AN: Happy Sunday friends! It's freezing cold here and only getting colder. Hope you are all staying warm!

Enjoy!

Lily didn't go to sleep until almost five, she stayed awake, eating junk food and peeing every twenty minutes while trying to watch Ella Enchanted and organize her books on the shelf that James had given her.

Her mum slept on the other side of the house, so she wasn't overly concerned with waking her up, though she did drop a book at one point, and freeze like she was in a movie, about to be caught breaking into a house she shouldn't be in.

She checked James' window a few times too, though she knew that he was asleep. They'd had a lot of different kinds of encounters at their windows through the years, but they'd never had their beds within view. So even though she wanted to peek at him, she would have to wait.

She also wanted to text him, but he was asleep, so that wouldn't work either.

She felt ridiculous, because she'd just been with him for hours. And she'd been a little too honest, she should be embarrassed, but she wasn't. She shouldn't be itching to see him like she was.

She went back to her books and her water and her movie, trying to keep her mind off James for a little while.

At least, until she decided she was sober and that it was time for bed.

And then she had no control over what she was thinking about.

The dream was almost a memory.

Her and James, around ten, sitting at the bus stop. There was a bench that wasn't there in real life, and their feet swung off the ground as they kicked them back and forth. When James smiled at her, he was missing one of his front teeth and he stuck his tongue through the hole. Lily watched him, laughing, the sun shining in his hair.

But then they weren't ten, they were seventeen, and even though Lily kept trying to reach for his hand, kept trying to capture his attention, he wouldn't look at her and he stayed out of reach. Their feet no longer swung in the air and there was no laughter or shining hair.

She woke up thinking about how much more creative her subconscious could have been.

And then fell back asleep, and this time there were no dreams and she didn't wake up again until eleven. And when she did wake up, she felt like she was forgetting something.

She sat up, looking around the room. Everything looked like it was in order, and she'd somehow finished organizing her bookshelf and made it look decent.

Her phone buzzed on her side table and she reached for it.

Mary: I'm in love.

Mary: I don't know why you haven't answered me, but I don't mind typing it out again.

Mary: I'm in love.

Lily blinked at the phone and then laughed, reaching for her water and chugging it before she responded. She shouldn't be up yet, she'd only had six hours of sleep.

Lily: Love? What is it with you and throwing around big words so easily?

Mary: You were out with Marlene last night.

Mary: She told me.

Lily: Tell me about Reggie

Mary: Nah nah, you were out with Marlene.

Lily: I tried to call you at one point, but James told me that it was too late and took my phone from me.

Mary: What time was it when you remembered that I exist?

Lily: 2am

Lily: It's not my fault that you live in Ireland and can't come to the pub with us

Mary: You wound me

Mary: But anyway, yes, I love Reggie

Lily: After one lunch date? They'll write hallmark movies about the two of you

Mary: They should. This boy is something else, Lily.

Lily: I'm glad that the date went well.

Mary: I'm sorry you live in Cokeworth and I couldn't force you to come on the date with me

Lily: You have been known to be a bit co-dependent

Mary: I can't help it. You're my favorite person. Now tell me about James.

Lily: I had a dream that he started ignoring me last night and now I feel weird

Mary: bastard

Lily: He wouldn't let me hold his hand either

Mary: stupid bastard

Lily: i hate dreams

Mary: Don't you normally dream about amusement parks and disney characters?

Lily: You know I do. I don't hate ALL dreams, just dreams that make you feel weird when you wake up

Mary: Fair.

Mary: Have you been holding James' hand while you're not dreaming?

Lily: maybe.

Mary: Good girl

Lily: Shut up.

Mary: Love you too!

Lily looked for other messages, but there were none from James and so she was going to have to message him first. She chanted 'live in the moment' a few times before she clicked on his name and wrote a quick message.

Lily: good early afternoon

James: how are you up before me?

Lily: That was an awfully coherent sentence for someone who is asleep

James: I have many hidden talents

LIly: I'm sure

James: Lunch?

Lily: Will you still be asleep?

James: Nah, I'll probably be able to rouse myself

Lily: Diner?

James: Let's drive into town and go to that place next to the theater

Lily: is that a cafe instead of a diner?

James: I think so

James: Give me thirty minutes?

Lily: Just text me when you're ready

Lily got out of bed and finished her water before she padded over to the bathroom to take a shower and pee.

Thirty minutes really wasn't enough time to dry her hair, so she opted for a still wet messy bun, and then put on some eyeliner and mascara to balance it out.

When she got dressed this time, she did let herself think a little bit about what she was putting on, she let herself admit that she wanted to look nice.

And then she was walking out the door and sitting on the porch, texting Mary again, though about Anne with an E season four teasers instead of boys this time. Lily was trying to tell Mary that she really shouldn't get her hopes up.

James: Ready when you are

Lily: I'm on my porch talking to Mary

James: You're ready before me too? Smh

Lily: Step it up

James: I mean, I guess I'll have to

Lily texted Mary a few gifs of Anne and Gilbert before James was standing in front of her.

"Ready?"

She grinned as she stood up. He held out his hand and she took it, her smile growing.

"I'm ready."

"Your little trick actually worked, didn't it? You're not hungover?"

"If it didn't work, I wouldn't do it," Lily shrugged.

They got in the car and James told her about how Marlene had sent him over twenty texts between when they had dropped her off and when he went to bed. He didn't specify what she wanted in the texts, but Lily could make an educated guess. She was actually surprised that she hadn't heard from Marlene yet this morning.

When they got into town, he parked on the road and ran around to open her door for her. The handle didn't want to work through, so Lily ended up having to open it herself.

"Don't say anything," James said, once they'd gotten the door open. Lily laughed as she closed the door behind her.

"I'm not going to tell you to get a new car, James." She assured him. "If you like Edith, then you should keep Edith. I mean, you might want to take her in to get a tune up or something…" She shrugged.

"It's just the radio, and then the doors stick sometimes. There's nothing functionally wrong with the car," James put a hand on her back as he led her to the door and then held it open for her.

"No one is saying that there's anything wrong with the car," Lily turned her head to grin at him over her shoulder.

"Except, that is exactly what everyone is saying." James muttered as he followed her inside, grinning right back at her. "Half of Marlene's texts were about how I endangered her life by making her ride home in my 'death trap of a dinosaur.'"

Lily couldn't help the snort that followed that comment.

They went up to the counter and ordered before going to find a table.

"You realize this is the fourth day in a row now, right?" James said as they sat down. "Fifth if you count us talking through our windows." Lily started tallying it up on her fingers, because that both seemed like too small of a number and too large of a number at the same time.

"I guess that is correct," Lily nodded.

James nodded. "You haven't even pretended that you don't want to hang out with me."

She rolled her eyes since he'd emphasized that phrase just to spite her. "Why would I pretend that I don't want to spend time with you?"

"Because, I thought you were trying to convince me that it's not a good idea for the two of us to date."

"I'm not trying to convince you, that's just a fact."

James pressed his lips together. "It's not a fact, it's your opinion. And I disagree with that opinion, by the way."

"I know you do." She nodded. "Because we've been having fun getting to know each other the last few days."

"And flirting." He deadpanned.

Lily nodded, "Yes, and flirting. But this two week time slot we got here, isn't real life. This is like a pause before real life kicks in."

"Maybe." And Lily figured that was as much give as she would get from him on the subject. James was quiet for a moment and then he ran his hand through his hair. "What were you going to say last night? Before I stopped you." He reached out and took her hand.

"Are you changing the subject because you know that I'm right?"

"No," He shook his head and squeezed her hand. "What were you going to say?"

Lily looked at their hands and chewed on her tongue. He had to already know by now. He just wanted to hear her say it. Sober.

She looked up at him, her heart beating in her ears. "I like you. I was going to tell you that I like you."

This time he pressed his lips together to keep his smile from over taking his face. She wished that he wouldn't. "So it's working, then?"

"I swear to all that is holy, if you say the word 'woo' one more time-"

"But it's working." He shrugged, squeezing her hand again.

Lily took a breath and was about to say something, though what, she wasn't sure, when the waitress came over with their order.

James looked much more disappointed than Lily felt.

And then there was food in front of Lily so she started inhaling it immediately. James, for his part, seemed just as hungry.

But that didn't quite deter him. "This does feel like a pause from reality." He agreed with her earlier statement, surprising her. "Kind of like we're getting one more summer break."

Lily nodded, her mouth full of her BLT.

"That's not what I want though," He went on while she chewed. She felt kind of stuck in this moment. If she tried to say something she'd end up spitting tomato and bacon all over him. "I don't want some kind of summer fling just because we ended up running into one another now instead of at some other point in our lives."

Lily swallowed, but still found that she was at a loss for words. She needed to say something though. "I never… I never meant to insinuate that I thought that's all you wanted."

James shook his head and put down his own sandwich. Lily sat up and took another large bite. "You didn't, I just want to make sure that I'm being clear about what I want. I'm trying to be honest, remember?"

Lily nodded. She did remember him explaining that last night. He was being honest and forthright so that there was no room for miscommunication or misunderstanding, like when they were kids. If things didn't work out this time, it wouldn't be because James was keeping his feelings hidden.

This was new territory for Lily. She'd only dated a handful of people in her life, Anthony had been her only serious boyfriend, but no one had sat before her, while eating a sandwich, and nonchalantly told her in no uncertain terms, that they wanted a serious relationship.

James sat there, not concerned that she was quiet, eating his sandwich as though everything were perfectly normal. And perhaps he thought everything was perfectly normal, because no matter what he'd said in the last four or five days, she wanted to keep spending time with him. He was hardly scaring her off, even if hearing him say that was making her anxiety creep up her spine. She should have brought a sweater with her.

She wasn't hungry anymore, so she reached for her tea instead.

She was glad that she opted for a warm tea as she curled her hands around the cup.

James noticed now that she was quiet. Or maybe he noticed that she wasn't shoving food into her mouth anymore, but he was looking at her now, and his sandwich was sitting on his plate as well.

"Lily?"

She pressed her lips together and tilted her head to the side.

"Did I say something wrong?" He asked, fidgeting with his glasses and then reaching for his tea as well.

"No. This just, it doesn't…" She shook her head and sighed. "I know that I was wrong before, I know that you didn't dislike me when we were kids, but… I don't know. It feels like-"

Her phone started ringing and they both jumped.

She looked down at the screen, because her phone never rang.

She was about to hang up on the number when she saw who was actually calling her.

She blinked at it and then looked at James. "I need to answer this." She said, reaching for it. How many times had it rung? How many rings until her phone went to voicemail.

She stood up from her chair and turned around. "Hullo, this is Lily Evans,"

"Hullo, Miss Evans! My name is Emma Vanity and I work for Hollows publishing. I'm sorry to call you at noon on a Friday, but I'm so glad that I was able to get in touch with you before the weekend!"

Lily hugged her arm around her torso and gripped her shirt. "Thank you for calling! I don't mind at all that it's Friday!"

"Yes, of course. Well, we received your resume for the assistant consultant position and would be very interested in having you come in for an interview at your earliest convenience. Are you available anytime next week?"

"Yes!" Lily pushed up on her toes. "Yes, of course. I can come in on Monday if you have anything available then?"

"Monday? Yes, I can meet with you at two thirty? I can email you further details, and if you think of any questions later, please don't hesitate to email, I normally work all weekend anyway. Do you have any questions now?"

"No," Lily shook her head. "No, I'm good. I'll email you if any come up. Two thirty on Monday though? The interview will be in the London office? Sorry, I know I just said that I didn't have any questions."

"No problem, yes, the interview will be in the London offices. I'll email you as soon as we hang up."

"Thank you! I'll see you on Monday! Have a good weekend!"

"Thank you! You as well."

Lily hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment.

Did that really just happen?

She slowly spun back around and James was smiling at her. "What was that?" He asked.

"I just got an interview with Hollows Publishing."

He stood up from the table and looked at her like he was so excited and proud that she felt a bundle of nerves get caught in her throat. "It's only an interview!" She said, but he had already reached for her and was pulling her in for a hug.

"It is not," James said, and Lily wrapped her arms around him tightly. He was right, it wasn't just an interview. It was a weight on Lily's chest lifted, it was a sigh of relief. She hadn't graduated with a job, but that didn't mean that she wasn't capable of getting one. She'd known that before of course, but this was the validation that she needed.

"It's Hollows Publishing," She said, making no move to pull away from James. "I fucking love Hollows Publishing."

And then they were back at their table, and James was happily letting Lily go on about all of her favorite books that had come from Hollows, about the details of her internship, what she was hoping for and looking forward to, and then about more books.

"Alright, alright," Lily shook her head and picked up her sandwich, which had been abandoned after the phone call. "I think I've gone on long enough. It's not like I have the job yet. I'm getting ahead of myself."

James, who had finished his sandwich, sat back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest and a satisfied smile on his face. "To be honest," He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "I think I could listen to you go on about books all day."

Lily snorted. "Yeah? You're really going to pretend that I haven't just bored you out of your mind? You had an empty bookshelf in your room, James."

He ran a hand through his hair. "You couldn't bore me if you tried. Not when you looked so excited and proud. Your cheeks are still rosy." He reached out and poked her cheek and she wrinkled her nose and tilted her head away from him.

"Well, I mean, I did decide to go into this field for a reason." She shrugged. "What about you? Have you done any more thinking about what you're going to do?"

James let his hand fall to the table and sighed, reaching up to run his hand through his hair. "Lily," He huffed. "No. I haven't made a decision."

Lily grinned. "I really think you're going to have to flip a coin."

"I am," James nodded. "Why does my agent think I can choose?"

"Because most people can." Lily shrugged, finishing up her last bite. She was going to need to order more food.

"Wow, and after I was so supportive."

"I'm just teasing! If there was anything I could do to help you choose between your two favorite teams, I promise you, I would."

"You're distracting me." James said. "Which is helpful."

"Is that what I am? A distraction?" She laughed. "I hope you let Marlene know that when she was texting you last night."

James smirked. "Yeah, that's what I told her." Lily turned away from him to look at the menu above the counter.

"I'm going to get more food." Lily stood up and squeezed his shoulder as she walked past him, unable to keep her hands to herself.

When she turned away from the counter after ordering, there were a pair of girls standing at the end. James had his arms crossed over his chest, and he was smiling, but he glanced over at Lily and raised his brows just slightly.

One of the girls noticed him looking at her and looked over her shoulders. She looked at Lily and then looked at the seat across from James.

Lily walked back over to the table, and was nearly all the way there, before she realized that she knew one of the girls at the table. "Camilla?" Lily narrowed her eyes at the girl who had stomped the heel of her pointy toed boot on James' angsty, teenage heart.

"Yes, that- Lily?" Camilla looked shocked to see her. But then she looked back and forth between James and Lily and frowned. "Are you two…" She trailed off and Lily stepped around her to sit back down.

"It would appear that we are." James said, looking rather smug about it.

Lily pulled her tea toward her and used it to hide her own smile.

She was most definitely running out of reasons as to why dating James was a bad idea.

Except for the time limit.

And the fact that Lily's entire future, despite the job interview she now had next week, was still a question mark.

And it was James.

And he just stated that he wanted something serious, not a summer fling. And two weeks wasn't enough time to build the foundation for a long distance relationship. Even if James wasn't exaggerating, and he really was only going to be about an hour away, he would still be gone every weekend for games, so when would she even have time to go and visit him? After work? What would his practice schedule be like?

But even if they didn't start dating, was she really going to be okay with just not seeing him after next weekend?

"Lily?" James nudged her with his foot under the table. She looked up, Camilla and the other girl, who looked vaguely familiar, were still standing at the end of the table and looking at her expectantly.

"I'm sorry, I was not listening just then. What's going on?"

"I was just telling Camilla that we've got plans tomorrow." Lily narrowed her brows. Why would he be telling her- unless she was standing at the end of their table asking him out with Lily right there even though she just suggested that they were dating. Or maybe she'd invited Lily as well, she could have been having a party or something, but Lily decided to have an internal freakout instead of pay attention to the conversation.

"Yeah," She nodded. "Sirius wants to hip check James while on roller skates." She shrugged.

"Is it true that Sirius is dating someone?" The other girl asked. Pip, that was her name! Her and Camilla had been thick as thieves in secondary, but Lily was surprised that they were still friends now.

Lily looked at James and he shrugged. "Yeah,"

"Well come on, James," Camilla grinned and put a hand on the table, leaning forward. "You've got to give us a little more information. After all, none of us girls were ever good enough for him, right?"

Lily bit the tip of her tongue to keep herself from saying something she'd regret.

"I've never been one for gossiping." James shrugged. "If you want to know about Sirius, you'll have to talk to Sirius."

"Oh James," Camilla reached over and shoved James' shoulder. "You're not any fun."

He looked over at Lily with his brows raised and she took another drink of her tea. He wanted her to say something, that much was clear. So she set her cup down and looked over at Camilla.

"Some people don't like being talked about when they're not around. Sirius is one of those people," Lily said, drawing both girls' attention back to her. James smiled at her and Lily nudged his foot. "What are you two up to today?"

Pip grinned at her. "We're just visiting with one another. Saw James and came over to say 'hullo.' We're not busy. You two?"

"Nursing hangovers." Lily lied, as neither of them were hungover. "We were out with Marlene and some others until Ernie's closed last night."

"Marlene- Oh yeah, Nicholas is getting married tomorrow, isn't he?" Pip stood up straighter. "I'll have to text her." And then she pulled out her phone to do just that.

The waitress came over with the food that Lily had just ordered, and Camilla had to step to the side so that she could put it down.

"Are these to share?" James asked, moving a plate of pretzel bites closer to him.

"Of course," Lily grinned. "Help yourself to whatever you'd like." And then she accepted her own offer and started shoving brownie bites into her mouth.

James picked up a piece of pretzel and dipped it in the cheese. "It was good seeing the two of you," He waved as he took a bite.

Pip smiled up from her phone and Camilla didn't look too happy about being dismissed, but she waved back and gave them a false smile.

"It's cause you're a bigshot now." Lily said when they'd walked out of the cafe with their order. "It's why I started talking to you too." She shrugged, shoving another piece of brownie in her mouth.

James bumped her foot with his again and then slid it around, so that their feet were hooked together. "S'fine. I mean, whatever it was that enticed you, you're still here now and that has to count for something."

"What kind of schedule will you have once training and then the games start up?" Lily asked. "I mean, it's obviously not going to be a typical nine to five," She kept looking down at the plates so that she wouldn't have to see him figuring out why she was asking.

"Well, games don't start up until September. And practice is pretty intense, but I won't have an actual schedule till I make a decision. I'm assuming that most of it's in the morning though. Maybe the scrimmage will be in the afternoons, at least that's how it was at uni."

Lily nodded.

"Is that where your head went a few minutes ago?"

"Yeah." She admitted. "I'm- just thinking."

James looked at her for a minute and then nodded. "Thoughts you're not ready to share."

"Well I-"

"No, I wasn't saying… It's fine. You don't have to tell me, you're allowed to mull things over. I've probably been a bit overzealous about everything anyway."

"No, don't say that." Lily shook her head. "Just because I'm not great at articulating certain things, that doesn't mean you should hold back.

"So I didn't say anything that made you uncomfortable?"

"You've said plenty that's made me uncomfortable." She laughed and picked at another brownie bite. "But you're not scaring me off, as you've already pointed out."

James tugged her foot a bit closer to him. "Good. So your hang ups are still the same that they were before? We don't know each other well enough and I'm going to be too far away?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "No. I mean, sort of? Saying that dating was a bad idea because we didn't know each other wasn't what I should have said, because obviously people get to know one another while they're dating. I get that." She tucked a loose strand of hair from her face and tapped her fingers on the table. "We had ideas built up of course, because we have known each other for a long time. Forever, really. And maybe that's why I felt like it couldn't be such a simple decision. Does that make sense? I mean, I liked you on and off for a long time."

James tilted his head to the side and took a deep breath through his nose. "Okay. I think I understand that."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. It's the opposite reaction that I had, but sure, I get it." He grinned.

"And then, yes, there is the issue of you going off to the other side of the world." She used hyperbole to annoy him of course, but it felt at least a little bit true.

"Right." He sighed. "So if I just didn't leave, you'd have no reservations anymore?"

Lily snorted. "I have never in my life, had no reservations."

James laughed and swiped the last brownie bite off her plate. "Alright, alright. Let's get out of here." Lily grabbed a couple of the pretzel bites and took another drink of her tea before she followed him to the door.

"Yeah, quick. Before any more of your exes try and ask you out in front of me." Lily said, her mouth half full.

James slung his arm over her shoulders and tucked her into his side. "I don't think I'd mind seeing you get a little jealous."

"Sorry if I disappointed you before, but I don't think I could be jealous of Camilla if I tried." At least not now. She didn't think she needed to tell him that she had been very jealous of Camilla when he had been dating her when they were kids. "I know how much you dislike her."

James snorted. "Alright, I suppose that's fair. You could have pretended though."

"Right, of course. I've actually been pretending not to be jealous. Next time she ambushes you, please make it even more obvious that you don't want to talk to her. I mean avoiding eye contact and kicking me under the table so that I would talk to her was pretty good-"

"I didn't kick you!" James laughed, pushing open the door. "I was just encouraging you, gently, with my foot." Lily elbowed him in the side.

"Whatever, just stop flirting with other girls right in front of me, yeah?"

"Right, don't know what I was thinking."

"Kind of sets you back a few steps on the woo-ing front."

"Wish I could do it over, honestly."

Lily looked up at him and then wrapped her arm around him as well. "You're such a dork."