He comes up to me, the next day.

I'm wearing less than I usually do. My skirt is hiked up a few inches, and I've unbuttoned two more buttons on my blouse. Wow, making a big deal of two buttons makes me sound like a prude. Whatever. Is my shift in attitude related to James? Hell no.

Maybe.

"Lily, I'm sorry. I was an absolute crap person yesterday—-" he starts

"It's Evans to you, jerk"

That was awful of me, but he was awful too.

Or is that something I'm just telling myself?

I can't deal with thoughts of Potter, I go up to Shane and start kissing him.

He responds enthusiastically.

I know this isn't me, I'm not some common slut who wears scanty clothing and kisses her boyfriend heartily in public. But goddammit, James Potter has me fucked up in the head.

_James's POV

She kisses her boyfriend at the lunch table.

They keep kissing.

"Oi, break it up there, will you?" Sirius, the ever loyal mate, says.

She's not mad at him, so she only smiles. "Sorry, Siri" She gets off Shane's lap.

Thank god.

She absolutely rejected my apology today, which, can you blame her? I said that the only thing I wouldn't risk was our friendship, and by dating Ciara I've driven even more of a wedge between us. But I can't blame Ciara for my friendship issues with Lily. Well, completely.

—Lily's POV

I go to Shane's flat after classes.

He walks up to me and kisses me.

Hungrily. With a passion.

"Bad day?" I asked.

"No, just need you"

And now I realized where this was going.

In case you need me to spell it out for you, sex. Uh oh.

We'd only been dating for two weeks! Not to mention, I'm a virgin.

But then I think of James, with his arms wrapped around Ciara. His hand surely aching to go up her shirt.

Fuck it, I think for a moment.

No, no, no. I will not sleep with Shane just because James may or may not be sleeping with Ciara.

So when Shane throws me on his bed, I draw the line.

"Shane, stop" I pull away and then say

"Don't be a prude, we're adults"

"Excuse me?"

"Just come here"

And then he starts kissing me, forcefully.

Hell no.

But he's not pulling away. Holy shit, I never imagined I'd be in this scenario. Ever.

He slips a hand into my knickers.

"Get the fucking hell away from her, Janda. She fucking said no"

Thank the heavens for Sirius Black.

Shane finally realizes that he was fucking completely out of line.

"Damn, Lily, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

I can't fucking stay mad at him, then James would have a girlfriend and I wouldn't have a boyfriend. That's messed up, but...Dammit, I can't help it.

"It's...it's fine. Just, Shane, I'm not going to be the person that immediately hops into bed with you."

"What the hell?" Sirius says as his jaw drops. "Dammit, Lily, this asshole would've fucking raped you!"

"Sirius, he had a lapse of judgement!"

"Yeah, Lily can forgive me, why can't you?"

I don't forgive you, I think. I just don't have any other choice.

"Maybe because you're an asshole!"

"Why are you even here? You entered my flat without even knocking, that's a crime, so you're not any better than me"

"I thought we were on civil terms, Janda. Your door was opened, I assumed you wouldn't mind. I didn't know you'd be in the middle of trying to devirginize my best friend!"

Why is he assuming I'm a virgin? And correctly, at that? Damn.

"Why did you come, Siri?"

"I wasn't in history today. I thought you could lend me notes, I asked Remus where you were and he said you were at Janda's flat."

"Well, let's go, I'll lend you my notes. See you, Shane"

As soon as we were outside, Sirius blew up at me. "Don't fucking dare tell me you're going to stay with him"

"Chill, Sirius, I had it under control."

"Like hell you did."

I was shocked, Sirius isn't usually this vicious.

"Siri, I'm fine. You made sure of that. Nothing happened, you don't need to worry"

"Dammit Lily! Don't 'Siri' me, he almost fucking raped you. I'm fucking done, Lily, until you break up with him, we're not friends anymore."

"You're asking me to choose?"

"Hell yes"

"Well, we're best friends Sirius. But you're being unreasonable, and I'm not going to break off a relationship because you want me to!"

"Fine, Lily. I could stand here and argue, but you've spoken. Stay with him. See if I care. But, just so you know, you have better options."

"I don't like you like that"

He rolls his eyes. "You know that's not what I meant. But before you divert it, I mean James, Lily. You know he's only staying with Ciara because he's too afraid to tell you he likes you."

"Even if that's true, what a way to someone's heart. Tell someone else you like them so the bird you fancy won't suspect anything. Stellar logic"

"I never said it was logical, Lily, but do you genuinely like Shane? If you do, I'll lay off."

He awaited my answer. I looked at at a point near his shoulder.

"Okay, fine. You're right"

"Break up with him, Lily."

"Even if I do, it doesn't change the fact that James is with Ciara"

"Maybe not..."

"No, Sirius. I'm not going to have Ciara grin at me thinking 'oh look, theres the bitch that lost her best friend, can't even be in a relationship for two weeks'"

"She won't be thinking that!"

"Really?"

It was decided then. I wouldn't break up with Shane. James was with Chang, I was with Shane.