Room Service
Chapter 6
WhatsApp Private Chat
James Potter to Lily Evans
6/10/2021 10:03 a.m.
xxxxxx
James: Morning Evans
Could you do me a favour and ask Sirius to charge his bloody phone when you get a chance
Nothing urgent or anything
Just want to make sure he hasn't died overnight
Because he isn't answering my calls
And I'm not being overly paranoid like one might think
He's been known to stick his fingers into electrical sockets before
Don't ask
Wow you sleep in rather late don't you?
James Potter to Lily Evans
6/10/2021 10:19 a.m.
xxxxxx
James: Just realized that you probably go to bed at like 5:30 or something
Sorry for the earlier judgment
And for the multiple messages
Don't hate me pls
We've come so far
Lily Evans to James Potter
6/10/2021 11:21 a.m.
xxxxxx
Lily: Wow you don't know how to do anything in moderation do you?
James: Deserved that
Lily: 14 messages Potter
I thought someone had died
Should have known it was just your brain cell
James: Snarkier than usual in the mornings I see
Cute
Lily: There's a reason I work on the night shift
But yes I will check on Sirius for you
Mostly because I don't want a dead body in the hotel
Will stink up the whole place
James: Heart of gold
She doesn't get to text James much for the rest of the day, on account of his lunch meeting with a client later in the afternoon and the start of her own shift at the hotel, which requires her to finish up all her chores at the flat before she can get ready to leave. Once she arrives at The Golden Stag around seven, however, his absence seems to prick at the back of her mind like an incessant gnawing of teeth. She's never before felt such restlessness during work; never before cast her eyes about the room, looking for something—someone—without even realizing that she's doing it. And though every time Lily catches herself in the act, she's quick to put a stop to it, the frequent recurrence of such behaviour is unsettling, to say the least.
Frankly, it terrifies the hell out of her.
Around half an hour into the hubbub of work, she finally carves out a sizable window of free time in between to pull the intercom towards herself and connect to Room 208.
Sirius picks up on the fifth ring.
"Are my fries cancelled?"
"They are not." Lily grins. "Hello, Sirius. Glad to know you're alive."
"Who is this? Evans?"
"Yeah, of course."
"No, not of course. That was fucking creepy. What's this about me being alive?"
She rolls her eyes with a smile, despite the fact that no one's around to appreciate such a display of exasperation. "Your mate asked me to check in on you. Said you weren't responding to his calls, and apparently that automatically means your life is in danger. So, don't go shooting the messenger now."
"What? Which mate?"
"I—" She pauses, blinks for a second, "How many of your mates do you expect me to know, Sirius? It's obviously James."
"Well, that's rubbish because I spoke to—"
His voice suddenly breaks off, and Lily frowns, wondering if the call has been disconnected. But some soft shuffling noise from the other end confirms that it hasn't. She bites her lower lip contemplatively, more than a little intrigued. What he'd been saying had sounded suspiciously like...
"Hello? Sirius? Can you hear me?"
"Yeah, Evans. Yeah, I'm here."
"Why are you—are you laughing?"
If anything, the question only seems to make him guffaw louder; the bark of his hilarity ringing against her ear sharply. "Oh, nothing at all. Just something funny on the TV. What was I saying?"
Lily narrows her eyes. "That it's rubbish that James would ask me to check on you because—"
"My bad. I just plugged in my phone, and guess what? You're right. I seem to have about fifty missed calls from him. What a desperate bloke! Can't take a signal, can he?"
She doesn't know if her ears are deceiving her; if there's really an implicating undertone to his question or not, but it certainly feels like there is. And yet, she still finds herself smiling idiotically and answering him all the same. "I suppose he's rather shite at that, yeah."
Or maybe, she doesn't add, he's actually alarmingly good at taking the signals.
Even the ones she tries very hard not to give off.
"Was there anything else?" Sirius asks, still sounding amused.
Quite horrifically, the first inclination that sits on her tongue is to ask him at what time James is returning, but thankfully the question never drops, swallowed back down by Lily's own guilt-laced restraint. She can't keep doing this! She's never had any problems separating her professional and personal lives in her mind before, and a boy with golden eyes and cheeky grins shouldn't be able to rock that ability so thoroughly to its foundation now.
With that bit of conviction held strong, she lets her heartbeat steady.
"No, that's all. I'll leave you to the TV, then. Have a good evening!"
"You, too! Oh, and Evans?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you check on those fries, please?"
She chuckles. "Will do, mate."
He returns a few minutes past midnight, when Lily is sat in her chair behind the reception, phone in hand as she scrolls through her Shadow and Bone eBook. The sound of suitcase wheels rolling down marble-tiled floors pulls her attention and gaze, and she looks up to see James strolling towards the reception with a tired smile on his face. The sight of him in a casual black t-shirt and worn jeans, with hair tousled characteristically, shoots a pang straight through her chest, edged and sudden.
It hits her like the strongest gut-punch: she'd missed him.
Oh, fuck.
"Hi, Evans." She blinks, finds that he's reached the counter by now. There's a soft smirk to his lips even as he stares at her with that unrelenting intensity. "Miss me?"
Unsurprisingly, a flush clambers over her entire face at the question. "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?"
"As a matter of fact, I would." Shameless.
She clicks her phone off, gets up from the chair, and moves to stand across from him—to relieve the cramp in her neck, if for nothing else. "How was your meeting, then?"
James smirks a little sharper, but thankfully doesn't circle back to the topic she has sidestepped unsubtly. "It was good, actually. Really, really good. I think it'll give us a fair bit of advantage during negotiations with the client suppliers, which is always helpful when you have incumbents in the panel and—um, crap, sorry, I don't want to bore you."
"You're not," she says truthfully. "I'm glad it went so well!"
"Thank you." He slumps forward a little, evidently exhausted. "I'm starving."
"Oh, well, go on upstairs, then. I can ask them to prepare something right away so that you don't need to wait until you're back in your room to do it," Lily spouts off, already moving towards the phone to make the call. "What do you want to have? Italian? Indian? Ch—"
"Are you hungry?"
The handset in her grip halts midway, doesn't make it to her ear. She feels her brows furrow, confusion fogging over the sudden pounding of her heart as she holds his pointed gaze. "What?"
"You heard me."
"I—a bit, I guess? I mean, it's midnight. Everyone's hungry at midnight."
"Join me for dinner, then." He grins instantly. "There's no one around here anyway. I'm sure a short break will be fine."
"James," Lily sighs, face masked into an expression of mature calm to counter the hurricane that's raging inside. "I can't. You know I can't. It's not appropriate of me to just go and have dinner with a guest, and especially not when—"
"Not when, what?" His voice lowers.
She swallows down the nerves, and powers through. "Not when it could very easily be construed as non-platonic."
"A date, you mean?"
"Something like that," she says, feels her own volume drop.
James stares long enough for her face to warm again, for the bright hazels of his eyes to transform into something darker; a rich brown colour that she finds difficult to keep looking at. Eventually, he tilts his head to the side and smiles, something small and simple. "It's not that deep, Evans. I was only asking because Sirius has probably already slept off, and it's not much fun to eat alone. But if you're not comfortable, that's understandable. I don't want to push."
There's not a single sign of bitterness on his face as he says all of this; nothing in his tone to suggest that he's offended by her protests. And yet, the flood of guilt that immediately fills her up to the brim feels unstoppable. The fact that he even considers the idea that she's not comfortable with him… well, that just won't do.
Lily presses her lips and shakes her head. "No, you're—you're right, of course. I'm sorry. I was being silly—"
"You really weren't. I don't want you feeling bad about your emotions, or anything. I was just—"
"Potter, shut up. Let's go have dinner."
He blinks for a beat, eyes widening, before soft laughter rumbles through his chest. "Bossy, aren't you? Alright, let's have dinner."
She shrugs a shoulder in lieu of a proper response, before nodding her head towards the left side of the lobby. "Go on and grab a table, then. I'll ask them to prepare something for us."
"Oh." His eyebrows arch. "You mean, we're going to dine down here?"
It doesn't take more than half a second for her mind to catch on. She narrows her eyes. "I'm not going upstairs to your room, James."
No matter how much she wants to.
No, no. What the fuck?
Stop that.
But he simply winks, like he can see the real thoughts playing inside her skull, and walks away with a smug grin, suitcase dragging behind him once again. "Wouldn't dream of suggesting so, Evans."
Save for a few strange looks and a knowing smile from Benjy—who graciously agrees to cover reception for her for a few minutes—the staff doesn't so much as blink when Lily asks them to prepare a meal for the son of the owners—and a little bit of something for her too if it isn't too much trouble.
Turns out, it isn't.
Not even ten minutes after she's made the request, two plates of spaghetti carbonara and some wine—only for James, because Lily vehemently refuses to drink during work, thank you very much—is placed on the tabletop between them with a flourish. There's certainly a strangeness she can't seem to let go of when being prickingly aware that she's being served by her colleagues, even if Kingsley from the waiting staff only smiles brightly and wishes them a pleasant meal.
"Thanks, mate," James tacks on cheerfully after Lily has sufficiently rambled off her own gratitude. Once he leaves, James takes a bite of his food, and moans rather exaggeratedly in the quiet of the dining hall. "Fu-uck, this is some good stuff."
"I'll be sure to pass on the compliments."
"Why aren't you eating?" He frowns slightly, eyes caught onto the way she twirls and untwirls the spaghetti around her fork. "Are you not hungry? I thought you said—"
"No, no, I am. It's just…" She sighs, wonders if there's any point in articulating what she's feeling; if he'll even understand. But he's put down his own fork now, attention undivided, and she knows there's no skirting around the issue. "Well, it just feels a bit weird to me, having my own co-workers and friends cooking food and serving me. I feel a little… snobbish."
James seems to chew on that, leaning back in his chair as he slowly nods his head. "I suppose I can understand that. I don't think I'd feel any differently had I been in your place." He pauses. "To be honest, I wasn't too keen on lodging here for a month when Mum suggested it. Home—that is, my parents' house—is a bit far from office, and that's what eventually convinced me to stay here while the renovation goes on. But there's a certain way everyone looks at you when they think you can get them thrown out of their job."
"Really, how terrible to have everyone fawning over you." Lily rolls her eyes, but keeps a smile on her face to let him know she's only teasing.
"Well, I guess there are some perks." He agrees cheekily, but softens the very next moment. "But you're really the farthest thing from snobbish, Evans. Maybe next time we'll not make this quite so conspicuous, how about that?"
There's relief twining up her insides, an unquestionable warmth in her belly that leaves her overwhelmed. But she makes herself throw him an unimpressed glance nevertheless, right before she finally eats a forkful of the food. "I'm sorry, what next time?"
He smirks down at his plate. "You know, the one where I don't have to practically beg you to spend some time with me. And I know I said I wouldn't even dream of suggesting it, but in light of our recent conversation, the room upstairs would be a more inconspicuous location, don't you think?"
"What I think—" Lily leans forward; face flaming red, heart banging, "—is that you should stop talking before I reach across the table and stab you to death."
"Oh, I'd love for you to reach," he breathes through a dangerous grin. "Give it a try."
Her mouth parts, air caught in lungs. After an incriminatingly long pause, she looks away. "Just eat your damned food, Potter."
James laughs loudly.
And she's fucked.
A/N - Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews! They put a huge smile on my face without fail :))
Just want to call out that I was in la-la-fic-land when I wrote this, so I totally didn't think much about labour laws that would prevent Lily from working at the hotel for almost the whole month. Too late (and too lazy) to go back and fix that though, so please just close your eyes and accept whatever holidays I give her (I promise she doesn't mind) ;)