AN: Happy Sunday! We've got a lot of good stuff in this chapter! I hope you like it!
Lily started Saturday morning off facetiming with Mary.
After three and a half hours of talking about everything and nothing and enjoying time with her best friend while also missing her and trying to convince her to come home for just tomorrow so they could hang out with Marlene together, they hung up and Lily decided to head to Hopper's to get some lunch.
James had texted her a few times while she'd been talking to Mary, and Lily had responded only once to let him know that she really was sure that she didn't want to crash Nick's wedding with him and that he would have to go by himself or find a date who had an invitation.
She suggested that he ask Camila, because she probably wouldn't mind being rude and showing up somewhere, she wasn't wanted.
He agreed that she would most definitely want to come with him, since he's so famous.
And then Lily didn't respond.
She noticed that the Potter's had already left for the wedding by the time she got out to her car, so she pulled out her phone to see if he'd messaged her again.
He had.
James: This is your final chance to change your mind
James: You're not even checking your phone anymore
James: What if I had something really important to tell you
James: Mum and Da are talking about my wedding again
James: *our
James: I decided to drive Edith to the wedding so I don't have to be alone with them any longer.
James: Thanks for the support dear
Lily: Tell them I'd like a fall wedding, with a peaches and cream color scheme
She put her phone in her bag and tossed it into the passenger seat. While she was driving, she started rehearsing what she would say to the interviewer on Monday. Mary had helped her this morning, pretending to be the interviewer for her.
She parked, and got out of her car still going over her talking points. She was so focused, that she almost ran right into Sirius.
He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back before she realized who he was.
"Sirius?"
"Red, what are you doing here? Why aren't you with, James?"
"Why would I be with James? He and his parents went to Nick's- why aren't you with James?"
"I wasn't invited."
"Me either, but I'm surprised that stopped you."
"Ms. McKinnon is scary." He shrugged.
"That's also why I'm not with him," Lily agreed.
Benjy walked out of the diner behind Sirius, holding a couple bags of take out and he reached out to hand her one. "Afternoon, Lily!" He grinned.
She took the bag and narrowed her brow. "Afternoon,"
"I saw you out here being accosted by my boyfriend, so I grabbed your bag for you."
"Oh, I hadn't paid-"
"Don't worry about it," Benjy waved her off.
"Thank you, Benjy," She grinned.
"Let's go eat in the park," Sirius said, and Lily assumed that he was talking to Benjy and was about to bid them farewell and get back in her car, when Sirius looped his arm through hers and started leading her across the street.
"Oh, alright."
"Peaches and cream?" He asked, raising his brows.
"I haven't even seen his response yet, but I'm not surprised he texted you." Lily nodded. "And no, not really. Maybe, I mean peaches is a good orange-"
Sirius started laughing and Benjy came up on his other side and grinned at Lily.
"He said his parents were planning our wedding. What was I supposed to do? Also, we all know his ears got all red when he saw," Lily opened her bag while they crossed the street and pulled out a few chips. "People keep expecting me to be embarrassed, I'm not going to be embarrassed because James' parents want to plan our wedding."
"He told me that your mum is in on it."
"Oh yeah," Lily nodded, "I asked her if Monty attended her and Mia's teas when I got home last night and she just started laughing at me. I don't know how I didn't realize that my mum and Mia have been rooting for James and I since we were kids. And clearly James thought that it was all confined to his house."
She shoved a few more chips into her mouth and then Sirius reached over and picked one out of her bag. "You know he really fancies you, yeah?"
Lily felt a bit less confident now that they were talking about feelings, but she wouldn't let Sirius know that since she just went on about how she didn't get embarrassed. "Yeah, I know. If I didn't know that- I mean, I'm sure he's also told you that I fancy him too."
Sirius snorted. "Yeah, I just needed to hear you admit it."
Lily looked over at him, "Why?"
"Because I'm protective of my brother, and he's been spending all his time with you instead of me even though he's moving an entire world away next Friday."
"Friday, huh?" Lily's heart started beating faster. "Well I'm so glad that we got to tell each other that we fancy the other before he moves eight million miles away."
Sirius tightened his arm around her and then slipped his arm out and headed for a table nearby. "I don't fault you for not wanting to start something new when he's about to move and you're both about to start new jobs. I mean, nothing has been easy when it came to the two of you."
"Yes, just be more like Sirius and I," Benjy set their bag of food on the table and took a seat. "Take him out for lunch and then ignore him while you accost your best mates not-girlfriend." Sirius nudged him with an elbow after he sat down.
Lily chuckled. "I'm James' not-girlfriend?"
"Well," Sirius shrugged, "He was actually right about that. But I'm not ignoring you." He turned to his boyfriend.
"Have you said two words to me since we walked out of the diner?"
"I'm speaking to you now," He reached for the food and started opening it up. His eyebrows were raised and Benjy was smirking at him. Lily laughed at the two of them.
"You know, Sirius, it's a shame you spent all of secondary giving James terrible advice, otherwise I feel like you and I could have been friends."
"I'm sorry about that, I knew it was shit advice when I was giving it." He ran his hand through his hair, a very James thing for him to do, a very non-Sirius thing to do. She believed that he was sorry.
"You were just giving him shit-"
"But I wasn't. James talked about you all the time, and I didn't like it. Remus was after that one bird and Peter had a new crush every other week, and I just needed one of my friends to not want to be dating someone. When I realized that that wasn't going to happen, I settled for just not helping James date you."
Lily frowned and tilted her head. "I used to get frustrated with Mary all the time. She would get these obsessions with people and not want to talk about anything else. Then she'd try and set me up so that-"
"Yes! I hated that so much! When I would complain about them wanting to date everyone, they would suggest that I just find someone to date like it was so simple! Like the thought of dating someone how they wanted to date someone didn't give me hives." Sirius shook his head.
Now Lily was a little confused. She glanced at Benjy and then back at Sirius. "Because you wanted to date boys?"
"No, I didn't want to date anyone." Sirius laughed, putting an arm around Benjy. Benjy laughed too as he opened the wrapping of his sandwich.
"I had a similar experience. Only, I did have a girlfriend for a little while."
"One weekend, doesn't really make her your girlfriend." Sirius scoffed.
"Well, I tried dating in secondary anyway." He shrugged. "It was very uncomfortable, and I did not like it."
"We're ace," Sirius said, and Lily nodded, all the pieces of what he was saying finally falling into place. "You know what that is?" He seemed surprised.
"I do," Lily nodded again. "Mary and I were in a pride club at Uni."
"Are you…?"
"No, but Mary didn't want to go alone and we're a bit co-dependent. Of the two people I've fancied in my life, they've both been men."
"Only two?" Benjy asked, echoing a question she'd heard before.
"Yeah, I liked James for way too long. And then I dated someone in uni for a while."
"How long did you like James?"
"He didn't tell you?"
"No, did you tell him?"
"I did." Lily nodded. "Do you remember Kyle?"
"Yes, he was a piece of shit to you, wasn't he?"
"Yes, he broke my headband in year two… maybe three. James stood up for me. That's when I started liking him the first time." Sirius started laughing at her again.
"Oh, you two really are hopeless!"
"Maybe determined is a better word," Benjy offered, trying to be nice.
"Stubborn." Sirius countered. "Terrible communicators. Pig-headed, maybe?"
"Yes," Lily agreed. "All of it, yes."
The boys laughed again and Lily smiled. It was sort of ridiculous how easy it was to sit here with Sirius and his boyfriend and laugh at herself.
"Just be nice to him," Sirius said with his mouth full of chips. "I like you, I know I didn't always like you, and I was kind of an asshole to you in secondary-"
"I accept your apology."
"-though you were an ass to me as well-"
"You convinced James, multiple times, to throw rocks at my window at two or three in the morning."
...yes, well, I'm just saying. It was a two-way street."
"It really wasn't." Lily shook her head. "I would never have been an ass to you, if you hadn't gone out of your way to be mean to me."
"Mean? I take issue with that."
"He really is sorry," Benjy tipped his milkshake in her direction and then took a sip.
"I can tell," Lily nodded.
"Be nice to James," Sirius huffed. "That is all I was saying."
"See what he texted you about your wedding." Benjy added.
Lily pulled out her phone.
James: I'm not telling my mum or dad shit
James: tell them yourself
James: nvm, please don't. They'll actually start planning
James: it already seems like mum is taking notes
Sirius was reading over her shoulder. He snorted and then plucked the phone from her hands, stopping her from telling James anything.
She picked up her sandwich and took a large bite before she leaned over his shoulder to see what he was texting James.
Lily: Hey! This is Lily. James told me that you two were planning our wedding, but he's refusing to tell you the color scheme I want. It's peaches and cream. Hope you're having fun!
Lily nearly choked on her sandwich when she realized that Sirius had just texted Euphemia.
But then she started laughing. "I didn't knock on the front door the other day because I was worried about them thinking that we were dating." She turned to poke Sirius' arm to find that he was smiling hugely at her. "Did he tell you that his dad almost asked for my input yesterday when they capped the wedding at twenty guests?"
Benjy snorted into his milkshake. "They were talking about your wedding in front of you?"
"No, at that point it was just James' wedding."
Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "Until papa Potter thought to ask the bride," He shook his head. "That's amazing." He pulled out his phone and laughed again. "James has texted me." Lily leaned closer to look.
James: LILY TEXTED MY MUM
James: MY MUM IS NOW PUTTING TOGETHER A PINTEREST BOARD
James: I forgot she had my mums number
Lily laughed and picked up her phone.
James: What do you think you're doing?
James: Dad has mentioned grandchildren now. I hope you're really proud of yourself.
Lily: I'm drinking a milkshake right now, so I'm thrilled actually
Lily: Ask him how many grandchildren he wants
Lily pulled her milkshake closer and took a drink as she clicked on Mia's name.
Euphemia: Thank you for your input, dear! Monty told me to let you know that James' ears are about as red as your hair!
Lily: Thank you! That's the outcome I was hoping for!
"Hey, smile," She looked up and Sirius was holding his phone out in front of them. She, Sirius and Benjy were looking back at her. She smiled and he clicked a few pictures. "He's never going anywhere I'm not invited again."
Later that evening, she was sitting on the couch watching the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie with her mum. She had already called Mary for the second time that day and told her mum and Mary at the same time, about her and James' current wedding plans.
And then Mary had to go and ruin all the fun they were having by asking Lily if she and James were officially dating yet.
She had hung up on her, only to be berated by her own mother.
But things had calmed down now, and they were even sharing a bowl of popcorn. Lily had even almost fully forgiven her mother.
They were about halfway through the movie when she heard some car honking the horn outside.
Lily and her mum both looked in the direction of the street, the car honked again, and then they turned back toward the tv.
And then Lily's phone buzzed.
James: That honking is me. Come outside please
Lily looks at the message for a minute and then over at her mum. "Apparently that was James. He's outside."
"Well go and see what the boy wants." Rose said, not looking away from the television, but she was smirking.
"Mum," Lily warned, but she got up and started toward the front door without saying anything else.
James was still in his car, which was still in the road. He had the window rolled down and his elbow propped up and he waved to her when he saw her. She knew that he was trying to look cool, and it was working for him. Especially in the button down.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"I'm here to pick you up,"
"I told you that I'm not crashing-"
"I'm picking you up for the afterparty, you were invited by Marlene and me and everyone else. The wedding is over, Nick and Violet have left for their honeymoon, Aunt Cora has gone to bed for the night. You won't be crashing anything, but you will be very upset if you miss out. So go get dressed and then get in the car!"
Lily chewed her tongue as she thought it over. It did not take her very long to decide that he was telling the truth and that she very much wanted to go. "You better have already texted Sirius."
"I'm doing that right now," He pulled out his phone. "Not that I want the two of you hanging out anymore." She smirked at his annoyed expression, which she knew was just for show, and then spun on her heel and raced back into the house.
Her mum had already turned off the movie and was watching something else. "I'm going to Marlene's!" She called over her shoulder as she took the stairs two at a time.
"I figured," Her mum called back.
She peeled off the sweatshirt and pajama pants that she'd put on to watch a movie with her mum and stood in front of her closet, wondering what she should wear. Everyone else was going to be in formal clothes since they had all attended the wedding, so that meant that she got to wear a dress.
She pulled her scrunchy out of her hair and started combing her fingers through the curls as she looked back and forth between a black dress, and a dark green dress. She wished she would have taken the time to dry her hair after she got out of the shower yesterday, because she had no idea what it was going to look like when she got in front of the mirror.
She chose the black dress, quickly pulling it on over her head and then slipping on a pair of strappy black wedges.
Once she was dressed, she threw herself into the bathroom and looked over her reflection. Her hair didn't actually look half bad. She quickly pulled half of it up with an elastic, making sure there were still curls framing her face and then reached for her eyeliner and mascara.
She grabbed her jean jacket as she turned off all the lights that she'd flipped on and not five minutes after she'd started getting ready, she was finished.
"You look lovely," Her mum said as she walked into the kitchen to grab her purse. She shoved her phone in it and smiled at her mother, who was putting the kettle on the stove.
"Thank you. I'm sorry that I'm running off in the middle of our movie."
She waved her hand. "We'll finish it tomorrow. Don't worry about it. Maybe tomorrow, I can see Marlene before she leaves?"
Lily smiled. "I'll let her know that you want a hug before she leaves." She kissed her mum on the cheek and then she was rushing out the front door. She paused before she reached the door and turned back to her mum. "Why are you putting the kettle on?"
Rose raised her brow and hummed. "What?"
"Mum, why are you putting the kettle on?"
"I'm having tea, love. Why else would I put the kettle on?" But she had already turned away from Lily.
"Right, well, tell Mia I say hullo." Rose started laughing and Lily walked out the door.
James looked to be facetime-ing Sirius, judging by how animated he was being. But when he saw her, he did a double take. An actual double take, and then immediately hung up the phone and threw it into the console as he opened his door.
"You weren't even inside for ten minutes. Were you wearing that under your pajamas?" He walked up to her, looking a little dazed.
"No," Lily did a little twirl for him. "Mary and I used to compete to see who could get ready faster whenever we went out. Also, this dress is doing most of the work." She looked up at him and he was reaching for her hair. She laughed as he twirled a strand through his fingers. "Alright, and the hair. The hair is doing an equal amount of the work."
He shook his head and his hand raked through his own hair. "You're bloody gorgeous, Evans. It's hardly fair at all."
"Yeah, well, we already knew that." She grinned at him and then allowed herself to take in his outfit. He'd lost his jacket, and he had his sleeves pushed up his forearms, and the top couple buttons undone.
He looked very good.
"We did know, yes, we've talked about it. I just can't believe that I get to take you to a party."
He held out his hand to her and she took it, looking over his face. He led her over to the passenger seat and opened the door for her. "Thank you," She said, ducking into the car.
He couldn't believe that he got to take her to a party.
Were her insides supposed to feel like they were melting? Because they did. They very much did.
She watched him jog back to the drivers side, and when he closed the door behind him, he put both his hands on the steering wheel, paused, and then turned to look at her again. "I had mapped out the entire conversation that we were going to have on the way over there." He started the car and turned away from her to look at the road.
She laughed, "Oh?"
"Yeah, and now that's all shot to hell because I can't remember anything I wanted to say to you. I mean, I was definitely going to berate you for what you did earlier."
"What did I do earlier?" She asked, turning to toss her jacket and bag into the back seat, shrinking the space between them. She gathered her hair and pulled it over her shoulder before she sat back down.
"You know what you did."
"Your mum sent me a picture of your red ears."
"Yes, she made me pose for her."
Lily snorted and covered her mouth with her hand. "I love that she did that."
He tried to glare at her, but it was lacking any bite. "Of course you do."
"To be fair, I didn't even think to text her-"
"Oh, I've already yelled at Sirius."
"Are you yelling at me right now?"
"I'm trying." He shook his head. "You're very distracting though."
"You look really good too," She said, resting her elbow on the console and her chin on her palm. He kept glancing over at her and then back at the road. "Really, really good."
"Dammit, Evans. I'm trying to drive."
"Sorry," She sat up, not feeling at all sorry. There were no other cars on the road that she had to worry about him running into. And she liked knowing that she could tease him so easily. That he was so easy to distract. Because she always felt like he could draw her attention to him without doing much of anything, to see that she had that same effect on him made her feel powerful.
They turned down a street and the McKinnon Manner came into view. It was always a bit jarring to remember that Marlene had grown up here, or that this sprawling property was only a few kilometers from her own, very humble home.
"Are all the siblings still here?"
"Marcus is here, if that's what you're wondering."
Lily tilted her head. "He was one of the McKinnons I was wondering about, though there are a few more."
"Charlie went home. Ben-"
"Hold on. Why did you say that?" Lily turned her body toward him.
He shrugged a shoulder, but he didn't glance over at her so she started laughing. He cracked a smile and relented. "You told him that he was pretty."
She was still laughing. "He is pretty,"
"I know, but he was flirting with you when I dropped Marlene and Dorcas off on Thursday."
"He was not flirting-"
"Marlene got jealous too."
"Too?"
"Yes, Lily. I fancy you, and you were practically jumping out of the car to tell Marcus how pretty you think he is. I was a little jealous."
"But it's just, Marc," Lily laughed, tucking her hair back behind her ear. "I promise not to get distracted by him tonight. And if you want, I'll even hang out of the car to tell you how pretty you are."
James pressed his lips together to keep his smile from getting too big, and then glanced over at her. "I appreciate the offer, but I think I'm good for now. I might cash in on a later date."
She nodded, as though he was being perfectly reasonable. "Just let me know when you need to be bolstered."
He turned into the driveway, which was basically a road all its own. It was lined with cars, and there were people walking back to their cars to leave for the night, so James had to drive extra slowly.
"Did Sirius ask you to get lunch with him just to give you a hard time?" His voice had lost just a bit of its playful tone.
"No," She shook her head. "He didn't ask me to get lunch with him at all. We just ran into each other at Hopper's and then he dragged me off to the park to give me a hard time."
"Oh, that's much better."
Lily smiled and leaned her elbow on the console again. "We had a nice time. Benjy was there too."
"Okay, and you're not secretly freaking out about my parents, are you?"
She laughed again, "No, James. I know that they're just having their fun." She didn't think that he'd like to know that she thought his mum was on her way to have a fun little chat with her own mother.
He nodded and then pulled off the road into an empty spot on the grass. Lily could spot the tent that was set up in the back now, glowing orange with twinkly lights and candles. She could also hear the bass from whatever song was playing.
She turned to look back at James as he turned the car off.
"Ready?" He asked, dropping the key into the cupholder.
"Do you want me to drive on the way home?" She asked.
He thought about it for a minute and then shook his head. "No, I'm good."
"I can, though. You drove us home on Thursday, you drove everyone home on Thursday. And I don't need to get wasted twice in three days."
He shrugged, "Maybe." She was still leaning on the console, and he reached out and twirled her hair in his fingers again. "Though, I don't think I need to be drinking around you just yet. I already told you that you make me feel a bit sloshed as it is. And now you're wearing this dress," His eyes dropped momentarily, but then jumped back up to her face. "Well, I don't need to make an even bigger idiot out of myself than I normally do."
Her eyes were glued to his face.
This moment suddenly felt like the exact right time to kiss him. He was spouting off nonsense about how he made a fool of himself in front of her while he played with her hair, sending tingles down her spine.
She reached up and laced her fingers through his.
Was she allowed to kiss him? Was she allowed to do that while she was also making the claim that she didn't want to date him?
Well, she did want to date him. She very much wanted to date him. She just didn't think that starting something now would lead to anything sustainable and James, who had always been a fixture in her life, wasn't someone she could date temporarily.
"You look lost in thought," James said, rubbing his thumb down the side of her palm.
"Maybe a little bit," She said quietly. She leaned further over the console, squeezing James' fingers as she did.
She was supposed to be living in the moment and not overthinking things.
Was she really going to let him leave without kissing him?
No. She'd wanted to kiss this boy for most of her life.
She let go of his hand and reached out, the tips of her fingers running over the slight stubble on his jaw, through his hair and then rested her hand on the base of his neck. She saw him lick his lips and then pulled gently. He leaned in.
She let her eyes close as his lips pressed against hers, her fingers curling in his hair. Her entire body felt like it was on fire, and for a moment it was completely overwhelming. But then his hand was cupping her cheek and she felt both grounded and emboldened at the same time. She smiled against his lips, and then he was smiling as well.
"Just so we're clear," James said quietly, nudging his nose against hers and then pressed a quick kiss to her lips again. "I am very much aware that you just kissed me, and if you draw attention to it, I'm not going to want to stop kissing you."
She tugged his hair, in a way that was meant to be playful retaliation for his teasing, but James' eyes clouded over in a way that wasn't so playful as he dropped his forehead against hers.
They had definitely waited too long to have their first kiss.
"Good," She responded. And then she kissed him again and she could feel his restraint. "And just so we're clear, I don't think you've done anything to make yourself look like an idiot in front of me yet."
"Yet," He chuckled, but it was raspy and he had his eyes closed. "Give it time though, right?"
She pulled her hand from his hair and brushed her thumb over his cheek. She wanted to stay here in his car and snog him, but there were still guests from the party walking past them and she didn't think this was the best place to put on a show. She wasn't sure that James' parents weren't still here.
"Alright," She leaned back a few inches and sighed. "Alright," She repeated. "Let's get out of the car now.
"Yeah," He nodded, "Good idea." He opened his eyes and they were still dark. "Very good idea."
She laughed, the tension seeping from her body.
She opened her door and stood up, fixing her hair and wondering if her lips were going to stop tingling any time soon. James jogged around the car and then he was holding his hand out to her.
"Do you want this?" He asked, his cheeky grin back in place. She smiled at him and nodded, taking his hand with the hand furthest from him and then spinning into him so his arm was around her shoulders now. "Smooth." He laughed, leaning over and pressing a kiss to the side of her head. "Alright, let's go and find everyone."