Lily was bothered.

Not in the way where she wanted to yell at someone, or send everything in her dorm room crashing but doing those things helped.

No, she was bothered in the way only a hormonal teenager who had just seen her crush in just a towel with water droplets dripping down under the towel could be bothered.

Of course, this would mean admitting that James Potter was her crush and also would imply that she stared for longer than twenty seconds when he came running into the common room. Sirius had stolen his glasses, so naturally, James bolted after him instead of taking the time to get dressed.

There was a scant amount of Gryffindors around, since mostly everyone was at breakfast. Lily was running late after an argument with her hair (her hair had won that day, contributing to the curls flying all over in front of her face), so she had been crossing the room in a hurry when Sirius slammed into her.

She fell forward, landing on her right arm under her back under Sirius' weight. One of them made a noise similar to a Hippogriff, which Lily would go to her grave swearing it was not her, and they were a mess of limbs and hair.

Lily found herself grateful she hadn't won the hair argument, since she would be feeling more anger than pain at this moment. As it was, she shoved Black off and just laid there, staring at the ceiling of the common room and contemplating the moments in her life that lead her to this moment.

Sirius was clamoring to his feet, extending a hand and speaking to her. Lily blinked back stupidly, the world a dull roar around her as she gathered her bearings.

Her books and bag laid scattered around her, her uniform a rumpled mess. Lily was trying to fix her skirt and restrain her unruly locks when James Potter came into view.

Clutching his towel around his waist, hair everywhere and droplets of water dripping down, down, down...

"Sirius!" James' voice jerked her head up from where it trailed down to well below his waist. Sirius turned to him with a smirk and threw his glasses to him, which he deftly caught.

That just made it ten times worse, Lily thought as she simultaneously cursed and praised Quidditch for shaping the man in front of her.

"I would keep them longer, but I don't think Evans has taken a breath since you got down here."

James situated his glasses on his face and blinked as the world came into focus. Lily sat up resting on her forearms, blinking stupidly as his eyes locked with hers, a smirk growing on his unfairly handsome face.

Her emerald eyes were clouded over, and he knew that look all too well. It was basically the one he always wore whenever she was around.

"Alright, Evans?"

Lily snapped to reality at his voice and started collecting herself, standing up. Her skirt hiked up as she stood, and he didn't even hide it as his eyes followed the movement.

Her skin flushed at the attention and she had to take a breath to center herself.

"Just fine, Potter. Black, stop standing there like a prat and help me."

Her voice didn't sound convincing to even her ears, so she gathered her books from the floor with Sirius and ran as fast as she could out of the portrait hole, their laughter following her.

-x-

Lily tried to pay attention, she really did, but her mind kept playing James fucking Potters body over and over again.

She groaned internally and slammed her head down on the desk. They were now in Charms, a class she normally loved and looked forward to, but her surrounding partners were not helping her situation.

All day, James had brushed against her or made any excuse to touch her, just be around her. Her skin was on fire, and she was a rubber band ready to snap. Every touch felt amplified to her, every look shared and breath exhaled on her skin was a trigger.

Lily had tried to act normal, but even Alice, normally oblivious to the world around her, had noticed her behavior and questioned it. She spent every lesson dodging her friends and running into the Marauders.

Sirius did nothing to hide his amusement, even pushing James into Lily. This would cause them to steady themselves against each other, with more touching. His knee would brush hers, or his hand would touch her arm. All innocent and normal gestures, but she wanted, needed more.

She couldn't even deny it to herself anymore. It didn't matter that it was James fucking Potter, all she wanted was to jump his bones.

Charms bought her to the brink. He sat next to her and kept touching her - her hair, her cheek, her elbow, his breath ghosting her neck as he turned to his friends, and she felt her resolve crash when he reached over her to grab a quill from Marlene.

His front brushed hers and she snapped. She stood abruptly and threw out some excuse to Professor Flitwick about the loo before all but running out of the classroom.

The door shut behind her and she sighed. The air was better out here, less Potters around and Lily could breath a little bit more.

She continued down the hall, her back hitting the wall once she turned the corner. Her thighs hit the cool floor as she practically collapsed and her fingertips ghosted her skirt hem.

Lily wasn't sure how long she stayed there before hearing footsteps approach. She scrambled up as the person rounded the corner.

She groaned inwardly. Of course he would follow her out of the room.

"Alright, Evans?" James grinned down at her, moving closer.

Lily swallowed and moved back toward the wall. "Yeah. Yes. Uh huh. Doing great here, in Lily land."

Her stutters encouraged him as he continued to back her up until the stone wall was biting into her skin. She bit her lip and his eyes followed the movement, the hazel clouding over and his own lips parting.

She wasn't sure she could control herself and Lily found herself not breathing as James leaned an arm on either side of her.

Definitely bothered.