Two Weeks 'Till the Wedding
"They're here!" James and Lily exchanged a look, listening as footsteps got closer and a figure appeared behind the frosted glass pane of the front door. It swung open, revealing Euphemia Potter, a colander in one hand and a bright smile on her face. "We were wondering when you would arrive! Come in, come in…"
"Hi, Mum," James leaned in to press a kiss hello to her cheek; she straightened his shirt collar, an instinct she couldn't seem to quell. "You said arrive for one. It's one now."
"Did I?" his mother asked, giving Lily an enthusiastic hug. "Well, the Evans' got here an hour ago, we're chatting in the kitchen and your father's opened a rather lovely bottle of fizz."
Lily glanced over at James again, a smirk on her lips. "You lot have started on the booze without us?"
"Afraid so, dear." Euphemia gestured for them to follow her, down the thickly-carpeted hallway and into the kitchen. It was, in many ways, a kitchen fit for a family much bigger than their own; high ceilings and a wall of sliding glass windows gave the room plenty of light, and the kitchen island alone could seat at least twelve people. Luckily, his parents liked to entertain, and most weekends saw them filling the house with guests. "Look who it is!"
Anthony and Rose Evans were standing with Fleamont, all three of them clutching a champagne flute and, in James' opinion, looking well on their way to tipsy already. "The soon to be newlyweds!" Rose smiled, moving forward to greet them.
It took a few minutes to say hello, to hug his father and shake Lily's dad's hand, but before long they were settled once more around the kitchen island, Euphemia holding court while she fussed over the dinner on the huge range cooker. "I'm so glad we could do this before the wedding," she said, looking over at James; for a moment, he wondered if she might tear up. She had been rather emotional when it came to discussing her son's impending marriage. "I know it'll be all go in the week leading up to the big day."
"Surely you've got everything planned to within an inch of its life?" Anthony shot his daughter a grin; Lily rolled her eyes in return. "I find it hard to imagine our daughter has been anything but hyper-organised."
"It's called being diligent," Lily replied brightly. "And it's the reason that James and I haven't fallen out too much since we started planning the wedding."
"Just a few times, then," Fleamont guessed with a laugh.
"Maybe once or twice," Lily joked.
"Speaking of falling out…" Euphemia turned to face them again, pointing her wooden spoon accusingly in James' direction. "You and I are going to fall out, if you keep calling your darling parents—what was the wording, dear?"
"Horny idiots," Fleamont supplied, looking like he was rather enjoying himself.
Anthony and Rose both laughed. "What earned this charming moniker?" Rose asked.
James saw this—perhaps foolishly—as a chance to earn points with his future father-in-law. "I thought about what you said, about waiting until marriage," he said earnestly. "And so I convinced Lily to do that with me—to wait, I mean."
There was a pause, and Anthony raised a single eyebrow (an act James had seen Lily do many times, and it was never a good sign). James froze. "Are you looking for praise, for deciding to stop having sex with my youngest daughter for three weeks?" Anthony asked.
Another pause, as James struggled to breathe or think or come up with a reply—and then Lily sighed. "Dad."
A snort of laughter, something which the other parents seemed happy to join in with: James didn't care, just blissfully grateful for the tension seeping back out of him. It would have been bad form to piss himself from fear in the middle of his family kitchen. "Sorry, Lil," Anthony replied with an easy smile, giving James a conciliatory pat on the shoulder. "He just makes it so easy."
Lily grinned, catching James' eye. "He does, doesn't he."
"You two are very unkind to poor James," Rose sympathised, although she was still smiling, which rather undercut her message.
"It's okay," James put on a heavy sigh. "I'm used to it."
"Well, either way, I won't be disrespected for my libido," Euphemia said airily—James groaned, looking to his father for help; Fleamont just sipped his drink with a chuckle. "Just because we didn't wait and the Evans' did, doesn't make us—"
"We didn't wait," Rose reported cheerfully enough. "Gosh, no. Couldn't if we'd wanted to!"
"Mum!"
Rose ignored the way her daughter's smile had melted into something closer to an expression of horror. "I'm fairly certain I was already expecting Tuney when I walked down the aisle."
"Bloody hell, mum!"
"But," James looked to Anthony with a frown, "you said you waited, and how…special it made it."
Anthony tried to hide a smirk behind his champagne flute. "Did I?"
"You did," Lily interjected.
"Like I said," Anthony winked. "He makes it so easy."
Well, there was nothing like the confirmation that you had embarked on a three-week sex embargo just because of something your future in-law had said to take the piss out of you. With time and distance, James would see the funny side of it: game respected game, after all. But, currently without time or distance, and currently over a week without being able to lose himself in Lily, it didn't seem funny at all.
He decided to take the high road. "I still think it's worthwhile," he said, chin up and determinedly not looking at his fiancée, who, he suspected, was probably trying not to laugh at him. "It'll all mean so much more when we're married."
"Good for you, son," Fleamont lifted his glass in an amused toast. "Stick to your guns."
"See?" James turned to Lily, now, gesturing indicatively back at his father. "That is what support looks like."
"Noted," she smiled, leaning in to dot a kiss to his cheek.
"Oh! Rose, let's…" Euphemia wiggled her eyebrows meaningfully.
"Oh, good idea!" Rose agreed, sending a beaming smile in Euphemia's direction. Every day, James thanked his lucky stars that their parents got on so well; yes, sometimes it meant they teamed up together to wind him up, but he would take that over the cold or distant relationships he'd seen between other people's in-laws. Within a month of meeting each other, their mothers had already gone on a day trip to Bath, and their fathers had played no fewer than three games of golf. They were genuinely friends.
She turned to James and Lily, pulling a folded piece of paper from her handbag. "We have a surprise for you. We thought that with all the stress of wedding planning, you two deserve a little bit of pampering time, and since you both have the week before the wedding booked off work…"
Lily took the piece of paper from her mum's outstretched hand and James moved closer to read over her shoulder. "A spa break," Lily sighed happily. "Oh, mum, this is just what I need—thank you!"
"It's from all of us," Rose assured them. "So you feel fresh and ready for the big day."
Two days…in a spa…with his beautiful fiancée wearing a bikini, getting massaged... Something he would normally be delighted about, but now, with this stupid abstinence pledge hanging over them, it sounded more akin to torture. "That's so kind," he said nonetheless, because he'd been raised with impeccable manners, after all. "Thank you!"
"It's our pleasure," his mum smiled, moving to give his shoulder a fond squeeze. "Right, lunch is ready. Who wants more wine?"
James was extremely glad that Lily had volunteered as designated driver today…because he really felt he deserved more wine, now.
"It's a bit much, isn't it?" Sirius glanced over at him as they rounded a corner, both jogging out of the way of a harried-looking mum and two small children. "A work trip just before your wedding?"
"It was organised ages ago," James replied, checking the road for traffic before he led the way across to the pavement on the other side. "And it's only a few days. After this week I've got the week leading up to the wedding off, plus three weeks after for the honeymoon and…well, whatever. I think my boss just wanted to make sure everything is in place with some of the clients before I fuck off for a month."
They slowed as they neared a café: they tried not to finish all their runs at Café Liberté, given that the pain au chocolat alone could undo all their hard work jogging, but every now and then for a treat didn't hurt. Sirius had declared, before they'd even started off an hour ago, that today was one of those days. James hadn't asked for a reason: neither of them really needed one. Any excuse would do.
"How does Evans feel about you ditching her for a few days?" Sirius asked, coming to a stop just outside the café doors. "Surely there's some vital wed-min you're supposed to be helping with."
"It's mostly under control," he shrugged. "You know what she's like—she's organised this wedding with military precision."
They joined the queue; James tried to surreptitiously wipe the sweat from his face, an action he failed at, apparently, given the scathing look he received from a nearby customer. "Well," Sirius said, "as long as you're back for the STEN."
Sirius had decided, since James and Lily shared a host of friends, and since it was "grossly unfair" and "borderline misandry" that Sirius hadn't been invited to the hen do, that they should have a 'STEN do'. ("Stag and hen! Get it?" he had asked, looking unduly pleased with himself. "Yes," Lily had replied, "even the rocks at the bottom of our pond got that.") As far as James could tell, it was just an excuse to go out, have a few drinks, pretend they were wild and young and responsibility-free for a night with all their closest friends. He didn't object to that, and neither did his fiancée, and so the STEN do had been arranged for the approaching Friday night, a date chosen so that, in Sirius' words, "we'll all have a good week to recover from the inevitable raging hangover."
Given how absolutely hammered James had been at his stag do back in January, he was a bit worried that a week wouldn't be enough. Good thing Lily would be there, to keep him under some sort of control.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," James assured his friend. "I get back Friday afternoon."
"Good." They reached the counter and ordered their usual—two flat whites, two pain au chocolat. "How's abstinence going? Have you stopped seeing colours?"
James rolled his eyes. "I don't think that's a thing," he pointed out. "And it's not like I'm not—you know. Just…on my own, instead."
"I thought you'd done enough of on your own back at school," Sirius smirked. "Wasn't getting together with Lil supposed to be the end of all that thankless wanking?"
The girl behind the counter gave him a suspicious look as she slid their order across to them; James muttered his thanks before hurrying back out into the cool morning air. "I wish you would stop talking about my masturbation habits in public."
"Wish away, mate," Sirius grinned. "But it won't change anything."
"Besides," James continued, "I'm not just with Lily for sex. Our relationship is so much more than that."
"Yeah?" Sirius looked delighted; far too mischievous. "Like what?"
"Well, like…love!" James replied, knowing he shouldn't let his mate get to him. It was just hard, given that pretty much everything got to him when he didn't have the outlet of…well…sex. "Love, and care, and mutual respect!"
"Christ," Sirius fanned himself with his croissant. "Stop, you're turning me on."
"Oh, piss off," James sighed. "If you're going to be a bastard, then I won't come to your bloody STEN."
There was a brief silence as they both walked on, preoccupied by eating.
Then: "You will come though, right?"
James sighed. "Yes."
"Thanks," Sirius beamed, and gave him a wink. "See, another relationship of yours filled with love, care and mutual respect."
"Piss off."
WhatsApp private message
Wednesday 24th March 2021, 4:38pm
James Potter, Lily Evans
LOML (Lil): How's stupid Manchester?
LOML (Lil): I miss you xx
James: I miss you too xx Manchester is fine! Meetings today went well. Have to take Reynolds to dinner this evening, keep him happy and paying us all his money
Wednesday 24th March 2021, 9:13pm
LOML (Lil): Went for a swim after work
LOML (Lil): Not too busy. Slow swimmers must have stayed at home
LOML (Lil): Just had a shower
LOML (Lil): Thought about you
LOML (Lil): 🍆
LOML (Lil): Almost wrenched the shower caddy off the wall when I came
LOML (Lil): That's what thinking about you does to me
LOML (Lil): Still thinking about you now actually…
Wednesday 24th March 2021, 10:54pm
James: JESUS FUCK LIL
James: Those messages came through when we were having after dinner drinks and I almost had a heart attack
James: Were you trying to kill me?
LOML (Lil): I have to do something since you refuse to touch me
LOML (Lil): A woman has needs
James: Thought you said you were bored of touching yourself?
LOML (Lil): NEEDS, Potter
Wednesday 24th March 2021, 11:42pm
James: It's not weak to say that I wish I was the one touching you, is it?
James: You won't hold that against me when I'm back will you
James: Lily?
James: Lil?
James: …fuck. you will won't you
Read, 11:43pm
The club was rammed: the dancefloor was crowded, the queue at the bar at least six people deep. Thank God that Sirius had possessed the foresight to reserve a booth for them all, so at least they had a base to sit and drink between bouts of dancing (or, in Remus' case, bouts of standing around engaged in fearsome debates with random strangers. He always seemed to make friends, wherever he went). James felt that he had aged out of this sort of experience at least five years ago—some of the clientele at this place looked like they were barely out of school—but he could cope with it for one night. Especially a night with so many of his favourite people.
Marlene and her girlfriend Dorcas had barely stopped dancing the whole night so far, only pausing to hug James or Lily at random and, as they got more drunk, cry about "true love!" Mary, Sirius and Remus had engaged each other in a competition to see who could get the most phone numbers, a competition that Mary was easily winning; Sirius' natural good looks could make him a bit intimidating, and that, combined with the fact that he had chosen to wear a t-shirt he'd had made, printed with James and Lily's faces and the words 'STEN-ding me crazy!" in comic sans font, meant that he wasn't having his usual luck. Remus probably could have cleaned up, to be honest, if he'd actually tried, but again, he was more interested in making friends and discussing the career trajectory of Ryan Reynolds.
Lily, meanwhile—beautiful, effervescent Lily, who was wearing a maddeningly short black dress in what he considered to be an open act of hostility towards him—was having the time of her life. She'd danced, she'd talked up Sirius and Mary to their unwitting suitors, she'd expressed her strong opinions on the film Definitely Maybe. Everything, pretty much, except spend much time with him.
That was, until about midnight.
Maybe it was her last drink that did it, but something tipped her over from pretending-to-ignore-him-for-fun into indecently-affectionate within the space of about five minutes. She appeared at his side in the booth, dragged him out on to the dance floor, and pressed herself up against him, one arm snaking round his neck while the other lingered at his waist.
He had to lean down to hear what she was saying; the music throbbed, deafeningly loud, all around them.
"I said," she repeated, her breath warm against the shell of his ear, "that I want you so badly I can hardly breathe from it."
Oh, fuck. He closed his eyes, his arm automatically slipping around her waist to draw her closer—probably not a great idea, all things considered, but a move he could stop no more than he could stop breathing. "Lil…"
"I tried to pretend you weren't here so I wouldn't think about it," she added; she pressed herself up against him, an act easily hidden in the crush of the crowded dancefloor. "It didn't work. James—"
"Lil," he said again, more of a groan, really. He felt seconds away from something very inappropriate for a public space.
"—I'm so wet for you, baby." She had her fingers in a vice grip in his hair; she must have felt the vibrations of his moan, long and low in his throat, because she had immediately moved her lips to his neck, a path of fire that was sure to leave a mark. "Please…"
He felt like he was struggling to catch his breath. All he wanted to do was take her somewhere—fucking anywhere, at this point, he didn't give a shit—and rip off that tiny dress. His body was responding, eager to the point of embarrassment, to her touch, her proximity, her words. And he probably would have done something, something very much not in keeping with the abstinence pledge, something that may well have got them kicked out of this club for public lewdness…
…if his best friend and professional nuisance Sirius Black hadn't wandered over just at that point. "Marlene's thrown up all over herself," he reported cheerfully; they wrenched away from each other, and damn if that wasn't a highly effective boner-killer. "We're being booted out."
Lily shot James a long, sizzling look—her cheeks still flushed, her lower lip between her teeth—before she pushed past Sirius to hurry over to her friend.
Sirius met James' gaze with a sympathetic grin. "Fun night, though, right?"
James could only sigh.
