AN: And here we are. I hope you all have a lovely Sunday!

Enjoy!

It felt very strange to have her mum drop her off at the pub, but it was the responsible thing to do, since Lily normally got shitfaced when she drank with Marlene.

It was nine by the time she got to the pub. Dinner may have been at four, but the drive was almost an hour and Gran had decided to invite more relatives to celebrate the fact that Lily was now a university graduate.

She had to endure hours of people asking her where she was going to work and what she was going to do with her degree now that she was finished with school.

She was very ready to get drunk.

She pushed open the dingy looking door at the side of the building, and even though they stopped letting people smoke in the building about seven years ago, it still smelled like cigarette smoke inside. The lighting glowed orange and the music was loud, but you couldn't really hear the words. People were crowded around the screen above the bar, they were playing cards in the corner and then there was the group of people that she was looking for, gathered around the two billiards tables on the far back wall of the building.

Lily watched them all for a moment as she approached them, trying to clear her head from all the comments her family had made and prepare herself for an entirely different kind of socializing. She definitely wanted to be here and see these people, but she would have preferred a bit of a social break to collect herself.

James spotted her first, almost as though he'd been waiting for her to walk through the door. She'd texted Marlene when she left her Grans, but that was all the heads up she'd given them.

He smiled at her and took a step forward, but then Marlene spotted her.

"LILLIAN JANE!"

"That's me!" Lily laughed, meeting Marlene in the middle for an overly enthusiastic hug, which was the only way that Lily and Marlene knew how to greet one another. They had been friends since primary school, but they weren't close friends until after they graduated. They had gone to different universities, but they were only a quick train ride away, and Lily and Mary took turns with Marlene and Dorcas to go and visit once or twice a month.

"Look at how beautiful you are!" Marlene held Lily at arm's length and looked her up and down. "And your hair! Gorge!"

"Yes, thank you. I had to make sure it was looking good for gran."

"The gran I met right?" Lily nodded. "Yes. I was there when she traumatized you at the pool."

"It took her almost two hours to comb and braid my hair. Like, sometimes it just wants to look like that, and who is she to tell it otherwise?" In her gran's defense, Lily had not combed her own hair in over two weeks, and there had been debris stuck in her hair from when she and her cousin's had rolled down the hill.

Marlene laughed and shook her head, her own naturally tame, blonde bob swinging with the movement. "I'm so glad that you're here!" Lily pulled her friend in for another hug.

"Lily!" Dorcas' voice was behind them. She must have been coming from the bathroom. "Thank goodness you made it!"

By the time the three girls made it back to the group, Lily had a drink in her hand and had already taken a shot, as Marlene was quick to point out that Lily had some catching up to do.

"You know, I invited her first," James said, leaning against a stool and holding a billiard stick.

"James, you've seen her every day this week." Remus offered Lily a quick hug and then sat on a stool next to James and picked up a plate of chips covered in cheese sauce. "It's good to see you,"

"Good to see you too!" Lily grinned. She and Remus had always got on well, even if she'd never been able to get along with his mates.

And then Sirius was standing in between Lily and Remus so she couldn't see him anymore.

"You've gotten to see her this week as well," Remus tried to argue, but Sirius wasn't listening.

"It took you forever to get here," He said, giving her a look.

"I know, I was at my gran's."

"I know." Sirius looked slightly uncomfortable, so Lily didn't wait for an introduction. She decided to do Sirius a favor and turn to the man who had just walked up to stand next to him, and hold out her hand.

"You must be Benjy, I've heard so little about you." She couldn't make it too easy for Sirius.

"I truly feel like a man of mystery," Benjy laughed, taking her hand. He had bright blue eyes and he was nearly as blond as Marlene. He somehow both looked the opposite of Sirius, and his match. He was taller, and leaner, and had an air of nonchalance about him that Sirius' posh upbringing would never allow him to achieve. Not so naturally, anyway.

"I hope everyone has been nice to you, I know that was a big concern for some people."

Sirius groaned and let his head drop back so he was looking up at the ceiling. Benjy laughed and put his arm around Sirius' shoulders. "Everyone has been very nice to me. I don't know why James was so worried." Lily laughed as well and shook her head, looking over at James.

"He just worries about these things. I mean, Marlene and I are not very nice people."

"Yes, it was us who went around and terrorized everyone during primary and far too much of secondary." Marlene nodded, coming up on Lily's left side, trying to hand her another shot.

"I do need to pace myself," Lily said.

"You can pace yourself once you've caught up." Marlene shrugged.

"Stop, I'm meeting a new person," Lily muttered quietly.

"No, you're done meeting him," Sirius said, looking back at her. "Drink up, little bird," He took the shot from Marlene's hand only to put it in her hand. Lily laughed and then complied before responding.

"Little bird?"

"I don't know, you called me 'dove' earlier, I was just following with the theme."

"I suppose that's as good a reason as any." She shrugged. "And fine, I will leave you and Benjy alone for now and I'll go kick Marlene's ass at billiards while I'm still more sober than she is."

"Good call," Remus nodded. "Because she keeps beating all of us, and needs to be brought down a peg or two."

"Isn't that always the case," Lily teased, poking Marlene in the side. James stood up and handed his billiard stick out to Lily.

"Here, you can use mine. Marlene just beat me a few minutes before you got here."

Lily took the stick and looked it over. "Doesn't seem very lucky to use it then,"

James shook his head, grinning. "Nah, it's lost a few times now. It's due for a win."

"Oh, is that how it works? Seems like it might just be a dud of a stick if it's been losing all night."

"I mean, I beat Dorcas with it," James shrugged.

"Hardly counts," Benjy chimed in. "No offence, Dorcas, I know we only just met, but you're not very good at billiards."

Marlene cackled and Dorcas shrugged. "You're not wrong."

"Good call interrupting there, Ben." Sirius nodded. "Once they get going, they don't stop."

"Flirting?" Marlene asked, her brow raised as she looked between the three of them, James, Lily and Sirius. "Baby, that wasn't flirting. Just wait until I get a few more drinks in her."

Lily was turning red when she heard Dorcas sigh. "I hate drinking with you two. Makes me feel like I'm a third wheel. Right?" She was looking at James when she said this and Lily's flush quickly turned into a loud laugh and Marlene winked at her. James shook his head, his hand running through his hair. His ears suggested that he had not expected Dorcas to chime in like that.

Lily took another swallow of her drink and then set in on the table next to James. He looked at the drink and then at her, making her feel like putting it there meant something that she hadn't thought through. "Lo, there."

She smiled, even though he looked a bit like he was preening. "Lo."

"Was your aunt nice to you?"

"No." Lily shook her head. "Couldn't wait to get here. Though Gran's homemade bread almost made it worth it."

"You could have texted me, I would have given you clever insults that would have been wildly inappropriate for you to use." Lily chuckled.

"I could have shared with you the wildly inappropriate insults that I whispered to my mum all evening. Luckily, no one overheard me."

"Come on!" Marlene poked her bum with a billiard stick, pushing her a step closer to James. His smile widened as she reached around and pushed the stick away."

"James was just telling me how much better at billiards I am than you." Lily shrugged, "And I was explaining to him that it's not sportsmanlike to say things like that. I mean, your feelings are on the line."

Marlene clicked her tongue. "You are going down, Evans."

"I'm proud of you for staying positive," Lily grabbed the chalk off the side of the table and applied it to her stick. She really was good at billiards. Mary and her had played a lot at uni. Though, the same could be said about Marlene.

They both started here at this table, they both learned how to beat nearly everyone, by pushing one another. It wasn't a skill that was going to get her a job at a publishing house, but if she remained unemployed forever, she could win a lot of money with this skill.

Marlene lined up the cue ball and took her first shot. She sunk two solid colored balls, but lined up quite a few shots for Lily in the process. She was able to get in two more balls before it was Lily's turn.

Lily pulled her hair over to one side and leaned over the table to figure out which ball she should go for first. Once she'd worked it all out, she walked around the table and leaned forward, lining up the cue ball. She wouldn't have noticed that anything was amiss, if she hadn't taken a second to gloat and look at Marlene.

Except Marlene didn't have her game face on. When Lily looked at her, she was wagging her eyebrows and glancing behind Lily. Where, Lily realized, James was sitting. And she was leaned over a table, her ass on display.

She rolled her eyes and tried to act unaffected.

But then she started thinking that maybe he thought that's why she had started here. With her ass in this this particular spot. Even though she wouldn't do that, she was only thinking about how best to beat Marlene. Marlene had to know that, but the look she was giving Lily suggested that she didn't know that.

And then Dorcas started laughing and Lily sighed, pulling her stick away from the cue ball and dropping her chin to her chest, letting her hair fall around her face.

"I'm not looking!" James said, making her flush even worse.

"I am," Sirius said.

"He is," Benjy confirmed.

Lily flipped her head up and wiggled her butt, deciding that she was just going to have to play along. James sounded like he was choking on something.

Lily lined up her shot again. "I thought you said you weren't looking?" She said, trying to sound casual. She wouldn't have done that if he hadn't told her that he wasn't looking.

She pulled her arm back and then brought it forward. The cue ball hit her striped purple ball perfectly, so Lily stood up and turned around to face James. His ears were still bright red.

"I wasn't, but then Sirius said that he was and I… well then I looked." Lily shook her head and turned back to Marlene.

"It's not going to work, my dear. You tried to distract me, and I still made the shot."

"It was an easy shot. I would have been embarrassed for you, had you missed." Marlene shrugged.

Lily walked around the table and quickly lined up her next shot. She made two more balls before it was Marlene's turn again.

Lily walked over to her drink, and technically she walked over to James. She picked up the cup that now had quite a bit of condensation on the sides, and took a sip. She set it back down and wiped her hands on her pants before reaching for the chalk

"I only looked for a moment." James blurted out.

"James, don't make it weird."

"I didn't, Marlene and Sirius did that."

"Okay, but of course you looked. We don't need to talk about it." Sirius snorted and James glared at him. Marlene got another ball in and then winked at Lily. Lily flipped her the bird.

"Okay, but I know that you weren't there to show off your-"

"I'm always showing off my ass," Lily interrupted him, because even though she appreciated the fact that he was trying to apologize, he didn't need to, and he was only making her blush come back.

James froze with his mouth open for a second and then closed it and nodded. "I mean," He cleared his throat. "Aren't we all?"

"Yes," Marlene pointed her pool stick at James and nodded. "That is the attitude to have, Mr. Potter. Lily, it's your turn."

"Is it? Did you only get one ball in?" Lily tutted and frowned at Marlene. "That's sad."

"Fuck off, Evans," Marlene spun around and Lily was reminded how much more intoxicated her friends were than she was. She took another swallow of her drink and then went to inspect the table.

Lily did end up winning that game. And the next two, but then she was very drunk herself and ended up losing the fourth game. Then they decided to play teams. There were two tables, so Lily and Benjy played Remus and Dorcas, while Marlene played both James and Sirius.

Lily and Marlene kept winning, and drinking, and soon the two girls were dancing to Piano Man, locked in an embrace and singing horribly off key. Lily was pretty sure that Dorcas was recording the whole thing, but when she looked over, she was dancing with James.

"Is my girlfriend making you jealous, Lils?" Marlene whispered in her ear, her hot breath tickling Lily and making her squirm away from her and laugh.

"No." She said, righting herself and pulling Marlene close again. "Am I making your girlfriend jealous?"

"I hope not. She should be used to it by now anyway." Lily nodded.

"I wish Mary were here."

"Yes, then her and Dorcas could commiserate together. Though James seemed to be a good commiserating partner for her so far," Marlene shrugged.

Lily nodded, though she didn't feel as though she knew exactly what she was agreeing with. "Marlene, did you know that James fancied me in secondary?"

Marlene snorted. "Yes. Everyone knew that he fancied you. It wasn't just in secondary."

"Did you know that I fancied him?"

"Yes. I'm pretty sure that everyone knew that too."

"Interesting."

"Yeah, not really." Marlene shrugged. "The interesting bit is what you're going to do with him now."

"He's moving in a couple weeks." Lily shrugged. "There's not much to do."

"First of all, there is," Marlene chuckled. "And I thought he said he wasn't moving that far from here?"

"Like an hour or something. That's pretty far."

"Not really." Marlene shrugged. "I think we should switch dance partners."

"Why?"

"Because, Dorcas will get upset if I ignore her for the entire night."

"Oh, yes, of course." Marlene walked away and Lily narrowed her eyes, trying to work out what song was playing now.

And then James was in front of her, holding out a hand.

She took his hand with her same hand and gave it a shake. He laughed at her and she smiled. "I was told to come and dance with you." He said, still holding out his hand now that she'd let her own fall back to her side.

Lily found this extremely funny and held onto his arm while she laughed. "I just shook your hand," She said, covering her mouth as she looked up at him. He was smiling at her, but he was still very upright and he wasn't laughing like she was, so she straightened and pointed a finger at him. "Are you sober?"

James laughed at this and nodded. "Yeah, I'm the driver," He took her hand and slipped his arm around her waist. "Someone's got to get you all back home safely."

"We can't all fit in Edith," Lily snorted, squeezing his hand and resting her other hand on his shoulder. She almost put her head on his shoulder, but if she got too comfortable, she might fall asleep. It was that point in the night.

"Well, Benjy and Sirius left in an uber about twenty minutes ago." James pointed out.

"They left without saying goodbye?" Lily frowned and looked around, trying to find them both in the crowd.

James laughed at her. "You said goodbye to them,"

"Oh," Lily shrugged. "I'm very drunk."

"Yes, you and Marlene are quite entertaining."

"We certainly think so."

"Do you want to drink some water before we head out?"

"Are we heading out soon?" Lily asked, trying to frown. Her lips were kind of numb though, so who knows if they were cooperating.

"Well, yes. The pub will be closing soon."

"Closing!" Lily laughed and turned to look at Marlene. "Marly-Bean! The pub is closing soon!"

Marlene also thought that was hilarious.

Lily looked back at James. "You're a whole different kind of beautiful when you're laughing," He said quietly, almost too quietly. Lily had to lean closer to hear him properly.

"Do you mean that to be a good thing?" Lily asked, still giggling a bit.

"Oh, one hundred percent." James nodded.

"Thank you," Lily grinned. "You're beautiful too."

"Thank you," James smiled. "Water?"

"Dancing first," Lily shook her head and then rested her head on his shoulder, even though she knew it was a bad idea. But then James' chin was on her head and his arm tightened around her waist and Lily didn't feel like she was in danger of falling asleep anymore.

She was wide awake.

And she would be content to stay exactly where she was for the rest of forever.