Summer of Love
Lily Evans and her best friend Athena Asimokopoulos head for a vacation in Athena's homeland—Greece. Lily expects a great summer, filled with lazy days on the beach, checking out hot Greek men and eating bizarre Greek food. However, the best part of the entire trip would be NO JAMES POTTER!
James Potter, however, is stunned when he is told he has to go to Greece for his cousins' engagement party. He doesn't want to go at all, but with some persuasion from his mother and Sirius Black, they're off.
Lily is outraged when she sees her worst enemy, James Potter in Greece! She thought she could get rid of him! James, meanwhile, is thanking himself repeatedly for deciding to come to Greece after all.
James is desperate to make Lily fall in love with him before the summer is over, but the question is—can he?
Chapter 16—One Giant Leap Forward
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, do you think I'd be writing this? (Didn't think so). I only own Athena Asimokopoulos, her grandparents, Eileen, Stella and other characters you may not recognize.
No flaming please! I really do think that flaming just makes the author of the story feel miserable and that they stink at writing—so no flaming please!
This story is dedicated to THE BIG DANCE, for being my first reviewer. Thanks so much TBD!
OMG, u guys SO rock! I got over 100 reviews for this story! You guys seriously ROCK MY SOXS!
Now, onto Chapter 16.
--
After the huge 'James vs. Niko' incident, Lily and James became quite closer. Poor Athens, Athena's bird, was being used back and forth, as the two corresponded to each other.
Athena tolerated it for three days, thrilled that the two were getting closer but finally she had enough when her owl came into her room at three in the morning and hooted because he had a letter—waking Athena up, which is SOMETHING you do NOT want to do.
Needless to say, Athena had a small chat with Lily about 'waking people up at three a.m.' and the problem was solved with the night owls.
Now, the problem was Lily spending her entire day in her bedroom, writing letters to James—which annoyed the heck out of Athena. She didn't come to Greece to sit inside all day and do nothing!
--
Today, Athena felt extremely antsy. It was a perfect summer day outside and she was cooped inside.
Life sucked.
After staring out the window for three minutes, Athena decided enough was enough and left her room to find Lily.
Opening the door, Athena wasn't surprised to see her friend sitting at the table, writing letters.
"Get up Lily!" Athena ordered. "We're going out."
Lily, who didn't even look up, said, "Not right now, Thena. I need to finish this letter to James."
Athena grit her teeth in frustration as she snatched the letter and started to read it, ignoring Lily's protests.
Dear James,
Ha! That was a v. funny letter! Yes, I DO think that Sirius is too much of a girl for the manner—all that cheap hair care product he uses in his hair must be working(if you catch my drift).
Athena brandished the letter in front of Lily's face. "What the hell is this?"
"A letter." Lily said, annoyed that Athena took her letter away.
"NO! What's this about Sirius?"
"Since when do you care about Sirius Black?" Lily asked a teasing smile on her lips.
Athena turned red and cursed herself for saying that.
"I'm just saying," she said, choosing her words carefully. "This is a letter to James—NOT Sirius."
"James was telling me something about Sirius in his last letter—it was hilarious."
Athena bit her lip, trying not to let the curses fly out of her mouth.
"Anyway," Athena said lightly, ripping up the letter in front of an open-mouthed Lily and throwing the pieces, "we're going out today. I've been stuck inside this house for the last two days while you and lover boy write love notes to each other."
Lily blushed crimson. "They're NOT love notes!"
"Then what do you want me to call them? Letters?"
Lily nodded. "Of course."
Athena rolled her eyes. "Whatever—I'm not going to—but we're going out!"
Lily looked wary. "I don't want another fight again. Remember the restaurant?"
"We're NOT going to a restaurant," Athena reassured her best friend. "We're just going to go shopping."
"Do you honestly need to go shopping, Athena?"
"Hey! School's coming up!"
Lily smirked. "Two months from now."
"Shut up! Nobody asked you!"
Lily shrugged and picked up another piece of paper and started to write Dear James on it.
Athena, however, saw that and snatched the paper away. "I don't think so missy. We're going shopping today. I didn't come to Greece just to sit here and let you write notes to Potter—I came to have a good time!"
Lily bit her lip. "But my letter—"
"The letter can wait." Athena said calmly, snatching the quill and writing in big letters on the piece of paper:
James,
We're going shopping. Athena and I will be back in 3 hours.
Love,
Lily.
Lily's eyes went wide as she made a wild grab for the piece of paper and quill. "Scratch that out!" She screeched.
"Scratch what out?" Athena said, a smirk on her face.
Lily gestured to the 'love' in the letter. "That! I can't let you send that!"
Athena kept that smirk on her face.
"I'll scratch it out," she said airily, dangling the paper out of Lily's reach. "If you promise to come shopping with me."
Lily stopped struggling and looked at Athena right in the eye. "You're cruel, Athena Asimokopoulos."
"And extremely proud," Athena said, glad that she would be getting out of the house. "Now, let's hurry up. The shops close at eight tonight."
"Wait a second!" Lily halted Athena. "What about the letter?"
Athena made a quick adjustment, rolled it up, and gave it to Athens.
"I changed it to 'sincerely.' How's that?"
Lily smiled. "Better—thanks Athena."
"You're very welcome."
As Lily left the room, Athena gave a Sirius-like grin. Of course she didn't tell Lily that she changed it to 'Love Always' instead of 'Sincerely.'
Oh well—what Lily didn't know didn't hurt anybody.
--
"Where's the bloody letter?" James asked, looking through the window, hoping to see a glimpse of Athens, the owl.
Sirius groaned and smacked his head against the wall. "For the last time, James!" He moaned, "This pen pal thing is seriously starting to get on my nerves!"
James glared at Sirius. "Shut up you! I'm just glad that Lily is even speaking to me!"
"Yeah—those twenty four hours of her being angry at you were complete torture."
"They were!" James exclaimed. "They were the worst ever!"
Sirius gave a curious glance at James. "Why? She spent the last five years hating you—why is one day the worst ever?"
"Because," James said impatiently, still looking out the window. "This time, Lily and I are friends and she was speaking to me."
Sirius rolled his eyes and continued to bang his head against the wall. "This is seriously one of the worst summers ever." He groaned. "I haven't pranked anybody since the end-of-the-year feast, I haven't beat my record of snogging girls in one summer and I haven't got Athe—"
He paused there, his eyes wide, hoping that James didn't realize what he just said. He had almost said: I haven't got Athena yet.
Luckily, James paid no attention to Sirius, as he was staring out the window again looking for a letter.
Finally, about fifteen minutes later, as Sirius was starting to doze off, there was a cry of "AHA!" that made Sirius jump up and crash onto the floor.
"What the hell was that for?" Sirius shouted, rubbing the back of his neck. "That hurt!"
James was pointing to the rolled letter in his hands, a look of excitement on his face.
"She wrote me back!"
"Kudos to you." Sirius said sourly, mad that James woke him just because of a stupid letter. "Now—if you don't mind—I'd like to go back to sleep."
James paid no attention to Sirius and unrolled the letter. He read the letter hurriedly and once he reached the end, an unmistaken able look of glee was etched onto his face.
He walked over to his sleeping friend and poked him hard. "SIRIUS!" He shouted into his ear.
His eyes opening up, Sirius once again fell off the bed.
"Bloody hell!" Sirius shouted, looking angrily at James. "What was that for?"
James thrust the letter into Sirius's hands. "Read this!"
Sirius gave a look of deep loathing at James and read the letter. As he read it, his eyebrows went higher and higher until they were hidden by his hair.
"Is this some kind of joke?" Sirius asked in amusement. "Lily Evans actually wrote 'Love always?' What has gone wrong?"
James paid no attention; he was too busy grinning with glee. "She actually wrote 'Love always!' Can you believe that?"
"It's kind of hard to believe it!"
"That means she loves me!" James said excitedly. "She truly likes me!"
Sirius peered closer at the piece of paper. "Was this some kind of joke? When would Lily Evans write 'Love always' on a letter to James Potter?
He looked even closer and noticed that on the top of the paper, there was small handwriting that said: Dear James on it.
That handwriting looked like Lily's.
He then compared the second handwriting (which was large and very girly) to the first one.
He then concluded (A/N: WOW! Sirius is actually THINKING!) That Athena had to write the 'Love Always' part. Lily didn't.
Oh—this was going to burst James' bubble.
As he snuck a peek at James, who was dancing around the room with happiness he decided not to tell him that Lily didn't write it.
It would be much funnier watching Lily tell James that Athena wrote it.
--
"What do you think of this dress Lily?"
Lily, startled by Athena's comment, looked up to see Athena modeling a green dress.
Truth to be told, it looked wonderful on Athena, but Lily was lost in her own thoughts about a messy haired, bespectacled boy...
"It looks great Athena." Lily said, trying her hardest to sound cheerful.
Athena rolled her eyes and gave a mock-glare at Lily.
"Are you still thinking about James?"
Lily gave Athena a 'how'd you know?' look.
Athena chuckled. "It was obvious, my dear Lillian. The glazed look on your face—not paying attention to shopping...do I need to go on?"
Lily gave a deep sigh and gave her friend a weary smile. "I hate it when you're right."
"It's just the way I am, my dear." Athena said, going back into the dressing room to change. "I can read minds."
"Now why did you quit Divination?" Lily teased.
She heard a snort come from the dressing room. "Because—Professor Merrythought couldn't teach that blasted subject if her life depended on it."
"I warned you numerous times—" Lily started, but Athena cut her off.
"Skase vre!" (Shut up, you!)
Laughing, Lily picked up the numerous amounts of clothes Athena had thrown at her and stood up.
"You ready to pay?"
"Lemme just get my tank top on." Athena muttered, "And I'll be out."
A second later, Athena unlocked the door and threw the dress at Lily.
"Here—you take it. It'll go much better with your eyes."
"But—" Lily started to say but Athena cut her off.
"None of your excuses! Now, let's go! We have a dozen more shops to head to and it's only four o'clock!"
Lily gave an inward groan. Now why did she agree to go shopping with Athena again?
--
At around nine o'clock that night, an exhausted Lily flopped onto her bed, two shopping bags in her hands.
"What a day!" Athena said cheerfully, carrying her many shopping bags into her room. "Imagine how much one can buy in one day! We'll have even more fun tomorrow!"
Lily groaned and looked up from the bed. "Where are we going tomorrow?"
"I thought we'd go to the islands tomorrow," Athena said thoughtfully, sticking her head into Lily's room. "They have good shops there."
"Can't we just stay home?"
Athena crinkled her nose. "Are you crazy? We spent two days doing that! We're going out!"
Lily groaned again. There was no stopping Athena once she saw her shopping stores. It was just as bad in Hogsmeade.
"How about the beach then?" Lily asked, praying that Athena would agree.
Thankfully, Athena nodded. "Good idea Lils! I mean—I bought a new bikini—why let those incredibly hot Greek guys suffer by not letting them see me in a flattering suit?" An impish grin crossed her face. "Damn—I really like that visual!"
And with that, her head left the room and Lily heard her footsteps lead to her room.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Lily detached herself from her bed and started to but her new clothes away in her closet.
As she was, she felt her mind start to think of James Potter.
I don't like him. Lily told herself.
Ahh—but you do. Came that annoying little voice in the back of her head. You just don't want to admit it.
I do not. Lily argued. He's a very good friend.
You just keep telling yourself that. You know you like him.
Do not.
Do too.
Do not.
Do too.
Do not.
Do not.
Do too.
Ha! See! You admitted it.
Hey! You tricked me.
Not my problem. Now, why don't you write him a letter?
Lily scowled. Why did that stupid voice always have to be right?
Even though she didn't want to admit it—she did like James Potter. She was infatuated with him.
And right now—she wanted to tell him.
Walking over to the little table where her paper and pens were, she took a fresh sheet out and set it down.
Taking her pen, she wrote the mandatory first sentence:
Dear James,
Her hand suspended in mid air, Lily contemplated on what to say to him. Should she just write her feelings on this piece of paper to him and send it to him? Or, should she arrange to meet him?
Mulling it over in her head, Lily finally smiled and started writing to James.
She knew what she had to do.
It was time to take the plunge.
--
James was bored.
Yes—he was bored.
Lily hadn't written him a letter in a while and looking at the alarm clock, he saw that it was nine ten.
Sirius was out in the kitchen, pigging out on food while his mother was getting dinner ready.
Aimee had asked him if he wanted to help but James point-blank refused. He was going to wait for the last letter from Lily.
"James?" Aimee called. "James, honey—dinner is almost ready!"
"Okay!" James called.
Truth be told, he wasn't very hungry. He just wanted a letter from Lily.
All of a sudden, he heard a soft hooting and turned to see an owl sitting on the windowsill.
His heart leaping in his throat, James ran to the owl and took the letter.
Ripping it open, he read:
Dear James,
There is something I need to tell you and I can't say it on this paper for certain reasons (a.k.a. Sirius finding this and reading this). However, I DO need to see you ASAP. Will you meet me at the beach in ten minutes?
Always,
Lily.
James looked at the letter in disbelief. What did Lily want to tell him that she couldn't tell him on paper?
Well, whatever it was—it seemed important.
Deciding to skip dinner, James ran out of the room, clutching the letter.
"James?" Aimee asked in bewilderment. "Where are you going?"
"I'll be back." James promised his mother. "I just need to go to the beach."
Aimee glanced at the clock. "At nine fifteen at night?" She asked in confusion. "Can't it wait til morning?"
James shook his head and opened the door. "It needs to be done now."
Shutting the door, Aimee turned to Sirius, who was grinning broadly—understanding what was going on.
"Sirius—do you know—?"
"Mrs. Potter," Sirius stated, "All I know that this is very important to James—otherwise, why would he be skipping dinner?"
--
Lily rubbed her bare arms and looked at the dark beach, hoping to catch a glimpse of James.
She felt a sense of déjà vu as she stood on the beach at nine twenty at night. It seemed exactly as it did when that horrid fight broke out between James and Niko.
Yet tonight, things would be different. For one, she brought a flashlight.
She flicked on the flashlight, hoping that the light would tell James that Lily was here.
After all, who else would be on the beach at nine o'clock at night?
"Lily?" A soft voice whispered into her ear.
Her heart thumping into her chest, Lily whirled around, the flashlight right in the person's eyes.
To her relief (and delight), the person in front of her was James Potter.
James squinted as the light blinded his eyes and he put a hand up to shield it away. "Do you mind putting that thing out?"
"How else would I see you?" Lily said in a trembling voice.
"Good point," James laughed. "Well, at least keep it away from my eyes."
"Will do." Lily moved the flashlight out of James' eyes and over his shoulder. That way, the light was still illuminating his face.
"So," James said, looking at Lily, "why did you ask me to come to the beach?"
Lily jumped. "Huh?"
James chuckled. "Have you already forgotten? Here."
Handing her the letter, Lily quickly remembered why she invited James here.
"Oh—um—I asked you come to here because—" Lily paused here and looked up at James, who was listening closely to every word she said.
"Go on." James said.
Lily felt her cheeks redden and said in a trembling voice, "I have never told anybody this before—so if it sounds bad don't laugh."
"Lily, I promise I won't."
Lily took two deep breaths and steadied herself.
"Irealizedthatilikeyou." She said in a rush.
James looked confused. "What?" He said, moving in closer, "What did you say?"
Lily felt immobilized at how close she and James were. This was surreal.
"I said," Lily swallowed and looked up into James' hazel eyes. "I realized that I like you."
A slow grin slid onto James' face. "Seriously?"
"No, I'm joking—of course I'm serious!" Lily exclaimed, her cheeks reddening again. "I told you—I have never told anybody this before!"
James took another step forward so that there wasn't any space between them.
"You don't know how long I actually wished to hear those words." James said softly, reaching out to move a strand of red hair away from Lily's face.
She felt a tingle of warmth at where James touched her face and wanted to melt right there and then.
Looking up into his eyes, Lily slowly shut off the flashlight so that James couldn't see her crimson face, yet she could see the moon illuminating off his glasses.
James slowly leaned forward and captivated Lily with a kiss.
Lily was shocked at first, but the shock wore away and she kissed him back.
Ha ha. I knew it. The annoying voice in the back of her head said slyly. I knew you liked him.
Oh, shut up. Lily thought.
A minute later, Lily pulled back and could feel her cheeks reddening again. She knew James was smiling.
"I—I got to go." Lily muttered. She really didn't want to go—but she was so embarrassed right now. She had dated other guys, but no guy had ever made her feel this way.
Lily took off down the street, leaving James behind, who had a love struck smile on his face.
Once Lily got to a considerable distance away, she stopped running and stopped—a smile playing on her lips.
She couldn't believe what she had just done. She had kissed James Potter. She had kissed James POTTER.
A month ago, when she still hated James Potter, she probably would have died and stayed away from him.
Yet, the new Lily could really care less what the old Lily thought off. After all, what happened in the past stays in the past. Right now, she had the future to look forward too and it seemed that James Potter would be occupying it for the most part.
--
Aww! Lily and James FINALLY kissed and Lily admitted her feelings!
I hope that was a sort of fluffy chapter. My apologizes if it wasn't—I'm not very good at fluffy chapters. grins sheepishly
I also hope that this chapter will make my more impatient reviewers who wanted L/J to come sooner make them less impatient!
Now, Chapter 17 and 18 will probably be dedicated to Sirius and Athena (unless reviewers say not too). Chapter 19 will be back to Lily and James.
That's just a little bit of inside-view on how the next 3 chapters will be.
Chapter 20 you say. Well—that's MY little secret. :)
--Greekchic.