hi guys! Thanks for giving this a read I hope you enjoy! Its also posted on AO3 by the same title 'trivia night' (diff username, they don't match up).
Feel free to comment any thoughts or feedback
Enjoy!
Chapter 1:
The man from trivia was standing in her house.
Well, it was technically Marlenes's house, but as Lily spent far more time in her friend's apartment than her own, it only seemed appropriate that Lily could, when the occasion so arose, claim tenancy.
So, yes, the man from trivia was standing in her house.
He was standing, in particular, upon the threshold of Lily's bedroom – which Marlene called the 'spare room' – an unfamiliar cat slinking around his right leg. It was such an outlandish occurrence, an experience so utterly ridiculous, that Lily could only stand in front of the closed front door, keys warm in her hand, and blink.
The man from trivia blinked back. His brow creased, mouth slightly agape and he was still as stunningly, luxuriously, devastatingly gorgeous as he had been every time Lily had spied him at trivia night.
"You're in my house," was all Lily could muster. Sheer shock must've rendered her utterly stupid.
The man from trivia squinted at her, frowning. Lily resisted the urge to fidget as the man from trivia took a sweeping assessment of her, slowly dragging his gaze up and down her body. Lily's breath caught. A moment passed. "Marlene? Is that you? Jesus, I must still be drunk," the man from trivia said, his voice both disbelieving and deprecating. His body shifted as he leaned against the doorway of the bedroom, still squinting at Lily in perplexed confusion. Lily appreciated the way he leaned, admired the way his shoulders hunched ever so slightly, his legs relaxed, arms crossed casually in front of him. "Either I drunk my weight in margaritas last night so as to actually still be drunk, rendering my facial recognition ability utterly useless," he paused for great emphasis, "or you've undergone extensive facial reconstruction surgery."
How ridiculous – he was utterly ridiculous. Lily tried hard to quash her surprised delight.
"Well, it can't be the latter – there are hardly any reputable facial reconstruction surgeons in Britain and I refuse to waste money on such inadequacy," Lily found herself quipping back, grateful she'd taken the time to style her hair this morning for she wanted – needed – to make some type of impression on the man from trivia. She promptly dismissed that thought, for she was being utterly ridiculous. Lily walked further into the apartment before lowering her duffle bag onto the ground at the foot of Marlene's couch.
The man from trivia's mouth quirked and she had to tell her heart to calm down for acting like she was still a deranged 16-year-old. "Ah, of course, the prices for facial reconstruction have risen in the last quarter, haven't they?" he mused. Lily didn't know what 'the last quarter' meant and would have bet her favourite pair of green heels that neither did James, the thought positively delightful. "I'm reconsidering my own career now – I wonder, how much does one charge for facial surgery?"
"A couple thousand quid," Lily offered, trying to keep her face cool and relaxed and yet failing miserably – she knew she probably appeared giddy and eager and ridiculously splotchy but she could not contain her delight. It should have been unexpected and bizarre, for this ridiculously attractive man to be giving cheek, and yet Lily had observed him far closer on trivia night than she would have ever cared to admit, and so she somehow knew with great certainty that his trivia table – always laughing, joking, inexorably losing whilst grinning – would only have accepted the wittiest amongst their circle.
The man from trivia scoffed as if appalled by her idea. "Only a couple thousand? For blessing people with good looks such as mine, I would charge millions of quid, maybe a kidney or two."
"Two kidneys? That's absurdly greedy. One is surely enough," Lily quipped, unable to conceal her grin. She could not help but wonder what on earth was happening. It seemed so irrational, so ludicrous, that she could truly be bantering with The Man From Trivia – and yes, he was The Man From Trivia now, Lily noted, for the capitals captured how utterly deserving he was of such impressive emphasis.
The Man From Trivia was grinning bizarrely wide, shaking his head slightly, as if dazed. Lily understood his feeling completely. "So, if you've had no surgery, are you implying I'm still plastered?" he challenged, eyes bright with mirth. He uncrossed his arms and moved forward, his gait confident yet also slightly hunched, as if he were used to perpetually looking down to speak to people. He stopped until Marlene's couch was the only thing between them.
"Not completely – mildly tipsy at best. I can make some strong coffee to cure it right up."
The Man From Trivia grinned, shaking his head. "Now I know you're not Marlene – she's never offered to make me coffee before."
"Possibly because you broke into her house? Knowing Marlene, she's kind of adverse to playing hostess to break-and-enterers."
"Ahhh!" The Man From Trivia realised, eyes wide in innocence, "I understand her previous hostility now! Makes perfect sense. But," he paused for dramatic emphasis, walking around the couch to stand directly in front of Lily and good gracious did she need to crane her head an awful lot to meet his gaze, "seeing as how I have been invited to stay this week while she's visiting her family, it seems as if you're the 'break-and-enterer'."
Lily's assessing gaze of The Man From Trivia – of which he realised he was not wearing his round glasses – halted abruptly as she frowned, perplexed. "No, I have been invited to stay this week while she's visiting family."
The Man From Trivia scratched absently at his chin, his thin shirt riding up slightly and Lily had to tell her heart to calm down, for Christs' sake. "It seems we're in a funny conundrum here. A kerfuffle, if you will. I'm James," The Man From Trivia threw out casually, as if Lily hadn't been longing to know what his name was ever since she had seen him at trivia night, more annoyed each month that his friends only called him 'Prongs'. His name was James – The Man From Trivia was called James. He continued speaking, casually, as if he had no idea that Lily was slightly reeling from this newfound piece of information. "I'm friends with Marlene's good friend, Remus. He told me she said it was cool if I stayed here," he said, his voice deep and slightly scratchy, as if he had just woken up and upon gazing at him further, Lily realised he probably had.
His feet were bare, red plaid pyjama bottoms slung dangerously low on his narrow hips and he wore what looked like a worn school top, an emblem of a lion crest faded by too many washes. His hair, of course, was another sign he had stumbled from bed – but, alas, his unruly, near-spiky, rich black hair had looked the same at trivia, giving Lily the almost certain impression that he did not meticulously style it as she'd previously thought, but that he was just unfairly blessed with godly hair.
Lily acted as if she hadn't watched James over the past months, hadn't thought about him, memorised parts of him, and decided to never mention trivia night to him. Besides, it was exceedingly obvious to Lily that despite the fact that seeing James at trivia night had been something for her to look forward, he had no idea who she even was, nor did he even seem to vaguely recognise her. She squashed the rising hurt and disappointment resolutely with her sharpest high heel shoe.
"I'm Marlene's best friend. I spend most of my time here, actually, and she said it was fine if I crashed here for the week."
"Well, I got kicked out of my flat for the week – the bathroom flooded the place so the floors are getting redone and my two flatmates took it upon themselves to take a romantic week-long trip to bloody Yorkshire because of it. So, I don't really have any other place to go."
Lily folded her arms across her chest, tilting her chin up even higher, meeting James' stare. "Well, I am being stalked. So, I don't really have any other place to go, either."
James' eyes widened adorably in shock, his mouth slightly agape. "Stalked? Well, I probably wouldn't have unpacked for the week here last night if I knew you needed this place."
"'Probably'? How confident you are in your character," Lily quipped before shaking her head. "I say 'stalked' but it's not really as dramatic as it sounds, just this guy showing up at my house every once in a while to try to talk to me." And Lily had to force her mouth closed because it was so easy and familiar to talk James because it felt as if she knew him and she had to remind herself that she didn't, not really.
"Seeing as how we both need to stay some place for a week, how about we both just stay here? Unless that's too uncomfortable, but I have to say, I am a very clean person and I can keep to myself when necessary," James offered, in that casual way of his, so assured. "My cat is also here – and please, if you kick me out, can you take care of him for the week? He's pissed at me at the moment and will barely look me in the eye. He's dreadfully painful to be around when he's acting like a drama queen."
That solves the mystery of the unfamiliar cat slinking around Marlene's apartment. And good god, the man liked cats? Lily refrained from fanning herself like she was some Debutante in the 19th century and instead asked, "Why is he pissed?"
James shrugged, a movement of his whole body, a smooth up-and-down ripple that emphasised the sheer size of his shoulders and shifting array of muscles in his arms. She noticed he had prominent forearm veins and yanked her gaze away before she did something stupid, like throwing herself at him. "He likes my roommates more than me and he misses them."
"Hmm." Lily pretended to consider staying with him for a moment, because honestly, the idea of staying with The Man From Trivia was so enticing she had to mentally remind herself to not act like a freak by saying 'yes' immediately. "Ok. But only because we know each other so well," she shot James a cheeky grin. "And I get Marlene's bedroom," Lily said as she grabbed her duffle and brushed past him, heading towards the bedroom as nonchalantly as she could. She tried not to think about his body, about hers slightly grazing it, because she was a grown woman of twenty-four, for Gods' sake.
"Bit presumptuous," James piped up from behind her. "I don't even know your name. I have this policy, you see, where I only get to know people with good names. Boring named people-"
"Are too boring?" Lily guessed, her voice louder so James could still hear as she dropped her bag onto Marlene's bed before walking back out to the tiny kitchen that was less a kitchen and more of a small bench with a fridge and sink, just so she could continue talking to this man.
"Ah, see that's what most people assume," James replied in this cocky, all-knowing manner as he followed her into the kitchen, sliding smoothly passed her to reach up and open one of Marlene's cupboards. "In actual fact," he said as he grabbed some cereal before rifling through Marlene's draws to find a bowl and spoon, "they're unbearably insufferable as they attempt to compensate for such a boring name. The Jessica's and Tom's of the world." James sat on a stool at the bench, pouring his cereal into the bowl and proceeding to eat it dry. His hair flopped into his eyes but he didn't bother to brush it away and he looked adorably rumpled.
"Makes perfect sense – I now understand why being in your presence is painfully irritating," Lily teased, as James appeared mock-offended at the implication, pointing at Lily with his spoon in offense.
"Cheeky." He smiled this sly, crooked smile that immediately became Lily's new favourite expression. He ate another massive spoonful of his dry cereal. "So, name?"
"Lily," she told him, her voice catching slightly at the thought that this man now knew her name, knew who she was. Her chest hurt when she saw him look down at his bowl and mouth her name as if testing the way it tasted, the way it felt in his mouth.
Lily poured herself a glass of water before she said something stupid and asked, "you do realise you're eating cereal with no milk?"
James nodded with certainty. "'Course I do. Milk makes me sick when I'm hungover. Did I mention the margaritas from last night?" He shuddered. "Absolutely deadly."
Lily took a moment to take him in, The Man From Trivia, eating cereal in his pyjamas in front of her. She had to conceal her manic grin by sipping some water – perhaps those failed opportunities at speaking to him at trivia were supposed to fail, just so she could see him like this, sleepy and achingly casual.
Lily had to leave the kitchen before she did something idiotic, particularly as the urge to touch his hair was suddenly very acute. "Well, I better unpack my things. I'll see you around." She tipped her water class at him as she went, closing and locking Marlene's door, just for precaution, in case she got it into her head to try and find an excuse just to be around him. No, she had plenty of time for that later.
What she really needed to do was figure out how in the hell she was going to live with The Man From Trivia without throwing herself at him.
It was the girl from trivia – the girl from fucking trivia! What were the bloody odds of James' months-long infatuation with the captivating red head showing up at Marlene's bloody apartment of all places? It was baffling and mildly concerning, as he remembered the shock he'd felt at seeing her, bundled in a large coat and billowing scarf that adorably swallowed her up.
It had felt like the worst kind of torture, having to act as if he didn't know her, hadn't recognised her the minute he'd stepped out of his room and spotted her. The sight of her – windswept red hair curling slightly inwards at the ends, reddened cheeks from the stinging wind, small and petite and so small when she was right in front of him – had woken him from his hungover daze, startled him into alarming focus. Who could have known that this fiery creature would be the cure to Sirius' homemade margaritas?
And her voice – god, her voice. James had never heard it so clearly before, unmuffled by the droning whispers of her trivia teammates, and it was deeper than he'd expected, yet just as mirthful and mischievous as he'd guessed.
James could not quite believe that the girl from trivia – Lily, he remembered, loving the way it sounded – had responded to his ridiculousness and had left him baffled, grappling for his wit and he had found himself both completely lacking and yet overwhelmed in possible responses to her light teasing.
The instant Lily shut the door to the bedroom, James dropped his spoon with a clatter, raced to the spare room to grab his phone, his arms flailing about and heart pounding. His fingers fumbled as he messaged his group chat, unable to keep up with his racing thoughts.
James: she's here she's here she's herewweeee wtf do I do oh my god
Sirius: who is this?
James: WHAT DO I DOOOO SHE'S HERE!
Sirius: stop texting me, oh random stranger. ur officially stalking me
James: AJSKDNENSOKDNEN AAAAHH IM SCREAMING SHES HERE
Remus: who? answer in one text please Randal's looking at me weird because my phone's buzzing
James: THE GIRL FROM TRIVIA!
Sirius: THE GIRL FROM TRIVIA?
Remus: THE GIRL FROM TRIVIA?
James had to throw his phone away he was too damn excited, too nervous, too everything he'd ever felt before in his entire life. He threw himself face-first onto the couch and not even the thump of his head whacking the armrest could dull his shock to seeing the girl from trivia in this goddamn apartment. A dismal thought hit him – she had not recognised him. It seemed as though James' months long, dramatic, all-consuming pining had been unrequited and James found that he had no desire to ever mention trivia night to her – how could he reveal he'd been watching her for months and months? God, no, what a terrible thought.
He immediately sat up from the couch, too energised to be still and ran his hands through his hair, yanking at the roots, his emotions crossed between excitement and shock and bewildered dread, for how was he ever going to live in the same apartment as this fiery creature without throwing himself at her?
thanks guys for reading :))