LoL! Aww, I do use cliffies quite a lot, I admit.
Not so much on this one, but on Tell me what you think, to those of you who know what that is.
Anyway! Thanks for the reviews. Here's the next chappie.
James's POV
Oh God, I didn't just say that.
I knew Sirius would do this. I knew he'd push so much that I'd eventually tell him.
And now he was just staring at me, trying to work out if I was being sarcastic or not.
There was a long pause, during which Remus and Peter stared from me to Sirius, waiting for someone to say something.
"What?" Sirius finally breathed.
I sighed.
Wonderful. Now I had to elaborate.
"Nothing," I replied dully. "Just. . . forget it. I didn't say a thing."
"Did you mean that?" he asked, looking shocked.
Obviously.
"No."
"Yes you did."
Then why did he ask?
Ugh. I hate fighting with Sirius. But I really, never thought I'd see the day when we'd fight over a girl. We're practically brothers, we're that close.
Yet, here we were.
"You seriously feel that way?"
"No. I was. . . over exaggerating," I lied.
"So, you hate her?"
Way to dig myself into a hole.
"Yes. No. I don't know!"
Sirius' POV
Oh Merlin. Everything just got confusing.
I so thought he hated her. That he was just ignoring her, being nasty. But. . . he wasn't.
So James liked Lily. . . while I liked Lily.
And sure, Lily was with me. But this meant I had to look at how much I really did like Lily.
Didn't I?
Or maybe. . . I don't know. I could kill James.
"Look, tell me straight," I sighed. "Did you mean that or were you just trying to get me to shut up?"
Might as well find out if he meant it. Otherwise, I'd be stressing over nothing.
"Er. . . you know, let's just forget it," James replied. "I mean, it's not going to make any difference-"
"No, it's going to make a difference all right. Tell me."
"Sirius, uh, maybe-" Remus started to speak up, but I cut him off.
This was between me and James.
"James!"
He sighed loudly, avoiding my eyes. "Yes. Yeah, it was true."
"Does she know?"
James' eyes suddenly locked on mine. "You dare-" he cried, but I shook my head and groaned.
"This is. . ." I shook my head again, sinking into a chair in one corner of the dorm.
"Not good?" Peter suggested.
Lily's POV
We left the Shack quite soon after Remus and Peter turned up.
James wanted to go. Maybe he was worried about somebody actually catching us in the Shrieking Shack, I dunno. He was a little distant. No, very distant, actually. That boy needs to control his mood swings.
"You have fun?" Tess asked when I went back to my dorm. She was lay on her bed, a magazine in front of her.
"Yeah, it was okay," I replied.
"Don't sound too enthusiastic. Lorredana that bad, huh?"
"Lorredana? No, she was okay," I shrugged, kicking my shoes off.
"Really?" Tess said, sounding quite disappointed.
Helen laughed, sitting up on her bed. "Lily! She wanted you to say she was awful. And that James absolutely hated her."
But I thought Tess didn't like James, anymore. . .
"Does he really like her?" Tess asked, abandoning her magazine.
"Like Lorredana? Nope. I don't think so anyway. Why? I thought you didn't care about him anymore?"
"No way! I just thought he was with that Laurie girl. But if he's not..." Tess shrugged and grinned. "Great!"
I giggled and shook my head. "You still want me to set you up with him?"
"Of course!"
James' POV
I didn't tell him. I didn't. He doesn't know, everything is fine, when I sit up again he'll tell me we have Quidditch practice tomorrow and that-
"What are you thinking?" he asked quietly.
Remus and Peter had decided to go to bed, but I knew Remus wasn't asleep. And I knew Peter was, from the snores coming from his bed.
"What am I thinking?" I repeated, looking towards him.
He just nodded, looking at me intently.
I sighed. "I. . . don't know. How messed up this is. I'm not doing this just to get at you, you know."
"Well that never even entered my mind," Sirius rolled his eyes. "You're not Snape. You don't do things just to spite me." He hesitated. "I hope."
I forced a smile and went back to glaring at the ceiling. Don't ask why I was doing that. I felt like glaring at something and the ceiling was there.
"Look, it's not anything big," I said thoughtfully. God, I was lying. Or I was going to lie, I could tell. "It's not as if I love her or anything. I dunno, maybe this is just nature's way of telling me I need a girlfriend."
"You've lost me."
Eh, well. It doesn't take much.
"I mean. . . It doesn't matter. I. . . I'll get over her in a couple of days."
Sirius' POV
I don't think I actually went to sleep that night.
Well maybe I did, but it didn't feel like it. I just thought all night.
"So did you work things out last night?" Peter yawned, the minute he'd woke up.
James shrugged, pulling on his robes. "Sure. There was nothing to work out. Everything's cool."
Yeah. Sure. Everything's cool.
Ptsh.
It's such a good thing Lily isn't in our year. If she was in our classes all day, I think that would have just caused more problems.
Wait, what am I talking about? James said he was 'going to get over her in a couple of days'.
You know what the confusing thing about that is? He doesn't just fancy her. Because he has to get over her. So that means he really does like her.
"You coming to breakfast?" Remus asked, opening the door.
"Yeah," I answered, slinging my bag over my shoulder. James and Peter followed us, and we walked down to the Common Room together.
Where Lily, Tess and Helen were sitting and talking.
Yeah. I should have expected that.
"Morning!" Lily smiled, the minute she saw me.
"Hey," I replied, smiling halfly. I started to walk towards her, then halfway there decided not to and stopped.
Well. This was awkward.
"Er, we're gonna go down to breakfast. I'll see you later, okay?" I said, deciding it was best just to get out of there.
But I don't know why. So what if James was behind me? He said he'd get over her. . .
"Okay," Lily agreed, walking the rest of the distance between us two.
Oh. She wanted me to kiss her.
I glanced quickly at James. Would that be like, rubbing it in?
Damn. Everything's all complicated.
"Yeah. . . 'Bye!" I smiled widely, and then practically sprinted out of the Common Room.