Chapter 4: Day One
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Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
I awoke at the sound of my alarm and practically shot out of bed.
'First day!' I thought to myself in excitement. I turn on my shower and crank the tunes on my radio. Big bubbles erupt in my stomach and I almost slip because of my dancing. I just cannot wait to go to work.
Once the whole binder fiasco was solved I had nothing in my way to starting off my job right. I mean there was the thing Sirius said about not telling a Potter how he said he loved me, jokingly I'm sure. And the way James said he can always have fun when he's around me. And the kiss on the cheek last night. So basically nothing.
I toweled off and began to get ready. I wanted to look extra good today. Professional enough to win over the bosses and exciting enough to win over the team. Yes I wanted them to respect me, but I didn't want to be the boring Charmer Lady.
Once I had finished my look, big bouncy curls, bold red lips, tight, long-sleeved emerald dress with a cream scarf and a pair of black heeled boots, I was ready to go.
I grabbed my wand, cream purse and the blue binder and headed out the door.
On my way to the office I grabbed a quick muffin at the bakery for breakfast.
"Hey Lily! Where's that friend of yours? You left so quickly yesterday." Sylvia asks me.
I put a tip in the jar and as I walk out I holler, "Sorry! No time to chat! On my way to work!" That's right, bitch. I have a real job. I'm a career woman now.
The moment I walked through the big wooden doors of the building, everything was much more busy than when I interviewed. Buzzing letters zoomed through the air, wizards and witches running every which way, even a bloke with a thestral.
I walk up to the front desk and greet the front desk woman, "Morning Gretchen! Could you please tell me where I am supposed to be right now?" I ask with a smile.
Gretchen seemed frazzled, but politely stopped to help me out, "Third floor, room 317. Good luck, Lily!" Then she was back to shuffling around her desk and answering the phone.
"Thank you!" I reply as I turn to go to the elevators. I walk in as four people get out and there's one who stays. He looks about 20 with dazzling blue eyes and a killer smile.
"Morning." He says nicely as I press the button to the third floor.
"Morning." I reply.
"You're new. Haven't seen you around before and I think I would remember that face."
"I am. And slightly terrified if you were to ask."
"No! Girls like you don't get scared. They already intimidate everyone with just looking at them."
I blush as he holds his hand out to me. I take it and introduce myself. "Lily Evans."
"Edwin Spitz. But call me Ed. I'm seeker for the United." He's just standing there smiling away at me.
"Nice to meet you. I'm the new Head of the Charms Department."
His mouth forms an 'O' shape. Then it closes like a fish does with its mouth. He clears his throat and says, "Wonderful. It's going to be great working with you, Miss Evans."
He then just stares straight ahead. Cute smile is gone and he looks uncomfortable.
"Uh, please call me Lily, really. Did I say something wrong?" I ask after a second or two.
"No, no. But uh, this is my stop. Nice meeting you, Miss Evans." He walks out, no quickly shuffles out like he's got to be somewhere right at that moment. Weird.
I arrived at my floor and make my way to room 317. I knock then open the door to see the Puddlemore United team.
"Evans!" Potter shouts as all the boys talk and laugh around him. He gets up from sitting on the desk and walks over to greet me.
"Morning, Potter. Uh, should I be in here?" I ask slightly scared. There's like 10 people in here and I know only one, kind of.
"Well it's your office! Of course you should be!" He says as he laughs. I have my own office? How could I forget I was getting my own bloody office? Stupid.
Then he beings to calm down the group as Ed comes in through the door. I try to make eye contact, but he just walks over to a group talking and joins in.
"Everyone this is Lily Evans! She's our new charmer! Lily this is the team!" Potter'/ hand shoots out to showcase the boys.
"There's the beaters, Lance Bolt and David Waters." They wave and say hello. Lance is very cute, as he always has been, and David is very not. But his body's good, so that's something.
"Then the keeper, Kiernan O'Reilly." Very freckled and very Irish.
"The chasers Nate Flood, Adam Inkerton, and me of course." He adds.
"And then our seeker Ed Spitz." Ed finally looks at me awkwardly. Why is he being so weird?
"Hello everybody! It's great to meet you all. I'm really excited to work with you and to make this team better than it already is. But I will be leaving the flying to you. I just stay on the ground and work with the charms." Okay Lily you can do this. Just standing in a room full of mostly cute men all staring at me. Awesome.
I look over at Potter who gives me a smirk as to reassure me.
"Anyways, I cannot wait to get to know everyone, but I think I need to sort everything out in here. Nice meeting you all!" I say as the boys filter out of the room. Before Potter leaves he gives me a nod and walks out with that smirk of his. Hot damn.
I sit down in my velvet blue chair and run my hands across my oak desk. It has plenty of drawers and false bottomed cabinets for me to store everything I need in them. Across from me is a matching blue chair and around the room are empty picture frames. Along one wall is all bookshelves waiting to be filled.
I'm just settling in when I hear a knock at the door.
"Miss Evans? I just wanted to welcome you on your first official day." Mr. Donnelly greets me.
"Thank you so much! I've met the team and they all seem lovely and thank you for this gorgeous office," I gush. He chooses to stand instead of sit in front of me, maybe it's a power tactic.
"Excellent. I'm happy to hear you like the accommodations. Be careful with the team though, Miss Evans, they can be a rowdy group. I'm sure they all mean well, though."
I smile and wait for the real reason he is in my office dawdling.
"Soo, I am also here to retrieve the binder Captain Potter gave to you last week. I don't seem to see it." He says as his eyes rolls cross my desk and search for the binder.
"Oh!" I say as I dip down to a lower drawer in my desk. I reach into it and grab the hard, plastic outside. "Here you go! I wanted to make sure I didn't misplace it around here." I say.
"Ah! Excellent. Thank you, Miss Evans. Well I'all let you return to settling in. And be sure to decorate as you please. This room needs a bit of decor." He tips his hat and head out the door as someone else's walks in.
I think for a minute as I scan his dark, tanned face and I am shocked with a pair of brilliant, grey eyes. Nope, I cannot remember his name.
"Miss Evans," the team member greets me. He comes over and sits in front of me as I nod my head towards the chair.
"Oh please call me Lily. What can I do for you Mr..." I pause searching for his name.
"Inkerton. Adam Inkerton. One of the chasers. Number 34 if that helps. I was wondering if we could discuss the charms on my broom. I had a close relationship with the past Charms Head and I'm very specific about my broom." He explains.
"Of course! What are your preferences on speed, agility, depth, solidity, and obviously what broom do you have?" I ask, quickly growing excited as I finally get to discuss what I came here to do.
"Well I have a Cleansweep 360, most of the team fly Cleansweep broomsticks, and I love my broom to be the fastest on the field, because of my position and all." I see a flash of dark hair as I look in the hall for a split second. "But I'm sure you know how speed and solidity need a balance. If the broom is too light and fast, it can break and be snapped, and if it's too solid it won't be quick at all. So here's my past charm guys number, if you could give him a call..."
I interrupt him. "What if they didn't need to be balanced?"
"What? They have to be." He argues politely.
"Not exactly. I interned for the Cannons and they may have crap players, but their brooms are phenomenal. They fly Nimbus though and to switch you it would cost the team quite a lot. But if I could make te team better by say, 25%, Which i would say is worth it. The Nimbus 1005 model is extremely pliable, but needs charm tweaks to make it fast enough for a chaser. Would you be interested?" I ask.
"Absolutely! I would be willing to ask Donnelly myself! Anything to make me faster. You don't know the amount of times I have broken my stick in two." He pauses and goes a bit pink, "My broomstick." He assures me.
I laugh and respond, "Of course. I'll look into it for you."
"Great. And also I was wondering about your internship with the Cannons. You need to explain to me how they are so..."
WHOOSH! I see a broomstick fly into my office nearly taking off Adam's head. We both duck and I try to make out the buzzing flyer on the broomstick.
Obviously, it's Potter. Honestly, why do I even check?
"Potter what the hell are you doing? Get the hell out of my office before you break something or kill someone!" I yell. What the fuck, mate? Not only flying a damn broom in my office but interrupting my meeting.
He finally lands and reaches back to mess up his already untamable hair.
"Sorry, Evans. I need an adrenaline rush. Plus I also need to speak with you. Sorry Inkerton, hit the road." He said a bit harsh to Adam. He rises to give Potter a dirty look and says, "Whatever, Potter. Bye Lily! Thank you so much for your input. I'll talk to Donnelly as soon as possible." He waves.
"No problem! Anytime!" I holler after him. Potter is leaning against the bookshelf with a look that drips the word, "Seriously?"
"What do you want, Potter. You nearly took off Adam's head!" I rise and run my fingers through my hair to show how flustered it made me.
"Adam? Are you mates now? He was only in here for five minutes. And 'Lily?' Even I don't call you that." Potter says a bit put off.
I walk over to face him and cross my arms. "Why do you care? For you information, I was doing my job, Potter. Why don't you earn some respect from your team and do yours?" I answer.
He stands up straight and we're so close now our chests are almost touching. We're both riled up and hot.
"I have their respect, Evans. But you obviously don't have theirs." He says to me. His smell is distracting me: rain and wood scents combining together.
"I dare you to explain what that means." I answer. I know what he means and I just want to hear him say it, making a fool out of himself.
"You know what I mean, Evans. You're not stupid. Young, horny boys. Youthful, attractive girl. Put two and two together."
My blood boils.
"So you're saying that because I'm halfway decent, the team is going to see me as some kind of slag rather than a coworker? Funny as none of them even slightly gave off that vibe to me! You're the only one making me out to look like some common hussie!" I scream.
"Oh shut up, Evans! You know I don't see you like that! How could you miss the ogling you were getting from Inkerton?! He was basically in your pants already!"
"You son of a bitch! He was across a bloody desk from me! And isn't it the pot calling the kettle black? Like you don't get around with I don't know, say, bakery waitresses?!" I scream.
My chest heaves and finally we touch. We stand there staring daggers into each other's eyes until finally James grabs me and crushes his lips on mine.