scary," she confessed, leaning into James who put an arm around her shoulders. "I get up in front of large groups of people to sing songs that
I wrote and love and hope that they can fall in love with them the way I have."
James nodded, understanding. "I know how you feel," he said. "I write a lot of the songs The Marauders perform and I'm always afraid that someone's going to tell me that they secretly hate our music. It's awful."
Lily looked up into his eyes just as they pulled into the cafe. She looked like she was about to say something, but she shut her mouth and got out of the cab.
"What is this place?" James asked when he got out of the cab, music in hand.
Lily blushed slightly. "I really like it," she defended.
"Ok," James replied with a shrug, and took Lily's hand.
The two walked into the small cafe. James thought that it looked like a thirteen year old muggle girl's bedroom, but he kept his opinion to himself. There were small, two person tables with pink vases with fake pink flowers in them. On one wall there
was a bar where people could order both food and drinks. The three other walls were covered in local bands' posters and flowers.
"Lily!" A voice squealed when they came into the cafe.
"Lizzy!" Lily squealed, just as loudly as a tall girl with kinky, curly hair and a dark tan skin, came out from behind the counter. The two ran forward and hugged, James stood back and waited for Lily to introduce him.
"Oh Lily," the girl named Lizzy said when the two broke apart, "gah, it's been forever, why are you so dressed up? My, my, and who's this, Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome," Lizzy asked when she noticed James.
"Oh this is James," Lily said, taking a step back to grab his hand. "He's one of my friends from Hogwarts," Lily explained, much to James' shock.
She thinks of me as a friend, James thought to himself while Lily kept talking.
"So yeah, oh, I almost forgot, this is a date he owes me from Hogwarts. Plus he's in a band The Marauders, have you heard of them? Oh well, he's their lead singer and guitarist," Lily finished, turning to look at James. "Anything I missed?"
"Uh, no, not that I can think of Love," James replied as Lily rolled her eyes at his response.
"Ok, well, we've got some stuff to discuss, can we get a table," Lily asked, turning back to Lizzy who was studying James' face carefully.
"Of course girly, follow me," Lizzy replied, turning away and grabbing two menus. She seated them in a corner on the opposite side of the cafe from the bar. "Here you go," she said, indicating to the table as James stepped forward
to pull a chair out for Lily.
"Thank you," Lily said, to both James and Lizzy, who was walking away to give them some privacy and to take care of some other customers at the bar.
Two hours later the cafe was closing down and Lily and James were still sitting in the back corner talking, laughing, looking over, and writing music.
"Hey Lil," Lizzy called out to her friend as the last customers walked out. "We're closing, you might want to head out as well."
"We'll be out of your hair in a few, Liz," Lily called out, grabbing the music and James' hand.
"You know I hate comments about my hair," Lizzy called out with a laugh as Lily rolled her eyes.
"I know, I know," Lily said. "See ya Elizabeth," Lily shouted out and almost ran out of the cafe with her friend hot on her heels.
"Don't call me Elizabeth," Lizzy shouted out at Lily and James ran behind a tree.
Soon Lizzy went back inside and Lily collapsed into James, laughing until she was crying and there was mascara and eyeliner running down her face.
"What was that?" James asked, shocked that Lily could piss someone off so much.
"She hates being called Elizabeth, her middle name, and she hates being called Mary, her first name," Lily explained, tears of laughter still rolling down her face. "When we were kids she went by Emme, but when she graduated she decided
to go by Lizzy. I've tried to get her to explain it, but she won't tell. Anyway, we've been besties since before I knew I was a witch so I tease her about her name all the time."
"Wow," James said as Lily continued to laugh.
"Yeah," Lily replied, wiping at her tears, calming down a bit. "Yeah, we're a crazy pair."
"I can tell," James teased.
"Wanna go," Lily said after a short pause, "I mean, wanna go work on our song?"
"Definitely" James said, taking Lily's hand and Apperating them to his hotel room.
"Wow, I do believe I've been here today Mr. Potter," Lily teased when they arrived.
"I do believe you are the only female to have stepped foot in the mess that is this room," James said, running a nervous hand through his hair looking around at the room.
"Ooo, special," Lily joked, shaking her shoulders.
"You are tonight's special girl," James responded, "I'm serious Lily, you are the most special girl I've ever met."
Lily took a step closer to James and place a hand on his face. "I know," she said before turning, waving her hand causing everything on the couch to disappear, and sitting down and pulling out the music they had been working on.
"Ready?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at James.
"Yeah," he said, walking closer to her and sitting down.
"So, I really liked this song," Lily said, pointing to one of the songs in the folder.
"Me too, it's one of my favorite duets I've written," James agreed.
"Wanna try it out?"
"Sure," James said, looking at the music and clearing his throat. "I know he hurt you made you scared of love, too scared to love he didn't deserve you."
"Oh my god!" Lily exclaimed, cutting James off right before he was about to go into the next verse. "I'm sorry, but your voice is amazing!"
"Thank you," James said, doing a fake, half bow. "I try, really I do."
Lily laughed, "why don't we go to the chorus?"
"Sure. Ready?"
"Yep," Lily said, "What if I fall?"
"I won't let you fall."
"What if I cry?"
"I'll never make you cry."
"And if I get scared?"
"I'll hold you tighter, when they're tryna get to you baby I'll be the fighter."
"What if I fall?"
"I won't let you fall."
"What if I cry?"
"I promise I'll never make you cry."
"And if I get scared?"
"I'll hold you tighter, when they're tryna get to you baby I'll be the fighter."
"This is great!" Lily exclaimed, jumping up, pushing the music to the floor, and wrapping her arms around James' neck, burying her face in it.
"You sounded amazing," James said weakly, hugging Lily back.
"We should get our bands together tomorrow," she decided, pulling back, her arms still around James' neck. "We normally have rehearsal around oneish in a meeting room in our hotel. How does that work for you guys?"
"That sounds awesome," James replied.
"Great! I'll see you then," Lily said, hugging James one more time before springing up.
"Where do you think your going?" James asked, standing up as well.
"Um, back to my hotel, where else?"
"I'll walk you, or give you a ride or something, I can't let you got back alone, this is a date after all, is it not?"
Lily laughed slightly and nodded. "Ok, I'll let you take me back."
"Thank you," James said, there was a slight twisting at the back of their navel and they were at Lily's hotel.
"I'll see you tomorrow, James," Lily said, slightly out of breath. She kissed him lightly on the lips before walking towards the elevator, swinging her hips a bit more that necessary.
"Merlin," James muttered, turning to head back to his own room.