A/N - Thank you for being the best readers in the world. That is all!

Room Service

Chapter 2

Lily has practically all but forgotten about James Potter and his peculiar interaction with her by the time she steps inside the hotel lobby the next day.

Apart from a quick spark of reminder that comes in the form of a phone call from McGonagall, asking her whether everything went smoothly with their check-in the night prior—the affirmative answer to which she does not need to fabricate, despite any minor hiccups that may have occurred—she finds that the hours pass by quite peacefully, with her mind straying to the thoughts of messy hair and hazel eyes a passable two times, at most.

But when dinner time rolls around, and he steps out into the lobby in a simple black t-shirt and jeans, everything comes slamming back with a sharp swooping sensation in her belly.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

She looks away sharply from his approaching form, burying her head inside the register that records the check-outs from the day that Mary has noted down. She's tasked with cross-checking the list with the system before the day is up; a job that she hasn't ever taken more seriously than she does right this moment.

But instead of walking past the reception after noticing her clearly unapproachable posture like anyone with the slightest bit of perception would do, Potter seems to beeline straight for the counter, his front all but slamming into the desk in his enthusiasm as he leans forward with a blinding grin.

"Hi!"

Lily presses her lips together, wonders if she can possibly get away with pretending like she can't hear him. But the allure of looking up proves too strong, especially as she feels his eyes staring holes into her head, especially as she catches the mild scent of his cologne tickling her nose. Hating herself for the weakness, she looks up, and almost immediately, her pulse goes mad.

"Hello, Mr Potter."

"James, please." He grimaces. "I'm only twenty-six. Practically a child, still, in this terrifyingly vast, wise world."

That almost makes her laugh, but she holds strong. "How can I help you?"

"You can't."

"Pardon?"

He grins again, the flash of teeth seriously addling her brain's motor functions. "You can't help, because I'm only here to chat with you. Came looking for you in the morning, too, but someone else was here at the time. So I figured you're probably on the night shift."

She takes the fact that Mary hadn't mentioned that particular tidbit of information as the miracle it clearly is.

"Chat with me?" Lily smirks, now, looks back down at the register as if she isn't speaking around a pleased flutter that has erupted inside her throat. "You mean, flirt with me."

"So quick to think the worst of me, Evans." She can hear the amusement in his words.

"Am I wrong?"

He doesn't respond, and she's left with no choice but to peek up at him from under her lashes again. The smile on his face, something small and secretive, makes a soft flush crawl over her neck and face, and the reaction scares her enough that Lily quickly tears her eyes away, pulse clattering in her neck. Jesus.

Thanks to some heavenly intervention, the intercom opportunely rings at that very second, and she sends up a silent string of gratitude to the deities above before practically running to attend to the call. It's a woman on the other end, requesting for a cab arrangement to the airport the next afternoon, and Lily writes down the request for Mary, making a mental note to remind her personally again before she leaves. After assuring the woman that they'll get it done, she disconnects the call with a perfunctory, "have a good night, ma'am."

"So, what do you do around here when you're bored?"

"Fucking hell!" Lily whips around, heart banging in her chest at the sudden voice behind her. She presses a hand to steady the beat, eyes caught on to Potter's amused smile as he looks down at her, cheerful as anything. "What in the—shit, what are you doing?! You're not allowed to be back here, Mr Potter!"

"James," he supplies immediately, as if that's what's more important right now. "And why not? Are you hiding secret weapons under the desk here?"

"I might be. Or, it might be because you're a guest, even if you are the owner's son, and I work here, and we store confidential data here, so your presence behind the counter is enough to get me reprimanded by my manager."

"I promise I won't let that happen," he says, startlingly sincere for the thoroughly improper intention behind his visit, which, by his own implicating silence, is to chat her up. Lily can barely do anything but gape at him, and the glint in his eyes tells her that he considers this a victory. "So, what do you do here all night? I'm sure it gets boring when everyone's asleep."

It does.

But she isn't about to tell him that.

"Where's your mate?" she deflects instead, feeling nerves take flight in her stomach at his proximity. Inconveniently enough, he smells even better up close, the warmth emanating from him making her flush deepen. "Sirius, wasn't it? We were expecting you and your brother here, actually."

"Oh, so him you'll call by first name." Potter rolls his lovely eyes, and this time, she smirks openly at his petulance. It's more than a little fun to see him bothered by something so trivial. "But yes, Sirius is my adoptive brother; the same one you were expecting, because I don't have any other. He's not related by blood, but is by everything else that matters. Certainly has the annoyingly intrusive trait down to a T."

He doesn't need to say more. The adoration in his voice is enough to keep her smiling.

"And yet, he didn't come downstairs to annoy you tonight while you annoy me?"

"Now, hang on a second." He looks unbearably pleased as he leans against the counter on one elbow, body turned sideways to fully face her. "Am I annoying you, Lily?"

Has anyone made her name sound so good before? If they have, she absolutely cannot remember at this moment.

"Unquestionably." Her response ends in a huff of laughter, because, if anything, he looks even more proud at her answer, all but preening, like she's bestowed some great compliment upon him. She would find it in herself to be more affronted if she didn't partially agree with him. "Well? Where is he?"

"You're making me more than a little insecure by asking after him so ardently, I'll have you know." He narrows his eyes, smiling the whole time. "But upstairs, if you must know. Having dinner."

Lily ignores the former part of his response, because there's no way she can articulate how talking about Sirius feels like safer territory with him; how just that smile of his is doing half the flirting for him—and rather effectively, at that. "Why not at the buffet?"

"He hates people."

"Fair." She snorts a little. "And what about you?"

"No, I don't hate people."

"No," Lily laughs, probably harder than she means to, but that fucking grin. What the hell was the universe thinking, giving him such a weapon of mass destruction for easy use? "—not that. I meant, why aren't you having dinner?"

He shrugs like he doesn't understand her question. "Because I'm talking to you."

"Go eat, Potter." She shakes her head, tries to ignore the warm hum in her chest.

"James." He slides a little closer. "I'm sorry about yesterday, by the way. I really wasn't trying to be an arsehole. I was just—"

"Just what?" she prompts, despite herself. "Taking the piss?"

"Trying to make you laugh, if I'm being honest," he admits, sounding a little unsure of himself for the first time since yesterday. She bites down on her lip to stop the grin from spilling when she notices how the tops of his cheeks have turned a bit pink. "But I was nervous, and didn't think… anyway, I'm sorry. I promise I'm not a pathological liar or anything."

Against all her wishes, she manages to stop herself from asking exactly what he was nervous about, and smiles. "It's alright. You're forgiven."

"Thank you." He beams. "You have very pretty hair."

"Um—" Her heart thuds painfully, voice choked off; the whiplash from his sudden change of topic disorienting. She can see the beginnings of another smirk lifting up his lips at the reaction, and quickly clears her throat. "Uh, thank you, I think."

"Just stating the objective truth."

"Right—" she heaves out a disbelieving laugh, turning back towards the lobby as soon as she realizes that sometime during their conversation, she's unwittingly shifted her body to face him. And yet, her gaze flickers, once, stays on him. "Right, like that's not such a line—"

"You know, Evans…" He moves even closer, arm almost brushing hers now. "You seem rather fixated on insisting that I'm flirting with you. Are you sure you don't actually want me to?"

Her face grows hot. "That's so not—"

"Because, I'm not, you know. Flirting with you. Not yet. Not properly." The smirk tilts a little higher on one side, eyes falling to her mouth in a move that looks entirely deliberate, but still doesn't stop Lily's breath from catching somewhere near her clavicle. When he speaks next, his voice is noticeably lower. "You'd know if I was really doing it. And guessing by your reactions right now, I think you'd like it… very, very much."

Fuck, fuck, fuck, what was he doing?!

"James—"

And here, he laughs, warm and rich and soft. "There we go."

"—I'm flattered, really, but I can't flirt with customers." She purses her lips, looks away for a beat so he won't see the disappointment in her face when she says what she does. "It's not appropriate, and I quite like my job. So, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to move to the other side of the counter now, because I really could get into trouble for this."

He's quiet for a couple of seconds, and she thinks he'll try to convince her otherwise, but then she senses him move, looks up to see him rounding the counter, across from her on the other side again. "Only for your peace of mind, because I still insist that I wouldn't let that happen," he says, if a little exasperatedly.

Lily smiles brightly, knowing well he probably does have that kind of sway over the management. Git. "I'm so very grateful."

But he's suddenly leaning forward again, hazel eyes gleaming with mischief as she's forced to pull away with a surprised blink. "For the record, no one's stopping me from flirting with beautiful receptionists."

Air expands inside her. "Know many of those, do you?"

"Are you jealous, Evans?"

Lily rolls her eyes. "Go eat your dinner, James. Buffet ends soon."

"Alright, but only because you're doing so well at the first name thing now." He winks, giving her a little wave as he walks away. "See you later, Evans."