Chapter Twenty One
"Excuse me?! I'm not sure I heard you right."
"You heard me fine, Nancy."
"No, I don't think I did. What did you hear her say, Jenny?"
Jenny only shook her head in shock. "I can't believe it."
Lily shook her head and laughed through her tears at her friends' reaction to this news.
"You do realize that we are talking about James Potter? That conceited arrogant prat? The guy you have hated for the past seven years?!" Nancy said vehemently.
"Yes, I know! I know it sounds crazy. But I think . . . I really think I'm falling in love with him."
"Oh, my, gosh." Nancy said, throwing her arms up in the air in defeat and collapsing onto her bed.
"Well, when did you start feeling like this?" Jenny inquired, both her and Lily ignoring Nancy's fuming.
"Well, when Travis insulted James, that made me furious because I do count James as one of my very dearest friends, aside from you two, of course. And now that his parents have died, I just have this great need to comfort him and console him, do anything to make him feel better. But it was before any of this . . ."
"Before?! Is there something you haven't told us?" Nancy bellowed, pausing her ranting.
"Well, yes, actually. But if you will sit down and hush that ever-running mouth of yours, I'll tell you." Lily said with a smile.
Nancy opened her mouth to say something, then closed it and reluctantly sat down on the floor by Jenny.
"Well, last month when James was attacked, I realized that my worry and concern for him was much more than that of a casual friend, though I didn't want to admit it. But one day, when it was just him and I in the hospital wing, I was looking at him closely and I wondered what it would be like to kiss him. Then, as if he read my mind, he jumped out of his unconscious state, pulled me down on the bed and kissed me!"
Both girls gasped.
"Now, let me tell you, never in my life have I been kissed like that. And should I die tomorrow, I would go happily, for I know that I shall find no sweeter bliss than that of James Potter's kiss." Lily said dreamily.
"Oh my gosh," Nancy sighed.
"Wow." Jenny said. "I feel like I'm a little girl listening to a fairy tale!"
"Oh, hush, Jenny!" Lily said blushing.
"No, I'm serious, Lily! You have a prince charming, waiting for you, pleading for you to accept him with arms wide open and you're flat out denying him! Why?"
"Because, I'm scared, okay?" Lily blurted out. "I'm scared of love."
"But why?"
Lily shook her head and wiped her tears. "Neither of you would understand. Jenny, you're a dreamer, and Nancy's a schemer - both of you have you have your head up in the clouds and it seems that I'm the only one who has my feet planted firmly on the ground!"
"But you need to have a glance in the clouds every now and then, Lily." Nancy said.
"Well, I don't want to! I don't want my heart broken every week like you do! I want... I want to love one man and one man alone. I want our love to be so pure, so true, so real, that neither him nor I could have imagined the depth of it. To care completely for one man, to give my happiness for his, to be willing to die for him - that's the kind of love I want to feel, and to be loved like that in return."
"Then what's the problem?" Jenny asked quietly.
"The problem, Jenny, is that I fear I have already found it. I'm scared that I already love him so much, I'd do anything for him. It's killing me to see him like this, grieving for his parents. Already it's too much for me to handle. And that's not something I was prepared for." Lily said, looking at her hands in her lap, tears streaming down her face.
"So, why not give in, Lily?" Nancy said, pure joy on her face. "It sounds like quite the adventure, this whole falling in love business."
"Because I'm not ready for it. Of course, it's every girls dream to marry a prince charming, living behind the white picket fence, bla bla bla. Yes, of course I want to give in, Nancy. But right now, I don't think I can."
---
"I can't believe they're going out again."
"Just because he gave her that stupid cat for Christmas."
"He's such a creep - taking advantage of James' absence to get to Lily."
"I know deep down she knows that he's just a jerk."
"You know, I saw him flirting with Whitney the other day."
"Hell, Nancy! He was flirting with me the other day!"
"Poor James. He's going to be heart broken; he's had his heart set on her forever, it seems. And with their blossoming relationship, this is going to get really messy when he comes back."
"That's this week, right?"
"Yup."
"Poor James."
"Yup. Poor James."
This was the conversation of Nancy and Jenny as they sat on the stairs of the dorms, looking down at everyone scurrying around the common room, but focusing on Lily. She was laying on the couch, slowly and softly petting her new kitten, Midnight. When Travis had taken her shopping back in November, Lily had found a little black kitten with white paws and completely fell in love with it. And this day being the first of the new year, Lily was trying to relish her renewed relationship with Travis as boyfriend and girlfriend, but she found it rather hard, considering her thoughts kept returning to that of James Potter.
Suddenly, an owl flew in the room and landed on the arm of the couch scaring Midnight under a table. After Lily unattached the small package, the owl flew off again.
"Wonder who that's from?"
"Probably from her ickle boyfriend."
"No, I think that was James' owl."
"Oh, by the way, I meant to ask you - what's going on with you and Frank? You two sure are together a lot lately."
"Nah, we're just really good friends. Even though he just broke up with his girlfriend in Germany. He said the long distance thing wasn't working."
"Oh, really?"
"Stop it, Jenny. We're only friends. He makes me laugh, he listens to my problems, we just understand each other, is all."
"Well, you better be careful. Lily and James started out as friends and look at them now. They're . . . not . . . together."
"Yup. Pity, too."
Their conversation was quickly interrupted when Lily suddenly brushed past them in tears, running up the stairs to her room, dropping a small bag and an open letter in their laps.
"What's this I wonder?"
Nancy opened the bag and with a gasp, pulled out a necklace with a small tear-shaped emerald surrounded by diamonds hanging on a silver chain.
"Oh, my, word!"
"Well, what's the letter say?"
Jenny quickly unfolded the letter and read aloud to her friend:
Dear Lily flower,
Happy Christmas. Here is my belated gift. It belonged to my mother. I saw it and thought of you; your eyes. You're beautiful - it suits you. I miss you. Be back soon.
-Your James
With a sigh Jenny shook her head. "So does this call for some 'best friend therapy?'"
"You better believe it."
---
A/N: Ooooh. And the plot thickens.....
I've also got a new story up. Click on my name for link to "Confessions - One Shot Fics." It's my Harry/Ginny fic that's new chapter 2. Ron/Mione was chapter 1.
Enjoy the chapters. I'll be posting more soon. Let me know what you think. -huggles-
