AN: Happy Sunday, friends! Hope you all had a good week!
Enjoy more drunk Lily!
Forever turned out to be the length of a Phil Collins' song and then James was ushering her and the other girls to the bar and asking for a pitcher of water. She drank a full glass, and then peed twice before they finally left the bar. Lily quite happily clung to James' hand as they walked across the street to where James had parked much earlier.
James opened the passenger door for her and everyone else climbed into the back. Lily didn't think about why or how she'd managed to get the front seat without having called 'shotgun.' She just climbed in rather clumsily and started fumbling with the seatbelt.
"I forgot to say 'hello' to Kingsley!" Lily tried to open her door but James laughed, causing Lily to turn toward the driver's side. She hadn't seen him get in the car, but there he was. Smiling over at her with his teeth. Lily smiled back.
"He ended up leaving before you got there. Peter too. They both had work in the morning and took the same train back to London."
"I missed them?" Lily sighed and leaned her head back against the seat.
"Lily, scoot up your seat," Marlene nudged the back of Lily's seat and Lily frowned at her.
"I don't know how to do that, Marlene," She huffed. "Edith probably doesn't even have that feature."
"Who the fuck is Edith?"
"Edith is the car," Remus told her. "And Lily is probably right. James, when are you going to get a new car?"
"Shh," Lily turned around and tried to put her finger over Remus' mouth. She couldn't reach him. "Don't talk like that. James will get upset!"
She faced forward again and didn't notice that Marlene was giving her a weird look, or that James was smiling at her again. She was too busy watching moths fly around the lamppost next to the car.
"Lily? Did you hear me?" She turned her head toward James and smiled brightly.
"No, I did not. I was looking at moths."
James laughed and started the car. "Marlene and Dorcas first." They drove past the streetlamp and the moths. Lily waved goodbye.
"I should call Mary."
"Do it!" Marlene nodded.
"It's 2am on a Thursday, I don't think Mary would appreciate that." James shook his head and took Lily's phone out of her hands.
"Of course she would!" Lily argued, trying to take it back. "Besides, she'll have to be up soon for work anyway,"
"Yes, and that's why she wouldn't want you to wake her up now. How about you call her tomorrow?"
"But I won't be here tomorrow!" Marlene huffed.
"Yes you will," James reminded her patiently. "You're here for a wedding that's on Saturday, so you'll be here tomorrow."
"Oh yeah," Marlene nodded. "Lily, my baby brother is getting married."
"Isn't he still in secondary?" Lily snorted. "Why is he getting married?"
"No, Nicholas is getting married!" Marlene laughed.
Lily looked at James. "Isn't Nicholas her oldest brother?" James nodded.
"He's still a baby though," Marlene shrugged. "I wish I could invite you guys, but mum says that I'm not allowed to invite my friends to Nick's party. Not fair."
"Not fair at all," Remus had his head leaned up against the window.
"I'll be there to keep you company," James said.
"Also me, your girlfriend." Dorcas pinched Marlene's cheek and the blonde girl leaned away from her, into Remus.
"And I'm glad that you'll be there Dory, but it would be fun if Lily was going to be there. And Mary. I still think we should call her."
"Do I have to take your phone too?" James asked, looking back at Marlene in the rearview mirror.
"No! Dorcas already took it." She frowned at her girlfriend and Lily started laughing.
Lily looked out the window. "James, why have we stopped moving?"
"We have stopped," Dorcas confirmed. "James, did your car give out?"
"No," He shook his head, and then the car started moving again. "We were at a stop sign."
That was probably the funniest thing anyone had said all night and the girls didn't stop laughing until they were at the McKinnon family home and Marlene and Dorcas were climbing out of the car. Marcus waved to them from the porch and Lily rolled her window down so she could wave back at him, nearly crawling halfway out of the car to do so.
"Don't shout, people are sleeping," James reminded her, his hand resting on her back. She put her own hand on top of his.
"Right," And then she whispered as loudly as she could, "Night, Marcus!"
"Night, Lily!" He called back. "You're looking pretty as ever!"
"I know! Thank you!" She whisper yelled back. "You're really pretty too!"
"Stop it!" Marlene whisper yelled. "You're only allowed to flirt with me!"
"Sorry!" Lily laughed, but continued to whisper shout. "You're the prettiest, Marley-Bean!"
Lily and Marlene blew each other a bunch of kisses and then she sat back down in her seat and rolled up the window. It took a lot more coordination than it should have, and James had already started down the street again before she got it all the way up.
"I don't think I drank as much as you did," Remus said, startling Lily, because she forgot that there was anyone back there now.
"Probably not, but I still beat everyone at billiards."
"Marlene beat you once,"
"Once. I beat her thrice." Lily cocked her head to the side. "I'm so good at billiards."
"Why?" Remus asked.
"Why what?"
"Why are you good at billiards?"
Lily scoffed. "Because Marlene used to beat me all the time."
James laughed and Lily looked over at him, smiling.
The ride to Remus' house was pretty quiet, mainly because Remus had fallen asleep and Lily was trying to hum a song that she didn't remember, a task that took all her concentration.
James roused Remus and walked him inside the small brick home. Lily had always been jealous that Remus' home was on a small pond. He told her that there were leeches in the pond, but she had always thought that there was probably a way that you could still swim in it.
Luckily, James got back into the car before she could decide that now was a good time to try swimming in the pond.
"Here," James reached into the back and pulled out a water bottle. "Why don't you drink some more water."
Lily took it and did as he suggested, it did sound like a vaguely good idea. She looked at James and took a deep breath. "I'm not used to this." She said quietly.
"Used to what?" He asked, his face glowing orange as they passed under a streetlamp.
"Someone taking care of me. Driving me home and pumping me full of water," She took another drink. "I usually do that."
James shrugged, "Well, I usually do it too. Sirius was fairly tame tonight, and Peter couldn't stay, but I do have lots of practice taking care of people." Lily nodded.
"S'not a competition," Then she shook her head. "I don't know why I said that. You didn't mean it like that. I was just thinking about Mary and Marlene. Dorcas helps me sometimes." She wasn't making sense, but she really wasn't capable of explaining herself just then.
"You and Marlene had fun tonight," He said, letting them navigate right through her jumbled response.
"Yeah," Lily nodded, then she giggled. "Yeah, I saw her less than a month ago, but I always miss her. I wish we didn't all have to grow up and move away from one another. I hate that Mary is in Ireland. It's so far. I used to ride my bike to her house all the time."
"I remember." James nodded. "The green bike with the little bell on it."
"And the basket that I would try and get Mary's cat to sit in." Lily laughed and looked over at James again, watching his face glow orange. It was so quiet in the car now. The radio wasn't on and it was only the two of them.
"Thanks for inviting me out tonight."
He grinned at her, "Thanks for acting like Marlene wouldn't have invited you out had I not."
She giggled again. The water bottle was still in her hands so she took another drink. "Can I hold your hand?"
He removed his left hand from the steering wheel and held it out to her. She watched his face as she took it with her right hand. "Thank you."
"My hand is yours."
Lily snorted. "Because you proposed via paper airplane." James laughed as well. "But that's not what I was thanking you for."
"What were you thanking me for then?"
"For taking care of me. And everyone else. I appreciate it."
He squeezed her hand. "You can be the dd next time."
"Deal." She nodded, sure that there would be a next time.
He stopped the car and Lily realized that they were in front of their houses. James had parked in front of his own house and Lily looked over at him. If she wasn't drunk, she would have quickly realized that he pulled into his own driveway, because it was almost three am and he didn't want to wake up his parents or her mother by pulling into her drive, only to back out a few minutes later and pull into his drive.
And while the water was helping, and she was starting to sober up, the first thing that went when she drank, was her filter.
"Am I coming home with you then?" She asked, not letting go of his hand, even though they were parked now. He turned his head toward her with an amused look on his face.
"No, I don't think so."
"S'not fair that you've got to see my room from the inside and I haven't seen yours."
He was smirking and Lily wanted to reach up and run her finger along his lips, trace his smile and let her finger rest in the small dimple at the corner. Her fingers twitched on her lap.
"I'm trying not to wake up our parents, Evans. You can check out my bedroom tomorrow if you want. Or any time really, except when it's three in the morning."
"You're the one who pulled into your driveway," She shrugged. "Why shouldn't I think that it was an invitation?"
"I mean, if it wasn't three in the morning,"
"You keep saying that," Lily sighed.
"Well that's because I need the reminder." James ran a hand through his hair. "Also, you're still quite drunk. I'm not saying I don't want to invite you in, I'm just saying that right now, it's probably not a good idea."
Lily frowned at him, feeling like she was missing something. "Okay," She shrugged again. "Does that mean I have to let go of your hand?"
James shook his head. "No, we can sit in here as long as you'd like." He took a deep breath and bit the inside of his cheek. "I really like you, Lily."
Lily watched his face and leaned against the seat. "Are you sure?" Because even though he seemed so sure, she still had a hard time believing that his feelings had ever been anything more than fleeting. He had always been the center of attention, the football star that everyone fancied.
And her thinking that wasn't meant to be a slight at herself. It wasn't as though she didn't think she could catch the attention of someone like James, she knew that she was a catch, she knew that she was wonderful, but James had spent their entire childhood feeling unattainable.
And now he was sitting right in front of her, their hands linked, telling her that he liked her and she felt sort of like she was floating, even before he said anything else.
"Yeah. It's not the kind of feeling that leaves room for any doubt." Lily could feel her heartbeat in her ears and she felt her cheeks heat up, but she kept looking at James anyway. That wasn't a fleeting answer. It didn't feel fully real, either.
"How do you do that? How do you just say what you're feeling like that?"
He ruffled up his hair again and chuckled. "Well, I figure since last time I did completely the opposite, being honest about how I feel is probably a good bet this go round. Yeah?"
"I get that, but that doesn't really answer my question. I mean you asked me why I got quiet after you grabbed my hand the other day and I couldn't even tell the truth about that!" She laughed, only vaguely aware that she should be embarrassed about bringing this up. Her mind was still reeling, unable to settle.
"You weren't thinking about the 'what if' of it all?"
Lily laughed again and looked down at their hands. "No, I was worrying about drawing attention to the fact that you hadn't let go of my hand. I kept thinking that if I did something to remind you that we were holding hands, then you would let go."
James tugged on her hand slightly, causing her to look up at him. "No you weren't."
Lily let her head fall back against the seat again. "Yes. Yes, I was."
"Lily," And his tone said much more that he could have articulated. Slightly exasperated, and slightly joyous. Almost as though he wanted to say 'what the fuck?' but in a nice way.
"I know!" She closed her eyes.
"You know that I like you!"
"I do," She nodded. "I just keep thinking that you're going to change your mind. I mean, we aren't the same people we were, and we didn't really know each other that well back then anyway!" She was worried that she wasn't going to be who he had thought she was.
He tugged on her hand, but she kept her eyes closed for a moment before looking back at him. "You don't have to know everything about a person to know that you like them, that you want to know more. I mean, unless you're secretly a tornado's fan, or a conservative nutjob…"
"You place tornado's fans in the same category as-"
"I said what I said."
Lily laughed. "I know. I know what you mean, it's just, you're not some random bloke. I didn't just find you on the street-"
"Is that where you've been finding the people you've dated?" Lily smacked his arm and laughed.
"No, stop," She shook her head. "Do you get what I'm saying though?"
"I mean, you're drunk, and I'm pretty sure that you're only saying half of what you think you're saying, but sure. I get it. And I'll continue to woo you until you are ready to tell me that you fancy me too."
"There's that word again."
"Are you going to tattle on me?"
"Probably."
"To who?"
"Probably everyone." Lily shrugged.
"What does your mum think about all of this?" He nodded toward her.
Lily scoffed. "I'm pretty sure our mums have been planning our wedding since forever. I caught them on the phone the other day." James laughed.
"That wouldn't surprise me." He leaned against his seat and closed his eyes for a moment. Lily took a drink from the water bottle and considered that maybe James was tired.
"You're tired," She said. "We should get out and go to our own homes."
He let his head loll toward her and smiled before he opened his eyes. "Are you not tired?"
Lily shrugged. "I am, but I'm not ready to go to sleep yet."
James looked down at their hands and then back up at her. "Because you're not done holding my hand?"
"No," Lily shook her head. "I just don't go to sleep while I feel drunk. It's how I opt out of hangovers."
James laughed. "That seems like cheating."
"You sound like Mary."
"Good," James said. "You like Mary, so that can't be a bad thing."
Lily laughed as she unlaced their fingers and reached for her door handle. She had to set the water bottle down to open the door and then she was outside and the cool night air made her shiver.
"Hold on," James was opening his door. "You didn't ask me if I was done holding your hand."
Lily spun around and put her palms on the hood of the car. "You were about to fall asleep."
He scoffed and walked around the car so he was standing beside her. "You tried to invite yourself into my room earlier, what do you care if I fall asleep holding your hand?"
Lily pressed her lips together. "Is that what would happen if I went into your room?"
James was smiling and tilted his head. He sucked in a breath before he answered, "Tonight, yes. You have me feeling like I'm the drunk one."
Lily leaned forward and leaned her head against his shoulder. "James, I uh-"
"Nah," James interrupted. "You can tell me tomorrow, yeah?"
"Right." Lily nodded and James reached up and pushed her hair back. "So, goodnight then?"
His hand slid down her arm. "Yeah," He nodded. "I guess that is a good idea."
"Probably." Lily agreed.
"I'll see you tomorrow." He looked her over for a minute and neither of them moved. Then he quirked his eyebrow. "Unless?"
Lily laughed and stepped away from him. "I'll see you tomorrow." She agreed. "Now I'm going to go eat bagel bites and drink more water."
James grinned. "Alright. Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Lily gave him a little wave and then turned and started toward her garage, knowing that her mum would have locked the front door. She turned around before stepping into the garage and James was still looking at her. "Again, James?" She teased.
"I wasn't looking at your bum!" His hand jumped into his hair and he spun around, starting toward his house. Lily laughed at him until she couldn't see him anymore and then pushed open her door and went in search of carbs.
AN: See you next Sunday with the next update!