Friendship Has Its Limits
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, apart from Alexa and Alexa's family (her mum, dad, sis Caroline, bro Ben, and cousin Ruby) and anyone else you might not recognize. The characters that you do recognize from the Harry Potter books all belong to the brilliant imagination of J. K. Rowling. Okay, I'm done now.
Once seated at the table with their bowels of chocolate peanut butter ice cream (A/N: I absolutely ADORE chocolate peanut butter ice cream. Sorry, anyway, on with the story), Lily asked, "So, Alexa, why did you want me to come here again?"
"Well, first of all, I wanted you to meet my cousin Ruby, who's moving in with us," Alexa replied, licking her spoon. "But she isn't here right now, so that'll happen later. Anyway, my dad wanted to have this barbeque picnic type thingy, too, and so he told me to invite a friend, and so here you are."
"Oh. Cool."
"You don't happen to have a bathing suit with you, do you?" Alexa asked suddenly.
Lily cast a sideways glance at her friend before answering, "You didn't tell me that I was supposed to bring a swimsuit, Alexa, so no, I don't."
The other girl shrugged overly casually, and replied all to readily, "I think you and I might be the same size, so you can borrow one of mine. Although I do think you're a little more gifted in the breast area than I am---"
"Alexa!" Lily blushed crimson. Alexa grinned. "Why do I need a bathing suit anyway?" Lily asked, breaking the momentary silence between the two friends.
"We planned on going swimming in the lake on our property, that's all." Alexa shrugged again. "I hope you don't mind wearing a two piece," she added mischievously. "Eek!" She had to duck to avoid getting smacked.
A few minutes later, both girls were in Alexa's room, Lily sitting on her Queen-sized bed, and Alexa herself ruffling through drawer after drawer in search of a bathing suit for Lily. Apparently Alexa had a thing for two pieced-suits, because every one she had showed Lily so far had been two pieces, and she'd offered at least four suits so far.
"Aha! I knew I had this one tucked away somewhere," Alexa said gleefully, whirling around to face Lily, holding an emerald green two pieced bathing suit. Lily took one look at the swimming suit in question and raised her eyebrows and looked at Alexa as if she thought she was joking.
"You've got to be kidding me." Alexa looked confused. "Alexa, I'd never wear anything like that in my life! I'm not wearing that." Lily crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly.
"Oh come on, Lils! It isn't that bad. Personally I think it'd look a lot better on you than it ever did on me. I've only worn it once. Besides, the color matches your eyes, and clashes in a good way with your hair. Who's going to see it, anyway?"
Lily supposed that Alexa was right; after all, it wasn't like James, Remus and Sirius were going to be there, right? What did she have to lose? Still, she would never have the guts to even buy a suit like that, let alone wear it.
"Alright, I'll wear it," she agreed finally. She took the bathing suit out of Alexa's hand and turned on her heel to change in the bathroom.
"Lily, you look truly stunning," Alexa said happily once Lily had come back. Lily seriously doubted that; she felt so weird, standing there with her belly, long legs, arms and a good deal of her chest showing. This suit was far beyond her comfort zone. It just showed way too much skin.
"Alexa, I don't know about this," she told her friend doubtfully. "I'm not used to wearing anything like this." She shook her head. "But I guess it'll be okay, because it's not like the boys are coming---Wait a minute, Alexa, you didn't invite them did you?"
"Didn't I tell you?" Alexa said innocently. "Dad told me that I should invite all my friends to meet Ruby and have some summer fun. James and Sirius should be here any minute. Remus said that he might be a little late."
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT!"
Just then the doorbell rang again, and Alexa went racing downstairs at top speed, either to avoid Lily's horrid redheaded temper, or to answer the door before Ben, Lily didn't know, but she went running after her friend. She was halfway down the stairs when Alexa wrenched open the door, revealing James and Sirius.
Lily squealed and ran back up the stairs, realizing that she was still wearing the very showy swimsuit.
"What was that?" asked Sirius. Luckily for Lily, Sirius and James only heard a squeal and only saw a streak of red and emerald green fly up the stairs.
"Come on in, boys," Alexa said, ushering them inside. "That was Lily. She's feeling a bit...shy right now. Take a seat, and I'll go get her. Be back soon!" She went back upstairs, leaving the boys sitting on a couch in the living room, shrugging at each other.
----An hour later...----
"Lily, come on. You look great. Stop stressing about the boys and come out with us to have some fun. You haven't even met Ruby yet." Alexa knocked on the door of her bathroom, where Lily had locked herself in. "Everybody's here, and we're all waiting for you to come outside."
"Fine. But I'm not happy with you, Alexa." Lily unlocked the door and stepped out into Alexa's bedroom, clad in a large white tee shirt, the bathing suit underneath. Alexa rolled her eyes and tried to yank the shirt off Lily.
"Lily, wearing a white shirt won't solve your problem. White's see-through when it gets wet," Alexa reminded her friend. Momentarily distracted about this new piece of information, Lily stopped struggling against Alexa, who then yanked the shirt off of Lily.
Lily glared, Alexa grinned, seemingly unfazed by Lily's death glare, and another girl laughed at both of them. Lily turned to the other girl. She had shoulder length, light brown hair, bright blue eyes, and slightly tanned skin. She was wearing a yellow one pieced suit with blue flowers on it. She smiled at Lily.
"Lily, meet my cousin, Ruby. Okay, okay, now that you've met her, let's go swimming!" Alexa took hold of Lily's arm before she could escape back into the bathroom and pulled her down the stairs and outside, Ruby at her side.
Once out in the backyard, Alexa released Lily and went off toward the lake, Ruby quick on her heels. Lily stayed back a little way, not at all happy with Alexa at the moment. She was going to make a fool out of herself in front of James.
Wait. Since when did she care what James thought of her? She didn't. Right? She took a deep breath and went running after Alexa and Ruby. "Wait for me, you guys!" she called after them. She caught up with them, and they walked to the lake together.
But whatever confidence Lily had talked into herself went right back out again when she spotted James, talking with Remus, Sirius and Mr. Peters. Her breath caught in her throat, and she swallowed.
"I don't think this is such a good idea, Alexa," she said, turning around and trying to run back to the house.
"Oh no you don't, Lily." Alexa latched onto Lily's arm and pulled her back. "You aren't getting it that easily. Now come on." She dragged Lily over to the others, who were all standing around a barbeque grill. "Come on, Lils, shake the lead out of your feet. It's just the guys."
"You planned this all along," Lily accused, and Alexa grinned roguishly at her. "I can't believe you!" She stopped walking and put her hands on her hips. Alexa grinned widened. That's when Lily realized with embarrassment that the boys were all staring at her. She squealed again and turned around only to run into Ruby, who turned her back around.
"Wow Lils, you look...you look..." stuttered James. All the girls looked at him.
"Yes, James?" prompted Alexa. "She looks---amazing? Stunning? Gorgeous?"
"Freaky?" offered Lily. "Disturbing?" Alexa and Ruby frowned at her. "What? I'm just trying to help out."
A/N: Not the greatest ending for the chapter, but hey. Need to leave some stuff for the next chapter, which I already have started. Isn't that great? Now review! This chapter was four pages long, so you ppl shouldn't complain about it being too short! At least I hope it wasn't too short. Sniffs I'm sick, but you can make me happy by leaving a nice long review, k? Until the next chappie, bye!