The Wingman

Chapter Six: Where to Go From Here…

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James came storming into the bar and headed over to where Sirius and Marielle were talking and laughing over watermelon margaritas. How dare they be happy, James thought briefly before reaching them.

Sirius noticed his friend's dour mood immediately. "Didn't go so well, eh, mate?" he asked lightly, referring to James's chat with Lily.

"You could say that," James responded darkly. He threw himself into the seat next to Sirius at the bar. "'Friends don't French each other, they don't say they want to marry each other, and they certainly don't sleep together.' Well, thank you, Lily, for clearing that up for me. It appears as though I've been doing this whole friendship thing wrong for twenty-one years." He sucked in a breath, as that rant had left him quite winded, and snapped to Madam Rosmerta, who was pretending not to be listening intently, "Give me a bottle of Yeager with a straw."

Madam Rosmerta raised her eyebrows at James's rather extreme request, but filled it quietly anyway. James took the bottle from her, unwrapped the straw, and stuck it in the bottle. He slurped the drink loudly and morosely, hands supporting his head, eyes staring at the bottle.

Sirius laughed softly at this, knowing from many past experiences that James couldn't hold his liquor to save his life.

"But," Marielle said, apparently trying only to be helpful, "at least it's not like you wanted anything to come out of this, right?"

She failed at being helpful.

James bent his head over his drink in an attempt to hide the blush that was rising to his face as Sirius guffawed loudly.

Marielle smirked. "James," she said, in the way that you speak to a two-year-old when trying to coax them into finishing a snack or getting in the bath or lying down for a nap, "are you in love with Lily?"

"I don't love the way she's acting, that's for sure," James said sourly, stabbing his straw further into the bottle of Yeager to suck up the last few drops hiding at the bottom of the bottle. "And I didn't love her twenty-four hours ago. Or, maybe I did and I just didn't realize it. I'm still very hazy on the whole subject, to be honest."

"But the Yeager's helping," Sirius muttered under his breath. James and Marielle both chose to ignore him.

"But you're in love with her now," Marielle prodded.

"Gods, I don't know," James replied, sounding very frustrated. "All I know is that when she was sitting there by the fire, crying and feeling very sorry for herself, she looked very pretty and all I wanted to do was kiss her. There, are you happy?"

Marielle sighed dreamily. "And then you did kiss her. That's very romantic."

Sirius grunted.

James snorted, again ignoring Sirius. "I didn't kiss her. I kissed her back, but she did kiss me first, no matter what she says. And it really wasn't that romantic, actually."

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Marielle asked softly.

James glanced up at her. "If you want," he said, trying to pretend as though he really didn't care what Marielle did. However, she saw through that.

She smiled. "Okay." Marielle stood, tossed back the last of her margarita, kissed Sirius quickly (James scowled) and turned to go.

James and Sirius watched her retreating figure (Sirius smiling, James glowering). Once she'd closed the heavy oak door behind her, Sirius turned to his best friend.

"What do you think's going to happen, mate?" he asked.

James, who had attached his mouth to his straw again, shrugged.

Sirius sighed and took the bottle from James, who didn't bother to protest. "Really, James."

"Don't know," James responded truthfully. "I really don't."

"What do you want to happen?"

James looked up and met his eyes. "I would like to be with Lily," he admitted. "But more than anything, I want her to be happy. Last night…seeing her like that…it was horrible. I don't want to see her like that again, and if that means that I can't speak to her again…" He trailed off, then picked up the sentence a little too cheerily. "But hopefully that won't happen."

Hopefully.

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"He loves you."

Lily's head snapped up. "No, he doesn't," she said.

Marielle nodded sadly. "Yes, he does. Even though I don't really see why right now…"

Lily sat up indignantly. "Now, that's unfair!" she declared.

"No, it's not, Lily. James has every right to hate you, and truth be told, he probably should, the way you're treating him. He's trying, and you're blocking him out."

"You're a woman. You're supposed to be on my side," Lily said, flopping back on the couch.

"Not when you're being so irrational. For once, it's the man acting reasonable and the woman acting completely stupid." She smiled, then sobered. "But really, Lily. At least talk to him, hear him out…you don't have to end up snogging him, and you don't have to marry him. Just…try to salvage your friendship, okay? That'd be a terrible thing to lose."

Lily stared Marielle in the eyes, really thinking it over. Finally, she sighed. "All right. I'll talk to him."

"Rationally?"

"Rationally," Lily promised. "Now where is he?"

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Sirius was trying to get James to drink a Sobering Potion when Marielle walked in, followed by Lily.

James spotted her, and downed the potion in one gulp, eyes closed. He winced, waited a few moments for the potion to take effect, and opened his eyes. Lily bit her lip and stood in front of him, arms crossed over her chest. Sirius leapt from his seat, and Lily took this as her invitation to sit in it. She turned her chair so that it was facing James.

Neither of them said a word for maybe two minutes; just looked at each other. Finally, Lily spoke softly, "I'm worth a whole bottle of Yeager, James?"

He smiled a little. "Would've been two if you hadn't shown up."

They grinned at each other for a moment, and Lily said, "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you should be," James responded.

Lily bit her lip again and nodded, agreeing with him. "James," she said, very quietly, "do you--do you love me?"

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah," he replied. "Yeah, I guess I do."

Lily didn't say anything, but her face fell.

"I'm guessing by your expression that you don't love me like that," James said.

Lily shook her head. "I'm really, really sorry," she started, tears beginning to fill her eyes.

James held up a hand. "Don't be sorry," he smiled. "I'll get over it eventually. I always do. Being friends with you means more to me right now than being with you."

"You know, if…if we were in a different situation," she said, "I probably would love you."

He smiled patiently. "If we were in a different situation, I probably wouldn't."

Lily bit her lip again, realizing that he was right. She met his eyes and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'll be fine…girls like you breaking my delicate heart happens all the time…" They both laughed a little at that, and Lily leaned over, filling the space between their chairs, and put her arms around his neck, hugging him. He hugged her back, and smoothed her hair. "Really, though, Lily," he whispered in her ear, "I don't want you to feel guilty about me."

She nodded against his shoulder. They pulled apart and grinned at each other. "Friends again?" Lily asked, extending her hand.

"Friends," James agreed, shaking it.

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A/N: Poor Jamesie. ;) Don't worry about him, though…he'll be just fine…Lily's quite the heartbreaker, isn't she? :D

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE CONTINUOUS FLOW OF REVIEWS!!! I LOVE THEM!!!

There have been some comments that this story is a lot like the movies "Boys and Girls" and "When Harry Met Sally". I have only seen parts of the latter, and even when I did, it was about one in the morning (Conan was over and I wanted something to fall asleep to), so I really wouldn't know. I haven't seen the former at all, so I really wouldn't know about that one. luckily, however, none of the comments concerning the coincidences between the movie and the story have been negative, and I thank you for not all out accusing me of plagiarism, because I certainly haven't plagiarized anything--to my knowledge, anyway.

Oh, yes: I got James's "bottle of Yeager with a straw" from Seth Meyers from the Nia Vardalos episode of SNL. I love Seth, especially his commentaries on Weekend Update…but not as much as Jimmy Fallon!!