Author's Note: Thanks to all who have reviewed the previous chapters, I really appreciate. Hope this chapter will give you something to read before HP7 comes out!!!!
James stormed up the several flights of stairs until he finally reached his apartment door. With a great deal of frustration, he slammed open the door with such a force that it quickly bounced back and came to a crash as it shut.
"Sirius," he called as he headed toward the kitchen.
There was no response, which did not help James's mood. He grabbed an ice-cold beer from the refrigerator and cracked open its lid. With one gulp he finished the can and slammed it onto the countertop.
"Sirius," he yelled again. Once again, his call was followed by silence. "Padfoot," he tried, "I need to talk to you." Still there was nothing.
Annoyed, James made his way across the hall and opened the door to Remus and Peter's flat. "Remus, Peter," he called. "You guys home?" Once again he was confronted with silence.
Where could these guys be? They were supposed to be his best friends, so why were all three of them missing when he desperately needed to talk to someone. After all, he had just done the stupidest thing in his entire life. He had just asked Erica to live with him in order to get out of a tight situation with her. And now he needed help, desperately.
He glanced around the apartment, but didn't see any sign whatsoever of his friends. He then looked down at his wristwatch, noting that it was seven o'clock. All three of them should be home now. Of course, the night was still very young, it was possible that they all had dates, very unlikely, but possible. Yes, that must be it. All three of his best friends must be out on dates. They were not deserting him or giving him the cold shoulder, they were simply all busy.
Of course, it still did not help his problem. He still made a huge mistake and needed someone to talk to. Erica couldn't live with him, it wasn't reasonable. Besides, he didn't even ask Sirius about it. How would he feel if she just showed up and started living with them? His entire lifestyle would change. No, it wasn't fair to Sirius, or to himself for that matter. But what was he going to say to Erica? She was already angry with him for lying about Lily being his ex-girlfriend. He couldn't just take back what he had said, she'd be furious with him.
He walked back across the hall and into his own flat, glancing down at his watch once again. It only read 7:05. As he paced his kitchen, he wondered how much longer his friends would be out. He wished that at least one of them would come home soon, but knew it wasn't reasonable. It would have to be a pretty miserable date for any of them to come home in the next half hour.
Suddenly Lily's words popped into his mind. She was staying with a friend that lived in his building. He raked his brain, trying to remember the woman's name, or at least which floor she lived on. James paced back and forth several times before coming to the conclusion that it didn't matter who this girl was, after all, he was a wizard. He didn't need to personally see Lily to ask if she was free, he could send her an owl. It was so simple.
Very quickly, he scribbled a short note to her, practically begging her to come see him. He didn't inform her of the exact details to his crisis, but made it clear that he needed to speak with someone.
Fifteen minutes later, James heard a knock on his flat door. He hurried over to open it, revealing Lily on the other side. She was breathing deeply, as if she had just run up five flights of stairs.
"James, what happened?" she asked.
Standing there, looking at Lily, he suddenly felt foolish. She had worry written all over her face and here he was with a problem about his girlfriend. And not only was it a problem about his girlfriend, but he wanted advice from his old girlfriend.
James smiled and then let out a small chuckle. It was actually quite funny, now that he thought about it. It wasn't a real emergency and Lily Evans certainly didn't need to hear about his problems. He ex-girlfriend certainly didn't need to be in his flat now. She really shouldn't be in his flat now. It was quite the little situation he had gotten himself into.
"James, what's wrong?" Lily demanded, looking offended at his laughter.
"It's nothing," he replied.
"What do you mean 'nothing?'"
"I mean that's it's not important," he answered, still grinning.
"Is this some kind of sick joke?" she asked, her hands on her hips and an angry look in her emerald eyes. "Because I can assure you, James Potter, it isn't funny at all. You really had me worried when I got your bloody owl. I thought that something really bad had happened and that you were in trouble or something like that."
"No, not at all," he chuckled.
"James, I'm serious, it's not funny. Do you know what I had to do to get over here?"
He tried to look sincere, but failed miserably as he replied, "no what?"
"I was in the middle of trying on the bloody bridesmaid dress and I get an owl from you. And by in the middle of trying on the dress, I mean that there were pins clumping the fabric together in more places than I can even count and some lady there telling me that if I could lose another five pounds by Saturday then I would look gorgeous, as opposed to simply pretty. Then your bloody owl flies in and I thought that old bat of a woman was going to have a heart attack, my mother is probably still there fanning her. And then I had to explain that it was urgent and that I really had to go, as if my sister doesn't hat me enough as it is," Lily explained, talking animatedly with her right hand as her left one stayed perched on her hip.
"I'm sorry," he said, but continued laughing.
"As you should be," she replied, an annoyed tone in her voice. She then took a deep breath, which considerably calmed her down and said, "Well, go on with it. Now that I'm here you can at least have the decency to tell why you dragged me here in the first place."
Changing the subject, James asked, "So where is this bridesmaid dress now? Is it still on under that coat of yours?"
Lily blushed, her cheeks turning almost the same color of her hair. "No, James, I'm not letting you change the subject that quickly. I'll tell you what though, if you tell me what your so called crisis is, then I'll show you the dress."
"Not a chance," he smirked. Already he was feeling much better. He didn't need help with Erica right now, not when he was with Lily. It was really quite remarkable, this thing that she held over him. He could be in the sourest of all moods, but Lily would be able to cheer him up. It wasn't that the things she had to say were any different than what anyone else had to say, but it was the way she said them that made her different. James really did come to life whenever he was with Lily.
"Well," Lily began, "Now that I'm here, I might as well stay. There's really no need to go back that hell hole some people refer to as a dress shop."
"See, aren't you glad I sent you that owl?"
"Sure, James, whatever helps you sleep at night," she joked.
"Yes, well, now that you are here, can I mix you a drink?" he asked, walking toward the kitchen as he spoke.
She followed him in and said, "What, you have a full bar back there?"
"No, just a few select wizard favorites," he cheekily answered.
"Well then, I'll have whatever you're having," she answered.
"Fire whiskey it is then."
Of course, deep down inside James knew that this was not a good idea. Drinking with Lily could be disastrous, as it almost was the last time. However, in the moment, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Once again, James had fallen head over heels for the Lily Evans charm.
As the two of them drank their fire whiskeys, they began to watch some muggle television as well. To James, many of the scenarios seemed to be simply ridiculous, for Lily they were quite entertaining, especially the ones that didn't broadcast in Moscow. They found themselves laughing hysterically more than once, which only made them drink even more during their fits of laughter.
Somehow, the television turned off and James and Lily were sitting facing each other on the couch, laughing about the old times back at Hogwarts.
"Come on, you have to admit, some of the stuff I did to Snivellus was pretty damn funny," James said before taking another gulp of fire whiskey. They had both forgotten about their empty glasses and taken to drinking right from the bottle.
"No, it was just mean," Lily replied, but couldn't stop herself from laughing the entire time.
"See, you think its funny."
"No, I'm just laughing because some drips from the bottle fell onto your pants and it looks like you've wet yourself," she giddily said.
He looked down and sure enough, she was correct. "Well, at least my entire jacket isn't soaked."
"You idiot, my jacket is dry."
He then took the bottle and emptied a small portion of it onto the shoulder of her jacket, which she still hadn't taken of since she arrived.
"Bloody hell," she shouted. She then proceeded to take off her jacket, revealing the bridesmaid dress that she tried so hard to hide from James's sight.
"It's not that bad," he said, laughing at what seemed to overtake her entire body.
"What are you talking about?" she asked. She then glanced down at herself and instantly knew. The dress was truly ugly. For starters, it was an orange-peach color, which combined with Lily's hair made her look like a walking carrot stick. Plus, it was intended to be tight fitting around the bust before poofing out into a large skirt that only reached Lily's knees. However, it was still too large in the bust, making the straps slightly fall off of her shoulders. It was still pinned in the stomach area, the fabric barely giving any room to breathe, and the skirt was just a total disaster.
"It's not that bad," James said again, once he recognized that Lily knew what he was referring to before.
"Shut up and give me that bottle," she demanded.
"Damn, you can really take it down," James joked, smiling as she took an enormous gulp of the fiery liquid.
"Only because I need it," she laughed. "Now, okay, tell me why you called me here in the first place."
"I don't want to," he whined.
"Come on, I showed you this monster, now you tell me," Lily said, pushing out her bottom lip and trying her hardest to give him a sad, pleading look.
"You look pathetic," he said, "But since I am such a nice guy, I'll let you know."
"Really?"
"Well, honestly, I'm drunk enough that I don't know why I didn't tell you in the first place."
"Works for me," she giggled.
"I asked Erica to move in with me," he stated. "I don't know why, but I did it. But she can't move in because, well, honestly I don't want her to."
"Well you've certainly gotten yourself into a pickle," she said and nodded her head.
"Into a what?" he asked as he burst out laughing.
"I don't know, what did I even say?"
"Who knows?" he answered and took the bottle away from Lily and brought it to his lips.
"Well, with Erica, you need to tell her that she can't move in with you because it doesn't feel right," Lily said, redirecting the subject.
"She'll get mad, and I don't want her to get mad."
"Why'd you ask her in the first place?"
"Because she was mad at me."
"Do you see a pattern here?" Lily joked, stealing the bottle back from him.
They both laughed for a moment, but then quickly quieted down. James just sat there and looked at Lily, just as he had done so many times these past couple days. He didn't know if it was the alcohol or just the plain truth, but he couldn't help but think she was beautiful. There was a glow about her that made it so he couldn't keep his eyes off of her.
"You are beautiful, you know. Not just pretty, but beautiful," he said, staring directly into her eyes.
"What?" she asked, her voice softer than it was earlier.
"The woman at the dress shop is wrong. You look beautiful, not just pretty, but beautiful," he replied, still not breaking eye contact with her.
He could hear her breathing become heavy and the scent of alcohol mixed with perfume became stronger. He could then feel the warmth of her breath against his skin. A moment later, he felt her lips against his.
It was like a rush of excitement came in through his lips and quickly spread throughout his entire body. He stomach knotted and his heart sped up. Nothing felt better than having her soft lips touch his, nothing felt better than her breath mixed with his. His body was telling him that she was the only thing he needed right then, she was the only thing that could satisfy him.
It didn't last long though, a moment later, they were both wide-eyed and staring at one another. He could see Lily's face redden and she nervously turned her head away. He recognized that aspect of her behavior. Back at Hogwarts, the two of them were caught kissing in the hallway by their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and she behaved the same way. Her confidence dwindled and she became a shy little girl.
"I, I should go," she finally said, breaking the awkward silence.
He nervously ran his fingers through his messy hair. His heart was still pounding. He didn't even move from his position on the couch.
Lily didn't say any more either, she simply gathered her jacket and ducked out of the apartment. James didn't really notice her exit; he was staring at the space on the couch in front of him. It wasn't until he heard the door slam that he even knew what had happened.
He suddenly jumped to his feet, or at least as best as he could for being slightly drunk. He couldn't believe what had happened. He had just kissed Lily Evans. Lily Evans! Why did this have to happen? Why did he have to kiss her? Why was he such a bloody fool?
He knew that kissing Lily was a mistake, after all, he had a girlfriend. He shouldn't be off with some other woman, he should be with Erica. It was Erica that made him happy and that he loved, not Lily. It wasn't Lily. He didn't want it to be Lily.
Although his brain kept on repeating that, he still had an odd feeling in the bottom of his stomach. It was a different feeling than before though. Earlier, it was the type of feeling that he used to have when he was younger, when he and Lily used to be together. At the beginning of their relationship, he got that feeling every time he saw her, accompanied by a frantic heartbeat. After a while, that feeling came about whenever something special was happening. For instance, on her eighteenth birthday, James gave her a beautiful pearl necklace, which he wasn't sure she would like. As she opened the gift, a smile came over her face that was so large and radiant, James was sure that it could be seen from the moon. The first time they ever had sex he felt that same way too, a nervous excitement that couldn't be explained any other way. Of course, each time that they snuck off together at Hogwarts after dark, he was overwhelmed with the feeling too.
True, he felt a feeling similar to this when he was with Erica, but it didn't quite match up against the feeling that Lily gave him. It was different with Erica. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't the same.
Now though, as he sat very still on the couch, another feeling came over his stomach. It was almost like a bottomless well was inside of him. As much as he didn't want it to be true, he wanted more of Lily. He needed more than that one kiss. He needed to feel her skin against his, he needed to know what it was like to have her lips kiss his neck. He needed to know what it would be like to hold her tightly in his arms.
It wasn't just sex that he was after either, although from the tenseness that ran through him, he knew it would be the perfect remedy. Although he wanted to see her naked body one more time and he wanted to remember what it was like to feel her body beneath his once again, a simple kiss would do. He just needed her again. He didn't want that one kiss to be over quite yet.
He mentally slapped himself. He needed to stop this. He couldn't imagine himself with Lily any more. Just because they kissed, it didn't mean that anything more would ever happen, he needed to forget about her.
James tried to concentrate on something else, anything else. He thought of Erica, but it was no use at all. Thinking of Erica only reminded him that he couldn't be with Lily and that kissing her was wrong. Therefore, he thought back to Lily and the kiss, which only made him want her even more.
Next, he tried to think about what he was going to tell Erica. He still couldn't just let her move into the apartment and still needed a good excuse. The apartment. That made him think of Sirius and he wondered where on earth his friends could have disappeared to. Which only made him realize that if at least one of them had been home, he wouldn't have sent an owl to Lily in the first place, meaning that he wouldn't have kissed her, meaning that he wouldn't be in this situation now.
Great, just great. Everything he thought about came back to Lily Evans and the kiss. Great, just great.
He walked over to the window, forcing it all the way open. He needed fresh air. He took a deep breath, which seemed to cool his nerves. He looked down at the ground beneath him and out toward the horizon, but unfortunately didn't extend his glance upward, up at the night sky, which was full of stars and a glowing full moon.
Instead, he sighed and walked over to his bedroom, not even bothering to clean up the mess that he and Lily made. All he could think about was that kiss, and all he wanted to do was forget about it.
Author's Note 2: Hope you all enjoyed it! Once again, sorry about the long delay. Please review!