The Happiest

Prompt: "We've officially become that sappy couple none of our friends can't stand."

Setting: AU I guess?

647 Words

"You and James are so sweet together that it turns my stomach," Marlene declared, out of the blue.

Lily accidentally inhaled her coffee and lapsed into a fit of coughs, earning curious glances from other patrons of the busy café.

"What do you mean?" she wheezed when she was sure there was no coffee left in her lungs. "What did we do?"

"Nothing, it's more of the way you behave around each other." Marlene leaned back in her chair and pursed her lips. "You share smiles. You give each other these long, lingering looks – sometimes I can practically feel myself fading away because I swear in that moment you only have eyes for James. You have all these stupid inside jokes none of us gets. You're always touching."

"Touching?" Lily shook her head. "No, we're not all over each other like a couple of horny teenagers turned octopi."

"No, you're mindful of the PDA but somehow what you do is worse because it's like you don't even realise it! You can't walk past James without laying your hand on his arm."

Lily frowned. She tried to recall a situation where she would have walked past James like in Marlene's example, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember if she had touched him or not in such a situation.

But then, Marlene's point about inside jokes was certainly true...

"Oh, don't look so worried," Marlene huffed, tossing a napkin at Lily. "You know this is all coming from the envious, bitter heart of a single woman. So just ignore me."

"I'm not gonna ignore you!" Lily told her, flinging the crumpled up napkin right back at Marlene. "If it gets too much and you really start feeling sick just tell us, ok. We'll tone it down."

Marlene laughed. "I'll believe that when I see it! You two positively radiate happiness when you're together, it's disgusting." She winked at Lily. "Honestly though, I couldn't be happier for you."

Lily beamed back at her friend. She couldn't be happier, either.

Or so she thought, until later that evening, when she was staring at the light shifting across her bedroom ceiling, James' head resting on her stomach, her fingers playing in his ridiculous hair.

"So… We've officially become that sappy couple none of our friends can't stand. Or that at least one of our friends can't stand."

"We have? Is it weird if I feel proud of that?"

"Yeah, Marlene told me today that we're so sweet together that it makes her sick." She paused. "And dunno, but I'm definitely feeling proud of that, it takes a lot to make Marlene feel sick."

James laughed, and Lily basked in that warm sound, her own lips curving into a smile in response.

"Well, if we're reached such extraordinary levels of sappiness, I suppose there's only one course of action we can take." James grinned up at her.

"Oh?" Lily asked, her curiosity stirring. "What's that then?"

"We're gonna have to get married now."

Lily's hands stilled in James' hair. She sat up so suddenly James had to get up, too.

She stared at him, her mind whirling, her heart racing, her eyes desperate to find any kind of a sign to over-analyse.

"How much of that was a joke and how much in earnest?" she asked in a hushed, awed tone.

"Well…" James was mussing up his own hair now, as he always did when he was nervous. "The answer to that would entirely depend on whether or not you agreed with me."

Lily closed their distance and grabbed the front on his shirt.

"Propose to me properly," she told him, her gaze locked with his, "and I'll say yes."

Then, she kissed him.

And as she felt James smile against her lips she knew she'd been wrong earlier. She could, in fact, be happier – she could be the happiest.