On Sunday, Lily had to bite the bullet and call Petunia.

"What do you want?" was Petunia's lovely greeting.

Lily had to hold back a sigh. "You made abuelita cry."

Petunia had no trouble releasing her own exasperated sigh. "I didn't make her do anything. It's not my fault if she takes things to heart."

"Damn it, Petunia, she's your grandmother, could you try to be nice to her?"

"I'm nice!" Petunia screeched. "I call her at least once a week, even though she knows I'm very busy, so don't tell me I'm not nice. If she's upset, she or Granddad can tell me, you are no one to be scolding me, Lily. So, if that's the only reason why you called, then goodbye."

And without preamble, Petunia hung up.

Lily stared at the phone in quiet rage until Sam rapped on her bedroom door. "You ready to go?"

Lily's first full free day with Sam might have been wasted at Potter's pool party, so she'd suggested they go out today that they only had a half-day of work.

Lily put her mind off her sister, and headed out with Sam. They went for some tapas and had a good time comparing notes on whether the seafood here was at the level of the food back home (Lily could have never spoken about this with her grandmother if she didn't want to get her ass beat over insinuating Mexican food was better than Spanish food). But both girls agreed that whether or not it came to the level of the food back home, it was still really freaking good.

Then they took a walk downtown and ended the day at the beach.

"Do you know what you're doing for university yet?" Sam asked as they lay down on the sand, watching the tide ebb.

Lily hated that question more than words could express. But it was Sam, so she'd let it stand for now. "I really don't."

"But you're still going to be a famous scientist, right?"

Lily took a deep breath. "I don't know about famous. I'd just like to do something worthwhile."

"Back in primary school, you were always so sure you'd go to Cambridge. You'd always tell everyone, even when no one our age even knew what that was. It was so funny." Sam turned to look at Lily. "Hey, I'm sorry about the pool party... I acted like a total bitch."

Lily appreciated the change of subject. "You didn't."

"No, I did. I acted like some lovesick schoolgirl, hanging off his every word. It was embarrassing, to be honest, but I couldn't stop myself. He was just so... I don't even know how to describe it... British, and I don't know there's something about him, it was like looking into the sun."

Lily sighed. "I'm not Black's biggest fan... but like, yeah, I get it. I mean, I still don't really like him, but I get it."

"So, I'm sorry. I can't promise I won't talk to him again, I definitely probably will, but I won't act like such a bitch again, promise."

Lily smiled, crawled over to her friend and wrapped her into a hug. "I'm so happy you're here."

Their next day was pretty chill. Not a lot of orders came in, so Lily and Sam had a lot of downtime. Maca even let them leave early, and even though they still had to wait for Phil to finish up, it was a sweet deal.

Lily and Sam decided to go hang out in the woodsy area on the edge of the resort, just to lie on the grass and chat. This was far from the most frequented area of the resort, so it was especially unbelievable when Lily realised exactly who it was that was walking towards them just as they were sitting up to leave.

It was so unexpected that Lily reacted too late. Unsure what to do, she stood up in a daze.

"Lily? What's wrong?" Sam asked from her spot, still sitting on the ground.

"We should go."

But it was too late. By some way. Because Bobby was now right in front of her and Lily felt like crawling into the earth.

"Hey," Bobby said, casually, as if this was any other day, any other summer. "How are you, Lily?"

Lily refused to meet his eyes. She would not be encouraging this... situation.

The silence was dragging on, and Lily didn't even realise Sam had stood up until she was talking. "Hello. I'm Lily's friend, Sam."

Bobby smiled warmly at Sam, and Lily saw how she could've been fooled by that fake smile before. "Sam! I've heard so much about you. I'm Bobby."

This was a nightmare. Bobby had clearly figured out that Lily had not told Sam about anything that happened last summer, and he was now trying his damnest to charm Sam in hopes that he could get to Lily through her. How Lily hadn't figured out his game before was beyond her.

"Please leave us alone," Lily said.

Sam frowned at her, but didn't argue with Lily.

Bobby put his hands in his pockets, trying to look inoffensive, and said, "Could we please just talk for a minute, Lily?"

"I have nothing to say to you, and nothing I want to hear from you. So, no."

"Come on, Lils." His facade cracked ever so slightly.

Lily grabbed Sam's hand and side-stepped Bobby.

He followed them.

Lily figured she'd just ignore him until they reached the staff lounge but Bobby seemed especially incensed for some reason.

"Lily, you have been ignoring me for a year. Are you honestly going to throw away the last four years over some stupid petty fight? Can you not even fucking talk to me for one fucking minute?"

Sam stopped walking, turned back to look at Bobby. "HEY! Don't talk to her that way!"

Lily squeezed Sam's hand, trying to get her to keep walking but Sam had always been the confrontational one in their relationship. The kind of friend who'd punch a bully in the face instead of Lily's solid strategy of the cold shoulder.

"No offence, Sam, you seem like a really nice person, but this is between me and her," Bobby said.

"No offence, but if you don't leave us alone now, I'm calling security."

Bobby scoffed. "I'm a guest here. How are you going to call security on me?"

God, how had she not seen it before? What a fucking asshole.

"Oi!"

Oh, hell no. Why why why did he have to find them right now? It was a big fucking resort! Did he have nowhere else to be? Was there a sign above Lily's head letting know every person she didn't want to run into exactly where she was?

"I believe the ladies asked you to leave them alone, mate."

Sam looked at him with an odd glint in her eye... She couldn't possibly find this... hot?

Lily talked through gritted teeth. "Black, I need a man defending me like a fish needs a bicycle."

Sirius held his hands up in surrender. "Just tryin' to help, Evans."

"Stay the fuck away from me, Black," Bobby was going full mask-off now. "And stop pretending you have any sort of moral high ground when you and Potter ditched me as soon as Lily was single again."

Sirius did not miss a beat. "We ditched you because you're a fucking asshole, Bobby. Simple as that. Now, go the fuck away before you make me remind you exactly how much of a crybaby you are."

Lily did not think Bobby would listen to Sirius. And even though his face looked like he'd just sucked on a lemon, Bobby stayed silent, and slowly, he backed off, turned around and went on his way.

Sirius turned to look at Sam, that unbearable easy smirk on his face. "You ready to go?"

Sam had the decency to at least look a little bit sheepish. "Can I talk to you for a second?" She said to Lily.

She dragged Lily away from Sirius's earshot.

"I'm sorry," Sam said. "I was going to tell you, I swear. But honestly, I think I deserve to have this one since you didn't tell me about whoever that guy was, Lily Evans. So, yes, Sirius invited me to watch the sunset on the beach, which I realise is super corny but I really like him, so I'm going to do it. You and Phil can head home, Sirius said he and James can take me home later."

Lily sighed deeply. But Sam was right. Not telling Sam about Bobby's existence was kind of a lot worse than Sam not telling Lily about her date with Black. "Okay. But I'm gonna wait for you."

Sam was positively beaming. "Great. And don't think I'll forget about that douchebag by the time I get home, Evans."

And with that, Sam went back to Sirius, who was looking very smug.

"You know, Evans, if you ever need a good hiding spot, our door is always open."

Lily rolled her eyes.

But after Sam and Sirius left, and Lily was left not knowing what to do while she waited for Sam, her feet took her to the Potter's house. It wasn't intentional. At all. She'd only been taking a walk and the house just happened to be there.

Either way, it's not like she was going inside.

She'd only stopped outside because... she was taking a break.

Not because she had to know if the Potters kept an owl as a pet.

But if they did, then that would put her in a very nice spot on the Weird Rich People Shit pool the employees had going.

She was staring up at the house, trying to gauge how she could get proof when she heard him.

"You looking for something?"

Lily flinched. "Just... taking a walk."

"So, I guess you've heard about Sirius and Sam's beach date."

"Yup."

"And you're going to wait for her to go home?"

"Uh-huh."

"And would you like to come in for a drink?"

"Y—" Lily cut herself off. Normally, the answer to that would be a resounding no. But... she was a tad parched. And not at all nosey. She shrugged. "Sure."

James raised a brow in surprise, but held the door open for Lily.

"You're in luck. I just made a fresh batch of tinto de verano," James said as he led Lily to the kitchen.

Lily eyed the pitcher warily. She probably shouldn't drink alcohol at work. But well... she wasn't actually on the clock. And tinto de verano barely had alcohol in it. She took the glass James handed her.

"Are your parents home?"

"They went into town to get some things. They'll be back soon."

Lily took a sip of her drink. She could hear the low hum of the TV in the other room. It sounded like there was a game on.

Lily walked over to the den so she could see. "Were you watching this?"

"Half-heartedly. It's just a friendly match."

It was a football game. Argentina against Mexico. Lily crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, you're sure not treating us like friends."

Argentina was up by four.

James sat down on the sofa in front of the TV, and Lily felt awkward standing so she sat down too, leaving a safe two-foot gap between them.

"That's actually a good question," James said. "Who do you even support when it comes to football? Mexico? Spain? England?"

"Not England. Truth be told out of all those nationalities, British is the one I identify with the least. So, I guess Spain, or Mexico, though I am a bit partial to the Mexican team."

"You don't feel British?"

Lily had no idea why she was humouring this conversation or why the words were just coming out of her. But it was sure happening. "I guess... no, not really. I did when I was a kid. Not a lot of British people around when I was growing up in Mexico so, being British just became a big part of my identity. But then... after my parents died and I got sent to live with my relatives in England, from the beginning I just felt like I didn't belong. I can't really explain it. I just... could not relate to any of the other kids, like I didn't get them."

James was quiet for a second, and Lily briefly wondered if she had said too much. She'd been known to have the tendency to overshare in the most inopportune of times with the least likely of people.

But then she looked at James and he just looked... stricken. Almost... fragile. "I'm—I'm sorry, Lily. I didn't know your parents were..."

"Oh. Yeah, they are. And you don't have to say anything, it was a long time ago." She almost said it's okay, something she sometimes told people when they found out about her dead parents and didn't know how to react. But it wasn't okay, as much as she wasn't crying over it 24/7 (anymore), she was never okay with it.

James shook his head. "Even if it was, that's still really shitty, and I'm sorry. At least let me say that."

She let him. But moved on before things got weird. "What about you? Do you root for Argentina? England?"

James seemed to recover, the playful glint in his eyes coming back. "Evans, I will go to my grave before I root for a team other than Argentina."

Lily snorted. "How does Sirius feel about that?"

James looked dumbfounded for a second. "He... um, he's actually not really into football."

Hm. That was weird. Straight men not being into football wasn't unheard of but Sirius just seemed like such a guy's guy. "Probably for the better."

"You know... what you were saying about not feeling really British, I felt like that too. When I moved back to England to go to school... I felt so... separate from everyone else. I don't think I've ever felt so much like the weird one out. I did not like that feeling at all."

A chill ran down Lily's spine. She had the sudden urge to get up and run. Because... this could not be a real conversation she was having with James Potter right now. He had always been all... jokes and teasing and pranks and just another arrogant rich kid. He did not get how she felt!

Lily downed her drink in a few sips and looked anywhere but at James.

Then, something on the bookshelf caught her eye. A book, titled Useful Household Spells & Charms.

Lily was starting to wonder if this was really Weird Rich People Shit, or just plain weird shit. Because what the fuck was that.

God, she was about to do something really stupid.

She lifted her foot and made to cross her legs, promptly knocking over the half-empty glass on the coffee table. "Oh my god, I am so sorry."

James didn't look too worried but he frowned at the stained carpet. "It's okay, Lily. Did you get any on you?"

It hadn't been her intention, but she had definitely gotten some on her sneakered foot. Her sock felt soggy. She toed the shoe off, her white sock was stained red.

"I'll get some towels," James said, taking off towards the kitchen.

"Would it be too much trouble if I could borrow a sock? I won't stain it," Lily said, thinking of how long she could keep him out of the room.

"'Course!" James called out.

Lily waited a second before getting up and gingerly taking the book off the shelf. She opened it up on a random page.

Lavador mollis; a simple spell that will have kitchen dishes squeaky clean. When in a pinch, a simple tergeo will do, but results may vary depending on the dirtiness of the dish or utensil...

Dear god what?

She flipped over to the table of contents. Kitchen spells, cleaning spells, laundry spells.

She heard James's heavy footsteps bounding down the stairs and shoved the book back on the shelf.

"Here you go," James handed Lily a pair of clean white socks. Then he bent down to press the towel against the floor, soaking up the liquid. Lily wasn't sure why he hadn't just gotten a mop, but she wasn't about to question him about it. Heck, she was surprised he hadn't tried one of the weird incantations in that book.

Lily put on the socks, then placed a napkin between the still wet stain on her shoe and the socks.

"I'm sorry about that," she said.

"Don't worry about it."

She stood up. "I'm just gonna go wait for Sam in the staff lounge. She'll probably think that's where I'm waiting for her anyway."

James looked at her, a hint of something Lily couldn't place in his eyes. "You don't have to go. You're always welcome to wait here."

Lily shook her head, determined. "No, it's okay. I'll see you later."

And in record time, she was out the door.