The Wingman
Chapter Four: The Secretive Mr. Mitchell
***
The trouble with love is
It doesn't care how fast you fall
And you can't refuse the call
So you've got no say at all
Every time I turn around
I think I've got it all figured it out
My heart keeps calling and I keep on falling
Over and over again
Yes, that story always ends the same
Me, standing in the pouring rain
It seems no matter what I do
It tears my heart in two
~Kelly Clarkson, "The Trouble With Love"
********
"I say we have dinner at your house," John suggested, wrapping his arms around Lily's neck.
She buried her face in his chest. "We always have dinner at my house," she replied, voice muffled. "You're always talking about this spectacular manor of yours, and I've yet to see it. I'm beginning to think you're hiding something."
John laughed. "I'm not hiding anything."
It had been four months since Lily had first introduced John to her friends, and they were steadily becoming very serious--something that made James very nervous. He always avoided the topic of John like the plague. Lily never tried to steer the conversation towards her boyfriend when James deliberately changed the subject because James would always start mumbling derogatory comments under his breath. Since James's opinion held a lot of influence in Lily's life since they had become friends, this often made her very upset. A few arguments had arisen because of this, and for now, James and Lily silently agreed to disagree, and John was almost never brought up.
Tonight, it was raining. It had been raining for about a week straight now, and showed no sign of stopping. Lily glanced out the car window at the weather and sighed.
"All right," she agreed. "To my house it is."
~~~~~~
James knocked on the door to Marielle's house. It was Sunday, late Sunday, and Lily hadn't been at her house this morning when James went to meet her there for their weekly outing. He had decided to let it go for now and meet her for dinner. However, she wasn't at home at 8:30 either, and he was starting to get a little worried, and the first person he could think of to ask about Lily's whereabouts was Marielle.
Marielle answered the door about three minutes after James had first knocked, wearing white pajama bottoms spotted with red polka dots and a red tank top that read, "Flower Power to the People." She was tying her hair back with a purple hair band and yawning when she opened the door. "What're you doing here?" she asked, surprised to see James at her door so late without Sirius or Lily.
"Good evening to you too. Have you seen Lily?"
Marielle gave James a strange look. "Isn't she with you?"
James sighed exasperatedly. "If she were, why would I be bothering with you?"
"You are truly a charming individual, James Potter," Marielle smirked. "Well, if Lily's not with you, I'd wager she's with that boyfriend of hers."
James made a derisive noise under his breath, causing Marielle to grin.
"You really are jealous, aren't you?" she said. "And I thought Sirius was exaggerating."
"I'm not jealous," James snapped, "I just think that…that Mitchell is…you know…up to something."
"Oh?" Marielle said, her interest piqued. "Care to elaborate?"
"Wish I could," James replied, sighing a little. "I know something's off with him, I just can't put my finger on it…" Noticing he had Marielle's complete attention, he deliberately trailed off.
"Sirius told me that you and Lily ran into Michael a few months," Marielle said eagerly. "Anything to say on that subject?"
"Oh, nothing," James said, smirking a little, "other than Lily is still completely in love with the bloke."
Marielle gasped excitedly. "I knew she was, I just knew it!"
"She'll never admit it, of course," James continued. "She won't even talk about it."
"Ah, well," Marielle said darkly, "that's to be expected."
James glanced curiously at her. "Why's that?"
"You didn't see her when she and Michael first broke it off. Lily went completely off her rocker."
"What do you mean?"
"She was just…distant. Closed off. She'd trail off in the middle of a sentence, or start crying, mostly for no apparent reason. We were in a restaurant once, and in the middle of dinner, tears just started falling, and she had no explanation for it."
James frowned. "Michael's married."
Marielle's eyes widened, and she looked incredibly surprised and a little saddened. "Already?" she said, her voice so quiet it was almost a whisper.
"Yes," James responded, a bit sadly. "Lily refuses to talk about anything near the topic."
~~~~~~~
"John, what do you think of marriage?" Lily asked carefully over dinner.
John chewed the piece of salmon in his mouth very slowly before replying, "I'm not against it."
Lily bit her lip. "Do you ever…want to get married?"
John sighed. "Lily, where are you going with this?" he demanded, setting down his knife and fork a little more forcefully than necessary, causing Lily to flinch.
"I--I don't know," she said softly.
"Of course you do," John spat. "You want to get married."
Lily had never seen John this aggressive before, and it was scaring her a little. "Well…eventually…I suppose…."
"Well, Lily I can't marry you."
Lily felt her heart plummet and her eyes well up with tears, just as they had when Michael had told her that she was 'not the kind of girl' he pictured himself marrying. But instead of starting to cry, Lily got defiant. "And just why not?" she asked.
~~~~~~~~~
There was a very loud knock coming from the direction of James's living room. Automatically, James opened one eye to peer at the bedside clock. However, his eyesight was shot, and he was unable to determine exactly what time it was, but that it had to be late. He groaned and turned over, trying to go back to sleep and ignore the knock.
But the knocker grew more persistent, the knocks coming in rapid, urgent succession.
Sleepily, James threw back his covers and stumbled into his living room, which was lit only by the occasional flash of lightning peeping in through the curtains. James grumbled the whole way to the door, which was still being pounded on, even more impatiently.
"I'm coming," James snapped. He unlocked the door and opened it.
Standing on his doorstep, dripping wet from head to toe, was Lily. She looked very upset, and James could tell (by squinting very hard at her) that she had been crying.
"He's married, James," Lily told him, her voice wobbling. "He's married, and I never…I never knew…"
James sighed. "Come in, Lily."
Sniffling, she did so, and he closed the door behind her. Lily stood in front of the door, seemingly unable to move.
"Now, who's married?" James asked as he crouched in front of his fireplace, lighting a crackling fire with his wand. "Come here; you're going to get sick."
Lily still didn't move, but merely stared at the fire, which reflected in her eyes, causing them to glow eerily orange. James sighed and went to her side. He pulled her to the fireplace and sat her down in front of it. He retrieved an old plaid blanket from the sofa and draped it around her shoulders.
"You know who's married," Lily mumbled. "John is married. You were right." She lifted tearful eyes to James. "What is wrong with me? Why am I stupid enough to believe…to believe that these people actually love me, and that they're not just with me to pass the time? Why do I attract these kinds of people? Why does this always happen to me?"
James moved closer to her. "There is nothing wrong with you," he replied. "You're one of the most spectacular people I have ever met. You're smart, you're funny, you're very pretty…and if the people you date can't see that, then maybe we should take you off the market."
Lily met his eyes. "You're only saying that because you're my friend."
"No, I'm not. You're the kind of girl I always pictured myself marrying."
Lily shook her head. "Don't…say things like that. We all know I'm easy to charm, and if you keep going like that, I might end up sleeping with you. Or worse, falling for you."
James suddenly felt very strange. "What would be so bad about that?" he asked her, in a very odd, husky voice.
Lily searched his eyes, and in a single instant, grabbed his face and pressed her lips to his.
~~~~~~~~
