Sweatpants, Ice Cream, and Runaways
Chapter 8

I have a huge Macroeconomics test Monday, and I reeeeally needed a break, so I decided to post this chapter. So you better like it because I gave up valuable studying time to post it... lol just kidding. I seriously needed a study break and was glad to post it. But review and tell me how you like it because getting some fanmail will stop me from killing myself over this test. hehe, anyway, ENJOY!

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"After four years you want me to just hang out with Lily as if nothing's ever happened?" James exclaimed, after he finished laughing at the sight of Sirius covered in cake and whipped cream.

"Exactly," Sirius said.

"Oh…" James said. "Just making sure."

"Come on Prongs. Just some beers and an innocent board game or two," Sirius said with a shrug. "This is Lily we're talking about. The girl you've moped about for four years…and she's here. You have to take advantage of that."

"He's right you know," Remus said from the couch, putting down his newspaper.

"Okay, no one's talking to you," James said with a grin.

"I know…but I feel so left out," Remus said and then looked to Sirius. "Does Kyra have any other friends? Preferably ones that howl at the moon."

The boys laughed. "I'll keep you company," Peter said.

Remus stared at Peter, and then looked back at Sirius. "Please tell me Kyra has a friend."

The boys laughed again and James bit his lip. "I don't know…what if I yell at her by mistake? No offense, but every since she left me, she's been more of a problem then someone I'd hang out with."

"Well that's why I'll be there," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "I'll just do what I always do when there's a problem."

"Have sex with 'the problem?'" James asked.

Sirius paused. "Can I do that in this case?" James hit him over the head. Sirius rubbed his head. "I'm taking that as a no. Nah, I wouldn't have sex with Lily. If you start yelling at her, I'll just hit you with a pillow. And if that doesn't work…I'll hit you with a hammer."

James laughed and grabbed his coat. Sirius smiled. "So you're going?"

"Nooooo," James said sarcastically. "I'm just grabbing my coat so we can take the dog out."

Sirius stopped and thought about that. "We don't have a dog."

James stared right at Sirius. "I beg to differ."

"Game over…" Sirius said, after a rousing game of monopoly. "It's a tie!"

"A tie? We have all the money!" Lily exclaimed.

"Yeah, but we have the get-out-of-jail-free card. And you can't put a price on freedom," Sirius explained. Lily laughed and threw a pretzel at him and Sirius threw a piece of popcorn at her.

"Hey! No throwing food in the living room," Kyra shouted, coming in from the kitchen, "This is a white rug."

"Have I taught you nothing?" Sirius said. "No white anything around me."

Kyra rolled her eyes "Here, I brought cheese cubes from work," Kyra said, setting them on the table.

"That's nice of you…what's wrong with them?" Sirius asked.

"What? Nothing!" Kyra exclaimed and then sighed. "Okay, fine. They were in the trash."

"Cool," James said, reaching for one.

"Hand them over," Sirius said, taking one.

Kyra and Lily glanced at each other and rolled their eyes. Lily turned to Kyra "Do you remember when we were in Australia and we fed dirty crackers to those kangaroos?"

"They almost died, I was horrified. I still have trouble sleeping at night," Kyra said.

"Well of course you do…you sleep with Sirius," Lily said. Kyra threw a piece of cheese at Lily.

"Hey! No throwing food in…" Sirius stopped. "Wait, how come it's okay for you to throw food in here, but when I do it, it's not okay?"

"Because I like me better than I like you," Kyra teased.

"Oh…well, as long as we have that cleared up," Sirius joked with a shrug.

James glanced over at Lily who was looking at him. She quickly averted her eyes and James smiled to himself. Sirius rolled his eyes as he watched them do this.

"So Lily, how was Australia?" Sirius asked, trying to make conversation.

"Fine," Lily said with a shrug. "It was gorgeous and my coworkers were nice, but I like London better."

"It's because I'm here right?" Sirius teased.

"That was a reason I wasn't going to come back," Lily joked.

"You know, when I hang out with you guys all you do is insult me," Sirius said. "I'm beginning to think I need to meet new people."

"Good luck trying to find people who would be friends with you," Lily said. Sirius pouted as the other three laughed.

"Alright, I think it's time to bring out the cake," Kyra said.

"Uh Ky…" Lily said slowly. "You mean the cake that Sirius and I ended up wearing this afternoon?"

"You mean you didn't even eat my cake?" Kyra asked.

"Oh no, I did. I licked it off of me as I was walking home," Sirius joked.

"Well, who wants to help me bake another cake?" Kyra asked.

"Oooh, me, me, me. Pick me!" Sirius taunted.

Kyra stared at the other. "Does anyone else want to help me bake the cake?" she teased.

Sirius got up. "You know, you are so not funny…" he was saying as they walked out of the room.

James turned to Lily who looked at him. "So…you think that cake is going to be made?"

"Not a chance," James said.

"So James, how have you been?" Lily asked.

James shrugged. "Fine…and you?"

"Pretty good," Lily said with a shrug.

It was quiet for a few seconds before James spoke up. "So…why'd you do it?" James asked.

"Uh…do what?" Lily asked.

"Reject my proposal four years ago."

"James," Lily said sweetly. "I don't think we should go into that right now."

"If not now, when?" James wondered.

"I don't think it really matters," Lily said slowly.

"You just left Lily. With no explanation at all," James said. "I want to know why."

Lily sighed. "Because we were young. And I was scared. And the only thing I could think of to get away from feeling scared was to run. So I ran…far away."

"But you didn't even give me a chance to respond. You told me that you were leaving for Australia and then walked away. How was I supposed to comfort you and make everything better if you didn't give me a chance?"

"James, nothing you could have done would have made me feel better. We were teenagers with no money, no job, no nothing," Lily said.

"We had each other," James pointed out.

"Which wasn't going to be much if we were living in a box, singing for money," Lily said. "And I've heard your voice…we wouldn't have gotten any money."

"We would have been happy," James said stubbornly. "I don't care what you say. Living in a box, no job, no clothes, it wouldn't have mattered. Because we would have been happy."

"How do you know that?" Lily asked. "How do you know we wouldn't have turned on each other and been miserable?"

"Because I knew us…and there was no way we would have been miserable together," James said. "But I guess I was wrong huh?"

"Wrong about what?"

"Knowing you," James said. "Because I sure as hell didn't think you would turn me down."

Lily and James sat in silence for a few seconds before Lily took a deep breath and said, "I don't know why you're here."

"What?"

"Obviously I was a horrible person and you will never forgive and forget. And yet you're sitting here, playing board games in my house, as if everything's okay…" Lily said.

"Because," James started. "I was already the reason you left town once. I don't want that to happen again."

"James," Lily said calmly. "You weren't the reason I left."

"Oh really?" James asked. "Because I didn't hear you mention wanting to go to Australia before I proposed. I also vaguely remember you just saying that you were scared and ran…far away."

"You didn't hear about it because I didn't tell you. Plus, I had just found out the night before about the job," Lily said. "I was scared to tell you. I was scared of how you'd react."

"So you left before you could see my reaction," James stated.

Lily looked down. "Exactly."

It was quiet for a little bit before James spoke up. "Lily?"

"Hmm?"

"If I promise to be really good…will you stay?" James asked.

Lily just smiled sweetly at how vulnerable James looked.

Sirius and James were walking back to their flat in silence before Sirius decided to talk. "So…what did you and Lily do when Kyra and I were baking that cake?"

"We talked," James said with a shrug. "Something I bet you and Kyra definitely were not doing."

Sirius laughed. "What did you talk about?"

James stopped and looked at Sirius. "Why she rejected my proposal."

"Oh of course, because talking about the weather would have been a risky topic," Sirius said sarcastically, giving James a look. "You were actually comfortable talking about that?"

"No…but I needed to know the answer."

"And did you get an answer?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah," James mumbled, kicking a stone on the ground.

"But not the answer you wanted to hear," Sirius said.

"It's not like any answer would have been soothing," James muttered.

"So why'd you ask?" Sirius asked.

"Because I can't get it out of my head," James murmured. "I needed closure."

"So you're over it?"

James paused. "I guess I have to be."

Sirius sighed. "Do you want to talk to me about it?"

"No," James mumbled.

"We could go get coffee," Sirius said with a shrug.

"Nah."

"How about dinner?" Sirius asked.

"No thanks," James muttered.

Sirius paused. "We could go get really drunk and forget about Lily altogether."

"Let's go," James said.

Sirius laughed. "I was kidding you know."

"I know…but I wasn't."

"James?" Lily asked, surprised to see him on her way out of her house.

James held up a picnic basket. "I had an extra sandwich and I thought maybe you'd want to join me on a picnic."

"Well lucky for you, I have extra time," Lily said with a smile. Lily closed the door behind him and they headed to the closest park. "I'm glad you came."

"I know it's been five days," James said.

"Yeah, I thought what I said really got to you or something," Lily said.

"It did."

"Oh," Lily said, looking down.

"But it's a good thing," James offered. "It just took me five days to realize it. We may have a history, but it's in the past, right? And I don't want to live my life holding a grudge and I'm sure you don't want me too either."

"No," Lily said with a smile. "I'd really like you to not hold a grudge. It will make this picnic very bitter and stressful."

James laughed. "Well then you'll be disappointed in the sandwich I got you. Roast beef with a side of bitterness."

"Well then I'll just have to drink the soda instead," Lily said.

"But it's grape soda with hint of a stressful flavor," James joked.

"Well, then I guess I'll have to starve," Lily said.

"It's probably better," James said. "I'm not sure how edible these sandwiches are. I tried making them by hand."

Lily laughed and sat down on a patch of grass besides James. "So James, what do you do for fun these days?"

"You mean besides hitting on women and making fun of Sirius?" James teased.

Lily laughed. "Yes, besides that."

"Well I love going to the gym and working out. Running four miles a day at five in the morning is great also. Volunteering at the retirement home down the block is also something I enjoy doing," James said.

Lily looked at him apprehensively. "So basically that means you sit around and do nothing while talking to the guys?"

"Exactly."

Lily laughed. "Okay, so tell me what you really do for fun."

"I love my job, and my friends," James said with a shrug. "The guys and I usually go out to bars and just hang out and talk."

"I still can't believe you, Sirius, and Remus are still really close," Lily said.

"And Peter," James added. "We're still close to him."

"Wow…I hardly talk to the Hogwarts gang anymore," Lily said.

James looked down. "No kidding," he muttered.

"I mean Maddie got married recently and I think Georgia is somewhere on a secret mission in the states," Lily said. "But I have no idea what Harriet and Hayden are up to."

"I haven't talked to them since the last day of Hogwarts," James said.

"Really? Why not?"

James shrugged. "I kind of spent many months distancing myself from everyone. In fact, Remus, Sirius, and Peter were about to find another friends because they were getting fed up with me."

"You know, we've talked about what happened at that train station," Lily started. "But I don't think I ever apologized." James looked at her but didn't say anything. "I truly am sorry."

"I know," James said sincerely.

"There's something else I haven't told you," Lily said, not daring to look James in the eyes.

"Yeah?"

Lily took a deep breath. "I regret it."

"Regret what?"

"Everything. I regret choosing work over you, I regret turning you down, I regret leaving you standing there all alone, I regret not giving you an explanation, I regret not turning around as I walked away. I regret everything about that day," Lily said. "But what I regret most…is never writing you or calling you in the last four years."

"It's okay," James said. "I probably would have ripped the letter up and hung up the phone."

Lily smiled weakly. "Well not to sound too cheesy but thanks for not ripping and hanging me up."

James paused. "That did sound cheesy."

"It sounded better in my head," Lily said with a laugh.

"And Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"I regret you doing all those things also," James said, looking down. "I think we really could have had a nice life together."

"Yeah…" Lily said slowly and then whispered to herself, "I agree."

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One more down, plenty more to come! I told you there's be more Lily/James interaction!