A/N: Happy Petty Friday! Enjoy the update!
Chapter Ten: Now You're in My Way
Group Chat: Get Ready Lads
Prongs has changed the name to Detective Prongs Solves Another One
Prongs: ...there has been a development
Wormtail: what happened?
Padfoot: I only hear one set of footsteps
Padfoot: You didn't bring Evans home
Moony: I think what Sirius means is...
Moony: How did your date go, James?
Prongs: It was great
Prongs: Amazing
Prongs: Wonderful
Prongs: I'm going to marry this girl
Wormtail: wow that good?
Padfoot: Gag
Padfoot: Nothing against Evans but I'm still hopeful for Team Val
Moony: Oh Sirius.
Prongs: Then I think you'll be happy with this development Pads
Prongs: Lily is Val
Wormtail: what?
Moony: If you all heard a worrying thump, don't be too worried.
Moony: Sirius just fell out of bed.
Padfoot: dbdjdb
Prongs: Did you break the floor Pads?
Prongs: That was a pretty big crash
Moony: I don't think anything is broken.
Padfoot: WHAT DO YOU MEAN LILY IS VAL?
Padfoot: HOW ARE YOU GOING TO DROP THAT PIECE OF INFO SO CASUALLY
Moony: Okay, wait. Let's back it up.
Moony: How do you know she's Val?
Moony: Did you guys reveal yourselves tonight?
Wormtail: Lol that sounds so wrong
Moony: That is obviously not what I meant.
Wormtail: I can hear Sirius giggling
Prongs: No we didn't reveal ourselves
Prongs: I am a great detective
Padfoot: Lol okay but what actually happened?
Prongs: Okay okay
Prongs: The short version is that I asked her on a second date in the middle of our first
Padfoot: Sounds like you
Moony: Omg Prongs. Patience is a virtue.
Prongs: But we were interrupted by the waitress
Prongs: So she excused herself to the restroom
Wormtail: As one does
Prongs: And while she was gone I got a text from Val saying that she was spiraling in a restaurant bathroom bc she really liked her date and wanted to go out with him again
Wormtail: wait she texted you about you?
Prongs: After a few more questions I sort of figured out that Val is Lily
Prongs: And Lily is Val!
Padfoot: So you just asked her?
Padfoot: And she told you?
Prongs: She told me enough
Padfoot: Damn Prongs you WOULD fall in love with the same girl twice
Wormtail: classic prongs
Padfoot: Know what this means?
Padfoot: I WAS RIGHT
Padfoot: TEAM VAL
Moony: Excuse me, I was right?
Moony: He's going on a second date with Lily.
Padfoot: Who is also Val
Prongs: Okay okay
Prongs: Everyone calm down
Prongs: Here's the other thing…
Prongs: She doesn't know that I know that she's Val
Padfoot: wtf
Wormtail: um
Moony: … James. Why doesn't she know?
Moony: WHY would you not tell her?
Prongs: I wanted to let this play out for a bit?
Moony: JAMES
Padfoot: BOLD
Wormtail: This feels like a bad idea
Prongs: Oh and the other other thing
Prongs: Both of the boys Val was confused about?
Prongs: They're both me
Wormtail: ?
Padfoot: ?
Moony: ?
Prongs: Val likes Prongs
Prongs: Lily likes James
Prongs: LADS, THEY'RE BOTH ME
Padfoot: You have to have the most luck of any idiot in the world
Padfoot: How do these things always work out for you?
Moony: What is your "plan" with not telling her?
Wormtail: wouldn't she be happy?
Moony: You should at least tell Val that you know.
Prongs: Don't worry mom
Prongs: I'm going to tell Val tomorrow
Prongs: I'm also going to break the rules of our bet
Wormtail: What are you talking about?
Moony: I'm getting a headache.
Prongs: So the deal was if one of us figured it out we would reveal
Prongs: The loser buys the winner McDonald's
Padfoot: Yes yes
Wormtail: Like any proper bet
Prongs: But I'm going to tell her I know who she is
Prongs: And make her figure out who I am without telling her
Moony: I'd like to say I'm going to sleep, but Sirius is not going to put his phone down.
Padfoot: Right you are, Moons
Padfoot: And what does she win when she does?
Prongs: The fact that both of the boys she likes are the same person?
Padfoot: You're the prize?
Padfoot: Very bold lol
Wormtail: It's not going to be enough
Moony: You're more likely to piss her off.
Padfoot: I love it.
Padfoot: I support this whole idea.
Moony: Of course you do.
Prongs: Okay okay
Prongs: I'm probably going to have to atone for awhile after she figures it out
Prongs: But I can't let an opportunity like this go
Padfoot: It's too good
Moony: You better be the best boyfriend ever, Prongs.
Padfoot: better than me?
Moony: Absolutely.
Padfoot: ):
Wormtail: Alexa play literally anything
Prongs: Don't worry
Prongs: I plan on being such a good boyfriend ;)
Moony: Why does that sound like a threat?
Moony: Prongs?
Wormtail: I can hear him laughing
Moony: Dammit.
Lily hardly slept last night. For once, though, she didn't really mind.
There was some old advice about waiting a certain amount of time after a date to call, but Lily didn't remember it. At the end of their date last night, she was sure that she wanted a second. James, luckily, hadn't even made her wait until the end of their first to ask.
Once she started to let go of some of the guilt attached to liking two boys at once, it became obvious.
She liked James.
She liked him a lot.
She liked his laugh and how he pushed up his glasses when they moved down his nose. She liked his sincerity and the way that his attention made her feel like the only person in the room. She liked that she didn't have to wonder what he thought about her because he said it.
That morning, she wasn't nervous to message him first thing when she woke up, asking if he wanted to come over to study. Lily already reviewed for the quiz on Monday, but it didn't matter.
She wanted to see him.
And he said yes.
"So," Lily said, reaching across the table for his hand, "are you actually rubbish at Bio? Or did you want an excuse to talk to me after class?"
"Why can't it be both?" James asked, taking her hand and squeezing it. "I'm a great multitasker, you know."
Lily ran her thumb over his knuckles. "Now we need to make you good enough at Bio to get in the advanced section next semester."
James laughed. "If you could get me into advanced Bio next semester, my mother would die. She'd absolutely love you for it."
Her heart skipped at the thought of meeting his mother. As if he already thought of that possibility.
She grinned, feeling a little silly and smitten. "Unless you don't need that excuse to talk to me anymore."
"I'll find a thousand other excuses to talk to you."
"Is she one of those moms who wants you to be a doctor or lawyer?" Lily asked, curious. Once she confirmed to herself that she wanted to spend time with him, she wanted to know more about him. "Because I started studying for the MCAT and don't wish it on anyone."
"She wants me to be happy, mostly," he told her, smiling at her fondly. "And I think I'm already that."
That made her heart beat wildly and rendered Biology very uninteresting.
Lily put down her pen, though she hadn't truly been looking over her notes for some time. "Do we need a study break?"
"Sounds good to me." He stood, stretching his hands over his head. "Want to watch a movie?"
"Sure," Lily said, closing her textbook. "You should know that I can be rubbish at paying attention to them. You won't be distracting, will you?"
"I make no promises," he said, grinning. Reaching for the remote, he turned the television on. "Guess I'll have to pick something good enough to resist distractions. What about Pride and Prejudice?"
Lily started at this, playing with her hair to try to hide it.
She watched that movie with Prongs not too long ago, but she doesn't know how to tell James that. She probably shouldn't tell James that.
"That's on Netflix now." Lily took his other hand to tug him onto the couch next to her. "I've already seen it, so maybe I can be distracted."
There.
That wasn't a total lie. She had seen the movie. She didn't need to tell him that she watched it with another boy.
It didn't matter now.
For good measure, she dropped his arm around her shoulders.
Did Mary feel like this when she fell in love with someone quickly? It was thrilling and scary, like a new roller coaster, with the desire to see how far it would go.
"I don't know," he said. Two of his fingers began to draw circles on her shoulder, the motion making her eyes flutter shut. She was already well distracted before the movie started. This wasn't going to help. "Mr. Darcy is pretty swoon worthy. Though I'm more of a Bingley guy myself."
Her eyes flew open at his words.
Why did that sound familiar?
"Bingley is sweet," Lily said, trying to ignore the nagging feeling that she was missing something, "but Darcy uses everything that happens to become a better person. That's what makes him swoon worthy." She let her head fall to his shoulder and nestled into the spot by his side. "Lizzy calls him out and then he does all these great things to show her who he is."
"Is that your type then? Socially awkward men who want to be a better person for the girl they love? Because that may actually be me."
They were talking about the movie.
The same movie she watched with Prongs not that long ago.
But that was decidedly not a date.
Did this, she wonder, count as one? He asked her for another date and she said yes, but she was the one who invited him to her apartment. In the span of one night, did they cross from going on dates to dating without mentioning it?
No matter what this was, she shouldn't be thinking about Prongs when James was sitting next to her. She wanted him to be there. She invited him not because she was heartbroken over someone else but because she didn't want to wait to see him again.
Regardless, Prongs had his own date last night, and she had hers. That was why he hadn't texted her since. That was why she didn't check her phone for his name.
"You? My type?" Lily tilted her chin back to look up at him. "Where would you get that impression? And who is this girl you love, anyway? I know we haven't gone on our second date yet, but should I be jealous?"
"Oh, you don't know her?" James asked, leaning down to nuzzle her nose with his. "She's smart. Kind. Very pretty. So pretty that it makes it hard for me to think. And she's great at Bio. She's the whole package. I'm hoping she'll say yes to me when I ask her if she wants to go on our second date this weekend."
That effectively pushed anyone who wasn't James out of her mind.
"She sounds too good to be true." With their faces so close together, she didn't need to speak loudly. He would be able to hear every quiet word and possibly even the beating of her heart. "But I think she'll say yes."
Lily didn't usually fall for someone like this, headfirst and all at once. She liked to think over her decisions and plan.
This time, her heart tore off the brakes. The movie continued, but it was background noise to the one playing out with her as a main character.
"You think so?" His nuzzling continued, moving farther down so when he spoke it was against the corner of her mouth.
"You don't know," she nearly whispered, her breath catching, "until you ask."
"Hmm," he mused, seemingly thinking this over. She had never been this distracted by a boy. She had never had this good of a reason to be. His lips were so close, all she'd have to do would be to lean in slightly. "Do you - "
The slamming of a door against the wall brought Lily harshly down into reality and crashing onto the floor.
"Oh my god," Mary groaned loudly. "You would not believe all the people at -" Mary stopped, looking them over and blinking. "What are you doing on the floor, Lily?"
"Ow," she replied unhelpfully. Her elbow throbbed dully where she hit it at some point in her fall. Lily sat up and inspected her elbow, satisfied that it would only be a bruise in a few days. "I didn't mean to be. I was on the couch until you came in."
"Do you always open the door that hard?" James asked, sprawled out on the couch. "How do you not have a hole in your wall?"
Mary's eyes went to James. Her entire posture changed with a hand on her hip and a smirk on her lips. "I can patch a hole. What are you kids up to?"
"Watching a movie?" James said though it came off as a question.
"Studying," Lily answered at the same time.
"Oh my god," Mary said, laughing. "I'm clearly interrupting something." She went back to the door, yelling down at someone. "Hey, Benjy! Come up here! We're interrupting something!"
Quickly, Lily managed to get herself back on the couch, though not as close to James as she was. Benjy stepped into the room, grocery bags in his hands. He closed the door behind him gently with his foot.
"What is it?" Benjy kissed Mary's cheek, though Lily could tell they had only been apart for a short time.
They were lucky they were cute.
"James and I were taking a break from studying," Lily said. She pointed to the abandoned bags and textbooks by the table.
Benjy's brows rose but he didn't say anything.
"Right. Study breaks are so important." Mary laughed as Lily's eyes went to her. "Relax, I've taken many a study break." She looked at Benjy appreciatively before shaking her head. "Anyway, we brought groceries."
There was something lovely, Lily had to admit, about Mary having someone who wanted to wake up early and get groceries with her. They were still in the sparkly and new stage of their relationship, but it wasn't only that.
They worked.
"Supplies were getting a little low," Lily acknowledged. "Did you get more of the popcorn I like?"
"Of course," Benjy said. "Mary made me go back specifically for it."
"Anything for my girl," said Mary, winking at Lily. "You wouldn't believe how many people were there this morning. The audacity! Just standing around in aisles as if -"
Lily rolled her eyes, smiling as Mary disappeared into the kitchen, dragging Benjy by the arm, her rant following behind her. Her voice drifted in and out, along with a few expletives, as cabinets opened and shut. Lily hoped her popcorn wouldn't be on the receiving end of a poorly shut cabinet door.
"Who knew grocery shopping could be such a war zone?" commented James.
"Mary doesn't like when people wander the store aimlessly," she replied, sitting back on the couch and moving a few inches closer to him. "A few weeks ago, I had to stop in for something before class, and I could hear her in my head, grumbling about the guy who kept shuffling in front of me. Actually…" She picked up his hand to intertwine her fingers with his again. "It was the day you saved me a spot in Bio because I was running late."
"Oh yeah. I remember that. What did you end up having to get again?"
"It was a long story," Lily said, "but it ended up with me having to get Jello for something other than shots at a party."
He seemed to consider this, smiling as if he totally understood. Which she knew he didn't. He couldn't, because he wasn't… someone she wasn't thinking about right now.
"Very important question," he said, leaning in as his features grew serious. "What flavor did you end up getting?"
"Cherry," she answered, relaxing a bit. "Though I didn't really end up eating it."
"Too bad. Cherry is the best flavor."
Lily glanced toward the TV, remembering that they had initially decided to watch a movie. "It's Darcy's first proposal. What could go wrong?"
"Let's get ready to swoon at his lack of judgement," James said, pulling his phone out at the next second and frowning. Lily leaned over, a picture of a cartoon rat lighting up his screen. "Shoot, it's Peter. Is it okay if I step outside and take this? I'm sort of 'on call' for all his Peter questions since I ditched him the other day."
Peter. She hadn't met him yet. She remembered him mentioning another friend in their house but didn't know much more about him.
"You ditched him? That doesn't sound like you," Lily answered, half-teasing.
"Something very important came up. It couldn't be helped, but don't worry." He held up the phone which started vibrating again. "I'm paying for it now."
"Go ahead and answer it. Make sure you use the latch so you don't get locked out."
"Fair warning," he said, standing. "Peter can be kind of long winded."
"Sure." She waved him toward the door. "I'll be here."
He gave her a parting smile before stepping outside, closing the door behind him.
It took Lily a moment to realize that the apartment was quiet, save for the movie playing. She wondered faintly whether Benjy and Mary had retired to her bedroom and thought of sending Mary a quick 'please don't sleep with your boyfriend while I'm obviously here' text. Before she could, her phone buzzed of its own accord.
When she looked down at the name, she nearly dropped it.
Prongs: Hey
Prongs: Do you have a minute so we can talk?
Between now and their last conversation, so much had happened. They didn't end on the best note, but they didn't have a true fight, either.
She wasn't sure where they stood.
She wasn't sure where she wanted them to stand.
Me: yeah, I have a minute
Me: what's up?
Prongs: I wanted to say I was sorry for last night
Prongs: It wasn't cool of me to ask you about your feelings on the spot like that
Me: it's fine
Her thumbs hovered over the phone, conflicted. It would be easier to leave it at that.
Wasn't the special part of their friendship, though, the fact that she could tell him what she was really thinking?
Me: I mean idk if it is
Me: I feel like such an idiot
Me: but it's fine
Me: does that make any sense?
Prongs: It does
Prongs: You're definitely not an idiot
Prongs: But I was definitely a jerk
Prongs: And I just
Prongs: I value our friendship so much Val and I hope I wasn't stupid enough to mess it up
Me: I'll be okay
Me: how did things go with class girl?
Prongs: They went well but I don't want to talk about that right now
Prongs: I want to talk about something else
Prongs: Something sort of important
Me: okay
Me: what do you want to talk about?
Prongs: ...you have to promise you're not going to be mad at me.
Me: famous last words
Me: probably depends what it is
Me: so what if I say I'll try very hard not to be? 0:)
Prongs: I guess that's the best I can hope for right now
Prongs: So our bet…
Me: does it make you uncomfortable now? we can call it off
Prongs: No it's not that
Prongs: It's not that at all
Me: what is it?
Prongs: Okay so
Prongs: There's really no easy way to say this so I'm just going to come right out with it
Prongs: I figured out who you are
Me: you did? how?
In a mild panic, she scrolled through the last day of messages quickly. Was there something she said to give herself away? The only thing that stood out was her conversation from the bathroom, and she didn't want to relive that right now.
James could come in at any moment.
Prongs: I am a great detective
Me: um okay
Me: how do we do this? how do we know you actually know?
Prongs: What? Do you not believe me?
Me: you could be guessing wrong
Me: or this could be a strategy to get me to lose!
Prongs: Okay Evans ;)
That stopped everything.
He knew. He really knew.
Me: damn
Me: who should I venmo for mcd's?
Prongs: Actually about that…
Prongs: Keep your McDonald's money
Prongs: I'm changing the rules of the bet
Me: what?
Me: how so?
Me: my budget is mcd's
Prongs: You don't have to buy me anything
Prongs: What I want instead is for you to come find me :)
Me: find you? you want me to figure it out?
Prongs: Yes exactly
Prongs: I want you to figure out who I am
Me: omg you're kidding
Me: you won
Prongs: I know I did
Prongs: I am a great detective after all
Me: so why do you want me to figure it out myself?
Prongs: Bc I think it will be more fun this way ;)
Me: you're the worst
Me: but okay
Me: I'll play your game
Me: I'll figure it out
Me: you can't be that hard to find
Prongs: One would think ;)
Prongs: See you soon Val
Lily left that one unanswered, deciding she would rather use her time to contemplate some sort of plan than explain the whole saga to James. She put her phone face down on the coffee table. Although she looked at the TV screen, her mind was elsewhere.
Their campus wasn't that large. Prongs could be several people, but the list still had to be short. He knew who she was, so it was someone who existed around her at some point.
He was an only child, had a major crush on a girl in one of his classes, and exercised for fun.
She tried to tally the information she knew about him, but most of it wasn't helpful to find a stranger. She had to know details about other people to know if he could be them.
If he could find her, though, she could find him.
"Hey, sorry about that," James said, startling her from her thoughts as he came back into the room. "Peter needed more help than I realized." He stopped, looking at her. "You okay? You look lost in thought."
"I'm good," she answered, moving over to give him space on the couch again. She would figure out Prongs' identity, but she didn't have to take up time with James to do it. "I told you I couldn't concentrate during movies. You're back in time for Darcy's real proposal."
"Excellent," he said, sitting and letting his arm rest across her shoulder once again. "Want to grab dinner after?"
"That depends," Lily said, settling into his side again. "Is that going to be our second date?"
"It could be. Or it could be a practice date before the second one. I don't have enough time to book a hot air balloon right now, but if you give me a couple days…"
"No," she replied, angling her face to press a kiss to the line of his jaw. "Let's have our second date."
Lily wanted, she realized, to get to the point where they weren't counting dates. First dates were full of nerves and not knowing quite what to do. This, what they had, even if it was new, was easy. She wanted them to be like this.
Maybe Prongs was right.
Maybe she was a bit of a sap.