AN: How about another chapter just for fun?

Enjoy!

Lily woke up the next morning to her phone ringing and so she was immediately annoyed. She threw her hand out from under her cocoon of blankets and nearly knocked her phone to the floor in her haste to pick it up and stop it from making such a god awful noise so early in the morning. Lily didn't even know her phone knew how to ring anymore. It was uncivilized to call people these days.

Mary MacDonald's name popped up on the screen and she swore under her breath and then answered her phone. "Are you out of your Goddamn mind?"

"Yes, because I think the president is gonna bring the nation to the brink, of meddling in the middle of a military-"

"Mary Elizabeth MacDonald. You did not call me at," She pulled her phone away so she could check the time. "Seven o'clock in the bloody morning so that you could sing me Hamilton lyrics. What the hell do you want?"

"If I call you, regardless of the time of day, I'm allowed to sing you show tunes. It's in our friendship contract."

"I never signed anything. And calling before eight in the morning renders most legal documents null and void."

"But our contract isn't a legal thing. It's just a thing of love and-"

"Mary," Lily sighed, interrupted again to remind Mary that she was actually annoyed at having been woken so early.

"Sorry, but I wanted to call you before I went to work. I was texting Remus last night, you know, checking in and whatnot, and he told me that you and James were going to lunch today." The line was quiet for a moment before Lily realized that there was a question hidden in the midst of that.

"Yeah," Lily said, and then promptly let out a loud yawn. "I feel like you could have texted me to ask for confirmation. Can I go back to bed now?"

"No! I wasn't asking for confirmation, I was asking you why you didn't immediately call me, your best friend in the whole wide world, to let me know that you were going on a date with James Potter, the infamous Boy Next Door. The One That Got Away. The-"

Lily clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and closed her eyes. "Mary, I'm not going on a date with him, we're having lunch. That's all. When I find a boy that I want to date and he asks me out, I promise that I will call you immediately, as per your request. Or maybe I'll wait until I know you're asleep before calling."

"Lily, I'm your best friend in the-"

"Whole wide world-"

"Yes, so you can't lie to me. You can't tell me that you've never wanted to go out with James. I mean, I can recall at least seventeen separate instances where you had a thing for him."

"Seventeen? Please, start listing."

"Okay, not seventeen, but still. You fancied him a lot when we were kids."

"I fancied him when we were seven and then for a bit in year eleven. Possibly when I was thirteen, but I still think that was just shock because he was so nice to me after what happened with Jonah."

"What a tool." Mary said dutifully at the mention of Jonah. "Okay, so it's just lunch?"

"Yes, it's just lunch. He asked if I wanted to catch up, I was a bit of a tool about it, and he was being nice, so I had to do some backtracking."

"You were a bit of a tool?" Mary laughed.

"Yeah, you know how I can be around him. Everything feels like a competition and he's always trying to prove that he's smarter than me."

"Maybe when you two were thirteen, but you know, he's not a kid anymore either."

"I know! I said that I backtracked." Lily clenched her hand around her blankets.

"Alright, well I've got to get to work, but call me later and let me know how lunch goes."

"No. I might text you." Lily countered. "Have a good day at your dream job!"

"Fuck you too, Lily." And then the line clicked. Mary wanted to work in TV, preferably in a writer's room. But that wasn't a job that one could typically jump into after uni. So she was currently working for a local access program that covered events going on around Dublin. But the events were mainly at retirement homes.

She pushed her phone under her pillow and did her best to fall back asleep, but she was up now. Wondering when James would text her with details for lunch.

She dragged herself out of bed and took a quick shower before she wondered downstairs and started putting together breakfast for herself and her mother.

The coffee had just finished brewing when Rose Evans walked down the stairs, still in her robe and slippers. "Oh, you really are an angel, aren't you?" She grinned, leaning over the counter to kiss Lily's cheek before she went about fixing her coffee.

"Yes," Lily nodded, flipping the eggs in the frying pan before she fetched the toast.

When they were both seated at the table, Rose smiled at her daughter. "So, do you have any plans for today?"

Lily knew that it probably wasn't there, but she thought she could hear something that sounded like disappointment. "Hopefully, I'll finish unpacking," Lily said. "I've got lunch with a friend and then I'll start looking for a job." Even saying that filled her with anxiety.

"You can just get something around here for now." Rose said, taking a sip of her coffee. "I don't want to lose you too quickly."

"Right," She nodded. "I might have to get something around here first anyway."

"What friend are you getting lunch with? Mary?"

"No, not Mary. She's in Ireland for at least the next four months. I did promise to go and visit her soon though."

"Who then?"

"Mary isn't my only friend, mum. I'm getting lunch with James," Lily shrugged. "We ran into each other yesterday."

"You didn't leave the house- your windows." Her mom nodded knowingly.

"Yeah. There wasn't any fighting though, so no need to call his mum to apologize on my behalf."

"I never called Mia to apologize for you arguing with her son. We called to each other to gossip about the things we heard you shouting at one another. You really did have a tough time getting along with that boy growing up. I'm glad that you two decided to give being civil a go."

"Yeah well, I was almost uncivil, but I decided to be a grown up instead."

"Good, I'm proud of you." Lily smirked at her mother and shook her head.

"I'm glad that I make you proud by not being a dick to the neighbors."

"That's my girl." Rose reached out and pinched Lily's cheek.

After Rose left for work, and Lily found it in her to get dressed in real clothes, she started unpacking again. Luckily, she had only been at that for about ten minutes (if that) when her phone went off. She dove onto her bed and scooped it up.

James had texted her again.

James: Hey, you look likely to set yourself on fire. You want to go to lunch now?

Lily leaned over and looked out her window, spotting James leaning against his window frame. She laughed.

Lily: I HATE unpacking. But it's only nine thirty, I don't think anywhere is serving lunch yet.

James: Maybe we need to drive into the city to have lunch.

Lily: Sure, sure, but I don't think they serve lunch at ten thirty either.

James: Well maybe we both need a half hour to get ready, and then we'll park somewhere and walk out to the river and find a place to eat there.

Lily chewed on the tip of her tongue. Nonchalant lunch plans didn't usually involve driving an hour into the city and then taking a walk along a river. Was he really as bored as she must have looked?

Lily: All that so that I don't lite myself on fire?

James: My parents saw my proposal fly through your window yesterday evening. They expect me to take proper care of you now.

Lily snorted despite herself and leaned over again so she could see him through the window. He was looking at her too, his crooked grin in play and a hand in his hair.

Lily: They weren't devastated that you asked for my hand via paper airplane?

James: They thought it was quirky and fun.

James: So, we'll leave in thirty?

Lily bit her lip to stop a smile that he couldn't see through the walls of her bedroom and responded back in the affirmative.

It was a little ridiculous that she was this happy to be going into the city with a boy that she'd never gotten on with all that well. A boy that had rarely, if ever, thought her worthy his time.

But if she was being honest with herself, and she was old enough to be honest with herself about this matter if not absolutely everything, then she could admit that she had played a key role in their ongoing feud when they were children. She'd egged him on and shouted just as loudly. She'd played up her competitive nature when he was involved because he got under her skin and she had wanted his attention.

Lily jumped out of bed, walking over to the window to close the curtains before she went about getting dressed. He was still leaning against his own window frame when she got there and he winked at her before she wiped the curtains across the glass.

oOo

She took her time, trying to take the entire thirty minutes because, despite what he had said, she was still worried that they would get to the city far too early to eat lunch. She started thinking about how they were going to fill the time. What were they possibly going to talk about? Was the car ride going to be long and awkward? Was James going to regret asking her to go with him ten minutes into the silence? Was she going to regret agreeing to come as soon as they pulled out of the driveway?

She messed around on her phone, sent a weird link to Mary about a woman who had supposedly given birth to a monkey, redid her hair and then double checked her purse to make sure that she had everything she'd need for the day.

It had been twenty-five minutes when she decided that there was nothing else she could possibly do. So she walked out of the house, locked the door behind her, and set off down the concrete, stopping when she reached James front door.

She hesitated for a moment, knowing that if she knocked, there was an exceptionally good chance that Mrs. Potter would answer the door. And while she was fine joking about being engaged to James, to James, she didn't want his mother thinking that there was anything going on between the two of them when there most definitely was nothing going on.

"You didn't knock, did you?" James asked, peeking his head out of the garage. Lily shook her head and rushed away from the door.

"I was debating whether or not I should text you."

"Smart girl, my mum is very suspicious right now."

"I kind of got that feeling earlier."

"Yes well, my mum and dad have liked you forever. They always hoped that you and I would become friends and that you'd rub off on me."

"Rub off on you? You're telling me that your parents didn't think that you were an absolutely perfect child?"

"I know, it's hard to believe. But yes, I might have given them grey hair a year or two earlier than they would have gotten it on their own. I mean they can't blame me entirely."

"Yes, they can blame Sirius in equal measure." Lily nodded.

James laughed, "Yeah, but I was insinuating that they're old." He waved her over to one of two cars in the garage. An older model, nothing fancy or distinguishing about it. Lily had always liked James' perfectly ordinary car.

He opened her door for her first and then jogged around to his side. Lily rolled her eyes at his small, chivalrous, gesture.

As soon as they were both in the car, Lily remembered her fears from earlier. How she thought that they would have nothing to talk about for the next few hours.

And as they pulled out of the driveway in silence, those fears seemed as though they were becoming a reality.

Or maybe she was getting ahead of herself.

"So," James said as he pulled off their street. "I'm afraid that this old girl only plays like two stations on the radio. And only when she's feeling generous." He reached up and patted the dash of his car and Lily laughed.

"Only when she's feeling generous?" She asked, turning her body so she was facing more toward James. "And does she have a name?"

"Of course she does." James glanced over at her and grinned. "Her name is, Edith."

"What a lovely name. I didn't realize your car was from the same era as your parents." James laughed and one of his hands jumped to his hair.

"Yes, she's as old as they are. In spirit anyway."

"You're attached to this car, aren't you?" Lily asked.

"I mean, of course I am. You always hold a special place in your heart for your first."

Lily snorted. "You know, I don't think that's what most people are referring to when they say that." James looked over at her again, something unfamiliar in his eyes, but he looked back at the road before Lily could work out what it was.

"Yeah, I know. I love my car, but that doesn't make me weird. Lots of people love their car."

"I love my car, I suppose. His name is Arthur."

"Arthur is a good-looking car," James allowed. "But he's got nothing on, my girl." Lily laughed again and shook her head, turning to look out the window. "Your mum must be glad to have you back for a while." He said and Lily kept looking out the window.

Lily cleared her throat. "Yeah. I've missed her too, so it'll be nice for the both of us. Weird to be back in my childhood bedroom," She looked at him now. "Even weirder to have the boy-next-door back on the other side of my window, but it'll be nice." She shrugged.

"Holy shit! I am the boy-next-door, aren't I? I've never thought of it like that. I mean, you're the girl-next-door, sure but…" He shook his head and Lily laughed at him. "Well people don't usually think of themselves as the role they play in someone else's life, yeah? And it's not as common a phrase."

Lily just laughed again. "Not as common, but only by a hair."

"We don't fit those stereotypes, though? Do we?" James was wearing a face that made Lilly want to say yes, only so she could see his reaction.

"I don't know. I guess it depends who you ask. I don't think your average boy-next-door is set to inherit millions of hair products and jogging off to play football in a national league."

"Millions of hair products," He scoffed. "But you're right I guess, I don't know anyone who's set to inherit that." He chuckled and ran a hand through his hair.

"Was that the inspiration for your father? You came out like that and he's like, 'I need to fix this'?"

"Very funny, Evans. In my twenty-two years, I've never once heard someone make that joke." She smirked anyway. "You're not the typical girl-next-door either. Just so you know."

"Actually, I think I might be." She shrugged. "My parents had typical jobs, and the typical two children, I didn't play any sports in school, only hung out with my group of friends, stayed under the radar-"

"In what world did you 'stay under the radar'?" James interrupted, looking over at her with his brow raised and his eyes wide. Lily pressed her lips together and shrugged again.

"I don't really know how I'm supposed to respond to that. I meant it in the way it's normally meant."

"You were on everyone's radar though!" James shook his head and kept glancing from the road to her. "I mean, you were all the teachers favorites, to start with. And then almost every bloke in school fancied you at some point or another. Many more than once."

"No they didn't." It was Lily's turn to scoff now. "No they did not." She repeated, this time with emphasis.

"Oh they most certainly did." James said back, almost sounding too serious. "And why wouldn't they? You're gorgeous and funny and confident and smart as hell. Impossible not to notice, really." She didn't know if she was seeing things, or if his ears really were turning red, but he wasn't glancing over at her anymore.

"I think you're either grossly exaggerating or misremembering."

"I'm most definitely not misremembering things."

"No, I mean, I am gorgeous and funny and confident and smart as hell," Lily smiled at him and he laughed. "But people in secondary didn't notice those things. I kept to myself for the most part. And I was just fine with that."

"No one ever thought you weren't. It was part of the appeal."

"You're talking as though you were part of this drove of adoring blokes who fancied me now, so I know you're exaggerating."

"Of course I fancied you in secondary." Lily's heart dropped to her stomach.

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did." He argued. Lily looked over at him, and his ears were most definitely red now. "Of course I did. I figured I was pretty obvious about it." He glanced over at her. "You really didn't know?"

Lily blinked at him and he looked back at the road.

"Alright, apparently not." He laughed, but he sounded nervous.

"We never got along." Lily countered. "You didn't fancy me, you couldn't stand me. You were always arguing with me and competing with me for top marks and avoiding me-"

"I never avoided you-"

"Yes you did! You would always leave your house after I left mine when I walked to the bus so that we didn't have to walk together."

"That was only because I didn't want to start off the day with you pissed at me. If I'd tried to walk with you, it would have annoyed you."

"No it wouldn't have." Lily lied because she knew that it would have. Or maybe it wouldn't have, she wasn't so sure. If teenage James had shown teenage Lily genuine interest and attention, she probably would have been flattered and besotted. Because that's how she felt every time he had shown her genuine interest and attention. Like when she'd been stood up and he laid out on his roof while she was on hers and he told her that she deserved better. Or when he'd somehow managed to tape a thank you note to the outside of her window after she'd called his ex-girlfriend a thick skulled gobermouch in the middle of lunch.

"It sort of seemed like everything I did annoyed you, so I think it would have."

"You were inconsistent." Lily huffed. James looked over at her again but didn't say anything, only waited for her to explain herself. She took a deep breath. "I was annoyed with you a lot, and it wasn't usually because you scored higher than me on a maths exam or something stupid like that. It just seemed like whenever I thought we were starting to be friends, you would start ignoring me. Or making fun of me. Or doing things specifically to annoy me."

James thought about that for a while, "Well, in my defense I was an idiot. We've already established that. And Sirius may have been going on about how dangerous the friend zone was- but that's just an excuse I guess. Honestly, I just didn't know how to act around you. And so I was a bit of a git. But that doesn't mean that I didn't fancy you. Just means I was immature and didn't know how to handle it."

"I mean, I was a git too."

"Sure, and at the time, it all felt completely unjustified. But I get it now. It's not pleasant to have your neighbor throw rocks at your window at two in the morning just to wake you up. Or have your braid tugged whenever you were talking to the pompous arsehat, Peter Hagish. Or-"

"Peter Hagish?" Lily interrupted with a snort, "I had forgotten all about him."

"Sure you did, because you didn't have to watch him try and flirt with you every morning." James rolled his eyes and Lily had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. The notion that James fancied her during secondary was completely absurd to her, but he was definitely acting as though he had fancied her.

"I mean, I sort of did have to watch,"

James snorted. "I guess so, but it clearly didn't affect you as strongly."

"Honestly and truly, you fancied me?" Lily asked, turning toward him completely now, tucking her leg up onto the seat.

"Honestly and truly."

She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, waiting for the punchline, for him to start laughing, for him to take it all back.

But he just gave her a wry smile and shrugged a shoulder.

And then she remembered something he'd said yesterday when she'd asked him, jokingly of course, if he was asking her out on a date.

And he'd responded with, 'I learned my lesson the first time.'

"Fuck." Lily said before her brain had entirely caught up with her.

James looked rather alarmed. "We were kids, Lily. It's not that big of a deal. Actually, it's not any kind of deal at all, it's just something that happened-"

"Fucking hell." She interrupted him, letting her head fall back against the seat and bringing her hands up to cover her face. James stayed quiet now and Lily didn't notice how uncomfortable she was making him with her expletives because she was having an existential crisis.

Nothing was what she'd thought it was. Her entire childhood had just been cast in a different light, and she didn't feel as though she came out looking so good anymore. She was no longer the vindicated, and justified girl-next-door who took no shit from James. Now she was the blind and oblivious, one could argue, heartless, arse.

"Oh goddammit." She shook her head and dropped it forward now. "James, I'm so sorry."

James let out a forced laugh. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm sorry that telling you all this made you uncomfortable. I should have just kept it to myself. I've ruined the day before we got out of Cokeworth." Another forced laugh.

"No, I'm not sorry for everything, I'm sorry for what happened our last year of secondary."

She peeked at him in time to see him visibly pale.

"I was horrible to you." She could feel the heat in her face. She was blushing, her heart was racing. She'd never felt this guilty for how she'd treated someone else before.

"Clearly you thought I was joking. It's fine."

"Why did your parents continue to be nice to me after that?"

"They thought I was joking too. Let's just continue going on as though I had been joking. Please?"

"No, James!" Lily shouted, running a hand through her hair. "I'm trying to apologize!"

"I think we're past it. It was forever ago."

"No, we're not past it, you brought it up just yesterday. I am an actual idiot and I can't believe that you- I mean for almost everything else that happened when we were kids, I'm not sorry. You were an arse most of the time and you teased me all the time that you weren't pretending that I didn't exist-"

"Clearly you and I remember things very differently." James sighed, his hand in his hair.

"Clearly. But we'd been getting along, James. You have to understand, I thought we had reached some kind of turning point. I thought that we were friends."

"I had thought that too." James turned his head as far away from her as he could while still being able to see the road.

"We'd been walking to and from the bus stop together, we'd been paired to work together on that project… And then you asked me out-"

"We really don't have to talk about this."

"No, we do. We need to just get it all out in the open and then we can move on completely." Lily argued. "I thought you were joking because I didn't think there was a chance in hell that you would ever have fancied me. I mean, you can ask Mary if you want."

"I really don't want to ask her anything." James' lips were pinched together.

"James, I thought you were being mean." Lily tried a different approach.

"I understand that. I was an arse and it came back to bite me. Karma's a bitch and all that. It's fine."

"No, James." Lily shook her head and steeled herself. He'd made the admission as though it was no big deal, she could do the same thing. "I thought someone had told you that I fancied you and that you were just teasing me about it."

The silence was worse this time around. Maybe they should have stuck to not talking about it. Or not talking at all. They could have rode the whole way to London in silence, or listening to the radio whenever it decided to come in.

"You fancied me?" James asked after a good five minutes or so. "You fancied me in secondary? While I'd asked you out?"

"Maybe." She said, feeling too much like a schoolgirl just then to be comfortable. She shouldn't be embarrassed. It wasn't like she was telling him that she currently fancied him. Then it would make sense for her to feel some kind of embarrassment. But no, she was telling him that more than five years ago she had fancied him. Ages ago really.

"We fancied each other at the same time?" James asked for clarification again and Lily clicked her tongue.

"It seems like it."

And then James laughed. It was an honest to goodness laugh and despite herself, Lily found that she was smiling.

After a few moments, James stopped laughing and Lily let out a huff and ran her fingers over her face and up through her hair. It was hard to stop the thoughts of 'what if' from sprouting up as soon as the car was quiet.

He hadn't been joking when he'd asked her out, he'd really fancied her. She'd shot him down at the time, thinking that he'd been told that Lily had fancied him, but he'd asked her out because he had fancied her.

That concept was never not going to be completely ridiculous to her.

But she could have said yes. When he asked her out, she could have said 'yes' and then where would they be?

Perhaps thinking that they would be anywhere other than where they were now was as completely ridiculous as James fancying her was, but what if…

What if she'd said yes and it had worked out well? What if they were somehow still dating now? What if they'd gone to the same university and now they were just home visiting together?

She glanced over at him and wondered if he was having similar 'what if' thoughts, but then she shook her head and looked out the window. He'd said that he'd fancied her back then, but she still wasn't completely convinced. If he'd liked her, it was fleeting. It wasn't how she'd fancied him. It couldn't have been.

"You thinking the same thing I am?" James asked, one of his hands on the steering wheel and the other in his hair.

"Probably not." Lily said, tapping her front teeth together.

"Yeah, probably not." James agreed, reaching forward, and fiddling with the radio for a moment, until a slightly staticky station came in playing some popular love song about summer sun and cool blue waves. Lily let her fingers tap along to the familiar beat as she watched the cars race by on the other side of the motorway.

"Can I tell you what I'm thinking?" James asked after the song ended and the station went to commercial. Lily listened to a man try and sell her tires for a minute before she responded.

"What are you thinking about?" She looked over at him.

"I'm thinking that you and I could have dated in secondary if we'd been a little more honest with one another. If there'd been less confusion," His hand went through his hair again.

"Yeah," Lily nodded. "I guess so."

"Everything would have been different." He said, quietly now, and Lily glanced over at him again. He looked like he was about to be lost in thought again, and she was going to let him get lost, but she needed to know what he meant.

"What would be different?"

"Everything." His eyes cleared as he came back to the present and looked over at her, the greens and golds in his eyes shining particularly bright.

"Yes, you said that already." She couldn't help the small smile.

"Well I don't know how to be more specific than that." James shrugged.