SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Summary: Lily and James went to Hogwarts together. Unfortunately their memories are not all enjoyable. Their time was spent pranking each other senseless, while competing for the top grades in the school. Two years after graduation they bump into each other, again, and again, and again... Could it be that they have a combined fate?
Disclaimer: Silly rabbits, I don't own Anything you recognize!
Author's Note: Hey everyone! Here is chapter 4 of Excuse Me Miss Evans! I know you have all been dying to read it. You'll just have to read down if you think that they are going to get any action...maybe they will...but then again maybe they won't. I'd like to thank EVERYONE that reviewed and please review again. I want to know what everyone thinks of Joey! I love him! And it makes me update quickly as I have been doing!!
Midnight Goddess
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Excuse Me Miss Evans
Chapter Four: Watch Where You're Going
By: Midnight Goddess
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James looked up at the beautiful white house as he stood at the door contemplating on how he should enter the household. He sighed and remembered hearing somewhere that muggles had some sort of a bell that they rang. He began looking around above him for a bell.
'Where could the bell be? It's amazing how muggles live without magic. It seems as if they have used magic to keep this bell to be hidden from me. That must be why I can't find it. How do they do it?' James keep turning around and inspecting every aspect of the doorframe and handle in search of a bell.
Then the door opened and James toppled inside. He heard a light giggle as he kept his eyes clamped shut in fear of opening them and finding Lily standing above him.
'I can never do anything right can I?' James screamed inside his head. Finally he braved opening his eyes and he looked up into two identical pairs of emerald green.
"James, I'm glad that you made it," Mr. Evans said with a small smile as he bit back the urge to laugh at the sight of their guest on the floor.
"We were just coming out to get some flowers for the table," Lily explained, as she held down her hand and helped James to his feet.
"I couldn't find the bell," James admitted sheepishly as he looked down at his feet. Lily smiled as she pointed to a small button next to the door.
"James, you've arrived!" Mrs. Evans said happily as she entered the room with an apron tied around her waist, "I didn't hear the bell!"
At this comment James turned pink and focused his attention on a picture on the wall of Lily, a girl who must be her sister, and her parents. The conversation was luckily dropped there.
"Lily, why don't you take James with you to get flowers for the table," Mr. Evans suggested as he headed towards the kitchen with Lily's mother. James nodded and followed Lily out of the opened door.
"How are you?" Lily asked James as they walked across the vast stretching of grass that was the front lawn over to a spot where a shady tree covered a flower bed filled with brightly colored flowers that had just bloomed.
"I'm fine," James responded with a confused look written on his face. Lily stepped forward and inspected the cut that was appearing on his forehead.
"You cut yourself when you fell," Lily whispered as she touched it with her wand and it disappeared.
"Thank you," James responded, tearing his eyes away from Lily's and looking at the flowers underneath the large tree that they were standing next to.
"What flowers do you like?" Lily asked as she knelt down in the soft dirt next to the flowers. James' eyes traveled across the numerous flowers that occupied the bed.
"The white roses are for my mother; her name is Rose. The red Petunias are for my sister; her name is Petunia. The Lilies are for me," Lily explained as she pointed to all of the flowers with her explanation.
"I like the Lilies," James said as he reached for a few white Lilies. They gathered a few of the lilies and then headed inside without another word. Lily placed the flowers in a vase and set them on a table.
"You picked the Lilies!" Mrs. Evans exclaimed with a sideways glance at James, "I've always loved Lilies."
Lily smiled at her mother as she asked, "Do you need any help in the kitchen?"
"That would be wonderful; I need to go change," Mrs. Evans announced as she took off her apron and hung it on the wall next to the refrigerator.
"Just bring out the food and set it on the table," she instructed as she began to walk towards the stairs to her room.
James smelt the kitchen and sighed. 'This smells wonderful. I am sure that Lily is just as good of a cook as her mother is. She must have inherited that talent from her mother.'
Lily picked up the salad and vegetables as she began to walk towards the dinning room, where they would be eating. James picked up the ham and turned around in order to follow Lily out of the room. He caught Lily off guard and she ran into him. The food dropped all around them in the kitchen.
"James!" Lily shouted as she looked at the food that covered the kitchen floor, "watch where you're going!"
"I'm sorry!" James exclaimed as he glanced at the food on the floor with wide eyes. 'I cannot believe I have done this again. At least I haven't fell in it yet, like last time.'
Lily took a step forward; her intentions were unknown, but James shrunk back. Suddenly, he was very afraid of Lily's actions. 'Please don't hurt me!' James screamed in his head.
Lily, unfortunately, slipped on the salad that had been covered with a nice dressing and fell backwards onto the floor. 'It was inevitable really. James and I always spill things, and fall. What would the world come to if we didn't?'
James began to laugh at the sight of Lily covered with salad on the floor. Lily tried to glare at James but a smile was beginning to form on her face. She picked up a handful of the salad off of the floor and threw it at James, hitting him on his face.
"I was clean up until now," James replied with a grin as he wiped the dressing off of his glasses.
"It wasn't fair for you to stay clean and for me to be covered in food!" Lily exclaimed with an apparent twinkle in her eye.
"I was planning on keeping it that way," James said seriously, although he faltered at the last moment and his face broke into a smile.
At this, Lily threw more salad onto him. It slipped down to the front of his shirt and he glanced at Lily as he said, "I don't have any more clothes,"
"And you call yourself a wizard, Potter," Lily sighed out as she twirled her wand in her fingers. At that very moment Mrs. Evans raced into the room.
"What happened? Are you okay?" She yelled as she looked at Lily covered with food on the floor.
"We had an accident," Lily managed to get out before she began laughing. James and her mother looked at her before James began laughing also.
Mrs. Evans looked back and forth between James and Lily before she spoke, "Why don't you two go up and change, and I'll try and fix up more food."
Lily and James raced up the stairs to change quickly. Mrs. Evans could hear the slamming of doors up there and she smiled as she began to pull out more food quickly and prepare it.
~*~
"Dinner's ready!" Mrs. Evans called out as she walked into the living room, where her husband, James, and Lily were talking. James and Lily had their wands out and they quickly dropped the candle that they had been levitating and walked into the kitchen. Petunia stalked in from a different room and they all seated themselves around the table.
"Petunia, have you met James?" Mrs. Evans asked her daughter, who was sitting to the right of her.
Petunia flipped her blonde hair out of her eyes and glared at her mother before turning her glare on Lily and James.
"I have not," Petunia announced, "I didn't plan on it either," she added underneath her breath.
"What was that dear?" Mr. Evans asked who was sitting across from Petunia. He lifted his eyes off of his plate and watched Petunia with interest.
'I can see how Lily isn't thrilled to visit her sister. Her parents are wonderful, but her sister must have made life miserable here for Lily.' James thought.
"How is your sister, James?" Mrs. Evans asked, trying to change the conversation from the awkward topic that they were on before.
"She's doing well, she just had a baby," James beamed out. His eyes twinkled with happiness as Mr. and Mrs. Evans smiled back.
"Lily told us," Mrs. Evans replied as she glanced at Lily and James who were smiling now at each other.
"James, you went to school with Lily, correct," Mr. Evans asked.
"Yes, we were in the same house," James replied. 'I have had this conversation so many times with this man. It is as if he's waiting to catch me in a lie so he can find out that I'm really dating his daughter...which I am not...'
"It must have been fascinating," Mr. Evans replied with a sideways glance at Petunia. He gave her a look that meant she needed to join the conversation.
"So you and Lily are friends?" Petunia asked. Lily rolled her eyes at her sister. 'Petunia will never pass up a chance to harass me. She sounds interested and she really is because I'm involved. She knows how protective dad is over me and if James even shows a little bit of attraction towards me he will be getting the full blow of Dad's angry lectures.'
"Yes, Lily and I are friends from school," James replied in a tone that reflected that him and Lily were nothing but friends.
"He's not my boyfriend," Lily snapped at Petunia.
'Lily is just as upset about the fact that people think we are dating as I am...she doesn't know that deep down inside I wish that I could say that she was my girlfriend...and she never will...'
"I never said he was!" Petunia replied with a fake tone of annoyance in her voice.
'Why did I do that? That is exactly what Petunia wanted me to do! She wanted me to have an outburst like that so it seems as if James and I are hiding something from them...'
"You implied it," Lily said softly as she turned back to her food and began to eat quickly, trying to avoid the eyes of her parents, Petunia, and especially James.
"You answered very defensively about that, Lily," Petunia commented, seemingly innocent as she continued to pick at her food, a small smile appearing.
"I don't like it when people imply things that are false," Lily said as she rolled her eyes at Petunia.
"It was an innocent question, Lily," Mrs. Evans said as she looked at her daughter sternly.
"It was implying that I was more than friends with James," Lily whined as she looked to her father for help.
"Nothing is going on between us," James answered quickly as he cowered under the gaze of Mr. Evans.
"Why are you so defensive over the fact that you and James are only friends?" Mrs. Evans inquired as she looked at Lily with a gleaming in her eye.
"Everyone thinks that we are dating!" Lily exclaimed, quite loudly for at the dinner table at Mrs. Evans immediately gave Lily a look that told her that the last comment was uncalled for.
"Nothing like that has ever bothered you before. You always would let people think what they wanted to because it didn't matter if you knew the truth," Mr. Evans smiled out as he quickly bent his head down to his plate and began eating before Lily grew angry again.
"Everyone thinks it, Dad," Lily replied with a strained voice, as if she were holding something back that she would like to say.
'Why does he have to be so close to the truth. Why is he practically screaming 'Lily it upsets you because you want it to be real!' Why does he just sit there and smirk because he knows what I'm thinking and one slip of the tongue means that James knows too?' Lily thought.
"Lily, one day you will understand," Mr. Evans sighed out as the remainder of the meal was finished in silence.
~*~
"It's a beautiful day out," a young woman sighed as she strolled down a pebble covered path in a green park, on a day when the sun was shining high in the sky.
A young man with messy black hair and deep hazel eyes smiled in return as he watched the baby in the stroller, who was playing with a rattle, "It is,"
"Well," the woman asked in a suggestive voice, as she nudged the boy with messy black hair in his shoulders. Her hair swished next to his and the color matched exactly.
"What?" the man replied with a look in his eyes that showed that he knew exactly what the woman was implying.
"How was dinner last night, J?" the woman asked the boy as she pushed the stroller on another path that branched out from the one that they had been traveling on.
"Mary, I was at a friend's house," James replied with a tone of annoyance in his voice.
"I know very well where you were," Mary replied as she looked at her brother expectantly. 'I can always tell when James likes someone. I always have been...and I know he likes this girl...'
"Then why are you acting the way you are?" James shouted at Mary, who just continued walking down the path.
"Be quiet James, you'll wake the baby," Mary whispered to James as she looked down into her stroller and pulled the pink blanket up higher around the baby's neck.
"Stop avoiding my question," James warned his sister as he narrowed his eyes in her direction.
"What question?" Mary asked innocently, with a smirk on her face.
"You know very well what the question was and you are just trying to tip-toe around it! That won't work with me!" James yelled to his sister's back as she continued to stroll along seemingly ignoring her brother.
"How many times do I have to tell you to lower your voice?" Mary asked as she looked down at the sleeping baby once again.
"Just answer the question," James growled out in a low tone of voice that made his sister smile.
"I can tell by the way you are acting," Mary replied quietly, while glancing at the baby and praying that James wouldn't yell and wake the baby up. 'God knows I have lost enough sleep because of this amazing child. I am going to kill James if I am up late because of his love life.'
"I am acting no differently than I would with you," James lied as he stalked off, leaving his sister and his niece walking through the park alone. Mary sighed as she kept on walking, knowing that her brother would join her as soon as he had cooled off.
'My sister has always done that to me. She always tries to meddle in my personal life when her personal life has always been top secret. Mum and Dad didn't even know she was engaged until five months before the wedding. They didn't even know she was dating anyone at the time. Yet my sister finds it her business to mess around with my love life...that is sleeping at the moment...'
James came to an abrupt stop in his quick pace when he noticed some very familiar red hair sitting on a bench next to a fountain. 'Why do I have to see her everywhere? Why after last night?'
James walked a little closer and when he came close enough to make the features out on her face he realized that she was close to tears. He walked up behind her and whispered, "Lily, are you okay?"
Lily froze. 'I came to this park to be alone. I came here so I could wallow in my self-pity, thinking that my life is horrible and worthless. Then he shows up, like everywhere else I go...'
"I'm fine, James," Lily sighed as James came and sat next to her on the bench. Lily continued to stare out into nothing as thoughts raced through her head untamed. Slowly, a tear left a trail of sparkling water down her cheek.
James reached up and wiped the tear away. 'Her skin is so soft...and she smells like watermelons...and she looks so hopeless and scared right now and I want to be the one to make her happy and make her smile again.'
"You aren't fine," James said soothingly but firm.
"Yes, I am," Lily replied as she turned to face him, with more tears threatening to fall down her cheeks.
"Then why are you crying?" James asked tenderly as he looked at her with a stern gaze.
"I shouldn't be," Lily replied ashamed. 'I shouldn't be crying because of something someone said to me. I shouldn't be crying because I hate the decision someone else made.'
"But you are," James pointed out with a small smile as he scooted closer to Lily on the bench.
"My mum always tells me 'sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me,'" Lily laughed out hollowly.
"What did they say? Who said it?" James shouted out, causing a bird who had been resting in the tree they were sitting under to fly off, disturbed.
"My sister," Lily replied as she broke away from James' gaze and looked over at the fountain once again. The water glinted with the light of the sun reflecting it back in rays of light across the park. A rainbow shown colorfully underneath one of the falls.
"What did she do?" James asked softer than before.
"She hates me," Lily said. 'How can I be so calm and collected about this? Someone in my own family hates me. Someone I've known my entire life hates me...I'm crying outside but inside I'm just hollow.'
James just nodded his head and reached out for Lily's hand, "It's impossible to hate you,"
Lily sighed out and laughed lightly, "You used to hate me,"
"It was all a facade," James whispered into Lily's hair as he breathed in her scent.
Lily smiled up at him and said, "I met her fiancee. He's horrible, he hates magic too, and he hates me. It's evident in the way he looks at me. I feel horrible and unwanted and I just..." Lily trailed off.
"You'll never be unwanted," James whispered as he pulled Lily into a hug. She in turn, wrapped her arms around him and they sat like that until James pulled his head up and looked deeply into Lily's eyes, "Are you feeling any better?"
"Yes," Lily replied as James leaned in closer his sister came around the bend.
"J, who is this?" his sister asked with a teasing tone evident in her voice.
James glared at his sister and responded, "This is Lily, my friend."
"I've heard a lot about you," Mary said with a smile on her face as she kept her eyes away from her brother's.
'The only way she could have heard about me is from James. Does that mean he talks about me? I'm sure he talks about me as a friend...'
"J, we need to go, Bethany woke up," Mary commanded.
Lily looked into the carriage to look at Bethany. The baby's eyes opened and were the same hazel color that James and his sister carried, "She has your eyes."
James smiled at Lily and his sister as he looked down at Bethany and said, "She's going to take after her uncle."
Mary snorted at this comment and smirked at James, "Not if I have anything to do with it."
"That hurts me," James replied with a mock sadness in his voice.
Lily laughed at the exchange for the first time that day. James turned his attention to Lily as he lowered his voice so only she could hear, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Positive," Lily replied as she smiled warmly at James and turned to look at Bethany once again. Bethany's little finger curled around Lily's and James smiled at how natural Lily looked with the sight.
"We really need to go, J," Mary said as she turned to leave the park.
"Goodbye Lily," James said as he kissed her cheek and turned away, following his sister.
Lily lifted her hand in a slight wave to his back.
~*~
"You can't catch me Uncle J," a young boy said in a sing-song voice as he danced in a circle around his uncle and ran off in the other direction.
"Just you watch me, little J," James said as he chased off after his nephew through his sister's house. They ran straight through the house into the backyard, and so conveniently knocked over Mary on the way out. She screamed a few choice insults at James and then continued on her way through her house.
"Uncle J can't catch me!" the young boy with messy sandy blonde hair and hazel eyes yelled, provoking James to chase after him even more.
"Joseph Paul Wilson, get out of the mud!" Mary screamed with her head held out of the kitchen window.
James smirked at her and then whispered something in Joseph's ear. Joseph laughed and James winked as he replied, "Okay, mum."
Mary began to back out of the window, but Joseph was too quick for her and he threw a ball of mud at his mother, hitting her in the face.
"Joseph Paul Wilson you are dead!" Mary screamed as she turned to run through the house to meet him and James outside.
James turned and shook his nephew's hand as he whispered, "Good job little J, now you better run for it and leave your mother to me."
Joseph nodded, smiled at James, and then turned and ran out of the backyard into the vast forest that stretched behind the house.
"James Christopher Potter," Mary growled, with an angry glare fixed on her brother as she stealthily walked towards him. Her face was covered in mud and James tried unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh.
"I wouldn't be laughing at a time like this!" Mary snapped at James as she advanced towards him quicker. James backed up against a tree on the edge of the property and whimpered slowly.
"Where is Joey?" Mary asked suddenly concerned as to the whereabouts of her son. She looked around the yard with nervous eyes as if she was anticipating another attack on her.
"I don't know," James replied with a nervous smile filtering across his face. 'I can't tell her that I told her son to run into the forest. She'd kill me! It's much more fun to watch her expect him to jump out from somewhere and throw more mud...'
"I know you do!" Mary yelled as she raised her hand and took another step towards James.
He slumped under the sight of her raised hand and cried, "He ran into the forest. He knew you were coming after him."
Mary's eyes grew wide at this statement. For a moment she seemed breathless, then she screamed, "YOU LET LITTLE SIX YEAR OLD JOEY RUN INTO THE FOREST?!"
James winced at the sound her voice and guilt grew on his face as he slowly nodded his head and concentrated on a bird that was sitting in a tree a few feet away.
"I'll go find him," James said and without another word said he walked into the forest, his wand lighting at his command. Mary sighed as she watched him go.
~*~
'I've been out here for an hour already. I've been searching for an hour! I still can't find him. Mary is going to kill me, I lost her son.' James screamed in his mind as he continued to frantically search the forest for his nephew.
'If anything happens to Little J, I don't know how I would live with the guilt!'
Then, the sight of a dark blue robe caught his eye and James sprinted towards the sight and reached Joseph.
'Please be okay!'
"Little J," James shouted as he nudged his nephew on his shoulder.
Joseph lifted his head from the forest floor and his watery eyes connected with James' identical ones. James pulled him into a hug as he soothed, "I'm here you're safe."
"I was so afraid, uncle J," Joseph admitted as he clutched James' robes tightly.
"So was I," James responded truthfully as he held his nephew tightly to his body.
"Your mother will be wanting to have you back," James said as he helped his nephew to his feet.
"Ouch!" Joseph cried out as his leg gave out underneath him.
"I'll carry you, little J," James said as he hoisted his nephew onto his back and began to walk out of the forest.
After around ten minutes of walking they reached Joseph's house. Mary, who had been watching through the window, ran outside and knocked Joseph off of James' shoulders and hugged him tightly, "I'm so sorry."
Joseph hugged his mother back and cried into her shoulder. Mary turned to James and whispered, "Thank you."
James smiled in return as he mumbled, "His leg is broken."
"I'll take him to the hospital," Mary murmured as she picked Joseph up who had stopped crying and was now watching his uncle and mother's conversation with interest.
"No need. I have a friend," James said with a smile appearing on his face at the thought of Lily.
Mary realized the dreamy expression that was appearing on her brother's face as she startled him out of his thoughts by asking, "Lily?"
James appeared startled by the distraction that invaded his thoughts, but he nodded his head and said, "I'll go get her."
"Thank you," Mary called out as James took off to find Lily.
~*~
"I found the bell this time," James laughed out a large smile appearing on his face when Lily opened the door.
Lily smiled back and James as her mother appeared behind her, "Hello James, would you care to come in for tea?"
"No thank you, Mrs. Evans," James answered politely as he stepped inside the house.
Lily looked at James questioningly, asking him with her eyes why he was there. James read her look as he announced, "My nephew broke his leg and I was wondering if you could fix it."
Lily laughed at the look on James' face. 'He looks so worried and so sincere in his question. I just can't say no to his puppy eyes...'
"What am I getting?" Lily teased James with a smile.
James let out a deep breath he had been holding in and he whispered, "We'll see when I decide how well your work is."
"Deal!" Lily replied.
"Thank you!" James suddenly burst as he hugged Lily and began to pull her towards the doorway.
"I'll be back soon," Lily shouted before the door closed behind her. Her parents laughed and shook their heads as they watched their daughter leave.
Outside, James and Lily were walking down the street with a quick pace.
"My sister lives only a few blocks from here so I just walked," James explained to Lily as to why they were walking.
"It's fine," Lily said with a smile. 'I don't mind walking at all. Not if I'm with you.'
"How did your nephew break his leg?" Lily asked after a few moments of comfortable silence.
"Well, erm, I'm not really sure," James replied with a confused look on his face.
"How can you not know?" Lily asked with a surprised look on her face.
"He was in the forest behind the house," James explained, leaving out the reason as to why his nephew was in the forest.
"Why was he out there?" Lily asked as she stopped walking and turned towards James.
"I told him to go," James whimpered out as he looked down at his feet. When he lifted his head, Lily melted with the concern that was clearly in his eyes. 'He loves his nephew. He feels guilty and he's concerned. I can tell all of this by looking into his eyes...'
"Why did you do that?" Lily shouted at James, who winced at the sound of her furious voice.
"His mother was coming out to yell at him," James added in a small voice that showed his fright of Lily's anger.
"Why was she doing that?" Lily asked with suspicious eyes.
"He threw mud at her," James answered.
"Why?"
"I told him to," James responded as he continued to walk, refusing to meet Lily's eyes.
"You're dense," Lily said as she slapped his arm lightly.
"Why?" James asked as he turned to meet her eyes. 'Of course he's dense. He doesn't see that I care for him as much as I do. He doesn't see it at all...'
'She's the one who is dense. She just jokes around with my feelings...she can't see how I feel or how I want her to feel.'
"You should've known that it would come to this," Lily joked as they walked into his sister's house.
Mary bounced out of James' bedroom and hugged Lily tightly, "Thank you!"
Lily smiled at Mary and replied, "It's not a problem."
"Would you join us for dinner this evening?" Mary asked Lily as she pulled apart from her embrace.
"That would be wonderful," Lily replied.
After Lily had mended Joseph's broken leg, Mary had thanked her profusely, and then had gone to tend to the baby. James and Lily were sitting in the kitchen at the table watching each other while trying to avoid each other's eyes.
"You said you were going to give me something for doing this," Lily teased.
James looked up and met her eyes as he asked, "What would you like."
Lily sat and pretended to think about it. 'If only I could tell him what I really want from him, that I want him to hold me, I want him to tell me he loves me, I want him to kiss me.'
"Walk me home," Lily replied with a smile as she got up from the table and extended her hand to help James up. James grabbed onto her hand and shivers shot up both of their arms.
'I wish she would've asked me to hold her, or to tell her that I love her, or asked me to kiss her.'
James stood up and dropped Lily's hand reluctantly and they both walked towards the door. The walk to Lily's house was made in an awkward silence. Both of them were wrapped up in their thoughts of each other and what should have been said or done.
When they reached Lily's house a few minutes later she turned to James and whispered, "Thank you."
James pulled her into another hug as he also whispered, "You're very welcome, Lily flower."
"I'll see you in a few hours," Lily called out.
Lily smiled as she pulled back just far enough to look James in his eye. They were leaning in once again and Lily's eyes closed as James leaned in and kissed her cheek. She let out a small sigh as she opened her eyes and walked to her door.
"Goodbye," James shouted to her retreating form.
~*~
"Did you have fun walking Lily home?" Mary asked James as she tossed the salad. James didn't respond as he sat down at the table apparently deep in thought.
'What am I going to say tonight? What am I going to do? What if she's mad because I almost kissed her? What will she think of me? How will I act?'
"James!" Mary shouted as she threw a carrot at his head. James ducked the carrot easily, still not taking his mind off of Lily.
"Damn Quidditch," Mary mumbled as she threw the carrot away. Joseph ran into the room on his newly repaired leg. He went over to James and James pulled him into his lap.
"Joey, go change your robes, Lily is coming for dinner," Mary scolded as she tried to push her son out of the kitchen.
"Uncle J, your girlfriend is staying for dinner!" Joey shouted happily as he turned to face James with a smile on his innocent face.
"She's not my girlfriend, Little J," James replied as he gave Joseph a look that meant that he was going down the wrong road.
Joey seemed to miss the meaning of the look his uncle gave him and laughed, "Don't lie, Uncle J."
Mary snorted at this comment and turned around with another carrot in her hand, "J, you shouldn't teach Joey to lie."
James grew bright red as he shouted, "Lily is not my girlfriend!"
Joey laughed at his uncle's outburst and pushed his uncle's glasses back up on his nose as he said, "Well you sure act like it."
James looked confused as he asked, "How do I act like it?"
Joey made a face that showed that he didn't enjoy this topic, "You look at her like Mum looks at Dad."
"That doesn't mean she's my girlfriend," James replied with a far off look in his eye as he looked at his nephew.
'He has no idea how close he is. He has no idea how much I want Lily to be my girlfriend. He has no idea that I'm telling the truth.'
"She looks at you the same way. How do you explain that?" Joseph asked James as he rolled his eyes.
James looked at Joey startled, "How does she look at me?"
Joey sighed out, annoyed, "I just told you. Like Mum looks at Dad."
'There is no way that Lily looks at me like that. That would mean Lily was in love with me and she isn't in love with me. Why does Joey think she is?'
"She doesn't look at me that way," James snapped at Joey.
"Yes, she does," Joey responded with a knowing look on his face, "I'm not blind."
"Just don't kiss her a lot tonight," Joey replied as he wrinkled his nose, "I don't like that."
"I don't want to," James lied. 'I won't let my six year old nephew know that I want to snog Lily. I refuse to!'
"Yes you do," Joey replied as he picked a piece of dirt off of his robes.
"Why do you think that?" James asked curiously.
Joey rolled his eyes at his uncle as he said, "You were flirting with her."
"I was not!" James shouted.
"Yes you were!" Joey insisted.
"Just don't start snogging in front of everyone. We don't need to see that," Joey whined.
James looked shocked at his nephew's comment. He opened his mouth to respond but wasn't able to.
"Joey, I told you to go change!" Mary shrieked as she turned around, peeved by her brother and her son's arguing. Joey got off of James' lap and bounced out of the room.
"Joey's right," Mary replied with a smile as she turned back around and continued shredding carrots.
"About what?" James said as he put his head down into his hands.
"You do look at Lily like that," Mary teased as she poked him with a carrot.
"I don't," James insisted without success.
Mary ignored him and continued, "Lily does look at you like that."
"I don't believe that," James replied, sounding muffled as his head was still in his hands.
"She does, it's very obvious," Mary said with a smirk.
"No, she doesn't," James insisted a little louder than before.
"She flirts with you, and you flirt with her," Mary added.
"When?" James asked. 'She won't be able to have any evidence because Lily doesn't flirt with me and I don't flirt with her!'
"What about when you were hugging at the park," Mary suggested.
James winced. He had forgotten about that, "She was crying."
"She wasn't anymore. You seemed to have stopped it easily," Mary implied.
"She had been crying," James corrected himself as he rolled his eyes at his sister's back.
"You were about to kiss her," Mary accused.
"I wasn't," James mumbled out.
"Then she was about to kiss you," Mary said as she busied herself with the food.
"No she wasn't," James insisted.
"Yes, she was," Mary told James forcefully.
"You're crazy," James shouted at his sister.
"You're blind," Mary screamed back at James.
"I have glasses!" James exclaimed as he pointed to his glasses that rested on his nose.
"They don't work very well do they?" Mary asked sarcastically.
"What do you mean by that?" James asked, shocked by his sister's outburst.
"You can't see what is right in front of you!" Mary shouted to her younger brother.
"That's because there isn't anything!" James shouted.
"There is! That's what's amazing. You both seem oblivious to the whole entire situation," Mary said with annoyance.
"I think you need to have your head checked," James said as he rolled his eyes at his sister.
"I think you are just afraid!" Mary indicted.
"Of what?" James asked.
"Of your feelings," Mary said as her voice softened.
"I am not," James insisted.
"Yes—" Mary began before she was cut off by a voice in the doorway.
"Did I interrupt something?" Lily asked as she stood in the doorway wearing a white dress that flowed around her knees. She smiled at James who just stood gaping at her.
"I need to go...uh...do something," James stumbled as he raced out of the room as quickly as he could leaving Mary laughing and Lily looking confused and hurt at his sudden departure.
~*~
A few minutes later, when everyone sat down to dinner, James still had not talked to Lily or caught her eyes. The conversation was mainly small talk until Joey decided to bring up a certain topic that made two members of the table squirm.
"Are you uncle J's girlfriend?" Joey turned to Lily and asked.
Lily dropped her fork onto her plate with a loud clatter as she shakily answered, "No, Joey, I'm not."
"That's what he said too," Joey said, looking between Lily and James suspiciously.
"Why do you guys lie about it?" Joey asked innocently.
"We're not lying, it's the truth," James said as he kicked Joey lightly underneath the table.
Joey took no notice of this as he turned to Lily and asked, "Is it really the truth?"
Lily nodded her head. 'Did James say something to suggest that I was his girlfriend? Does he call me his girlfriend? If he does then why is he denying it?'
"Why do you think that I'm James' girlfriend?" Lily asked innocently as she looked into Joey's eyes. 'He has James' eyes also. The whole family seems to have inherited those amazing eyes.'
"You act like it," Joey shrugged and turned back to his dinner, trying to drop the old subject that had been discussed only a few minutes earlier without Lily.
"How do we act like it?" Lily asked.
"You look at each other like Mum and Dad do," Joey said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world as he took a sip of water.
"Joey, I don't think Lily and James particularly enjoy this conversation," Joey's father told his son quietly. Joey ignored his father's words as his parents blushed at the comment that Joey had used.
"Why does that mean we are dating?" Lily asked in the same way that James had.
"They're married," Joey said, rolling his eyes as if Lily and James were forgetting something very stupid, "I know that you aren't married, so you must be dating."
"We aren't," Lily replied as she tried to busy herself with her food.
"I think you are and you're just not telling me," Joey sighed into his plate.
"We aren't lying to you," James told his nephew as he smiled at him.
"Lily, he looks at you the same way, how can you explain that?" Joey asked.
'James looks at me in that way? In the way that he is madly in love with me? Joey must be mistaken, there is no way that James looks at me that way!'
"I think that would be James' area to explain," Lily said with a smirk at James who just glared at her for bringing him into this conversation that he had already suffered through.
"He's no help," Joey said exasperated.
"Oh," Lily said, at a loss for words as to why the conversation was heading in this direction. She saw James place his head in his hands as he often did when he was embarrassed to hide his blushing face.
"Just don't kiss him," Joey said with a look of disgust on his face.
"I wasn't going to," Lily said with shock in her eyes.
"You probably are. Just wait until I'm out of the room," Joey instructed Lily.
"I don't think that your uncle is planning on kissing me anytime soon," Lily whispered to Joey who sat next to her.
"I think he is," Joey burst out. James buried his head into his hands deeper.
"Why do you think that?" Lily asked, by now her face was as red as her hair.
"You were flirting with him," Joey explained.
"When?" Lily asked, very unsure if she wanted to hear the answer.
"Whenever you are together," Joey replied.
Lily didn't comment on that statement, and neither did James. The dinner ended just as it had begun with Lily and James avoiding each other, and small talk made between the rest of the family, and Joey looking between Lily and James for more clues that they were dating.
~*~
Author's Note: I hope that you enjoyed that chapter. I loved writing it! This chapter was the easiest to write of all of them. The words just flowed out so easily and I didn't even have to think about it! I have to thank my amazing betas who go through my extra long chapters every single time wonderfully! So thank you Brenda, Nat, Victoria, and Manda!
I also have to thank my reviewers and offer my comments. What fun would the ending of the chapter be if I didn't do that?!
The Stek: I'm so thrilled that you think that my story is GREAT! I hope that this chapter makes you giggle some more!! Joey sure made me laugh! It will happen later on! What fun would it be if it happened now?
Kellie: I'm glad that you liked Chapters 2 and 3 and this one is just as long so hopefully you will enjoy it just as much!
Angelisa Snape: Lol you would know about me hassling betas wouldn't you! I'm glad that you enjoyed it to! I'm honored! That's so cool that Vivian reviews you too! It's awesome! It must be our names...lol and I'm glad that you enjoyed the restaurant scene.
Smile28: I'm glad that their mistakes are amusing! They were intended to be that way. There isn't much falling in this chapter...but there will be more to come! It will be 17 chapters long by the way. I have the whole outline done I know when EVERYTHING is going to happen!
Zetta: I'm glad that you think my story is cute. Hopefully I cut down on my problem of repeating things...hmm I don't really know if I did or not sometimes I do it for dramatic effect...one of my annoying writing habits I'm sorry it bothers you! I hope you continue to read. Thanks for pointing it out to me!
I o u a name: Thank you for the compliments on the restaurant scene! I was very fond of it also! I can't have them kiss now! Where would the fun be in that?!
Bell: Sorry you didn't get a shout out I'll make a note to always have a shoutout for you! Just keep reviewing! I'm sure that after they kiss they won't be as awkward around each other...well maybe at first but defiantly not later. I agree-parents can be annoying!
Oobergoober: Ah! I know what you mean someone accused me and my friend of liking each other and he calls me sis. It was just wrong! I hope this chapter was good too and I know it wasn't as fast though bc one of my betas is on vacation...
Elegystar: I'm glad that it was brilliant again! I feel so special because of your reviews! I'm sorry to say that they will continue to be interrupted for a while...but it has to be done! There would be no fun otherwise!
Kanariya: You're welcome for the note and here is another one! Thank you for reviewing! I hope u loved this chapter too!
LENAk: I'm glad you like how everything is going during this story! I love hearing from everyone who loves the story...and doesn't...it gives me helpful hints on how to keep writing!
Moon*wolf: I'm so glad that you love this story! I'm sorry that they can't have a break but it would be no fun if they did! Thank you for putting me on your fav author's list! I'm honored!
Princess Emily: Thank you for the wonderful email and for this review! I hope that this chapter is just as funny and you enjoy it just as much!
cemhp4eva: I'm glad that you enjoy and I hope that you enjoy this one just as much!
PaDMa: I know I feel bad for them too...as for kissing soon...we'll have to see. There would be no fun if anything happened this soon!!! It will be before the last chapter I promise! I'm glad you love my story!!!
meLisSa: I'm sorry that I didn't put any action in this chapter...but you'll just have to wait. What would the fun be if they got some action now? It's better to let the anticipation build up! Please keep reading it will happen eventually!
Elvencherry07: They will kiss eventually. As I have told many people there would be no fun if they kissed now!!
Diana: I'm glad that you like my story! I will get rid of the distractions...eventually...it would be no fun if they kissed now! But I feel your frustrations. I'm frustrated that I can't have them kiss yet!
Hermione101888: Don't worry about reviewing late! You still reviewed! I hope that you had fun camping! I'm so glad that you love my story and thank you for the compliment about my writing! I hope you enjoyed what happens next!
kat6528: Hopefully I didn't make you wait too long!!
sajal: Thank you so much! You always leave such nice reviews!! I really want to be an author so what you said means everything! Thank you!
Geets: Sorry I took a while...betas on vacation...I'm sure you understand. Thank you so much for your review!!!!!