Room Service

Chapter 4

"I won't take much of your time because I know how much work awaits you." McGonagall surveys the gathered front office and housekeeping team members standing before her with sharp green eyes. The tight bun she's pulled her hair into somehow looks even more severe than usual today. "And I'll relay the same message to the kitchen and room service staff once prime dinner hours are over, but… you have all been doing a marvellous job these past few weeks. Our booking numbers have never been higher, our reviews never better, and most importantly, our customers never more satisfied. I have relayed the statistics put together by our accounts and marketing teams to the Potters, and they agree that if these numbers are maintained throughout the rest of October, some pay raises might be in order."

Lily looks around the room with a proud glow on her face, sees the excitement mirrored on the expressions worn by her colleagues standing in McGonagall's office. She really does love her job; the manager, the peers, the perks, the generous owners, and of course, the more than satisfactory pay. It's difficult to imagine a customer-facing role getting any better than this.

After a light smattering of applause and a chorus of gratitude ring out through the room, everyone adjourns back to their stations again, knowing they can't afford more than a five-minute break during dinner time. Lily isn't in much of a hurry, however, since check-ins and check-outs take a steep dive in frequency as the night progresses.

And yet, when she leaves the staff area and re-enters the lobby, there's a familiar face awaiting her return on the other side of the reception desk.

The lightest of furrows rests between James's brows as he scans the area with a confused light in his eyes, and Lily's heart gives a rapid tumble when his gaze lands on her only half a second later. He beams so bright, the glee so dazzling, that despite knowing she shouldn't encourage him, she can't help but smile back. Especially not when all that praise and appreciation from McGonagall's office still lingers on her mind.

"Don't you look positively radiant," James chimes as soon as she's close enough to hear him. He's drumming his fingers on the counter again, and Lily finds herself distracted by the long, tanned digits for a beat before she deigns to answer him.

"Just some boring work stuff. We've been commended on our recent performance." She waves off, but isn't able to fully keep the happiness from her face. James doesn't seem to mind; only looks at her with a softer grin. "Speaking of work, don't you have any? I'm really starting to think coming down here and loitering around the lobby is your method of killing time, Potter."

He's immensely chuffed by her ribbing, she can tell. "First of all, congratulations, Evans! Second of all, please do not besmirch my good name like that. I hold the very respectable job of a consultant, I'll have you know. I just decided to work from home today for purely personal reasons."

"A consultant," Lily hums, trying not to read too much into what those personal reasons might be as she goes through the system to make a note of the online reservations forwarded to them from third-party agencies. "What does that entail, exactly?"

"Oh, you know. Just some boring work stuff." She gives him a dry, side-long glance, and James chuckles. "I'm just teasing, Evans, no need to look like that! Basically, we run a lot of analysis on spend figures and expenses and come up with ways for businesses to save money and strategize long-term gains."

"Wow. That's impressive, Potter."

"Are you taking the piss?"

"What?" Lily turns around with wide eyes, finds that he's inexplicably looking at her without his usual glint of mischief. "What? No, of course, not. I mean it."

"Oh." James blinks at the vehemence, ducks his head a little bashfully. Something about that simple gesture looks so unexpectedly boyish that her heart tugs inside her chest, just the slightest bit. "Well, thanks, then. Hanging around Sirius has made me kind of rusty at understanding when someone is actually offering a compliment versus when they are taking the mick, I suppose."

"Does he make fun of your job? Sirius, I mean?"

He lets out a long-suffering sigh. "All the time."

"None of my business, but—" she bites her lip, hesitates, then thinks, fuck it, "—that's not very nice."

"No, it's not." James ruffles his hair, amusement curling up his lips, "but it helps that he works the same job along with me."

Lily takes a second to let the meaning sink in, and then expends a reluctant huff of laughter, rolling her eyes. "Oh, fuck off, would you?"

"Now, is that how you talk to your valuable guests around here, Lily? Not everyone will find that lethal glare and those cutting words as charming as I do, you know."

"It's a tough crowd out there these days." She shakes her head ruefully, playing along with his nonsense even as a smile twitches at the corners of her mouth. "Plain old wit and charm just don't suffice anymore. See how effective the glaring was on you? You're yet to leave the reception, let alone the hotel."

James's stare on her suddenly turns a bit too intense, and the rattling behind her chest gets faster; more at his tone than at what he actually says. "For all your insistence against flirting and saying such things…"

"Um, no, I—I wasn't—"

"Charm and wit are always in business, Evans," James cuts her off, clearly taking pity on her flustered state and fumbling words as he rounds the counter smoothly. Lily watches as he moves to stand next to her, that towering height of his suddenly hitting her senses as she cranes her neck to keep looking at his lopsided grin. "Are you up for a fun experiment?"

A thrill of anticipation is quick to zoom up her veins, but she narrows her eyes, wary. "Not even remotely."

"Wonderful. So—" She scoffs. "When the next guest walks in through that door, or at the next phone call you get, let me handle it. You'll see how charming I can be."

"What?! Absolutely not!"

"Why not?" he asks, half-laughing. "I promise I won't mess up. It is my parents' hotel, after all. Can't run them out of business."

"That doesn't matter!" Lily insists, smiling wide herself for reasons she doesn't understand. "You have no training, you're beyond cheeky and smug, and if anyone saw you back here and realized what I'd allowed, I'd get into so much trouble."

"Oh come on, Evans, no one will know!"

"We're literally under CCTV coverage right now."

"Well, no one's going to lose their mind if you let a dashing bloke stand on the other side of the reception once in a while." That gets her to scoff in exasperation again, colour blooming on her cheeks despite her every attempt to hold back the reaction. James wiggles his eyebrows. "Please? I swear I won't fuck this up. You can stay right here and keep an eye on me, how about that? If it looks like I'm in danger of blowing up the hotel, you can step in and put a stop to it immediately."

"I—" She chomps on her bottom lip unsurely. "I don't know…"

His eyes glow brighter, like he can visibly see the crack in her conviction, and wastes no time in hammering into it even more forcefully. "It'll be fun," he entices slowly, the smoothness of his voice dripping like honey over her insides. Before she can say anything to that, however, James's head twists towards the entrance for a second, and he hurriedly looks back at her with the giddiest grin on his face. "Quick, someone's coming. Tell me what I need to do!"

"Oh—" Lily tries to spar with herself, but there's really no hope. "Oh, fuck it, alright! Hang on."

"Yes!"

"Shut up, or I'll change my mind." She straightens with a nametag held between her fingertips. And before she can overthink the action to death, she finds herself stepping forward and tugging at James's shirt for him to shift closer. His breath expands audibly in front of her, but he stays otherwise silent as she moves to pin the tag over his chest. Even through the fabric, her fingers seem to burn from the heat of his body. "Just greet them politely, ask if they have a booking, and I'll check them in. Can't have you messing around with the system. And please, don't make me regret this!"

"Alright, I won't." Before her hands can completely slide away from him, she feels his fingers wrap around her left wrist, right above where her pulse instantly begins skittering along an erratic beat. "I really won't."

"Okay," she whispers, then laughs a little deliriously, shoving him with the hand in his grip. "James, go!"

They manage to step away and look innocently polite by the time the young woman James had spotted near the entrance reaches the counter, a trendy yellow suitcase in her hand. Her light brown hair, pulled back into a ponytail, brings out the angles of a thin face and full lips.

"Hi!" James greets brightly, all teeth and dimples and dancing eyes, hands folded gently in front of his torso. "Welcome to The Golden Stag. We hope you're prepared to embark on this magical journey of relaxation and luxury with us."

Lily promptly turns away to face the computer, eyes bugging out of her head as laughter builds like a tsunami inside her chest.

What the fuck is he saying?!

"Oh! Hello, there," the woman titters, and Lily barely stops herself from snapping to look at her incredulously. As it is, she isn't quite able to help it when her gaze travels to the right to find that she's leaned against the counter, light blue eyes blinking up at James from under thick lashes. Oh, for fuck's sake. "It's lovely to be here… Sybil?"

James's eyes fall down to the pin on his chest for the first time, and they dart sideways to Lily for the shortest of seconds before returning to the woman. "Oh yeah, that's me. Sybil Trelawney. You can call me Bill."

She's helpless to the laughter shaking through her body now, and adamantly faces the glare of the computer screen, pulling in deep breaths through her nose to stay quiet. The amusement is quick to fizzle out, however, as soon as the sound of a simpering sigh reaches her ears.

"Bill. I love that name!"

Sure. Like it isn't ridiculously common.

"Thank you!" James smirks. "And what name is your booking under?"

"Oh, it's under mine. Charmaine Cowper."

"Evans, could you—"

"Got it," Lily says, tone a little curt. She clears her throat immediately after, inwardly chastising herself for being so petty, and turns around with a small smile. "A Deluxe Queen room for two nights and three days. Is that correct?"

"It is."

"Great." She looks under the desk until she locates the right key. "Here you go: room 502."

"We'll have someone bring up your luggage in a bit," James adds hastily, the words pouring out of his mouth at a rate that makes her wonder if he's competing with her for the lines. Her suspicions are all but proven true when he goes on to ramble, "The WiFi password and the intercom numbers for different services are inside your room already. Breakfast here goes from seven to ten in the morning, but there's also some delectable in-room dining options that will make you want to kiss the chef's hands when you try them."

"Hope you have a pleasant stay!" Lily quickly throws in, voice coming out a bit thick due to the laughter coating her lungs.

"Er, right. Thank you," says Charmaine Cowper, the flirtatious curl of her lips waning slightly as her eyes travel between the two of them. After a few seconds of silence, she turns on her heels and heads towards the elevators.

James, for one, doesn't seem to pay this departure any mind, his mouth pressed into a smile, eyes caught onto Lily in a playfully narrowed gaze, one whose intensity she feels trained on her even as she moves to call Alfie and asks him to take the suitcase upstairs.

Just as soon as she's disconnected the call, James slides close; too close. "Well?"

"Well, what, Bill?" She bites her cheek.

"Wasn't I perfectly charming?"

Lily laughs, finally, the hilarity bursting out of her in waves. "You were preposterous! What the fuck was that about the magical journey and the delectable dining options? I barely stopped myself from whacking you over the head, you idiot!"

His eyes glitter behind his glasses, mouth stretched into a blinding grin that sends her heart thundering a little too easily. "Aw, come on, Evans. Don't be jealous! Charmaine seemed to like it."

She rolls her eyes, laughter dimming. "Your greetings and charm had nothing to do with that, Potter."

"Oh? Then what was it? Couldn't have been my unique name."

"Oh, fuck right off with that. Like you don't know."

"No, seriously. Come on!" James smirks, "What was it?"

Her right brow arches in challenge, no doubt persisting in her mind over the fact that he's simply being a smarmy git. But she's hardly going to back out now, not when he's looking at her like he's already won the game; like he's got her cornered right where he wants her.

So Lily straightens, reaches out until her fingers deliberately brush over his pectorals on their way towards the nametag still on his chest. "You know what?" she whispers, breath cracking in her throat as she feels him still under the touch, feels a flush settling into the hollow between her clavicles. Don't look up, don't look up. A swift pinch, and the pin comes loose. She takes a measured step back before allowing her eyes to traverse the path up to his face. Heat bubbles in her stomach at the look—irises heated to a molten brown—even as she lets a smug smile stretch over her mouth. "I think it might have been the name, after all."

He doesn't say anything for a few moments, content to just burn her to the spot with his gaze, before the words finally fall; soft. "You're… something else."

Lily rubs her lips together, nods her head towards the lobby. "Go on, now. Before you really do get me into trouble."

Like she isn't already swimming in an ocean of it.

"Yeah, yeah, alright." James rolls his eyes, doing as she asks. Right before he's about to walk away, however, he pulls back for a second, looks at her with a strange expression. "Evans?"

"Hm?"

"Didn't make you regret it, did I?"

Lily blinks, finds something softening inside her at the poorly veiled sincerity of his question. She wonders, then, if it wouldn't be easier for her to lie to him, to put an end to this—this thing that brews between them, instead of allowing herself to keep sampling at a feeling she knows isn't good for her. Not here; not with him. And yet—

And yet, she can't bring herself to lie.

"You didn't make me regret it."

A/N - Yeah so I made James and Sirius consultants because I am one and it's easier to get the details right. Sue me.