"So.. How have you been doing?" James asked stiffly as the two sat on the curb, waiting for Arabella to pay the bill and Sirius and Munguldus to clean up that huge mess they made.
"Fine.. Just fine.." Lily muttered as she took a sip of her milkshake- In a to-go carton.
"Sirius tells me you have a new admirer." James tried to say casually, but, like the phone call a few days before, he failed miserably.
"That's what you've been so silent about?" Lily asked in wonder. "The wonderful James Potter is jealous of somebody? The one that has all the girls secretly in whispers?"
"What are you talking about?" James sputtered in surprise. The last question caught him off-guard.
"Are you kidding me? All the girls are pestering me for information. 'Does he dance well?' 'Does he kiss nice?' 'What color underwear does he have on?' You're like the secret crush of every girl. They just won't admit it to your face." Lily said smoothly, congratulating herself. Never had changing the subject been so easy.
"So, what's his name?" James asked, his confidence slowly returning.
"Damn." Lily muttered.
Remus walked out of the diner to see Lily uncomfortably sitting on one edge of the curb, and James five feet away. He laughed to himself, and the two looked happy that there was someone else around.
"Remus!" Lily said perkily, jumping up from her seat. "Tell me how the mess started, it should be a lovely campfire story."
Remus looked over her shoulder and saw James send him a pleading look.
"Well, Munguldus dropped something when Sirius came over with another round of chocolate shakes, and Munguldus moved a bit, and Sirius tripped over Munguldus. Fortunately, we had six to-go cups ready, and the magic in us got most of it in there, but Munguldus, the floor, and Sirius's shoes are covered in it." Remus lied, knowing the mess was simply a diversion. (A/N: Ann, here comes what you requested). The stuff that they were putting James and Lily through..
"It's five in the afternoon, we should find a place to camp." James said stiffly as Arabella and Sirius came out, Munguldus not too far behind.
"Whatever." Lily said off-handedly. "Let's just get moving."
"Isn't this place gorgeous?" Lily asked as they selected a place to camp- Some back field of some abandoned farmhouse owned by the government.. They mowed it once or twice a year.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." James grumbled. Munguldus and Arabella were working on making the huge robe into a decent tent. Sirius and Remus had paired off to go get food from some little general store a mile away, and now James felt he was stuck with Lily- Again.
"What is your problem?" Lily demanded. "Lately you've been so grumpy."
"You want to know what's wrong with me? Huh?" He asked in a dangerously low voice. At this moment, she was scared of him. "You think you've had it bad, being the show of everything? You think I broke your heart? You think I screwed up big time? You think I'm ignorant, oblivious to the opposite sex's infatuation with me? You think I don't understand at ALL how you felt after Easter hols? Well, you know what, Lily? You're wrong." He said coldly, stalking off.
Lily panted and huffed, but she caught up with him. "What the bloody hell do you mean, sputtering a bit of your anger and walking off before you get closure?"
"Lily. You were hardly a show, or hardly someone cast off in the shadows. I've been reciting Latin since I was eleven to my stepfather's colleagues. My mother was so in love with him that the exact moment I made my stepfather look good, she adored me. The next minute I was thrust in the shadows, to be taken care of by some nurse or Tara. When I got into Hogwarts, my mother was thrilled. My stepfather felt deprived of attention and he started hitting her, and me. Fortunately, he soon joined the Dark Lord and was too busy to be around. He died last year. And about the Embassy Ball- Emotions have never been my strong point. I will not lie to you and say that I felt good when I left, but I had to lie. Emotions are weak points. For your information, I was not kicked out of several schools like the rumors I've heard, some of which have been spread into your own entourage. Thought you'd go for the bad boy today, didn't you, Lil? You know who I lost that was my mentor and my best friend? My dad. To some stupid Death Eater that had him killed off. And about the whole thing about ignoring the affections of the opposite sex- The only reason I do that is because I only care about the affections of one of them." He said, with anger, turmoil, pain and tears. "Happy? Your life so imperfect now?"
He stomped off. After ten minutes of bickering with herself (that seemed like hours) she ran after him, and, again, caught up.
"You know what, James? We should just be acquaintances. In the same house, doing a lot of similar things, just not friends.. We seem to drive each other to an edge." She offered politely, sticking out her hand. "We obviously don't click as automatically as we thought we did."
"Was it we who thought that, Lil? Or was it you, chasing another fantasy of falling in love than realizing your theory about Shakespeare is right- It's never as extreme or as convenient as everything seems." James spat, shaking her hand with a hard grip. "Au revoir, mademoiselle."