Disclaimer: I'm thinking you get the point and maybe I can just stop these now?
A/N: Before we begin I would like to let the people who have wondered who Megan is, know exactly who Megan is. Megan is just Lily's girl best friend. I couldn't think while I was typing it whether I wanted to go with it being AU and she had a random best friend that no one knew about or if I wanted to go with someone else. I saved myself the trouble and went with one of my own friends. I know that she's not an actual character but I...well I don't really know. Her name is Megan, she was Lily's best friend and now she's dead. That's about how far I planned ahead with her. Maybe we'll find out more about her later...I haven't decided yet. So...yeah. I'll just write the story now.
Chapter 6: ...I Can't Come Up With a Good Chapter Title
It was like a slap in the face. I had just spilled my story to this boy and he called me idiotic? I felt more tears welling up in my eyes and I turned my face to hide them from him. "Oh. No! That's not what I meant, Lily! No!" he sounded genuinely sorry so I turned back to him.
"Well what did you mean then?" I tried to ask but it came out all choked up from trying to hold back my sob.
"I just meant that after several years of me continually asking you out, you think I'm going to give up on you? I didn't exactly keep asking just so I could get rejected."
"Well...what about all those other girls? You seemed to forget me just fine then."
"All rumors," he said, taking my hand. "They all got angry when I told them no so they just kept piling on the lies. I mean, I didn't exactly stop them but mostly because I didn't care. I knew the truth. And I knew that you would believe them over me. That's probably why they did it. But believe me, I never once said yes."
I didn't know what to say. I mean...what did this mean? Did he actually like me? It wasn't all some game to him? Then the feelings came back. But this time I didn't try to push them down. I embraced them and their full meaning. I liked James Potter. As soon as I said the words in my head, I felt relieved. It was like this great pressure had been building up in my head and now it was gone.
But what if he abandons you? my mind questioned.
Well I would just have to take the risk, right? That's what happened in relationships wasn't it? Well then we would just have to start out slow. Like...really slow. The just friends type of slow.
He must have sensed my resolve breaking because he leaned in to kiss me. This time it was gentle and done with great care. And I wanted to kiss back, I really did. But we couldn't start off like this. It was just too much and my nerves couldn't handle it.
I put my hand against his chest and pushed away. "James...I don't think I can start like this. I've never really had a trustworthy relationship and I just need to know that you aren't going to run away because you finally have me."
He groaned in frustration. "Did you not hear me, Lily? Do I have to spell it out? I love you," he said.
I shook my head. "It doesn't matter. My dad loved my mum and Petunia and me. But he still left. So, I'm proposing something. Why don't we try to be friends first? We can't go from always fighting to always snogging in one night. We would eventually burn out and you'd leave anyway. Don't say you won't. You don't know and I can't take the risk," I said when he started to protest.
"Fine," he sighed. "We'll start out as friends. But does that mean we'll eventually try to be more?" he asked hopefully.
"Maybe, James. I just have to know you won't leave once you know the real me."
"Okay."
"Good. Now, I suggest we get some sleep before the rest of the house wakes up," I chuckled. It was light enough outside that you could tell it was at least five. Even if it was storming.
He laughed quietly. "Yeah. You're right. My parents will make me get up super early since we have guests. Dammit, Lily! Why my house? I'm going to miss out on a perfectly good day to waste," he exclaimed, shoving me a little.
"It's not my fault that hail decided to break my window!" I said, shoving him back playfully.
"Well why didn't you just repair it?" he asked, confused.
"Because my parents took my wand for the rest of vacation," I grumbled. "They said we were living like true muggles this time."
"Aww. Is the wittle Wiwy sad that she doesn't have her wand," he mocked in baby talk.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am!" I was really going to like being his friend.
"Eh. I probably would too," he chuckled, shrugging. "Come on. I'll walk you to your room." He stood up and held out his hand for me.
"Ummm...it's still storming and no one else is up. It's not light enough outside to be by myself," I admitted shyly, pulling my knees to my chest. I hated how scared and immature I sounded.
"Well...then you can take the bed and I'll take the floor," he said, leaning over me to grab his pillow.
But I pulled him down and made him fall onto the bed in front of me. "No. You can sleep up here with me. That's what friends are for, right? To comfort the scared ones?" I batted my eyelashes, hoping he'd stay. We might be starting off as friends but I still liked him and wanted him close to me.
He sighed again and rolled to lay on his side of the bed, facing me. I snuggled closer and closed my eyes. I guess I didn't realize how tired I was because I instantly started to fall asleep. But I did manage to stay awake enough to feel James unwrap himself from me and slide to the floor. Just not enough to stop him.
When I woke up it was to the bedroom door slamming against the wall and a harsh voice calling out, "Hey, Prongs! Did you know Evans is in your bed?"
At the mention of where I was at I jumped up and looked for the source of the noise. Sirius was standing in the doorway, staring at me incredulously. I didn't know what to say. I was pretty dumbfounded by it all too.
And then the events from earlier came rushing and I remembered why exactly I was in James' bed. But I couldn't tell Sirius that! He'd just run off and tell everyone else! So I just sat there, blushing like a madwoman and twiddling my thumbs, looking everywhere but at either of the boys.
"Prongsie! Are you even awake? How could you be missing this momentous occasion?" Sirius asked.
James' head popped up from the side of the bed. Bleary eyed and dazed he just looked around the room.
"Oh. Good. You're awake now-," Mrs. Potter had started to enter the room, assuming that James was awake because Sirius was standing there apparently. She must not have heard Sirius wake us up. She stared from me, clad in a t-shirt and boxers (my own thank you very much) to James who was looking quite as confused as the other two.
"What is going on in here?" she asked, somewhat shrilly, obviously worried about her baby boys' dignity. "Lily. I thought you told me that you don't get alone with him."
"I did say that, yes, but-" she cut me off before I could finish.
"So what are you doing in my son's bed?" she shrieked.
I winced. She probably had reached the whole house with that voice. I was giving it five seconds before my own mother ran in. Oh look. There she was.
She stared at me with a crazed expression. I was so overwhelmed that my mouth just hung open. Mum must not have remembered my storm fears. Otherwise she would probably understand. Or at least a little bit more than Mrs. Potter. She was probably wondering why I wasn't in her room though.
James finally realized what was going on and started to explain very rapidly about what happened...he just left some things out. He told them that we were both up late because of the storm and decided to talk civil to each other so we could establish a firm base on which to be friends because neither of us wanted to go into our final year with hateful feelings. And then before we knew it we had fallen asleep. But James had woken up and decided to move to the floor rather than waking me up.
Okay. So it wasn't exactly the truth but it was a nice lie! And we had decided to be friends...it was just friends with the possibility that it could turn into something more. But we weren't telling anyone that.
The whole time he was explaining I looked around his room. Even though I had spent all night in it I hadn't really taken notice of it. His walls were forest green and had posters of Quidditch players plastered all around them. But mixed in with those he had a few posters that seemed to be muggle. There was a soccer poster on the back of his door, a few posters of Californian surfers, quite a few of hockey, and even a couple of girls in bikinis. These made me want to groan in disgust and made my heart tighten with jealousy. But that wasn't allowed. We were just friends for now. He had every right to have those posters up.
Unfortunately, that didn't stop me from fantasizing about ripping them to shreds.
"Lily, what are you glaring at?" my moms voice asked, breaking me out of my perfectly happy daydream.
I jumped in surprise, having forgotten they were there, and looked around the room at all the faces. James was giving me a confused smile. His mother seemed to have gotten over her possibly being defiled and had her mouth turned up in a knowing smile. My mum seemed to be a little worried about my mental health. And Sirius...well, he was smirking at me in a way that made me feel like he knew everything that had happened.
"I...I...I saw he had posters of the Chicago Blackhawks up when everyone knows that the St. Louis Blues are the best," I lied, unconvincingly. To me at least. James and Mum bought it in two seconds. Sirius and Mrs. Potter on the other hand, seemed to be rolling their eyes.
"That is so not-" Sirius started to say. But he was cut off by Mrs. Potter kicking him in the shin. "Bloody hell, woman! What was that for?" Sirius screamed.
That was evidently the wrong thing to say. Mrs. Potter glared at him in only the way a mother can and pointed her finger down the hall towards his room. Without even saying anything he slouched off, shoulders slumped and head hung in guilt.
I couldn't help but laugh which caused the dam holding James' laugher up to break. Mrs. Potter smiled, pleased with her mothering skills and turned back to us. "Well now that that's settled, we came up here to give you some news," she said, her smile growing wider. "We fixed the window on the car but it's still storming like crazy outside so you can't go camping," she directed at me.
Then Mum spoke up. "We were going to stay in a hotel but apparently there's a big wedding going on and there are no available rooms around here. So then Scott and Amelia were nice enough to let us stay here for the remainder of our vacation. They wanted to know more about our way of life and I wouldn't mind getting to know a little bit more about the life my daughter escapes to every year," she smiled.
They both seemed very giddy about this idea which frightened me a little. What was going on with them? Wait...what? I was spending TWO WEEKS with James Potter, Sirius Black, and Petunia all under one roof? Was the world out to get me? Cause I was pretty sure it was.
I couldn't even say anything. I just stared, open mouthed at the floor. How would I survive? I wouldn't. It was as simple as that.
Distantly I heard Sirius let out a whoop of excitement which meant he had been listening the whole time.
"Well, we haven't told Tuney yet so that's where we're headed next," my mother said, a pained expression on her face.
Ha. She deserved it!
"So you two need to be up and dressed in the next five minutes unless you want to miss lunch too," Mrs. Potter called over her shoulder, following Mum down the hall. "Oh. And we'd appreciate it if you slept in your own, separate rooms for the remainder of your stay," Mrs. Potter smirked, that knowing smile back on her face.
I shook my head in disbelief and looked to James who seemed to be holding back a grin.
"Oh, just go ahead and smile, Potter. I know you want to." And sure enough, his face split into the biggest grin I had ever seen.
"You can't deny that this will be the perfect opportunity to work at being friends," he beamed.
I sighed. He was right. I was just plainly handed the one thing I had decided to work on.
James hopped up on the bed beside me and pulled me into a hug. "It's going to be okay, Lily. I'm not going to leave you," he murmured against my ear, his breath sending tingles down my spine.
These emotions bubbled up in my stomach again and I quickly jumped off the bed to avoid doing something rash. Which I then immediately regretted when I turned around and saw that haunted look flash in his eyes.
"I just need to go get dressed before our mothers come wandering down the hall again," I explained. My stomach gurgled. "And I'm extremely hungry," I admitted.
"Yeah. You're right. We should both get dressed." He stood up and stretched, reaching his arms above his head, letting me see the stretch of skin between his boxers (had he been like that all night?) and his grey, cotton shirt.
I silently sighed wistfully, wishing that I wasn't going about this the hard way. I rolled my eyes at myself and turned to walk out the door.
"Why don't we finish that tour after breakfast since you'll be staying here for a while?" he smirked.
I stopped with my hand on the knob and turned to answer him. What I was going to say, however, I couldn't remember because he had already taken off his shirt and this was the first time I was looking at it with my feelings in the know. I couldn't stop ogling. It was like this big hallelujah moment had descended on me and I didn't know what else to do. Until he chuckled and said, "Just say yes, Evans, and then go get dressed."
I was still slightly dazed when I answered back, "Yes, Evans." I mentally slapped myself silly and rushed out the door before anything else happened and any more articles of clothing came off.
Trying to hide my blush and block out his infuriatingly intoxicating laugh, I walked down the hall. I smiled to myself. Maybe I would just have to imprint that image in my mind. It was a rather good one after all. I shivered. Jeesh. You admit you like him once and immediately your mind is programmed to his perfectly chiseled, tanned abs.
I was almost to my door when I heard another one slam behind me and someone started stomping my way. I turned to see Petunia, nostrils flaring, eyes glaring, heading my way. I barely had time to register her hand in the air before it hit me.
A/N: I really do like these cliffhangers. They keep me writing. :) Well there it is. Chapter six and more interactions with people. I hope you liked it. I had to make the least changes to this one. That was good, because I'm too tired to fix things. So if there are some mess-ups sorry. ...and I was going to say something else but I don't remember what it is. So I think I'm done. No. I'm not. I don't have anything written for chapter seven yet so it may not be updated tomorrow. Or I could decide that the fireworks I've been waiting two months for (not to mention the corn festival) are a waste of my time and write some anyway. I haven't decided yet. Well review! I really like them. They make me giddy. My little sister is annoyed every time I pull her over to the computer to read one but It's just too much fun! So whether it's bad or good, write it down and hit "send review". I like knowing what people have to say to me. Have a good night, day, or morning!
Marah:)