What do you know? Another chapter a day after the last one! That may be a first for me. :) Anyway, hope you like it and remember, please review!

Chapter 15

Lily shut the door behind her and dropped down onto her bed. She lay, splayed across the flowered comforter and sighed; the tears were already beginning to collect in her eyes. She sniffled as the first tear dropped over the edge and cascaded down her cheek. She replayed the scene in her head: her and James on the bed, kissing gleefully, and then he said that he loved her and everything had changed. Even if Sirius hadn't walked in on them, Lily thought that she probably would have left anyway.

Lily stared at the white ceiling and wondered how he could have done this to her. She had told them at the start that she wanted to take it slow, very slow, this time around and now, just over two months later, he was dropping the biggest bomb she could imagine on her.

Lily, I think I love you…The words tumbled around in her head, and she could hear James' voice coming from downstairs. He was talking with Sirius, probably telling him what had happened. Lily tried everything to get her mind off of what she was thinking, but it was no use; finally, she picked up the pink phone on the nightstand and pulled it over to where was sitting on the bed. Without thinking, she dialed the number and pulled the phone up her ear. The phone rang three times before,

"HELLO! Ahh, stop it guys," there was a crunching sound on the other line and several high pitched screams along with some laughter. "Sorry, hello?" the person was back.

"Carmen?" Lily whispered into the phone. Her lip trembled and she sniffed loudly as she wiped a fresh batch of tears away from her eyes.

"Lily? Lils, I that you? Sorry, I can't hear," Carmen pulled the phone away form her ear to yell at the other girls in the background. "Quiet guys, it's Lily!"

"Yeah, it's me." Sniff.

"Wait, Lily, are you ok?" Lily imagined Carmen was now making a motion with her hand to shush the girls. "Lily, what's wrong?" At this the room went quiet as everyone realized that Lily was probably crying on the other side of the phone.

"Tell her I say hi!" Lily could hear Liz say in a loud whisper. She now imagined all four girls huddled around Carmen, who was still holding the phone to her ear, and making shushing noises at each other, even though no one was talking.

"Lily, are you still there?" Carmen asked.

"Yeah," Lily replied quickly and then added, "Yeah, I'm here."

"So, do you want to tell me what happened or do you just want to talk?" Carmen asked softly. Lily managed a small smile; she knew that Carmen would be the right person to call.

"I'm not sure yet," Lily replied, knowing that she really didn't want to tell her. Carmen seemed to know this, too.

"Ok. You wanna hear what we've been up to?" she asked in a voice that was just excited enough to get Lily interested in whatever Carmen was about to tell her, but not so excited as to make Lily feel bad for not being as happy. She reached down and pulled her stuffed dog out of her bag and cuddled him before answering.

"Yeah, I wanna hear the stupid things you guys have already thought of in the few hours you've been home," Lily said as she curled up and lay her head on her pillow and closed her eyes, half listening as Carmen talked.

"Well, first, we did the traditional prank calling. We called Jamie Finkle, you know that big beefy girl in the 4th year?" She paused, leaving Lily a space in which to grunt her understanding and the continued. "See, we looked her number up in the school directory and called it, except we think her dad answered so we had to change our plan of action. It was so funny though!" A few girls giggled in the background, remembering the conversation. "And then we called John Bird, and who else…hmmm. Oh yeah! I cannot believe I almost forgot…" and just like that, she was off on another story while Lily lay on her bed and finally began to relax and forget what she had been thinking about; she breathed in the scent of the room and the bed and listened to the lull of Carmen's voice in her ear and the random additions of the girls in the room.

"…and so, we finally get to the store, in our pajamas, at 4 in the afternoon, and Sam is there. Remember, I told you about Sam Johnson, the really hunky lacrosse player from my old school before I got into Hogwarts. So anyway, he was there and I accidentally bumped into him in the frozen foods section," Lily laughed, picturing how un-accidental the meeting must really have been, "and he was like, "hey," and I was like,-"

Carmen's thought was cut off by a soft knocking on the door of Lily's room. She opened her eyes and sat up straight on the bed, suddenly very tense. She had tuned out Carmen's voice now and was staring intently on the door across the room.

The knock came again and then, "Lily, are you in there?" Pause. "It's, well, it's me, James. Are you asleep?"

Lily kept completely silent, willing James to just turn and leave. She heard him sigh out in the hallway and then he finally said, "Well, there's dinner downstairs if you want it," and walked away.

"Sorry, Carmen, but I gotta go," Lily whispered into the phone, even though James was probably at the stairs by now, and cutting Carmen off mid-sentence.

"Ok. Well, call me later if you want, we'll be here all night. Promise," she replied. She didn't argue.

"I will," Lily said and then added, "Thanks for talking to me Carma, it really helped. Tell everyone I love them. Bye"
Carmen hardly had a chance to say good-bye when Lily hung up the phone and placed it back on the side table. Then she turned out the lamp and climbed into bed, and soon, she was fast asleep.

The next morning, Lily woke up to the sound of birds outside her now open window. She rubbed her eyes and took a look at the clock next to her bed: 6.13. She scanned the room, and jumped when she saw a figure sitting in the wicker chair in the corner. When she looked closer, she realized who it was.

James had his eyes closed, mouth slightly open, a heavy book lying in his lap. As Lily listened to him snoring loudly, she wondered if that had been what had woken her up. Being as quiet as possible, Lily pulled the hair elastic off of her wrist and pulled her messy hair back, and then slid noiselessly out from under her covers. She padded softly to the attached bathroom and washed her face with the water running as low as possible. Then she dried her face and went back into the bedroom. She checked to make sure James was still asleep before opening her bag and pulling out a pair of pajama bottoms and exchanging them for her school pants, which she had fallen asleep in the night before. As she moved around the room towards the door, she stubbed her toe against the bedpost and held back a scream of pain. She hopped around the room, holding her foot in her hand and making sure she didn't go near James in the chair.

Lily mouthed a swear and put her foot down gingerly; finding a spare piece of parchment and a quill that had been set on the night table, Lily scribbled a note. She left it on top of James' book and silently left the room, being carefully not to make and noise as she shut the door behind her.

She walked down the stairs and looked around until she found the kitchen. Looking in the fridge, Lily saw some bread and pulled a few pieces out. Not bothering to toast her breakfast, she slid aside a glass door that appeared to lead to the back porch and the yard.

Back up in the guest room, James cracked an eye open to make sure that Lily had left before opening his other and looking at the note she had left on his lap. He read it and sighed, waiting a few minutes before leaving the room and walking down to the kitchen to make a very strong pot of coffee.

James,

I'm sorry about last night- I just didn't know what to say or… well, anyway, I'm outside when you wake up.

Lily

When James found Lily, she was sitting on the porch swing and looking out at the large yard. She looked up as he slid the door aside, and actually giggled a little she saw the white handkerchief he had extended and was waving around: a peace offering. A few seconds later, James himself appeared carrying two large mugs and smiling slightly. He walked over and bravely took the seat next to Lily on the swing. He handed her a mug, which she took gratefully and sipped. James put his coffee on the glass table next to them and used his foot to push off of the floor, so that the chair swung lightly underneath them.

After a few minutes Lily looked over at him. "I'm sorry," she said.

He took a sip of coffee before answering. "I know." Then he pushed against the floor and they became quiet again, swinging together on the porch. After a minute or two, Lily leaned her head on James' shoulder and closed her eyes, listening to the silence around them and feeling the soft swing of the chair as it carried her forward and back. James put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead, wordlessly assuring her that it was alright again.