James and Elle both were super excited for their first date. Although James wanted to take her around Diagon Alley, Elle suggested the pair go mini golfing. James, who had never played the Muggle game, thought that it might make for an interesting night. When he told Elle he'd never gone mini golfing, she laughed her head off.
"You've actually never gone mini golfing?" Elle asked at work a couple days before the scheduled date. "Please tell me you aren't serious."
"I'm always Sirius, Elle. It's my middle name, remember?" James said, flashing her the media's favorite grin. "In all actuality though... I have never once been mini golfing that I know of and remember."
"You make that joke too much, you know that?" Elle said, jostling her shoulder against his side. James smiled.
"You know you like my corny 'I am serious because I'm Sirius' jokes."
"Keep telling yourself that," Elle replied before helping a customer that had just walked through the door.
On the day of the date, neither James nor Elle worked. James was thankful; if they had spent all day together at work, he didn't know what they would talk about later! Like every day he had had off since their family dinner together a week and a half ago, though, James was sad he didn't get to see her. He'd found himself watching Elle more and more at work, and liking how she interacted with old people and children especially. For someone who was so sarcastic with him, thought James, she was a real peach with the customers. At 4:45 on the dot, James arrived to take Elle out.
"Hey Elle," James said, grinning as she answered the door. He was in khaki shorts and tank top with flannel over top, and as he looked at Elle wearing shorter shorts than she did at work paired with a nice t-shirt and scarf, he figured he wasn't overdressed.
"James! Mum, James is here! Can we just walk or are you going to insist on driving us?" Elle asked, stepping out of the door.
"Just go, sweetie. Do you have your mobile?" Mrs. Smith called from some other room.
"Do I ever not have my mobile, Mum?" Elle asked, rolling her eyes.
"Right, well, if you need a ride just give me a ring, alright? James, no apparating with my daughter. It's dangerous from what Zach has said, and besides that it's ghastly unpleasant," Mrs. Smith responded.
"I wouldn't dream of it, ma'am," James answered, "although unlike my father, I am licensed to do it."
"What?" Elle asked, laughing. "Your father is the great Harry J. Potter. How can you do anything he can't?"
"I'll explain later, Elle," James said as they headed down the drive.
Conversations flew between them easily as they walked, and became even easier after Elle explained the rules of the game once they got to the course. James was terrible and Elle very good, which made both of them laugh hard. It only took them maybe forty five minutes to go through all 18 holes because no one was around, so they used the next hour and fifteen minutes they'd planned to be out to get ice cream and talk.
"So I take it you're popular at school?" James asked after the second group of muggle teens had waved to her.
"Not really; I told my friends I had a date with you though, and they all wanted to check you out. Apparently coming to the shop isn't good enough for them, though. They had to come witness the real action." James chuckled when Elle finished speaking.
"My best friend, well... Okay, let me explain. So my closest mate is probably my cousin Freddie, followed by my cousin Roxie. Then, there's this girl I had a thing with for a while, Olivia... We're still close but we've figured that dating just isn't right for us. Anyway, Olivia was mad I was dating a muggle because that meant she couldn't talk me out of you with stuff that's happened in the past."
"Has she done that before? James, that doesn't sound right..." Elle said, her confident exterior chipping slightly.
"No, it's fine. I mean, she'll be like 'oh, didn't whats-her-face date so-and-so?' or 'man, x is such a bitch.' and when she says that kind of thing enough..."
"You stop finding them attractive?" Elle guessed. James nodded.
"Yeah. I mean, I know that probably sounds like she just wants me for herself, but I mean, it's more like I have such shitty taste in girls normally-"
"And yet you're dating me?" Elle interrupted. "James, please just stop talking. Things were going great, but do you hear how insulting you're being?" James frowned and started shoveling ice cream into his mouth.
"I didn't mean you're a shitty girl, Elle. You're different from anyone I've ever dated before," James said after a while.
"Thank you, I guess," Elle replied, but James could see the damage was done. If only he hadn't brought up Liv!
"Do you wanna head home?" James asked, hoping she'd say no but figuring she'd say yes. When Elle nodded, his heart sank. James stood, then moved to offer her a hand up.
"I'll just give my mum a ring. She doesn't like it when I walk all the way in the dark," Elle said as they walked to the entrance of the place. Elle pulled out her cell phone from her purse, calling her mother quickly. After she hung up, James and Elle stood together in silence.
"Do you work tomorrow?" James asked finally.
"Nope. Daddy was afraid to put both of us together so soon after the date. Figured either we'd be snogging all day or fighting with each other."
"Smart of him..." James mumbled.
"You work though, I assume?"
"Yeah, I work the rest of the week," James replied. "I'm pretty much only off Sundays and Wednesdays from now til the week I leave for school. That week I only work Monday." James watched as Mrs. Smith's red car pulled into the parking lot.
"Well, I guess I'll see you Saturday then," Elle said, starting to walk away. She got a few paces before James raced up to her.
"I'm going to walk you to the car, Elle. And then I'm going to open the door for you, kiss you goodnight, and then leave in my way," James said as they started to walk in stride.
"If you want to, James," Elle said with a shrug, although she blushed. When they got to the car, James did exactly what he said. He opened the door and leaned in to kiss Elle... who turned at the last second so his lips hit her cheek. She hopped in the car, closed the door, and pulled away before James could say anything.
That Saturday, James was working the closing shift while Elle was working opening. Mr. Smith had changed around the schedule so that James and Elle were never working together, and James was getting fed up. He decided near 11 am that morning he was going to march over and ask Elle what was up. Elle worked 8 to 12:30 while James worked from 1 to 5. After pacing around his room, he came up with a plan...
It was 12:15 when James walked into the shop, a huge bouquet of flowers in his hands. Elle looked up when the bell rang, and James watched her mouth turn into a surprised 'o' and her eyes widen.
"James?" she asked. James rushed forward.
"These are for you," he said, handing her the flowers over the counter. "I thought... Well, they made me think of you. I'm sorry about our date the other day... I shouldn't have brought Olivia up. Lily yelled at me for it when I told her what happened."
"James, you shouldn't have... What am I going to put these in?" Elle said, shaking her head.
"There's a vase in the back. I texted your dad and told him I was coming. He should have filled it with water..." James said, blushing. Maybe the flowers were too much he thought to himself. They seemed to be distracting Elle from the real issue at hand. Just then, Mr. Smith walked out with the vase. Flustered, Elle set the bouquet into the water, then looked at her father.
"Can James and I talk in the back?" she asked softly. When Mr. Smith nodded, James dashed around the counter.
The first thing Elle did when they were alone was give him a tight hug.
"I'm sorry I ruined our first date," James muttered.
"No, you didn't ruin it," Elle said, stepping back. "Please don't think that. I just... I overreacted."
"You didn't. Like I said, Lily wanted the play-by-play, and when I gave it to her..." James shook his head. "She reckoned I was wrong. I didn't see how manipulative Olivia is, and obviously hearing how she likes to end my relationships didn't sit well with you. I shouldn't have brought it up."
"James, it's okay. We all have that friend. One of my friends who was creeping on our date was talking with me, and she was going on and on about how you were too cute to actually be interested in me, and that you must be an ass for no one else to be dating you..." Elle looked at the ground and James frowned.
"Please tell me she didn't," James whispered, stepping forward and running his hand down the side of Elle's face, hooking it under her chin and making her look up at him.
"She did," Elle muttered. "She's... Friend is the wrong word, I guess... We can be friends sometimes. But sometimes all she does is drag me down." Elle pushed James's hand off her face and looked back down at her feet.
"You don't need that negativity in your life," James said, pulling her close. "Ellie, listen to me. You are by far the funnest, prettiest girl I've dated. There's absolutely no one else I'd rather be seeing." James hugged Elle tightly, pressing his lips against her forehead. "Be my girlfriend?" he asked quietly. Elle looked up with wide eyes.
"You mean it?" she asked hesitantly. James nodded.
"Absolutely. There's no one else... You are too pretty, too nice, too fun for me. You shouldn't let your 'friend' bring you down, because you are worth a guy like me. Not saying that I'm much of a catch, because that's up for debate, but..." James kissed her forehead again and Elle smiled.
"Yes, I'll be your girlfriend!" Elle blushed and shrieked as James proceeded to pick her up and swing her around, whooping the whole time.
A/N: Hey guys! Hope you liked this James and Elle chapter... So next up we have Jily, and then Hinny, and then I think I might do Al and his significant other, but I'm definitely going to mention what's going on with James and Elle cuz I'm actually really starting to love them... Alright, please read and review with your thoughts! Makes me so happy :D