Letters From A Stranger || James and Lily ||

Spin The Bottle

She turned to the boys then.
"Remus is intelligent. I know he's the mastermind behind all of your pranks."
Remus smiled.

"Frank is kind and Peter is loyal."

"What about James and me?" Sirius asked.

Lily bit her lip. "Black is unique. One of a kind. I don't think I've ever seen someone so spontaneous and indecisive. And....."

She stopped, wondering what she could say for James.

"And?" Sirius prompted.

"And Potter is determined. He gets what he wants."

She immediately looked down to her lap but she had seen a hint of a smile on James's face.

The game continued and Lily spinned the bottle for the second time. This time the bottle stopped pointing at Sirius.

"I can't take truth again?" Lily asked. Sirius shook his head. She looked at him suspiciously, more than sure that he had charmed the bottle.

"Fine. Dare." But Lily immediately regretted her decision when she saw the glint in his eyes.

"Kiss James." he said.

"What?" Lily spluttered.

"Sirius, no."

Everyone turned to look at James, who had almost pleaded to Sirius. Lily had gotten used to the Marauders calling each other by their nicknames. She knew that they only used their real names if something was extremely important.

She could feel eight sets of eyes on her but she was staring intently at James who was determinedly not looking at her. It had always been easy to read his expressions, but right now he seemed to have put up a guard, purposely keeping his face void of any expression that could give away his thoughts.

All the time she had known James, their lives had been in a regular pattern. He would ask her out and she would reject him. But now the tables had turned. He was the one rejecting her. Lily hated falling out of her pattern and that icy feeling that was currently in her throat which she identified as hurt.

Did he feel like this every time I rejected him?

The James she knew would never let go off this opportunity. That was everything he had wanted from Merlin knows how long. But here he was, asking Sirius to choose another Dare.

Hurt. She was hurt. She was shouting at herself in her mind for feeling bad. She was supposed to be unaffected of whatever he said and did. She was supposed to be relieved that he had finally given up on her.

I'm being hypocritical.

She remembered what she had told about James just a few minutes back. That he is determined. He never gives up before he's got whatever he wants.

And there was that annoying little voice inside her head that was telling her that he never really wanted her or he wouldn't have given up. He was in it for the chase. She was just another one of his fascinations which he had eventually gotten over.

Get over it, Lily. Be happy that he's not obsessing over you anymore.

Sirius refused to change the dare, so the others decided to skip Lily's chance and continue. The rest of the game passed in a blur and Lily was thankful that the bottle didn't land on her after that.

~~~~~

"Are you out of your mind, Prongs? That was such a good chance." Sirius said when the boys were alone in their dorm.