Olive

Chapter 3

The second time Lily meets him, she smells like chocolates and bread, and it's two weeks after the first time.

"Here's your ganache."

Lily turns around upon hearing the voice, hand extended to collect the bag of icing from Marlene McKinnon, her only full-time employee at Cherry on Top, with a quick thanks. The petite girl with strawberry blonde hair throws her a pleased smile, before gracefully spinning on her feet and running back out of the kitchen to tend to customers.

Lily sighs, wiping the back of her hand across her forehead, quite aware that her face is more than likely covered with flour dust and powdered sugar, if not more ingredients.

It's a Friday night, one of their busiest days of the week on account of people generally losing all self-control by the time weekend rolls around, and aimlessly throwing parties with uncalled-for extravagance. Lily can't complain, obviously, as these parties are what keep her shop flourishing most of the time. And yet, on days such as these, she feels grossly understaffed.

She and Marlene can manage perfectly fine most of the time—with Lily baking in the kitchen and Marlene greeting customers—and it's even better when Mary stops by after her Zumba classes to lend a hand, but sometimes, it's just too much for the two of them to bear alone. Like today, when Mary is away on an office retreat and Lily's hands ache from all the icing she's done.

God knows she can definitely afford another employee, what with all the profit the bakery makes now, but it seems quite a waste of resources when it's only on the weekends that the girls find themselves short of hands.

It's a decision Lily knows she has to make soon, because even though Marlene doesn't say it, Lily can tell how much the exhaustion wears her out.

She pushes all these thoughts to the back of her mind presently, and after a deep breath, carefully squeezes out an intricate design on her truffle cake with a skilled hand. The ganache has the perfect taste and consistency—she needs to raise Marlene's salary—and after a final flourish, Lily steps back to admire her work.

With a satisfied nod, she sets a few pieces of freshly cut strawberries on top of the cake, wipes the extra chocolate batter from around the dish, and carefully lifts the creation before putting it aside for the next morning's display.

She checks the clock on the opposite wall (eight p.m.) and washes her hands, doing some quick calculation to determine by what time she needs to be asleep so that she can arrive at the bakery early and restock the required goods. This isn't a problem for her, because she's strategically taken an apartment with Mary just a couple of blocks away, and has the ease of traveling on her side.

Lily then collects a bowl, pipes out the remaining ganache from the plastic bag into it, and carries the chocolate cream and her leftover strawberries out to the front of the store.

Poor Marlene is slouched into her chair behind the counter by then, looking entirely exhausted as she closes the register and turns around to give Lily a tired smile.

"Good business today," she says.

"All thanks to you," Lily replies, setting down the two bowls on the counter, before walking over to the front door and switching over the sign so that it reads 'CLOSED'.

"So," Marlene says once Lily has settled herself beside her, "How're you dealing with the breakup?"

"Ugh," she groans, "Don't even get me started, it's been a nightmare."

"Really? I thought you were the one to break it off? Liberating and all that?"

"Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, best decision ever," Lily says, popping a chocolate covered strawberry into her mouth. She chews for a while before explaining, "It's just, Brandon won't stop texting me. I'd thought it was a pretty clean break, but turns out it took him a while to understand."

"Men," Marlene nods sagely, "Naturally dense creatures."

"Tell me about it."

"Hey!" Marlene slaps the counter in excitement, her blue eyes bright with sudden glee. "What about that waiter you were talking about awhile back? He seemed to have done a number on you."

Lily's heart gives a sad little thump at the reminder, and she can't help the disappointment that takes over her face. "Yeah well," she says with no little amount of bitterness, "clearly I was the only one who had 'a number done on them'" her fingers making air quotes around the phrase.

"Aw, honey," Marlene coos, "He's an idiot if he didn't fall in love with you immediately."

"I mean obviously that's not what I was expecting!" Lily says, gesturing wildly with her hands now that the dam has been broken, "But like, I couldn't have been the only one to feel, what d'you call it?—the click, that's it!—I couldn't have been the only one to feel the click. I'm pretty sure he'd been flirting with me for a while there. And then…nothing? He didn't make any attempt to stop by or contact me? I mean, not that I'd given him my number, but, still he could've…"

She trails off slowly, her green eyes pinching in concentration as her gaze catches on something outside the shop, before slowly widening in surprise.

"Totally, I agree with—" Marlene breaks off, realizing that Lily's no longer speaking. She tilts her head to the side upon finding the redhead staring off into space. "Lily?"

"Holy shit, what are the chances?" Lily whispers, the half-eaten strawberry in her hand plopping down into the bowl of ganache. And then she's pushing her stool back with a screech, and rushing over to the window with an exasperated laugh. "Oh my God, you ridiculous man!"

"Who? What—oh!" She hears Marlene exclaim, but can't turn around to gauge her expression, because it's him. He's here!

James.

He'd had his face plastered against the window to catch her attention in the first place, and of course—like any sane person—Lily was more than a little creeped out, especially since she could hardly decipher who it was on account of the glass distorting his face.

And then he'd pulled back and given her such a bright, happy grin, waving madly and looking entirely too pleased at having accomplished his goal, like this was an entirely normal means of greeting someone, that it'd taken her but a second to rediscover how her heart tended to soar around him and his antics.

Of course he'd had his face stuck to the window.

Mary would've had a field day had she been there to witness the exchange.

Lily quickly unlocks the door now, and holds it open to let James inside.

He gives a sheepish little smile as he passes by her, and Lily can't help the small swoop her stomach makes at the gesture. She closes the door again before turning around to face him.

"Umm, hey," he says with a small wave. "Sorry about that, the sign read closed, so I was just checking to see if you were still inside."

"Hi, you," Lily smiles back, obsessively running her hands over her apron to rid them of any chocolate residue. "It's fine, don't apologize. Pretty effective method of catching someone's attention, I must say. I'll have to try it someday."

"You should. Sirius does it all the time. It's fail-safe."

"So, how come you're here on a Friday? Isn't the restaurant supposed to be like, packed right now?"

"Not a problem," James waves off, "I rarely ever take days off, and the uh—owner—she was happy to oblige."

"Well, you are their best employee after all."

"Hopeless, the lot of them," James agrees, a lopsided smile stretching across his face.

She doesn't know how long they stand there like that, staring and grinning at each other silently until Marlene clears her throat, jerking Lily out from her mental appreciation of James's eyes and his hair and that small smile that leaves behind the ghost of a dimple on his cheek. "Oh, right, um, James, this is Marlene McKinnon. Marlene, James."

"Good to finally meet you," Marlene says by way of greeting, her hand outstretched towards him.

"Finally?" James quirks an eyebrow at her questioningly as he makes his way over to shake her hand. He turns around to give Lily a look—which inevitably makes her neck grow warm—before turning back to address Marlene again. "I was almost scared Lily would've forgotten all about me by now."

"Not a chance," Marlene grins with evil delight even as Lily mimes running her finger across her throat to threaten her from behind James. "Especially since she won't stop going on and on about the spectacular food at Elia."

"Wow, that's very kind of Lily," James turns around again to throw a wink at her—and effectively send her to an early grave with it—before walking to the counter to stare at the baked goods with childish delight. "But seeing as you both manage this entire place all by yourselves, and do a splendid job at that, Elia doesn't hold a candle to Cherry on Top."

Lily is grateful that his back is turned towards her as he examines a batch of cupcakes, because not only can she freely admire how fine his bum is from this angle (very fine), but she's also at a perfect vantage point to see Marlene mouth the words 'HE'S SO HOT' to her.

'I KNOW RIGHT?' She mouth backs, and quickly morphs her expression back to politely-nonchalant when James turns around to face her again.

She doesn't quite know what to do with her hands, and spends a second or two moving them about lamely, before finally noticing that the boy in front of her is staring at her expectantly.

"Um," she says, "Did you say something? Do you want a cupcake?"

She could slap herself as soon as the words leave her mouth, because regardless of what his face-plastered-against-the-window endeavor might've looked like, James is not a five-year old child asking for sweets at her shop. Obviously that's not what he'd said, and it becomes glaringly obvious when he chuckles at her, his cheeks a bit pink.

Marlene barely suppresses her own giggles as she looks at Lily pityingly.

"No, I asked if you were free right now to, you know, hang out for a bit?" James says, looking adorably flustered as he runs a hand through his hair.

Quite inconsiderate of him, given that he should know how much Lily wants to run her hands through his hair as well.

"Sure!" She finds her voice eventually, feeling the tell-tale warmth of a blush creep towards her face again. Her stomach is a sudden knot of excitement and nervousness, and she doesn't bloody know what to do with so many limbs now. Which way is she supposed to move? What is casual? What is she? "Sure, lemme just—"

"Your apron, Lil?" Marlene helps out, looking very much like she'll burst out laughing the moment they're out the door, but Lily is immensely grateful to her nonetheless. Even more grateful that it's her and not Mary, who would've thrown all tactfulness to the wind, and cackled her way through the entire interaction while simultaneously giving James a play-by-play of every embarrassing moment of Lily's life since her birth.

But presently Lily doesn't have to worry about any of this, and simply shrugs out of her apron with adoration shining in her eyes as she looks at Marlene. Now she's definitely raising her pay.

"I owe you one," Lily whispers to her as she passes on the apron. "But quick, tell me, do I smell like eggs and sweat?"

Marlene promptly does a subtle smell-check and gives her a confident shake of the head. "Only bread and vanilla, you queen," she whispers back.

"Ready?" James asks her as Lily steps towards him, and she nods in response.

"Hey, Lil!" Marlene calls, making Lily turn around. But her friend just looks at her contemplatively for a second before shaking her head with a secretive smile. "Never mind, have fun! And don't do anything I wouldn't!"

"So," James says once they're a block away from the bakery and Lily's cheeks are no longer burning. He's staring at her unabashedly, a delighted smile on his beautiful face. "You liked the food at Elia?"

"I did," she agrees easily, "Would've told you so myself if I'd seen you afterwards."

"Right. About that," James runs a hand through his hair, and his eyes dart away as if in embarrassment. "I wasn't sure, if—y'know, it was the right thing to do immediately after—"

"After I broke up with my boyfriend at your workplace?"

"Pretty much, yeah." He chuckles, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants. "Remus may have mentioned once or twice or a million times that there's a certain etiquette to these things."

"Certain etiquette to what?" Lily bumps her side against his shoulder. "To going on a walk?"

"A walk, sure," he nods compliantly, the tips of his ears a little red as he throws her a meaningful look. "I've heard that it's generally a starting point for things. Good things."

Lily bites her lip around a shy grin, and thinks that she might hurl from all the ruckus that the butterflies in her stomach are creating. But she doesn't know what to reply to his heart-breakingly sweet insinuation without coming off as entirely too eager and loony.

And so, "Are you hungry?!" she barks instead.

"What?" James tilts his head to the side, his mouth twisted into amused confusion.

Lily wills the ground to open up and swallow her whole, but when it becomes apparent that nothing of the sort is going to happen, she decides to go with the flow. "Are you hungry? I know this great pizza place on the next block. It's right next to my apartment."

She wants to die.

She wants to die because she really did not need to add that last part. Now James must think she's inviting him in—and Mary's off on her retreat and she cannot deal with the way that'll look—and while the message it sends is not too far off from where Lily's feelings are straying, she knows for a fact that James is more than a one-night stand for her.

She isn't even sure if this is a date yet—is it a date? Oh, dear God—but she wants to do this proper. The old-fashioned way.

James, luckily enough, doesn't notice the internal monologue she continues to have, and thankfully enough, doesn't comment on the location of her living arrangements or any unsaid implications Lily had the gall to drop.

"Let's go then." He grins, "For future references, however, I know this great restaurant named Elia a few blocks down, too. A little pretentious, but the food is okay, I hear."

"Oh yeah, I tried it just the other day. Were it not for a ridiculously brash waiter, it would've been definitely worth considering."

"Really? I've heard he's quite the charming guy though."

"Hmm," Lily sucks on her tooth as they stroll down the streets, "that's what he'd like to think."

James sighs, looking entirely too forlorn for the situation. "Sirius will be devastated to know that's what you think of him."

She can't help the chuckle that bursts forth at that, and she finds James smiling softly at her when she catches his eye again. His hand suddenly reaches out to touch her face then, and Lily is quite certain that she's forgotten the basics of breathing.

In. Out. In. Out.

But his forefinger simply makes a long, soft stroke against her cheekbone, and he pulls back to show her the tip of his finger coated in white. "Just a bit of sugar," He explains.

Lily vaguely remembers Marlene stopping her to say something as they were leaving, but ultimately deciding against it. She can only pay half-attention to the side of her brain that realizes that Marlene must've planned for something exactly like this to happen, however, because James's smile slowly morphs into a smirk.

The dimple on his cheek becomes more pronounced as he promptly licks away the condiment and smiles at her pleasantly, as if he's done nothing out of the ordinary. "Sweet."

Lily suddenly feels like her body is on fire, her face, her legs, her neck, everywhere, because if that's not the most fucking turned on she's ever been by just a gesture—

"We're here!" She squeaks, squeals, cries, something, because she's certain that she's steaming right there on the street and it's visible. "Here, here, this is the place," she says unnecessarily, sure beyond doubt that she looks like a nutcase now, but she can't seem to stop.

"Lily," James chuckles, coming to stand beside her. He points upwards at the sign that reads 'Pizza Kitchen' in a loopy script. "I see it."

"Right, of course." She nods, and walks in while continuing to spout gibberish. Luckily, the place looks to be empty for the time being and Lily doesn't have to let the entire city know that she's a puddle for the man next to her. "Do you like pepperoni? It's amazing here. I can never get enough of it. What's your favorite pizza? Are you vegan? Not judging, just asking."

"I—no. Not a vegan," he answers on an amused exhale, and Lily wishes she could just stop, but all she can remember is the sugar and the licking and…great, she's warm again. "Pepperoni is good."

"Good good," she nods like a broken doll. She turns around to look at the pizzeria employee. "Good, so, we'll take a large pepperoni pizza, extra cheese. And extra olives. You like olives, right, James?"

"Love them."

"Good, good."

Stop.

The employee takes their order and passes it on to the kitchens while James and Lily make themselves comfortable around an empty table.

"Are you alright?" He asks with a hesitant smile, and Lily can see that she has actually scared him. "If I made you uncomfortable or something—"

"No!" She yelps, smacking herself inwardly for making him feel that way. She takes a deep breath, reaches out and squeezes his hand reassuringly, "No, James, you didn't. Honestly. I'm just—a little overwhelmed."

"Overwhelmed?"

"Well, you know what I mean."

"Well, in that case, I'm on the same boat."

"Ha!" She can't help but scoff, pulling her hand back and distractedly missing the warmth. "Hardly. I've been making an utter fool out of myself here, while you've pretty much been the definition of debonair."

"You're only saying that because you don't know how much practice and training I've had to do—how much Remus has had to help me—to keep my cool. You pretty much turn my brain to mush."

"What?" Lily breathes, eyes a little wide and heart a little crazy.

James leans in then, a conspiratorial smile on his face and a glint in his hazel eyes that causes Lily to lean forward as well. "You're so pretty and smart that I'm honestly experiencing low self-confidence. And that never happens."

Lily snorts, an unlady-like noise that only seems to make James grin wider, and she feels her nerves settle. This is fine, easy, comfortable. She can do this. "It must be so hard to be you."

"Constant struggle, truly."

"Guess I'll need to thank Remus then."

"Guess you must," He sighs, "Now I have no choice but to contact you sooner."

"And what about Sirius?" Lily asks, because she's stupid and a masochist, and can't help it besides.

"You…want Sirius to contact you?"

"No, I mean, he wouldn't be too happy about you contacting me, would he?"

"Too observant for your own good, aren't you?" James chuckles, and then sighs as he thinks of how to phrase what he wants to say properly. After a pause, he continues, "Sirius is…complicated. He doesn't have anything against you or anything—no, really, listen—he doesn't. He doesn't even know you! Sirius just dislikes people as a rule. Unlike most people who tend to be polite to each other unless something untoward happens, Sirius tends to hate on people until something grand happens."

"Grand?"

"Don't worry about it, Lily," James implores, "He'll come around. He's just idiotically protective of me."

"Oh," Lily realizes, her cheeks tingeing pink. "I see. But I won't—at least not intentionally—"

"I know you harbor no malicious intent of hurting me, don't worry."

"As long as that's clear."

"Crystal."

Lily smiles, unable to repress the fondness on her face as she stares at his cheeky smirk and bright eyes. There's a proud lilt in the air surrounding him, one that Lily finds so unexpectedly attractive that it's nearly impossible for her to take her eyes off of him the entire night as he talks and eats and laughs and exists. He shares her weird obsession of olives, and spends fifteen minutes talking about its eccentric flavor and texture, and Lily thinks she might jump across the table right then, but controls herself. He even insists on paying the entire bill himself, but gives her none of the misogynistic crap when she remains stubborn. They end up splitting the cost, and Lily falls harder.

She worries that she's being consumed by it, this attraction, and has yet never felt more alive, more liberated.

And at the end of the night when they exchange numbers and say their goodbyes—very platonic ones, regardless of how much Lily wishes they weren't—she's certain more than ever that she needs to do this properly.

Because James Potter is a keeper.

A/N - Come find me on Tumblr maraudersftw! And leave me some lovely reviews, you kind souls xoxo