Jily Oneshots (pt2)

Ice to Meet You

When she didn’t respond right away, his confident smile wavered.

“Did you get it?” He asked, concerned, “ice…as in the thing you slipped on?”

She said breathlessly, “uh, yeah, got it.”

“I’m James,” he said as he pulled her up by her armpits into a standing position, “James Potter.”

Lily brushed her red hair back, trying to fix the swirling tangled mess around her moon shaped face. The strings of her scarf were tangled into her hair too, making her attempt to smooth over her appearance rather labored. James chuckled a bit, as if she were amusing, and stepped forward to start helping her. She literally stopped breathing when his fingers took a strand she was struggling with and pulled it apart easily.She stared pointedly down at her feet, her blush taking over her entire face.

“I was going to ask you what your name is,” he said conversationally, “but it won’t be easy to do so if you won’t even look at me.”

"I'm a little embarrassed." She murmured, "to be honest."

"If it helps you me less embarrassed," he whispered back, "on my way to catch you, I dropped my beer and it went all over my friend Marlene's new shoes."

"You're lying."

"I'm not."

Her eyes flickered up, meeting him again. She liked the way his eyebrows rose, and the way he seemed stunned to speak now, as if she’d somehow caught him off guard. He adjusted his glasses and then took a full step away from her. Lily tugged at the buttons on her coat, biting her lip, as she admired the way his long sleeves seemed to hug his biceps.

“I’m Lily,” she said when she decided to stop staring, “Lily Evans.”

James nodded nervously, his hand ruffling his messy black curls, “nice to finally break the ice.”

Lily bit her lower lip as she tried not to laugh, “are you going to keep using ice puns?”

James shrugged, “this was an opportune moment to freeze the day.”

He’d replaced seize , with freeze , and fuck it if Lily wasn’t already totally smitten with him for his nerdy charm. She had never imagined to run into someone like James Potter in the bar when she’d ducked in out of the cold. In fact, she’d tried to escape the bar without talking to anyone. Funny how things worked out.

“Wow,” Lily shoved her hands into her pockets as her embarrassment started deflating while he fell further into a nerdy bin full of icy puns, “very ice.”

James’ smile broke through his features again and he gave an appreciative little chuckle as he stepped out of the way of the door. Lily followed his movements, charmed by her new acquaintance. James looked back to where his friends were, watching over their drinks, as if they were expecting him to bring her back over. She prayed he wouldn’t ask, because she’d have to let him down.

“Would you like to join my friends and I?” he asked, “I promise not to let Sirius take the mickey out on you for that backhand slap.”

Lily rocked back in her heels, wanting to say yes, but also needing to say no. “As you might have noticed, I don’t do well in crowded settings, but thank you for the offer.”

Something like a challenge rose on his face, “I happen to know a quiet cafe down the street that won’t close for an hour, shall we go and chat for a while?”

Lily giggled into her hand as James pulled his peacoat on, “do you charm every weird girl you meet in a bar with puns like these?”

“Tonight, I’ve only ice for you.” James’s hand wrapped into her own, warm and strong. “Even before you smacked my best friend in the face.”

Lily winced and asked, “are you sure he’s okay?”

“He’s just fine,” James assured her, “he’s got a hard head.”

“And your friends won’t mind you disappearing with me?”

“They’ve been trying to get me to ask you out since you walked into the bar.”

“Oh,” Lily said, feeling heart beat quicken again, “so this is a date?”

James gave a sheepish grin, “I hope so.”

“Will there be more ice puns?” She asked, flirting with her eyes and smiling so wide that her cheeks hurt a bit.

“I had a really good final ice pun to tell you, but it slipped my mind.”

Lily threw her head back and laughed, taking his offered arm. James helped her over the ice patch in the doorway and then led her down the street. He had her laughing the rest of the night over a cup of tea, and then eventually, too, when he made his way back to her place. They watched Frozen together, James mostly spending the whole time commenting about how there weren’t nearly enough ice puns for a movie about ice.