"Charity?" James said.
There she was in the grocery store, putting some grapes into a basket.
"James! Hey!" Charity said then set her basket down and quickly gave him a hug.
"So… how are things? I haven't seen you in a year and a half," James said.
"I'm good. I just moved back into town a couple of months ago. I wanted to contact you but… After everything I didn't think you'd want to talk to me," Charity said.
"Of course I would. So how's the baby?" James asked with a smile.
Charity cringed.
"There isn't one. I… I didn't keep the pregnancy. I changed my mind. I just… I went to stay with my parents and I really thought about it. I had been so busy thinking about how my choices affected everyone else and I asked myself what I wanted. I wasn't ready to be a parent. I thought I had made up my mind but I hadn't. Of course, Tom seemed relieved when I told him. Which kind of irritated me but whatever," Charity said.
James wasn't sure what to say so he just nodded.
"So what about you? What've you been up to? I can't believe you're still in town," Charity said.
"Yeah… It's a long story. I mean… I guess you know I wasn't exactly acing all of my courses. And then… my parents died," James said.
"Oh, James. Oh no," Charity said, clutching his forearm with sadness on her face.
"Yeah, it was hard. I took a year off school to take care of things but I'm back in classes now," James said.
Charity frowned and said, "Well, I'm glad you're OK now. We should hang out sometime. Catch up."
"Yeah," James said.
James had an impulse to ask if she was seeing anyone but banished it. He didn't want to be the sort of person who chased after old exs.
"You got the same number?" Charity asked.
"Yep," James said.
"Me too. I'll call you sometime. I promise," Charity said and gave James another hug.
Remus was lying shirtless on his bed, melting in the heat of his bedroom when he heard Lily shout in the living room. He quickly pulled on his shirt and ran out. Lily was holding some papers in her hands and looking shocked.
"Remus! Remember my Great Aunt who died back in July?" Lily said, her green eyes intense and wide.
"Yeah," Remus said.
Shortly after the fourth, Lily got a call from a cousin informing her that her father's aunt had died and that she was in the will. Lily hadn't known the woman well since she lived all the way in Oregon and was therefore surprised she would've been in her will. She apparently had few other surviving relatives.
"She left me her house! Her actual house!" Lily said, shaking the papers.
"R-Really? That's… weird," Remus said.
"Right? Oh my god, I have a house! In… Oregon," Lily said, making a puzzled face with that last part.
"I'd sell it," Remus said.
"Yeah. I could… Either way I'll probably still have to go out there to look at it and handle things. But… what if I didn't sell it? What if I just… moved in?" Lily said.
"I don't know. I mean… you could. But it's not like you know anyone out there," Remus said.
"You could come with me," Lily said, taking a neutral tone, which Remus took as her not trying to seem like she was saying he had too.
"I could. I'll admit that I'd love to see the Pacific Northwest. I've always wanted to visit Seattle," Remus said.
"I'd rather see Portland. But we could check out Seattle sometime," Lily said.
"I mean… you should look at the house at least," Remus said.
"I'll have to. I'll fly out there," Lily said.
"I'm not flying," Remus said, throwing up his hands in protest.
Remus had always been anxious about the idea of flying. He knew that he had been on a plane as a kid when he went with his parents to South Korea for a summer trip but he didn't really remember the experience of being on a plane well.
Lily stared at him for a second, seeming in deep thought.
"If it weren't for Mary and Dorcas… I would just say to hell with it. I've got no more family here. Severus is still around town and I've suddenly noticed there's a lot more rumors about me and people knowing about my sex work even though I've literally only ever told four people and there's no way that you, Mary or Dorcas would've told anyone," Lily said, angry in her eyes.
"God, Lily. That sucks," Remus said.
"It's fine. I'm not ashamed of being a sex worker. I just don't want to get harassed by people I went to school with because of it. I would miss New Hampshire. Maybe not during the winter. Wow, Remus. Can you imagine a winter with a minimal amount of snow?" Lily said.
"Sounds made up. A conspiracy made up by the Liberal media!" Remus said then laughed.
"I'll take it," Lily said, also laughing.
"Are you serious? Are we serious?" Remus said.
"We might be. Hey, you could visit Natalie!" Lily grinned.
"Right! Nat's in L.A.!" Remus shouted with excitement.
"Omigod, How am I going to tell Mary and Dorcas? Oh, hey girls, Remus and I are taking a road trip out to Oregon and we're not coming back!" Lily said.
"R-Road trip?" Remus asked with interest.
"Obviously. I've got some savings and Aunt Faye left me some money too. I figured we'd plan to go out there in a month or so," Lily said.
"Oh my god, that's so soon!" Remus said, hopping up and down.
"Right?" Lily said, sounding astonished herself.
"Oh my god!" Remus said, opening his arms wide.
"Oh my god!" Lily echoed and they embraced tightly, both squeezing hard.
"I hope this isn't a mistake," Remus said.
"Me too," Lily admitted.
Mary and Dorcas sat on the couch while Lily paced in front of them.
"Are you going to come out with it or make us guess?" Mary asked.
"Are we taking bets. I'm going with pregnancy," Dorcas suggested, perhaps jokingly.
"No way. She's going to tell us she's won the lottery and is moving to New Zealand to start a sheep farm," Mary said.
"Oh, oh! She's been elected Queen of the Martian Empire and wants us to be her royal concubines!" Dorcas shrieked.
"She's a secret agent and is finally bringing us in her case to take down an evil corporation. Actually, I'd be really into that," Mary said, looking up at the ceiling as if daydreaming.
"OK, OK," Lily said, stopping in front of them.
"Whatever it is we won't judge you. Unless it's murder. I might judge you for that," Dorcas said.
"I'll cut you some slack depending on who you killed," Mary said, playfully elbowing Dorcas.
"I've inherited a house," Lily said, deciding to drop each piece of information separately.
"That's way less cool than being a secret agent," Mary said with a frown.
"Where?" Dorcas asked.
"The moon? That would be cool," Mary said.
"Oregon," Lily said.
"I was so close," Mary replied, clutching her fist against her chest.
"I'm putting serious consideration into moving there," Lily said.
"No you aren't. You've already decided. I know you far too well, Evans," Mary said with a playful smirk.
Lily sighed and sat down on the floor in front of them.
"Remus is coming with me. There's room in the house for more. I… I don't want to be without either of you," Lily said.
"Hmm. West coast living could be cool. I bet the queer scenes in Seattle and Portland are killer," Mary said.
Dorcas frowned.
"I don't know, Lil. This town is everything I've ever known. I think the prospect of starting over like that… I don't know," Dorcas said.
"I mean with work I could probably visit every now and then anyway," Mary said.
Mary had recently taken a job as a courier for a medical supplies company which had her doing a fair bit of cross-country driving, though nothing as far as Oregon yet.
"Let me think about it, Lil but… I don't think I can. I just… don't want to say no for sure without really giving it some thought," Dorcas said, pulling off her glasses to rub her eyes.
"I think I'm a… maybe. Maybe someday. You and Remus should go out there and enjoy yourselves. Maybe I'll think about relocating out there sometime later," Mary said.
"OK. That's reasonable," Lily said, smiling though she was feeling sad.
"Hey, Sirius. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up that the owner is planning on putting this house on the market in a month," Olivia said as Sirius stood at the refrigerator, contemplating dinner.
"Oh. OK. Thanks for letting me know. I guess I'll tell Peter and James," Sirius said.
Which in this case meant going straight to James's bedroom and knocking on the door.
"Come in," James said.
"Hey. Olivia says the owner is gonna put this house up for sale in a month," Sirius said.
"What? That's pretty short notice," James said, furrowing his brow.
"Hey guys, Olivia just told me the house is getting sold!" Peter said, poking his head in the room.
"Yeah, we heard. Come in, Pete, and shut the door," James said.
Sirius sat on the bed. James was in his PJs and typing on his laptop.
"Guess I'll move back in with my mom. She's been begging me too. Or I could move in with Maddy," Peter said.
Madeleine Yaxley was Peter's new girlfriend, whom he was very excited about.
"What about us?" Sirius asked James.
James frowned.
"We look for somewhere else. I'm sure something will pop up. Maybe we can find roommates closer to our age. Similar interests. Maybe Petrova knows someone," James said, grabbing his phone, probably to text her.
Petrova had recently started seriously seeing a lady which had resulted in James and Petrova seeing a bit less of each other. Apparently when she fell for someone she fell hard but she did seem to make some time for him. It also meant that they weren't sleeping together anymore. Sirius had taken her for the sort to be polyamorous but it turned out she was strictly monogamous. But James hadn't seemed bothered.
I was never in it for that.
James had changed. He hadn't followed the path that Sirius had followed after his brother's death. Sirius was proud of him. James had become more focused and determined. He was taking things in stride and adapting. As far as Sirius could tell he'd done a damn good job of handling his parents's estate and he was taking his classes very seriously.
"Petrova says she'll ask around. She thinks we'll have better luck in December though. If we have to stay in a hotel for a few days to make it fit we can," James said.
"Yeah. Suppose so," Sirius said.
Lily flopped backwards onto her hotel bed, only just realizing exactly how exhausted she really was.
"Ugghhhh," she groaned.
"Same," Remus said, his face smooshed into a pillow.
"We have three more days of that. I mean… it's cool and all. Nice sights. Cool roadside attractions," Lily said.
For their first day they had drive from their hometown in New Hampshire all the way to Cleveland which was a pretty solid ten hour drive. They weren't taking the scenic route across the country. Just the fastest route to physically get them to Southwestern Oregon. Tomorrow they would drive to Lincoln, Nebraska. The day after that would get them to Salt Lake City, Utah, leaving them with a long final push to their final destination on the last day. It was a hell of a lot more driving than Lily had ever done before.
"I want a bath but I also want to never move again. This is it. I'm never moving from this spot," Lily said.
"They'll kick you out," Remus observed.
"You're no fun," Lily said pouting.
"Not really. Professional stick in the mud, that's me!" Remus said.
"OK. I'm standing up," Lily said.
She arched her back, hoping that momentum would follow but it did not.
"A-Any minute here. I believe in myself," Lily said, finally half sliding, half pushing off the bed.
"Hooray," Remus said.
Lily grabbed her bed clothes and dashed into the bathroom.
The night they arrived in Oregon they still had to stay in a hotel. Before she could take possession of the house there was still a matter of meeting with her aunt's attorney. She had been offered to be shown the house but she didn't think it really mattered. It was hers whether she looked at it first or not. If it was horrendous she supposed they could just go back, though it would be kind of tricky now that they didn't actually have a place to live otherwise.
Saying goodbye to Mary and Dorcas had been hard enough. They were only just working out how they were going to make the long distance thing work. There were no definite plans for either of them to move out there but Lily was hopeful at least Mary might move out there eventually. Dorcas seemed less willing to relocate but it wouldn't be the first time she eventually changed her mind on something she was nervous about.
Lily knew the nature of their non-monogamous relationships meant that they could always see other people to fill in the gaps but it really wasn't the same thing. Her heart would always have room for more love but the parts of her heart that belonged to Mary and Dorcas belonged only to them. She loved them and wanted to maintain that connection unless things were well and truly over.
The morning after arriving in Oregon, Lily met with the attorney and got all the keys. The town was a bit of a resort town, though it was more grey and wet than she pictured resort towns in her head. There was also a local community college, in case she decided that was something she needed to make use of.
Hedges lined the dirt driveway down to the house. The house faced out at the coast, though it wasn't technically as close as it seemed. There was still a good half hour walk down the beach. The house had two stories and substantial front and back porches. A metal fence surrounded the backyard.
They stepped onto the porch, Lily's heart pounding with excitement. The house looked old but well maintained and she was hoping the same could be said for the inside.
"Here we go," Lily said as she unlocked the door and they stepped inside.
"Wow. Seems nice," Remus said.
Relatives had already gathered up items that they had inherited but some furniture remained. There were also relatively new appliances in the kitchen but the heater didn't appear to work.
They went upstairs where two of the bedrooms and the attic was. Remus immediately dashed up the short staircase into the attic.
"Oh, this is cool!" Remus shouted with excitement.
The room was fairly sizable and had a large window that faced out across the other houses and a bit of the coast.
"I can put a desk here. A bed there. A dress there…" Remus said looking all over.
"Are you claiming the attic?" Lily asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"No. Yes. Maybe. If you'll let me," Remus said, his speech becoming fast as he became more excited.
"You'll really become a recluse. Until you need to eat. Long walk down to the kitchen," Lily said.
"I'll live. And what does it matter if I'm a recluse if we live here alone?" Remus said.
Lily cringed. She thought Remus would've realized…
"Remus… We can't afford the bills here by ourselves. I'm going to have to rent out the other rooms," Lily said.
"Oh," Remus said.
"Sorry," Lily said, rubbing his back.
"No. It's fine. I trust your judgment. Just try not to move in anyone loud or obnoxious," Remus said.
"Dude, have you met people our age? Twenty year olds are frequently loud and obnoxious," Lily said.
"I'm not loud or obnoxious. Neither are you," Remus said, with a pleased grin.
"Yeah, but who out there is even as cool as us?" Lily said, walking out of the attic.
"True, true," Remus said.
"How about this? Four bedroom house with two rooms available. Not far from the coast. There's two people living there. A couple I guess," Sirius said.
"How does it look?" James asked.
Sirius handed James his phone, letting him get a good look at the pictures.
"Fixer-Upper. But doesn't look bad. Old but not too old. I'm not sure how promising it is but it's not like this search is going well," James said.
"I wonder if she has room for Peter? We should ask," Sirius said.
"Yeah. Maybe. Have you seen Pete lately?" James asked, handing Sirius his phone back.
Sirius contemplated. Since Peter moved out of the townhouse he really had made himself scarce. Sirius missed the sounds of him cursing at video games in the living room.
"No, I don't think so. He texted me the other day to check on our progress and to let him know where we move to," Sirius said.
"Huh. I'll text him and see how things are going. Email the owner of that house and see when we can see it. It's the first place you've found that wasn't packed with people," James said.
"I'm on it," Sirius said and began to send her a text.
Remus sat at his desk, staring out at morning fog. Lily had officially placed an ad on Craigslist offering up the two bedrooms. The last couple of weeks had been productive for him and his work on his fanfic, Reliquary of Blood. Ever since he saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier he hadn't been able to get the relationship of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes out of his head.
He'd written eighteen chapters over the last few months, all of which were pretty substantially sized. It was an epic tale of victorian vampires with a surprising amount of BDSM. He wasn't sure where that came from but the readers seemed to eat it up. It was funny writing about sex despite the fact that he had never done it. He wasn't sure it was different than writing about being in love despite having never felt it before.
Sometimes Remus would admit to himself that he would like to meet someone special. But what did he have to offer to anyone? He was just some loser who had now found a perfect life hiding out in an attic. He could just stay up there and write. Lily would move people in and he would hardly ever see them since they would probably be college students or have jobs.
There was a knock on his door.
"Come in," Remus said.
"Hey. Just wanted to let you know a couple of guys are coming by to see the house later," Lily said.
Remus turned around with a grin.
"I bet they say dude and bro a lot. Brag about banging chicks and how awesome they are at sports ball," Remus said.
"Maybe. I won't rent to anyone too douchey though. Guy I've been texting with sounds nice. They are college students. Both our age," Lily said.
Remus shrugged. The truth was it didn't matter who they were: he was going to avoid them. He would hide up there in the attic and would almost never have to interact with them.
Sirius pulled out his phone and took a picture of the house. James was staring out at the coast, thinking how incredible the view was.
"Doesn't look like much," Sirius said.
"Dude, it's practically on the coast," James said, surprised that Sirius wasn't impressed.
They walked slowly up to the house. James wished it wasn't so yellow though the paint job didn't look too old. They stepped up to the door and James knocked. No one answered.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" James asked.
"Yeah," Sirius said, looking at his phone.
James knocked again before the door finally unlocked and opened. Whatever James had anticipated the owner to look like this wasn't it. She was a very pretty girl, no older than they were. She had dark-red hair, light-brown skin and the most mesmerizing green eyes James had ever seen. She had round, soft features and was on the tall side for a girl, though still shorter than Petrova.
"You're here to see the house?" she asked.
"Yeah," Sirius said.
James felt unable to speak, mesmerized by sudden beauty.
"Great. Come inside. Please," she said, stepping aside as they wiped their feet and followed her inside.
"I'm Lily, by the way," she said, extending her hand to both of them to shake.
"James," James said, shaking her hand unable to contain his grin.
"Sirius,' Sirius said before doing the same.
"Cool. So, let me show you around. Remus and I just moved in a couple of weeks ago. I'm sorry it's so cold. The heater doesn't work," Lily said, cringing.
James wondered if Remus was her boyfriend or just a friend.
"This is the kitchen. Umm… I don't think the dishwasher works. The oven seems kinda new. It works fine. The microwave is new. I bought that," Lily said, gesturing around the kitchen.
"This place seems kinda big. Bigger than I thought," James said.
"Yeah, it's bigger on the inside," Lily said, looking pleased with her own reference.
James laughed. She was a fucking nerd, this was perfect. Lily continued to show them around, taking them through the kitchen and the dining room.
"Sooo there are two rooms and maybe the basement that I'm trying to rent out right now. One room is downstairs, another is upstairs and the basement is… Oh. Uh… Well, it's a basement," she said and laughed with a snort.
She was so fucking adorable James wanted to scream.
"Is there an attic?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah. My friend Remus lives up there," Lily said.
James did a happy dance in his mind. Remus wasn't a boyfriend!
"Is he home?" James asked, feeling it was good to meet new roommates as soon as possible.
"Yeah. Hopefully, he'll come down at some point. He's kinda shy," Lily said, seeming apologetic.
"I guess show us the upstairs room first," Sirius said.
The followed her upstairs and she showed them her bedroom, complete with bongs, a pagan altar and a huge pansexual flag. She went up to the attic door to summon her friend but he failed to answer. James hoped he was OK.
James decided to take the upstairs room which was across the hall from her room and Sirius took the downstairs room.
"Awesome. Do you guys want to see the basement space? Oh, do you know anyone who might be interested?" she said, seeming desperate.
"Oh. Um. Maybe. Pete?" Sirius said, glancing at James.
"Our friend Peter lives with his mom right now. He's not really in the market now but I think he could be persuaded. What do you want for it?" James said.
"I'd take three-hundred a month for it. It's pretty small," Lily said.
"I think I can convince him," James said
"Cool. That would be great," Lily said and took them to see the basement.
It wasn't as small as James expected but it wasn't large. He thought it had plenty of room for Peter.
"OK. Anything else?" Lily asked, leaning against back of the old sofa in the living room
"Do you have any plans for like… a TV? Maybe a stereo?" James asked.
"I mostly just watch Netflix on my laptop," Lily said.
"I've got a TV. It's really too big for my room anyway. I've also got an Xbox," James said with pride.
"No shit? Well, hey, if you want to share, I won't say no. Do you smoke weed?" Lily asked.
"Sometimes," James said, loving the feeling of their eyes meeting and that sense of instant mutual attraction that James hoped he wasn't imagining.
"Well, you'll have to smoke some weed with me sometime. My treat," Lily grinned and James rubbed his chin and nodded with approval.
"You're welcome to join too, Sirius," Lily said.
Sirius shrugged.
"I'm kinda neutral on pot. But thanks for the offer," Sirius said.
They made plans for a move-in time that weekend and he and Sirius headed back down the driveway.
"Well?" Sirius said.
"Well, what?" James replied, trying to suppress a smile.
"Come on, man. I know you too well. Don't hold out on me," Sirius said, grinning big.
"Yeah. OK. She's fucking cute. Really cute. Like… how is it even legal to be that cute? That's really unfair," James admitted with a sigh.
Sirius chuckled.
"Did you see her dimples?" James asked.
James proceeded on the walk home to tell everything about Lily that seemed interesting and cool. He had butterflies in his stomach. Crushes weren't supposed to come this easy. James wasn't sure what the future held but with the way things had fallen apart before, it was nice to have something to look forward to.
