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"Has she written back yet?" Sirius asked James for about the third time that day. It had been three days since James had sent the letter to Lily and she still hadn't written back. "Why don't we go to Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley?" Remus, who was visiting for the week, asked trying to change the subject. "You mean like we've done a thousand times before?" Sirius answered with a look of disgust in his face. "There's got to be something better." "We could do some muggle stuff." Remus suggested. "Maybe." Sirius considered unenthusiastically. They both looked at James who was lost in thought.
"I guess I really did blow it." he said sadly. "I mean, she doesn't even think enough of me to write a friggin letter." James and Remus could hear the bitterness in his voice. Remus suddenly felt guilty. He hadn't even told his friends about his letter to Cad. It seemed unfair to him to show his happiness at her return letter, when James was so obviously in pain. Almost as if he could read his mind James spoke, "Did anything ever happen with you and Cad after that one night?" Remus didn't want to lie to his friend. "I sent her a letter." Sirius perked up. "And?" "and she wrote me back, and I think I like her." Remus said quietly. "Good for you Moony." As expected there was a hollowness in James voice as he said this.
Sensing the tension Sirius once again diverted the conversation. "So what are we going to do?" Both eager to talk about something new James and Remus each had suggestions. In the end they decided to go a muggle mall. No one was to excited about the idea, but at least it was a change of scenery. They got in James' mum's car and were on there way. After about thirty minutes of driving they arrived. They started going through the small shops and started having fun. Trying on muggle clothes was always great entertainment for the trio. They tried on weird assortments of outfits, hats, shoes 4 sizes too large, and Sirius ventured into a dress and heels. The sales people thought they were crazy, but after the dress the got a little agitated and "suggested" the boys left the store. They headed toward the food court a lot happier than they had been earlier in the day.
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Cad sat in Lily's living room counting the tiles on the floor. She was just that bored. She looked across from her to see Lily's boyfriend Max gazing into space. They were waiting on Lily. Lily had always taken longer to get ready than Cad, but when Max was around, she took even longer. Cad got up and examined herself in the mirror. Dark denim flairs, an old football jersey, her normal straight her was curled, a pair of Nike's, a little bit of make-up, and a dab of lip gloss. She thought she looked fine, and it only took her 10 minutes to get ready. Lily was finally ready. She was a little too done up for a trip to the mall. But Lily was thought it was well worth it when her boyfriend was speechless. "Finally. Let's go." Cad stated agitatedly.
The drive was no better for Cad. She drove while Lily and Max snogged in the back seat. It had been like this almost everyday of the summer. Cad had excepted the fact that she had to be around Max if she wanted to be with her best friend. So when the arrived at the mall Cad was more than happy the drive was over. At least they kept the PDA's to a minimum while in public. The mall was a ways away from Lily's house so they headed to the food court first to get some lunch. What Cad saw made her heart leap and her stomach flutter. Sitting twenty feet away, engaged in conversation with two of his best friends was Remus. Over the last few days they had written back and forth and she was really starting to fall for him. Lily wasn't as happy as she noticed James. She inched, if possible, even closer to Max and whispered, "You know Cad, I'm not that hungry let's just shop." Too late. Cad had already started walking toward the boys, leaving Lily to unwillingly follow.
"Sirius that dress was so you" Remus said not even attempting to hold back his laughter. "Too bad we..." Remus trailed off as he saw a tall blonde out of the corner off his eye. James and Sirius turned to look and smiled as they saw the trio that was approaching them. James smile quickly turned to a frown as he saw the guy attached to Lily. "Cad!" Remus jumped up a bit awkwardly and started to hug her, but at the last minute stopped and just sort of stood there. Looking to his best friends for help he simply said "um, good to see you." Cad feeling a little upset at his change said hi to everyone.
"Who's this?" Sirius asked pointing at Max. "My boyfriend, Max." Lily said speaking for the first time. "Max, meet Sirius, Remus, and," she paused when she came to James, "what's your name again?" James obviously upset started to answer but Cad cut him off "James. Remember I dated him a while back?" James upset that Cad had answered for him simply glared at Max. "Why don't you guys join us?" Remus motioned for them to sit. Cad and Max each took a seat. Instead of taking the seat next to Max she sat on his lap, and ignored the surprised Max. "Um, so how do you guys know each other?" Max asked politely. Taking cue Cad answered, "They go to an all boys school near where me and Lily go." The boys realized he was a muggle and nodded their heads to agree.
The meal was weird. Remus felt a bit insecure around Cad, who was trying to force conversation. James and Sirius were giving Max death stares, but he didn't even notice. Max was too busy with Lily who was suddenly all over him. Cad couldn't even talk to Lily about it because she had a feeling it wasn't exactly a good idea to leave Max alone with the boys. When they had all finished Cad seized the opportunity to have some alone time with Remus. Ignoring the angry looks from Lily she asked Remus to help her find something in a store. He agreed and they left James and Lily to their own problems.
They walked along for a few minutes in silence. Cad decided to speak first. "You know it's really great to see you." "You too." They caught each others eyes and quickly looked away. "So what's the deal with this Max guy?" Remus picked a somewhat safe topic. "Well, Lily met him about a month ago, ironically at the mall, and they've been together ever since." She said matter of factly. "She doesn't usually act like she was though." she added as an after thought. Remus smiled, "Yeah. I had a feeling that was all for James' benefit." "Yeah." After that the conversation flowed freely and they spent a few hours just walking from shop to shop.
The other weren't having as much luck. Sirius had to pull James aside as Max and Lily resumed their snogging on a bench. "Calm down." Sirius said under his breath. "She's just trying to get a rise out of you." "Or him." James answered through gritted teeth. When Max and Lily came up for air they suggested that they head toward a shop. While Lily was trying on an outfit Sirius caught James' eye. Even without saying it he was able to communicate to Sirius what he wanted him to do. "Hey Max come here." Max walked over, only to be lead unwillingly in to a closet by Sirius. Sirius leaned against the door to ensure he would stay there.
After laughing, James entered the dressing room with out thinking twice. Luckily, Lily was the only one in there. "Lily?" James asked knocking on her door. He entered before she could respond but fortunately she was dressed. "God, James what the hell do you think you're doing!" "I just want to talk to you." "Then talk." she said angrily. "You didn't respond to my letter." he said softly. "Anything I wanted to say to you could wait." she said bitterly. "Lily, I don't want you to be mad at me." he said smiling at her. If possible Lily got even madder. "Sure, just put the blame on me. We're going in circles, James. If being your friend is like this, then" she lowered her voice a little, "I don't even want to try." "Like this?" he questioned. "James you know what I mean, I don't know what you expected but-" a sudden thought entered her mind "Where's Max?" "What?" James responded a bit confused at first. "Max, Where's Max?" "Oh! Err..." "Oh my God! Sirius!" She ran out of the room.
"Sirius, Where the hell are you?" she charged through the store. Sirius leapt away from the door as she approached. "Oh my God! Max are you okay?" Max started to go at Sirius but Lily held him back. "C'mon Max, lets go find Cad." They left the store. James and Sirius started to follow but thought better of it.
Cad and Remus were in their own little world. Cad glanced at her watch and saw it was getting late. She had an idea. "Hey Remus?" "Yeah?" "Lets get our picture taken in one of those booths." Remus nodded and they headed toward the nearest one. Cad read the directions. "Perfect it takes 6 pictures" she thought. She started to take out her money but Remus stopped her. "My treat." They climbed in the booth. For the first few pictures they made the traditional funny faces. Then Remus put his arm around her for one. She put her head on his shoulder as the 5 picture was taken. It was now or never. She leaned forward and kissed him. Number 6. They parted and smiled. Remus knew that now was the time for him to say something witty but he just stared at the girl he had just shared this intimate moment with. He finally started to say something but Cad beat him to it. "Our first kiss. I thought it was something to I'd want to remember." Remus smiled and they climbed out of the booth.
They divvied up the pictures, both with constant smiles on their faces. Remus finally got the nerve to ask something he'd been dying to ask all afternoon, "Cad," "Yeah?" "Do you want to be my girlfriend?" She leaned in and kissed him again. Unfortunately. James and Sirius took that moment to run over. "Moony! We've got to go!" Sirius said quickly as he grabbed his friends wrist. "But-" "We'll explain later." He yelled back to Cad "Can I take that as a yes?" "Yes!" She laughed as she got further and further away. Remus was overjoyed. However he was pulled out of his trance once they reached the car. "You locked him in a closet!" But even at that he couldn't help but laugh. Cadence Woods was his girlfriend. He was Cad's boyfriend. Everything was perfect. Well, for him anyway.
A/N- Please Review!!!! I won't post until I have 10 reviews!! I hope you like the story!!