Jily Oneshots (pt2)

And Then I Met You

by thejilyship

James Potter stood outside his new building fidgeting with the zipper on his jacket as he waited for the bus. He didn't often take the bus, he preferred to walk places, but he didn't have time to walk to the other side of town today, and he was on his way to a final interview for a job that he was actually quite excited about. He was trying to make a good impression, so he'd combed his hair and put on some nice clothes that were casual, but fancy-casual and he didn't want to show up all windswept and slightly damp from the rain anyway, so he'd planned to take the bus that afternoon.

And in his planning, he'd decided to give himself ample time, because he was known to show up late to things. So he'd planned to leave his flat fifteen minutes before the bus was supposed to show up, thinking that that way, there was no way that he'd miss the bus.

Of course as soon as he had that thought, he figured he should go out twenty minutes early, just incase his absolute certainty had jinxed everything.

So he was standing on the concrete, knowing that he had quite some time before the bus was going to arrive. He had his earbuds in and was listening to a rather angsty playlist that Sirius had put together for him when he'd moved here, but James was starting to think that this was just another thing that Sirius had done to be overly dramatic about the fact that James now lived without Sirius, in his own flat, on the other side of town. Sirius was acting as though James had moved across the country. Across the country and to a city that outsiders weren't allowed in so, Sirius couldn't visit. James had been moved in a week, and Sirius had still yet to come over.

He turned his screen on and changed to a different playlist before pulling up his messages and clicking on Sirius' name. He was about to type out some sarcastic and passive aggressive comment about how childish Sirius was being about the whole thing, when he noticed that he was no longer standing at the bus station by himself.

He looked over at the woman who had just stepped up next to him.

He hadn't realized that he'd been staring until she looked over at him and crossed her arms over her chest, turning away from him slightly. James, while he hadn't been ogling her chest, had cast a glance or two down there and quickly chastised himself. He turned his attention back to his phone, but found it difficult to think of something petty to type out to Sirius right now. He actually was finding it difficult to keep his gaze away from the woman standing next to him. But he'd already been labeled a creep in her mind, so he couldn't chance looking at her again.

But the thing was, she was beautiful. The kind of beautiful that had his mouth feeling slightly dry. And James didn't get nervous around pretty girls all that often. There had been this one girl back in secondary that had always managed to make him look like a fool, but after puberty had taken full affect, and James had grown into his limbs, well he'd gotten extremely confident. He was good at making girls blush and giggle nervously around him, and he didn't get nervous.

So maybe he was nervous about his interview. Maybe he was nervous about missing this bus.

But then the redhead (because of course this girl had red hair) turned to glance at him and his hand shot up to his hair. He cleared his throat and looked down the road for the bus.

It was definitely her giving him this strange, tight feeling in his stomach.

He could feel her eyes were still on him so he turned back to look at her and they made eye contact for a moment. James felt his hands getting clammy and shoved his phone into his pocket.

For all things holy, he hadn't even spoken to this woman yet, why was he reacting like this? Was she some kind of siren? Though that would have required him hearing her voice. She tapped him on the shoulder and he jerkily pulled his earbuds out and looked over at her.

"Sorry, I don't normally talk to people listening to music, but you look familiar. Are you the bloke that just moved into 1B?" She asked, her forehead crinkling ever so slightly. It was adorable.

He had to clear his throat again and then just ended up nodding. Fucking sod, just say something. "Yeah, I moved in last week. 1B, it's a nice place so far." He narrowed his brow and looked out at the road again. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything.

"I live in 1D, I thought I'd seen you around. You look different all dressed up though."

"1D?" He asked, wondering how he'd managed not to see her all week. And what did she mean by that? He looked different all dressed up? Just how often had he missed her this past week?

"Yeah. It's also a pretty nice place." She grinned, clearly teasing him, and he felt like kicking himself. Couldn't he think of anything interesting to say.

"I'm sorry I stared at you." He blurted out, now really wishing that he could kick himself. "I promise I'm not some kind of creep." He continued on, only digging a bigger whole for himself. Maybe when the bus finally showed up, he should just step out in front of it and be done with this awkward conversation.

She laughed luckily, "The kind of thing only a non-creep would say." But then she shrugged. "It's alright I suppose, I did my fair bit of staring earlier. Can't really hold it against you."

"You were staring at me?" He asked, not sure how she'd confessed something like that so nonchalantly.

"Sure, when you were moving in." She gave him another smile. "So where are you headed all dressed up? Got a date?"

"Oh," He looked down at what he was wearing and shook his head. He looked her over and wondered if she'd done that on purpose or not, if she had casually asked him if he was on his way to meet a girl with the intention of finding out if he was single. If his brain was currently working, he would have tried to work out her current relationship status. He twisted the wire of his earbuds between his two fingers. "Um. Interview actually."

She nodded. "What are you applying for?"

"It's a sports marketing company."

"Let me guess, you played football in uni," She had her brow narrowed just slightly and a look in her eyes that made his stomach twist excitedly.

"And after uni for a couple of years."

"But no more?" He shook his head.

"Some other things took priority." He said, hoping she didn't press any further. She didn't, only nodded.

"I know how that goes." She said and then she looked down the road for the bus. "So, did you move here for the job?"

"Not particularly. I lived on the other side of town before, with a few roommates. I just figured it was time to get out on my own for a bit." He said, hoping that she thought he was conversing like a normal human being. It wasn't fair that she was so effortlessly charming. That was usually his thing. But her bright green eyes were doing things to his mind, and the fact that she had red hair- well he'd always had a thing for red hair.

"It's a tough thing to outgrow your roommates." She nodded. "I myself got one that I can't seem to shake."

"Just needed a sense of independence." He said, wondering how this stranger could understand something that Sirius couldn't. "Sod of a boyfriend or…"

She laughed, most likely because he hadn't been subtle at all there. Though it wasn't as though she had been subtle earlier and he hadn't laughed at her. Not that he minded, her laugh was something else entirely. "He's not a sod, and he's not my boyfriend." She laughed again and shook her head before glancing down at her watch. "The bus should be here soon." She mused, her smile still brightening her face.

"Alright, not a boyfriend, but you were definitely making a joke," He said, his stomach having slowed in it's churning after hearing her laugh. He was pretty sure that he was in love with the sound of her laugh. He knew that he wanted to hear it again before the bus showed up. Though maybe they could sit together when the bus did show up. He didn't know where she was going, but they were waiting for the same bus.

"Was I?" She asked, giving him a playful look.

"Yes, you were." He thought about it. A roommate that she couldn't shake. "Do you have a dog?"

"I wish." She sighed. "I have a cat and two goldfish, but no dog. Building doesn't allow them."

"Were you talking about your cat?"

She shook her head, her smile now aimed directly at him. "No, I wasn't talking about my cat."

And then the bus was pulling up and James was slightly anxious because he hadn't seen it coming. "Where are you headed?" He asked, forgetting about her roommate for a second.

"Hmm?" She asked, looking through the back windows of the bus.

"Where are you headed?" He repeated.

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere." She said, a smile spreading across her face as a few people stepped off the bus. "I was just waiting for my roommate." She glanced at him for a brief moment. "Good luck at your interview!" She said, giving him a small wave before she walked past him and knelt down to the ground just in time for a small boy around five or six to throw his arms around her and give her a big hug. She stood up with the boy's arms still around her and James heard her start asking if he'd had a good day at school.

And he definitely heard the little boy call her 'mum.'

He was a bit blindsided by the interaction, but he shook his head and stepped onto the bus.

It was after the doors closed that he realized that he didn't know her name.

"Fucking hell." He muttered, leaning back against the seat and earning himself a glare from an elderly gentleman sitting nearby. He couldn't be bothered. How had he not asked for her name?

oOo

His leg was tapping up and down as the bus lurched and swayed around the city.

He couldn't decide if this woman, who's name he didn't know, had been flirting with him or not. Nor could he get the sound of her laugh out of his head. Nor could he get rid of the feeling in his gut from when she'd first smiled at him. He'd already decided that he was half in love with this woman and then he found out that she had a son and he was a bit startled by the realization that it had done nothing to dull his initial feelings.

He didn't want to say that it was something that changed his mind normally, because he felt like that would make him a scumbag. He was young and while he knew that he wanted children, that wasn't something that he thought about now. It was usually something that he figured he'd get to one day in the future. After getting married and buying a house and settling down. But just because he didn't think about it, that didn't mean that other people his age hadn't decided to have children.

Regardless, she had a child.

Of course, James was getting ahead of himself here. He'd been known to do that. She may have been flirting, but he had still only had a ten minute conversation with her. His ears were still ringing with the sound of her laugh, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't completely forget about her after his interview.

His interview. That was what he needed to be focusing on. He wanted to get this job, he wanted to do well today and if that was the case then he needed to put the pretty redhead out of his mind. He needed to get her laugh and her eyes and her beautiful red hair out of his mind.

He sighed and ran his hands over his face and up through his hair.

So much for wanting to appear put together and not windswept. He was sure his hair was a disaster now.

This was crazy. He couldn't believe that she'd snapped something in him this quickly. He'd always been a bit of a romantic at heart, even if he didn't always show it, but this kind of instantaneous attraction just hadn't happened to him before. Ten minutes. That's how long he'd been talking to her. And now he was trying to decide if he was mature enough to date someone who had a child.

He looked out the window and saw a pub that he and Sirius had been thrown out of only last month and pushed his glasses up his nose.

How mature did one need to be to date someone who had a child? A small child at that?

The bus stopped across from the main branch of the library and he realized how close he was the where he was going.

Alright, the interview. Think about the interview. And now that he only had a few minutes until he was there, he was finally able focus on the points he wanted to make sure he hit on, to go over the pitches that he'd been working on all week, to remember names and statistics that he would need for the interview. His stomach started to clench for an entirely different reason than having been besotted with a pretty girl at a bus stop.

oOo

He was halfway home when he stopped micro-analyzing everything that had been said in his interview and thought of the girl from the bus stop again. The woman sitting in front of him on the bus had red hair, and it wasn't the same color, but it was close enough that it reminded him of her. And then her remembered that she was his neighbor. Would he see her when he got back to his flat? Would she smile at him again?

He sure hoped so. And realizing that he hoped so made him feel like a prat.

He was a prat. He'd just have to accept that he was now the type of bloke that met a woman once for ten minutes and became obsessed with her. Despite any complications that may be brought about by the fact that she had a child.

Like the fact that this child probably had a father. And she was beautiful, so the father was probably involved in her life as well as the child's… though she hadn't mentioned an adult male roommate.

Actually, she'd mentioned that she didn't have a boyfriend. And he hadn't seen a ring either so that just gave him more reason to hope that she actually had been flirting with him earlier.

The bus pulled up to his building and he got off, looking around the sidewalk before realizing that it was ridiculous for him to be looking for her out on the sidewalk. What would she be doing out there?

But then there she was, running up the steps that led to the door of their building. She had a football in her hand and her face was flushed, her hair twisted around, strands stuck to her cheeks.

"Mum!" Her little boy called out, chasing her up the stairs.

"No running on the stairs," She said, running back down them now.

"No using your hands!" He countered, still going after her, trying to grab at the ball she was holding up over her head. "You're supposed to use your feet!"

"I know the rules," She laughed, putting the ball behind her back and looking down at the boy.

"Well you're not very good at following the rules," He sighed, still trying to grab at the ball behind her.

"What are you talking about? I'm excellent at following the rules. It's just that, as your mother, the rules don't apply to me." She shrugged one of her shoulders as though she were trying to show him that she was sorry for his luck.

"Of course they apply to you! It's the rules of the game! They apply to everyone!" He was laughing, and then he acted as though he were going to lean one way to reach for the ball, and when she reacted, he quickly went the other way and was able to knock the ball out of her hand.

"Oi!" She laughed as the ball bounced against the sidewalk and went toward the small patch of grass that was between the building and concrete. He rushed over to it and started kicking the ball against the side of the building.

James had been slowly walking towards the stairs while watching this interaction, and he was nearly at the base of the staircase when she spotted him. "How did the interview go?" She asked, sounding as though she was genuinely curious.

He couldn't help but smile at her. "I hope that it went well."

"Were they smiling when you left?" She asked.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean anything. I made a good joke as I was walking out. The lot of them are actually quite easily amused."

"So was it a good joke or were they just easily amused."

"Both." He said solemnly. "I'm quite sure a couple of them were in tears by the time the elevator doors closed behind me." She laughed and shook her head as he felt his heart rate pick up. He'd made her laugh again.

"Well if that's the case then they should hire you just for the entertainment."

"That usually how I get most of my jobs."

"Well then, perhaps you're going into the wrong line of work. Ever consider being a comedian?" She joked, cocking her head to the side.

He snorted, "Yeah, that's my true passion. Unfortunately it's shit pay- Sorry," He looked over at her son and cursed himself (this time in his head.)

She laughed, "He knows not to repeat after strange men on the street. Right, Harry?"

"What?" He looked up, having been concentrated on the ball. He saw James standing there talking to his mum and then nodded. "Yeah, whatever you say."

She laughed, "That's always the right answer, love. You ready for dinner?"

Harry leaned over and picked up his ball. "Yeah, I'm starving."

"No hands!" She cried out, pointing at the ball. Harry rolled his eyes and started walking up the stairs.

"We're not playing anymore, I'm allowed to hold it."

"I feel like you just make up the rules as they suit you." She shrugged. She looked at James. "See you around," She said, waving at him like she had when he was getting on the bus.

"Yeah, see you around." He waved back and then waited until they were already in the building before continuing up the stairs himself. How had he lived here a week without seeing her at all. And he knew that he hadn't seen her before, because he would have remembered seeing her.

"Bloody fucking hell," He muttered to himself. He saw them laughing as they raced through their door and he turned to walk in the opposite direction to his flat. Maybe he needed to call Sirius and hear that he was a git from someone else. Because he'd now talked to her twice, was quite sure that he was now more than half in love with her, and he still didn't know her name.

_

Sirius was still refusing to come over to James' flat come the weekend, so even though James had gotten the job and wanted to celebrate in his new place, his friend had decided that they would all meet up at Sirius' place instead of James', and Remus and Peter had just went along with it.

Of course, as soon as James and Sirius were in the same room with one another, no one would have been able to tell that Sirius had been playing butt-hurt about James moving out. They were, and always had been, inseparable.

So they got sloshed, and James told them all about how excited he was to start this new job, and how much he liked his new place (because even though Sirius wasn't being a prat about it, he had been a prat all week and James wanted to throw it out there.) And when he mentioned his flat, instead of getting grumpy, Sirius brought up the neighbor girl that James had told him about. Sirius had played at being uninterested in whatever James had to say about her before, but now he was all too eager to let Remus and Peter know that she had a son.

Peter had laughed at James for wanting to date someone with a kid, and Sirius had looked smug about it. "You're hardly what one would call a responsible adult." Peter laughed, popping the tab off another can of beer. "You can't be around a kid. You'd corrupt it."

"I take care of you lot, don't I? Managed to keep you alive for the last decade or so."

"That is quite the task," Remus nodded, digging his hand into the bowl of snacks. "Is this girl even interested in you though? Or is this one of those obsessions you get?"

"Definitely one of those," Sirius pointed at Remus, his eyes lit up in amusement.

"I'm about seventy percent sure that she's been flirting with me. I haven't talked to her since a few days ago, but we say hullo in the corridor and wave." He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, knowing that not only did that sound pathetic, but it really wasn't much to go on. "She told me that she'd checked me out when I was moving in." He smiled slightly, probably looking like a right ponce.

"And what about the kid?" Sirius asked. "He's not one of those bratty types, is he?"

James shrugged. "Kid seems alright. He's into football."

"She must be other worldly kind of fit, yeah?" Peter narrowed his brow as he brought his drink up to his lips. James thought his face must have made him look a bit mental if Peter of all people was looking at him like that. "I mean if you're still into her, even though she has a kid." He shrugged a shoulder and James scoffed. But then jumped into telling him exactly how fit he thought she was.

"She's completely beautiful. Her eyes are so bright and green and –"

"No, we're not doing this." Sirius shook his head and got out a few shot glasses.

Soon, James was too drunk to string a complete sentence together, which was probably Sirius' goal all along; and James would have been able to work that out if he hadn't been so hammered.

And then, because Sirius was a goddamn, petty, sonofabitch, after getting James completely hammered, he kicked him out of his flat, telling him that he couldn't crash on the couch because he didn't live there anymore.

James spent a good fifteen minutes banging on Sirius' door after having been thrown out, shouting about how unfair it was that Sirius hadn't kicked out Remus or Peter, and calling him a wanker, before one of the neighbors opened their door and threatened to call the cops if James didn't shut the hell up.

So, after one last kick at the door, he turned on his heel and started for the street.

Riding the bus this late at night always guaranteed that you'd meet some characters, and while on his way home, James was pretty sure that he made friends with the Forth Doctor.

It was a miracle that he remembered to get off the bus at his stop, and he managed to be quite proud of himself all the while he was walking into the building. But that was where his good luck ran out.

Because he decided to check his mail before he went in, thinking that someone might have delivered him a letter while he was out, so he walked over to his mailbox, unlocked it, and looked inside. It was empty and he sighed, for some reason finding this rather tragic. Why hadn't anyone written him?

He turned around and walked to the door that was directly across from his mailbox and stuck his key in the lock.

Except that the door to his flat wasn't directly behind his mailbox. The door to his flat required him to turn right when walking into the building, and the mailboxes were to the left. His door was two down from where he stood, but he didn't know that as he got more and more frustrated at his key for not unlocking the door.

"Why. Won't. You. Turn?" He muttered, jiggling the key.

Quite suddenly, the key was pulled out of his hands as the door swung back. For a brief moment, James felt victorious, for he thought that he'd managed to finally get the door unlocked. It wasn't until he looked up and saw someone staring him down that he realized that he hadn't pushed the door open.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" She asked. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt, her hair was loosely pulled up into a messy bun, if she was wearing shorts he couldn't see them, and he was completely awestruck. He hadn't seen her legs yet, he would have remembered seeing them. They were perfect.

When he didn't answer her after a moment of just vague staring, she waved her hand in front of his face. "Hullo?"

"Hullo," He managed, a dopy grin sweeping over his face as he leaned up against her door-frame.

"Sweetheart, it's almost two in the morning, I'm not finding whatever you're doing cute." She crossed her arms over her chest and he still couldn't tell if she was wearing shorts or not. He forced his gaze back up to her face and judging by the look she was giving him, he hadn't been subtle about the fact that he'd been looking at her legs.

"Sorry," He shook his head. "I was just trying to unlock my door and then you showed up…" He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "So I suppose I was actually trying to unlock your door. That would explain why it wasn't working." He gestured to his keys that were still hanging out of her lock. She looked over at them and then shook her head.

"Bit drunk are we?"

"You don't seem drunk, but yes, I am. Drunk that is." He nodded. "And my bloody mate wouldn't let me crash on his couch. And he kicked me out of his flat earlier. He's still upset that I moved out."

"Well I'm sorry about that, but it's still very late." She pulled the keys out of her door and handed them back to him. "And Harry is asleep, so I think I'll just say goodnight." She made like she was going to close the door and James stood upright again.

"I got the job!" He said, somehow managing to think that he should whisper. He wasn't disappointed by her reaction, and not only because she stopped closing the door. A large smile appeared on her face and she tilted her head to the side.

"Well I knew you were going to get it."

"S'why I'm drunk." He explained. "Celebrating and all."

"Of course. Well congratulations. I'm very glad that it all worked out for you."

"You are aren't you? You're such a sweet person."

She narrowed her eyes slightly. "Of course I'm happy for you."

"I know. I believe you. You always seem like you mean whatever you say. S'part of the reason I was so excited to tell you that I got the job, because I knew that you'd smile at me like that." He pointed at her face even though she was no longer smiling. She was looking at him rather confused. "Didn't know that you wouldn't be wearing pants when I told you though. That's a plus." And then she was smirking.

"Well I hate to break it to you but I a –"

James stuck his fingers in his ears and closed his eyes. "I don't want you to break it to me." He said. He felt her hand on his wrist, pulling his hand away from his ear.

"You're ridiculous," She sighed. "It's probably best if you get to bed."

"Is that an invitation?"

"You're a sloppy flirt when you're drunk." She shook her head. "No, love. That was not an invitation. Take your keys and go unlock your own door." She nodded down the hall. "I'll see you later."

James' hand ran through his hair and he nodded. "Right. Unlock my own door. I think I can do that."

She looked down the hall toward his door and nodded. "Yeah, I think you should be able to." She grinned, looking back at him. "You want me to stand here and make sure that you make it inside?"

James sighed and shook his head. "No. I think I've embarrassed myself enough in front of you for one day." He gave her a small salute and then turned on his hell and started down the hall. "I'll see you round." He said, maybe a bit too loudly.

"See you round." She called after him, her voice was definitely quieter than his was.

"Wait!" He hadn't shouted, but his voice still cut through the quiet of the building. She raised her brow, but again paused in closing the door.

"What?" She asked, and he couldn't tell if she was still amused or not.

"I don't know your name." He said, taking a step back toward her. "I keep forgetting to ask you. I should have properly introduced myself when I first met you, instead of just staring at you like a prat, but…" He shrugged.

She narrowed her brow, "My name is Lily Evans."

"James Potter." He gave her an enthusiastic wave.

She smiled and gave him a small nod. "Goodnight, James."

"G'night, Lily." He smiled right back.

oOo

James' head was pounding the next morning and he woke up feeling like a jackass, which wasn't a good sign. He couldn't put his finger on exactly why he was feeling like a jackass, but he knew that he'd done something last night that he was going to regret, and he didn't much want to remember what it was just yet.

He managed to keep from throwing up, which was always an accomplishment after a night with his friends. Sirius might even be proud of him.

He downed some Aspirin and refrained from drowning himself in the shower before making his way out to the kitchen to force feed himself some eggs and toast. After that, he made some coffee and went to go and sit on his back porch, as it looked as though there might be some sun coming through the clouds this morning and that could only improve his current situation.

He fell back into the chair that he was pretty sure came with the flat, as he didn't remember purchasing any outdoor furniture, and held his mug of coffee with both hands, letting the sunlight warm his face even as the cool ground chilled his feet.

"Glad to see you're not dead," He heard a voice call from his left. He turned his head and looked over to find that Lily Evans was seated out on her porch with a cup of something and a newspaper.

Upon seeing her, he immediately remembered why he woke up feeling like a jackass. "Oh shit," He muttered, closing his eyes. "I'm so sorry." He called back, but she just laughed.

"Sorry for what?" She asked, flipping the page of the paper. He looked over at her and sighed.

"For inviting myself into your flat and trying to break in with my own key." She laughed again and shook her head.

"I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. I've heard that it's very difficult to break into someone else's flat if you're using your own key. And I don't think it was my flat that you invited yourself into." She looked over at him with that little smirk that she wore so frequently, and his stomach flipped. He had to watch that, he was still fighting off nausea.

"And I told you that you weren't wearing any pants." He sighed, pushing his glasses up to his forehead and covering his eyes with his hand.

"I was though." She said, and he could tell that she was still smirking. So he felt as though it was alright to follow up that comment with a slightly brazen one of his own.

"I'm still going to tell myself that you weren't."

"Do you know many people who answer the door without their pants on?"

"Well what time was it when I messed with your door? I think the time excuses the fact that you weren't wearing pants." He took a sip of his coffee and tried to keep from smirking.

"See, you're much better at this when you're sober." She grinned, and he looked over at her, shamefully remembering her comment last night about him being a sloppy flirt.

"I'm so sorry I went to your door last night. Honestly, I thought it was mine. I checked the mail first and got turned around."

"Well I didn't think It was your drunk-self's version of trying to find a nice way to run into each other." She said. "I mean, I just assumed you were an idiot drunk."

"I am an idiot drunk." He agreed, nodding his head. He was relieved that he hadn't seemed to ruin everything last night, but he was still embarrassed. After all, he'd already decided that he was in love with this woman who now knew just how stupid he could be when he was drinking or with his mates. Actually, he knew that he didn't need either of those things in order to be an idiot, but he didn't think that she knew that yet. "Got your name though. So I suppose it wasn't all a wash."

She smiled at him again. "I can't believe I didn't know your name either. I mean you get all thick in the head around me, so I get how you didn't remember to ask, but I normally keep my wits about me."

"Thick in the head?" He raised his brow, still grinning at her. "Thought I was doing a good job of playing that off."

"Did you really?" She tilted her head to the side and pressed her lips together.

He shrugged, "Alright, no. I didn't really think I was doing a good job." She laughed, and his smile grew. "But still, you're not supposed to-"

"Excuse me," James hadn't noticed the door to the balcony between them open, nor had he noticed a older woman step out. Her mouth was pressed into a firm line and she looked back and forth at James and Lily.

"Good morning, Ms. Bagshot." Lily called, giving her a small wave.

"Well it would be a good morning if there weren't people shouting right outside my door." She chastised and while James was having a hard time feeling bad for the woman who'd just interrupted the moment he'd been having with Lily, she did a good job of looking sorry.

"Didn't realize we were shouting." Lily said. "I do apologize."

"Yes well, let's try and keep it down."

"Will do." She grinned and then, after giving James one last look that seemed to expect an apology he wasn't going to give, Ms. Bagshot turned around and walked back into her flat. Lily shook her head.

"She seems nice." James said, lowering his voice slightly.

"She asks me and Harry to keep it down at least three times a week." Lily shrugged. "I always act like she's never asked before. Other than that though, she is nice. Bakes me cookies and pies on occasion."

"Well then I probably should have apologized. I like pie." James took a sip of coffee and then looked back at Lily. She was looking into her flat, hearing something that James couldn't.

"I'm coming. We can make waffles." She was saying to someone inside the flat. Harry, he assumed. "No, we're not having Pancakes." She shook her head. "Because they're gross- and don't try and tell me that they taste the same as waffles because that is a lie." She shook her head and then stood up, turning back to James. "Hope you feel better soon. I'll see you around." He smiled at her until her door closed and James was left outside to think about how lovely the name Lily really was.

He was a swot, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

oOo

James was actually thinking about work for once on his bus ride home, and not going through all the ways he could accidentally run into his neighbor, who was also the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. He felt someone sit down next to him, but was absorbed in composing an email to a colleague, so he didn't look over at them.

"Excuse me," The voice was much younger than James had been expecting. Actually, he hadn't expected anyone to talk to him, but when he looked over, it was Harry. Lily's five-year-old son. He was holding his football in his hands and a curious expression on his face.

James turned off his phone screen and sat up straighter. He hadn't realized he'd be on the bus that Harry normally rode home from school. His work days weren't very consistent since there was a great number of things he could do from home, so he wasn't in the office normal hours. "Oh, hello there." James gave him a polite smile, not sure why the kid had approached him.

"You're my neighbor right?" He asked, pushing his glasses up his nose. They were large, round frames that looked almost too big for him, they made his cheeks look rounder, his eyes look bigger. He was a cute kid.

"Yes, I am your neighbor." James nodded.

"And your James Potter, right?" He asked, squeezing his football a bit tighter. It was then James realized that perhaps the kid recognized him. He hadn't played long enough to draw that much attention to himself, but he'd been a star player for a season. Enough to warrant a few solo tv interviews, but not much more.

"You're a football fan, no?" James grinned, leaning back against his seat.

"I knew it was you!" Harry looked quite excited and James chuckled. "I told my friend Ron that you lived in my building and he didn't believe me. He told me I can't see well and was mistaken," He pushed his glasses up again. "Which I suppose is sort of true, but still. I had to tell him that I'd ask you."

James grinned at him and nodded. "Yeah, I'm James." He wondered how he would react if he found out that one of his favorite football players lived in his building. Honestly, it probably would have involved accosting him on the bus and rambling nervously too. Though Harry didn't really seem all that nervous.

"Can you sign my ball?" Harry handed it over to him and then pulled his book bag onto his lap and started digging through it. "I know I have a marker in here somewhere, because Ron and I were drawing dragons on our bags the other day during lunch. Not as well as his brother draws dragons of course, but Charlie's good at everything." Harry went on about these people like James knew exactly who they were. "Found it!" He sat up straight, pulling a black Sharpie out of his bag and handing it to James.

James looked at the ball and then at Harry. He wondered what Lily would think about James signing her son's football. And then Harry, who either sensed his hesitation or just felt the need to ramble some more, went on to say, "I told my mum that you were famous and she didn't believe me. But how would she know? She doesn't ever watch football. I used to watch it with my dad but- Well now I just watch it with Ron mostly." He breezed through, hardly pausing to take a breath. "I still remember watching that game last season where you scored like, a million times in a row. It was awesome."

James signed the ball, and started worrying about something else altogether. What if Harry told James something that Lily didn't want him to know? Was he friends with Lily? Did he have to worry about that? He'd only spoken with her a few times, but he did think it was weird to talk to a five year old when their parents were around, even if James wasn't doing most of the talked. Or hardly any of it.

He handed it back and Harry thanked him, shoving the marker back into his bag and pulling it back over his shoulders before taking the ball. "Ron will have to believe me now. How do you not get nervous in front of everyone when you play? Does your knee still hurt? It looked gross when they took you off the field. Is that why you don't play anymore?" He didn't give James any time to answer these questions, but soon they were pulling up to their building and James nodded towards the door. Harry stood up and started walking, still talking over his shoulder, James only caught half of what he was saying.

"So?" Harry said, stepping onto the concrete and turning toward James instead of running up to meet Lily who was standing near the grass. Her brow narrowed and James just looked back and forth between the two of them.

"Well that was a lot of questions, I'm not sure which one to answer." Harry laughed and tossed his ball in the air.

"Alright, that's fair. Did you get nervous?" He reiterated one of his earlier questions. "I want to play professionally when I'm older, but I get nervous at my games sometimes."

"I still got nervous sometimes, yeah." He nodded, feeling Lily's eyes on them. He started walking towards her.

"You never looked nervous." Harry shrugged, then he caught sight of his mum and ran toward her.

"Hey, peanut!" Lily wrapped an arm around him and ran a hand through his hair.

"I told you it was him," Harry said, giving his mum a look. "He is a famous football player."

"Famous is a big word." James tilted his head to the side. Lily smiled at him and laughed.

"I was wondering what you two were talking about."

"Sorry," James said quickly, "He sat down next to me on the bus and started telling me about someone named Ron and asked me to sign his ball." Lily nodded, not looking bothered by the fact.

James was relieved. He'd already acted stupid around her the other day, the last thing he needed now was to do something that crossed a line with her kid. He really was completely hopeless. He had no idea what the rules were or what he was doing.

He also now had more questions about Harry's dad, while also feeling like it was none of his business. Because it wasn't any of his business. He wasn't even friends with Lily really, even if he wanted to be. He just awkwardly flirted with her sometimes and apparently hung out with her kid on city buses.

"I hope we can sit together tomorrow too!" Harry said, bouncing his ball off the wall and catching it.

"What happened to that old French lady you used to sit with?" Lily asked, nabbing the ball out of the air after he threw it again. Harry shrugged.

"She stopped riding."

"Really?"

"Maybe." He shrugged, and Lily gave him a look before tossing him his ball back. Harry ran off to the stairs.

"He's very friendly." She grinned, looking at James.

"I didn't mean to talk to him when you weren't around." He said, and Lily shook her head.

"I don't expect him to sit silently on the bus. It's fine. Besides, he was very sure that he knew who you were. And I didn't want to tell him he was right after you confirmed it the other night." She shrugged. "Anyway," She gave him a half wave and then raced ahead to steal Harry's ball again.

James felt as though someone had just reached down his throat and tightened a fist around his heart. But, in a good way. Somehow.

He hoped it was in a good way otherwise he was done for.

_

So now that James had accepted the fact that he had fallen in love with a women he'd had a grand total of four conversations with- only three of which he'd been sober for, there was nothing he could do to stick up for himself when Sirius (or Peter) wanted to call him on his shit for it. Normally he could find some way to stick up for himself, but he knew that he was utterly hopeless in this situation.

Remus was the only one being nice about everything. "You've fancied other women for far less compelling reasons." He shrugged, sitting at James' new dinning room table. They were splitting a pizza and a case of beer. Sirius said that he might grace them with his presence later, but James had stopped asking him to come see his new place. He'd either stop sulking, which didn't seem likely, or he'd keep playing the kicked dog until James actually did end up kicking him.

"She laughed while standing next to me at the bus stop." He deadpanned, and Remus laughed.

"Sure, but you remember that one girl from Uni? What was her name- Rebeca? You fancied her because- who knows what stupid ass reason you gave us. You liked her because she was fit and you wanted to shag her. At least now you actually seem to like this girl."

"I still want to shag her." James raised his brow.

"Never said you didn't," Remus rolled his eyes. "Just that that may not be all you want to do with her."

James didn't know if it made him more or less of a swat, but that was true. He was pretty sure he'd be content to just stand near Lily if that was all she wanted from him. He didn't know why someone would want someone to stand near them, but still, that was where his brain currently was.

"I've never felt like this about a girl before, Remus." James sighed, running a hand through his hair. His hair was in a constant state of disarray these days. Back in secondary, he'd messed with his hair purposefully, because he liked how it looked when it was a mess, but come Uni, it became a tick he did when he was nervous or frustrated. And he'd been nervous (and frustrated) quite a bit this past week.

"You know, you could do what most people would do if they were in this situation." Remus shrugged before taking a large bite of pizza.

"Oh? And what's that?" James asked, sure that there wasn't a simple solution for his problem.

Remus stuck him with a look, swallowed his bit and sighed. "You ask her out, you git." James didn't know why that didn't strike him as obvious before. "You said that she flirts with you too, yeah?"

James slowly nodded, "I'm pretty sure she does."

Another look from Remus. "James, girls flirt with you all the time and you know it. Is she flirting with you? Yes or no?"

"Yes." He looked down at his pizza and started picking at the toppings, eating them one by one.

"Then what's going on?" He asked. "Is it the kid?"

It was a reasonable assumption, and maybe even the truth, but not in the way that Remus would think.

"She's gotta have higher standards because of the kid, right?" He asked, looking up from his mangled piece of pizza. "And I'm not the most mature or responsible person around." Again, the pub he'd recently been kicked out of came to mind. And he could see that Remus was also thinking of a bunch of other things that he'd recently done to prove his statement.

"Well maybe you could stand to grow up a bit, but let's not pretend you're not responsible when you need to be. You were Head Boy back at school mind you." Remus pointed out, picking up his beer and taking a swig.

"Alright sure, but…" He shrugged a shoulder and cocked his head. "I feel like Sirius is already mad at me and if I- if things work out the way that I want them too-"

"Then Sirius will get over it." Remus sat up straighter and shook his head. "He's been your best friends since you two were eleven. He's not going to ditch you because you've decided to act sort of like an adult. I mean, you are twenty-six. It was bound to happen sooner or later."

"Yes," James agreed, clenching his jaw. He wasn't frustrated with Remus, even if he was laying into him, he was much more frustrated with Sirius. "Though we both know that he was banking on it being later."

Remus looked at him for a moment, his fingers tapping on the side of his bottle. "You don't think you're just going to magically mature overnight now that you've got your own place and you fancy a girl who's got a kid? Do you?"

James sputtered, shaking his head and doing his best to look as though he certainly did not think that.

Remus of course saw right through that. "You really are a wanker, you know that?" He snickered, taking another drink from his bottle. "A wanker and a git. Sirius will get over you growing up, I promise, but you're not going to magically transform into the epitome of maturity just because. And who's to say that Lily would be into that anyway? She seems to like you as you are, even when you're drunk and knocking on her door in the middle of the night. Besides, if she's our age, then she got pregnant really young. Who's to say that she's the epitome of maturity just because she's a mum?"

James thought that over. Form what he'd seen of Lily when she was with Harry, he didn't get the impression that she was all that strict, or one of those parents who worried too much. She played football with him out on the concrete, playfully argued with him over breakfast foods, and had him ride the city bus to and from school. She seemed more laid back and fun loving than he was giving her credit for.

"I should just go for it then?" He asked, causing Remus to sigh dramatically.

"James, do what you want. Just stop with all this self-doubt because it doesn't look good on you and it's making me uncomfortable."

"Right, that is supposed to be your thing, isn't it?" James raised a brow and then took another drink. "I'm going to ask her out."

"I figured." Remus nodded, picking up another slice of pizza.

"I'll ask her out soon."

"Good on you, mate." Remus's lack of enthusiasm did nothing to deter James'.

oOo

Now that James seemed to have this situation with Lily under control, or really, he had a plan to get the situation with Lily under control, he felt much better. He woke up the next morning and put on his trainers, so he could go for a run, something that he hadn't gotten around to doing since he'd moved into his new place. He'd run every morning when he was playing football, but now that it was just for fun and sometimes caused the injury in his knee to twinge, he didn't do it nearly as often.

But this morning he ran quite far. He went down to the park that he'd only ever seen on his commute to work, ran around the trail and then to a coffee shop nearby. He grabbed himself breakfast and then decided to head home, hoping that it would still be warm by the time he got back to his flat.

He felt as though his calves were on fire by the time he ended up on the steps outside the building and he finally stopped running. He paused before opening the door, stretching out his legs for a moment and then he walked in, pulling his keys out of his pocket at the same time.

He was fiddling with the key-chains, most of which were from Sirius and all rather stupid, so he failed to notice Lily standing in front of her door with a basket of laundry on her hip for a moment. But only for a moment, because he couldn't not notice her. She was currently occupying about ninety two percent of his thoughts.

"'Lo, Lily." He gave her a small wave and started toward his door. When she didn't say anything in return he turned to look at her. Her eyes were slightly wider than normal, her lips parted just so, and when she noticed that he was looking at her now, a blush rose to her cheeks and James thought about chucking his breakfast aside and heading down to her end of the hall. Maybe he could get her to drop her laundry basket and they could find something else to do. His mind was headed in the direction of snogging. He could push her up against the wall and take the band from her hair that was holding it atop her head in a messy bun. Finally run his hands through it. He did love her hair.

And just then, with the way that she was looking at him, he had no doubt in his mind that she was thinking something along the same lines. He stood up a bit straighter.

"Hey," She said, her voice a bit too low. She cleared her throat. "Out for a run, were you?"

He shot her a crooked-grin and held out his hands, "What gave me away?"

"You're a bit sweaty," She said, looking him up and down.

He smiled at her, wondering why his feet weren't moving in her direction yet. He was pretty sure that he'd told them to start moving. "You know, normally after someone is caught leering, they stop doing it." He teased, and she smirked at him. He was definitely in love with that smirk of hers. It promised all kinds of trouble.

"Leering? Is that what I'm doing?"

"Ogling. Gawking. Gaping. Pick your favorite synonym." He said, hoping his shrug came across as lighthearted. Most of him felt tense just then and he didn't think it had to do with the run he'd just been on. It seemed much more likely that it was all the flirting and the fact that his body wasn't listening to him. He was still standing in front of his own door after all.

She laughed at him, reaching up her free hand to push some strands of hair from her face. "Someone is feeling awfully confident this morning."

"S'how I feel most mornings that I don't wake up cripplingly hungover." His fingers dug into the bag that held his breakfast. "Besides, you're blushing." He pointed out.

Lily's smirk didn't slip, James would have been disappointed if it had. Instead she just hitched the laundry basket up and shrugged a shoulder. "I suppose I was."

"Then we can agree the confidence isn't misplaced, yeah?"

"No… not misplaced- new! But now misplaced." Her comment reminded him of what Remus had said the day before, about how self-doubt didn't look good on him. Obviously Lily was in some kind of agreement with him.

"What can I say? You certainly know how to knock a man off kilter."

"Oh, so it's my fault?" She chuckled, putting her free hand over her heart.

"Of course it is. I haven't been able to act like a real human being since you accosted me at the bus stop."

"I accosted you now? You're just spinning all kinds of wild stories in that head of yours." The mirth shone through her eyes, making it impossible for his smile to fade now.

"Yes, but things seemed to have evened out now."

"If I remember correctly, you already knew that I liked leering," She stretched out the word to let him know for that she thought it was ridiculous that he'd chosen that word in particular. "Especially when you're a bit sweaty." James snorted in disbelief and shook his head, to which Lily immediately responded, "Yes you did! I told you as much. I told you that I did my fair bit of staring when you were moving in."

James hadn't forgotten that of course, but he was starting to realize how much fun it was to push her buttons. "I don't remember that."

"Yes you do," She argued, her hand on her hip now. "You looked giddy as a kid on Christmas. Quite like you do now," She assessed him again and he laughed. "So?" She tilted her head and he narrowed his brow in confusion. "Are you asking me out, or we just going to keep flirting with one another until we go mad?"

His heart jumped to his throat and his fingers were still digging into his breakfast bag, but he forced his expression to be thoughtful. "Well," He reached up and ran a hand through his hair. "As much as I like riling you up…" He trailed off and went to lean against his doorframe.

Though because whatever all-seeing being was watching over him just then, also hated him, he slipped and ended up hitting his door with his shoulder, his head colliding with the frame. It wouldn't have caused much damage at all, but his glasses hit the frame as well, and then dug into his nose. "Dammit." He muttered, pushing them up his head. Even though she was laughing at him now, he couldn't get his stomach to stop flipping at the sound.

"Very smooth, Potter." But her voice was much closer now and when James moved his hands away from his face, she was standing in front of him. "Are you alright?" She'd left the laundry basket near her door and her fingers were brushing against the side of his face now, inspecting the damage.

"Am I going to live, doc?" He asked, pretending that having her hands on his face wasn't doing something to… to his entire being. With her face only inches in front of his, it was a wonder he could manage to say anything coherent at all.

"I'm a nurse actually," She let her hands drop back to her sides and James nodded dumbly. And then he realized that he hadn't known that about her. "You might get a bruise, most likely to your ego, but yes, you'll live." She concluded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You're a nurse?" He asked, fixing his glasses back on his face.

She nodded, looking like she might want to say something else about it, but chose not to. "So?"

"I've still gotta do this right now?" He raised a brow, though the pounding in his chest couldn't be ignored. This woman really was something else. "I figured I'd be showered and not freshly embarrassed-"

"Sure, but if you wait, who's to say the next time you try you won't fall into oncoming traffic or something?" She teased, her voice was light, but he could see the flush in her cheeks.

"I really wanna go out with you, Lily." He said, his voice dropping in volume and he saw her shoulders drop as well.

"There's a 'but' in there isn't there?" She asked, and James quickly shook his head, wanting to get that look off her face as quickly as he could. "There's usually a 'but'. Look, its fine-"

"There's no 'but' Lily. I really want to go out with you. I didn't really mean to say that out loud, but I think we've established I'm not great at this. At least not when it comes to you." His hand jumped to his hair. "I've been trying to process the fact that you want to go out with me for the last five minutes and that's taking up most of my- most of the-" He motioned to his head and she laughed.

"One too many footballs to the head?" She asked, and he let out a huff, refraining from rolling his eyes, but only because he didn't want to appear anymore childish.

This wasn't at all how he'd pictured this going. He'd actually spent quite a bit of time thinking about how this would go when he was on his run. Every scenario involved flowers of some sort, most involved him knocking on her door, actually prepared to have this conversation. In none of them, was he covered in sweat, holding a bag with a probably cold bagel. In none of them did he hit his head against a door-frame.

"I'm really not that clumsy." He tried to defend himself, but he had just fallen against a door-frame, so she just laughed. "Alright, before I fall into oncoming traffic," He met her gaze, inspecting all the different shades of green that were there. Gold flecks shone through too, in the middle. They were absolutely beautiful, seeming to glow. "Can I take you out sometime? This weekend maybe?"

He almost laughed at just how smug she looked, her fingers tapping against her arm and her lips pursed to hide a smile. "This is so unexpected," She put a hand over her heart and James knew then that he wasn't in too deep, he was all in. This was the girl for him, as sure as he was that his name was James Potter, he knew this. "Harry's going to my mum's on Friday after school, so I'm free on Friday."

"Friday?" He wanted to make some joke about how he was busy on Friday, give her a bit of a hard time in return for her relentless teasing, but all he could do was give her a dopey smile and nod. "Friday is perfect." And then she was returning the smile before she shook her head and took a few steps backward, toward her door.

"Alright then, Friday it is." She stopped for a moment and clenched her hands at her side, the way she was looking at him just then was making his stomach jump. With all the ridiculous things that his body did when she was around, it really was no wonder why he had such a hard time acting like a normal human in her presence. "Can I just…" She trailed off and then stepped up to him again James had time to raise his eyebrow before her hands were on his face again and she was pulling him toward her.

For a split second he thought that she was looking at his face for injury again, his muddle brain not able to think of anything else that she would be doing that involved her being this close to him. But then she was too close for that to be her goal, and then her lips were on his.

James found himself kissing her back before he was fully aware of what was going on. His free hand sliding up her back, her other hand resting on her hip, still holding that godforsaken bagel. But then he did realize what was going on and he felt like a jolt of electricity had just gone through him. He quickly pulled her closer, his hand sliding up into her hair and sighing against her lips when he realized that it was ever softer than he'd thought it would be.

There was a small thump as his bag fell to the ground and then his arm slid around her waist, holding her against him. Her arms quickly wrapped around his neck, and he felt her smile against his lips. Though her smile didn't last long, and James nearly forgot himself when she tugged at his hair.

It felt like hardly any time had passed at all before he had to pull away. His chest was heaving, his heart a sporadic mess and there she was, her eyes still looking like they were glowing, her face freshly flushed and a smile growing as well. He had to bit the tip of his tongue to keep from saying something stupid. You couldn't tell a girl that you've known for a week and have yet to go out with that you loved her. It just wasn't how things worked.

"I just wanted to, um- I was just checking."

"Checking?" He asked, trying to make sense of that.

"Yeah. Wanted to make sure you weren't a shite snog." He snorted and slid his hand to her hip. "Would have been a waste otherwise."

"Right." He nodded. "Glad I passed the test then."

"With flying colors."

"How do you do that?" He sighed, shaking his head, his grip on her hip tightening.

"How do I do what?"

"You're just so… honest about-" He shook his head. "You keep me on my toes, that's for sure."

"Good." She smirked, and then stepped back. James wanted to protest but decided that he'd already made himself look like a fool plenty for one afternoon. He could wait until Friday to have her in his arms again. Probably. "I should get back inside now before Harry thinks the washer ate me or something."

He just nodded. Lily smiled and bent over, picking up his breakfast and handing it back to him. He felt his face flush, even though he thought dropping his breakfast on the ground to kiss her properly was exactly what he should have done. "Thank you," He said, taking it back.

"You're welcome."

"I'll see you around then."

When he was back in his flat, leaning against the door, he no longer felt like such a prat. He was sure that he still was of course, but she fancied him back, she'd kissed him after all. She'd kissed him and told him to ask her out.

She knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to ask for it. And James for one, couldn't be happier about that.

_

The next week had kept him busy enough so that he wasn't spending every waking second of his days thinking about his date with Lily.

His nights were a completely different story, but still, he wasn't complaining about the kinds of dreams he'd been having. Especially not when he thought that they weren't so farfetched. Not when he'd finally had time to think over everything that had happened after his run. The way her eyes had raked over him, the blush in her cheeks; she was definitely having some not so innocent thoughts about him as well. And while he wasn't expecting anything to happen on Friday, as liked to think that he was a gentleman, he was also growing more and more confident that they'd have more dates and she would tell him exactly what she was thinking and exactly what she wanted, and thinking about that always made his toes curl.

It was entirely premature, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

She had kissed him after all. Just walked up under the guise of needing to check something. Every time he thought about it, he realized that maybe he wasn't completely alone in this debilitating crush. He was sure that it wasn't debilitating for her of course, she seemed like the type to keep her footing in all situations.

Thursday, James was doing everything he could to keep himself busy so he couldn't start triple guessing himself. And keeping his mind off of his date became very easy, when without any warning or mention of having a change of heart, Sirius showed up at his flat.

James pulled his door open after hearing a melodic knock and when he saw his best mate standing on the other side, he crossed his arms over his chest, ready to lay into him, ready to carry on about how hard it must have been for Sirius to get all the way here. He was going to give him shit until he left, promising to never come back again.

But then Sirius pushed past him and walked over to the fridge. "So where does this girl live?" He asked, grabbing James' takeout from two nights ago and setting it on the counter before he started going through his cabinets, looking for dishes.

"You can't just walk into my flat weeks after I move in and start eating my food like you haven't been acting like-"

"Where does the girl live?" He asked again, placing the food in the microwave now and then crossing her arms over his chest and leaning up against the counter.

"Her name is Lily, not 'the girl.'" James muttered, running a hand through his hair and closing the door.

"Alright, then where does Lily live?"

"Down the hall, what does it matter?"

"Remus says you have a date with her tomorrow." Sirius said, moving away from the counter in search of a fork now.

"I do have a date with her tomorrow."

"You didn't tell me."

"I just did." James muttered, taking a seat at his dinning room table. Sirius shot him a look, letting him know that he was thinking about throwing his fork at James' head. James hated how he knew where everything was in his kitchen despite this being the first time that he'd come over.

"Well I'm here," He said, opening the microwave before it could beep and took out the food. He went and joined James at the table. "So you can stop pouting."

"You've been the one pouting." James said, though it sounded like he was pouting as it came out.

"Well you moved halfway across the country, I had reason to be upset." James rolled his eyes. "Tell me about this girl. I've never seen you freak out about someone like this before."

Sirius was right about that. James had never felt like this in regard to anyone before. He'd never lost his wits about him when he was talking to a girl, he'd never got all tongue tied and questioned everything. Multiple times. He had just been trying to prevent himself from triple guessing himself.

He sighed and leaned back, shaking his head. "I don't know what it is about her exactly." He said. "I can go on about how she's amazing and wonderful and a whole bunch of other adjectives, but that wouldn't explain it. She makes me feel like I'm walking around sideways, like my mouth is full of marbles like…" He shook his head again. "She's just clever and funny and always says what she's thinking and it never fails to throw me off."

Sirius was shoveling food into his mouth when James looked up. "So you're utterly hopeless then? Is that what you're telling me?"

"I mean, I think I might be," James said honestly, his fingers now tapping against the table.

"For fucks sake," He shook his head and then set his bowl down on the counter and started toward the door.

"Are you throwing a fit about this too?" James jumped to his feet, intent on having it out with Sirius about how he's been a shite mate lately, but Sirius just continued out the door.

James huffed and followed after him, keen to stop him from getting out of the building before they could have it out. But Sirius didn't go toward the doors that would take him out of the building, he walked past Bathinda's door and then stopped in front of Lily's. "What the fucking hell do you think you're doing?" James hissed, jogging down the hall now, but Sirius was already knocking on the door and James' heart was in his throat. He was going to murder Sirius. He had no idea what he was doing, but he was going to murder him.

"I didn't tell you to follow me," Sirius said, crossing his arms over his chest as he waited for someone to answer the door.

"What the fuck are you doing?" He asked again, since Sirius had definitely not answered his question. James thought it was a great question, most deserving of an answer of some sort. But Sirius wasn't even looking at him.

Before James could do anything to get Sirius away from the door, it was being pulled open. Harry stood in the doorway looking back and forth between James and Sirius, and James wasn't sure if that was worse or not then Lily answering the door. "Shite, I forgot about the kid for a minute." Sirius narrowed his brow and James decided it was infinitely worse.

"Mum! It's not Aunt Mary! It's James and some other man I don't know!" James closed his eyes and cursed Sirius to hell in his head. Then he started cursing himself for letting Sirius into his flat in the first place. Maybe he was better off with Sirius refusing to come over.

"Who is it?" Lily called from inside her flat somewhere.

"James! And some other person!" Harry called over his shoulder. Lily quickly appeared, and if James could have had the floor open up beneath him and swallow him whole, he would have. He didn't know what Sirius was going to say, but what he'd already said was terrible enough to start wishing his own demise.

"James?" Lily's tone was questioning, and when James looked up at her and noted her narrowed brow he didn't know how he was going to get out of this without Lily telling him that she never wanted to see him again. He'd have to move again, and this time he would go to the other side of the country. Somewhere that Sirius wouldn't eventually follow him.

"I'm Sirius," The mate he would murder once clear of witnesses said, while sticking his hand out.

"Ah," Lily said, as though just hearing his name made this entire situation make sense. "I've heard a bit about you. I see you've finished sulking and decided to come visit." James' eyes went wide as he turned to see what Sirius's reaction to that would be.

"Well I've heard a bit about you as well." Sirius said, his arms still over his chest. "Actually I've heard more than a bit- and I don't sulk."

Lily smirked at James before replying, "Pouting, winging, whining, call it whatever synonym your comfortable with."

"Mum says you shouldn't whine." Harry spoke up, looking around between the three adults. "That's what babies do." Lily smiled at him and ruffled his hair.

"Righto, Harry. Why don't you go and finish setting the table before Mary does get here, yeah?" He pushed his glasses up his nose and then shrugged.

"Alright, but she never sits at the table anyway," He ran back into the flat.

"So clearly this wasn't James' doing," Lily said, motioning to James who had still yet to say anything. Sirius narrowed his brow at her and shrugged.

"Nah, this was my doing."

"Alright, what do you want?" She asked, mimicking his stance and crossing her own arms over her chest.

"I heard that you were going out with my mate tomorrow and decided that I needed to meet you first."

"Do you always meet James' dates before he goes out with them?"

"Well normally I'm with him when he meets them-"

"Well if you'd come over when he'd asked, you would have met we when he did." Sirius was not used to having girls talk to him in anything that could resemble a stern voice, at least not girls who he wasn't chucking to the side. Sirius was pretty, and therefore many people he met gave him a pass to act the pounce he was and not call him out on it. He clearly was not expecting Lily to behave any different.

"You know, generally you're supposed to want you dates friends to like you."

"Generally, you're supposed to want you friend's date to like you." She flipped his words, pressing her lips together. James could tell that she was feeling pretty smug, her usual smirk was right under the surface. And he could tell that Sirius didn't know what to do with her. Honestly, James didn't know what to do with her either, but he loved it.

They stood there and stared at one another for a few moments before Sirius cracked, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Alright, I can see it." He uncrossed his arms now and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I think I might have sworn in front of your son, I'm sorry for that." Lily shrugged.

"I swear in front of him quite often too," A new voice came from behind them and James turned to see a woman who must be Mary. She was shorter, had a pile of crazy curly, brown hair on top of her head, and a hand on her hip. "And Lily does too if we're being honest. Who are the blokes, Lily? You didn't tell me you were having people over."

"I'm not having people over, just you." Lily waved her hand around to get James and Sirius to step out of the way so that Mary could walk up to her door. "This is my neighbor James and his mate Sirius. Boys, this is Mary."

"The neighbor that Harry's been going on about?" Mary raised her brow and Lily laughed and then nodded.

"I keep forgetting about that, but yeah, he's the one."

"You keep forgetting?" Sirius spoke up.

Lily shrugged. "Harry's into football. He got James to sign his ball on the bus the other day. I keep forgetting that James is the person he's been going on about. Might be because the person he's talking about seems to have good coordination and this person here," She motioned to James, "Whacked his head on the wall the other day while standing still and talking to me." Sirius snorted, which quickly turned into a real laugh and James narrowed his eyes at Lily, but was also smiling so his glare was completely ruined.

"You know, you're not very nice." James said, trying to keep his smile at bay so that he could properly tease her now. He figured she was due to be properly teased since she'd just told everyone about the doorframe incident.

"Didn't you just hear my five-year-old? Whining is for babies." She winked at him, pulled Mary into her flat and then closed the door with a quick, "See you round."

Sirius was laughing again when the door closed. "You were right, James." He said, slinging an arm around James' shoulders as they walked back toward James' flat. "She's pretty great."

James couldn't agree more and was glad that this stupid little test of Sirius' hadn't backfired in his face. He still had a date tomorrow, and now his best friend knew exactly why James was such a mess for this girl. "I'm glad you like her."

"'Whining is for babies'" Sirius snickered and started laughing all over again. James didn't feel the need to remind him that Harry had been talking to Sirius when he'd said that.

oOo

And then it was Friday, and James was rushing about his flat, thinking that he was forgetting something important, but he couldn't figure out what it was. He had two shoes on, he was wearing trousers and a button up, even had a jacket for when it got cooler this evening. He had his phone and his wallet in his pocket, he'd set the flowers he'd gotten her on the counter, so that couldn't be it. What was it?

And why the fuck was everything so blurry?

It was probably his sanity. He'd lost that a while ago, it made sense that he wanted it back before his first date with Lily, but he thought his chances of finding it within the next five minutes were dubious.

He looked in the mirror again, leaning in pretty close before cursing under his breath. His fucking glasses. He'd forgotten his goddamned glasses. No wonder he'd been squinting while frantically jogging back and forth from one room to the next. He looked down at his watch and chewed on his lip. He only had a few minutes before he'd be considered late, and he knew that Lily would give him shite if he was late since he lived about ten yards from her front door.

Where did he leave his glasses? He ran off to check the bathroom counter, his bedside table, the top of his dresser… There weren't many places that his glasses could be. He leaned down to see if they'd fallen under his bed and felt something hit the bridge of his nose before part of his surrounding became focused.

They had been on top of his bloody head. Of fucking course they had. He fixed them, stood up and took a deep breath. He was an idiot.

He took another deep breath as he walked back out to the kitchen, scooped up the small arrangement of sunflowers and daisies and his keys off the counter and then opened his door. It was still a couple of minutes till seven, and with the very short walk down the hall to her door, he hadn't meant to leave any earlier than this. It wasn't as though he was going to get stuck in traffic.

He forced himself to focus on the task of locking his flat and then walking down the hall, pausing for only a brief moment before he raised his hand and knocked on her door. It only took a moment for her to pull it open, so it wasn't nearly enough time for James to banish his nerves. Though he'd had all day to do that, and he hadn't managed, so he didn't know why he thought that he'd be able to do it at the last moment.

He was in the middle of taking another deep breath when she pulled back her door, and his breath got caught in his throat. She was wearing a light blue dress that stopped just above her knees. The neckline was… generous, at least that's the word he thought of when he saw the amount of cleavage that was showing. It wasn't much really, but it was more than he'd seen so far, and he had to try hard to quickly avert her gaze. Her hair was half up, the ends in soft curls, and he found himself wondering if she'd always had so many freckles along her collarbone, or if he'd someone missed them.

He snapped his gaze up to her face and gave her a smile, a dopey smile in all likelihood, but he couldn't be arsed to try and hide it from her. He was thrilled and that was bound to shine through whatever 'playing-it-cool' mask he could manage to put on.

"Well you look beautiful," His fingers squeezed around the stems of the flowers he was holding as she answered him with a knee-quaking smile of her own.

"Thank you," She ran a hand down her arm to smooth out the sleeves of her dress that ended just above her elbow. "I had quite a bit of fun getting all dressed up. I'm normally just in scrubs or mum clothes." She chuckled, her eyes moving from his face to the flowers he was still holding limply by his side.

"These are for you," He said, though it seemed unnecessary. Who else would they be for? It wasn't as though James was just going to carry them around for the rest of the night.

She inspected the arrangement, her smile getting impossibly wider. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate that you didn't bring me lilies."

James laughed, "I figured it'd probably been down before."

"So many times," She looked back up at him. "And you get extra points too because sunflowers are my favorite." She ran her thumb over one of the petals before she turned around. "Come on, I've got to find a vase."

Her flat was exactly how he should have pictured it, given the fact that she had a five-year-old son. There was a box full of footballs and other outdoor toys at the end of the hallway, and then her kitchen appeared, the fridge completely covered in crayon drawings of dragons and knights and castles. There were also picture of Harry and Lily scattered in there as well. The kitchen opened up into the living room, where Harry had left out a block structure that he was in the middle of building. There were coloring books mixed in with magazines on the coffee table and a pair of miniature slippers behind the couch.

He smiled as he looked around. This was a place that Lily shared with Harry, and everywhere he looked he saw evidence of that. When he was a kid, he never understood why his toys and the like couldn't be left out, why it had to all be hidden away, especially if someone was coming over, his bedroom had been the only place where he could leave things out.

"He's building a space station for Mars," She said, catching James looking at the blocks again. "I asked him why there are dinosaurs guarding it, and he told me that Mars is where Jurassic World should take place." She snorted, and James grinned as he saw the dinosaurs now, standing equal distance from one another around the base of the structure. "I think he's just set them there to ward off the cat."

She had the flowers in a vase now, and was standing with her palms on the counter. "Does it work?"

Lily shrugged. "Poor cat has survived years of being chased around by Harry and an armload of dino toys. He's not fond of them." She stood up straighter. "Are you ready?"

"I am," He nodded, and when she nodded toward the door again, he walked back up the hallway, pausing to let her lock her door and then took her hand, not without extreme thought over the matter of course. Though the thinking had all happened hours earlier when he'd been shaving. So now, when he took her hand after she dropped her keys into her bag, it only seemed like he hadn't second guessed himself.

Her hand was soft in his, her fingers slightly cold but they tucked into the groove of his hand perfectly. "So, are you going to tell me where we're going?" She asked, smiling up at him. He grinned and shrugged a shoulder as he led them off, pausing to open the door to the building for her and then they were outside, walking down the concrete.

"Do you like surprises?"

"I'm not completely against them," She shrugged back. "Though I have had my fair share I believe."

"My suddenly appearing all sweaty in the corridor the other day?" He quipped.

"Oh yes, that's what I was referring too." She chuckled, squeezing his hand lightly. "I wasn't trying to subtly bring up the topic of my getting pregnant at nineteen so that you could ask me about it. I mean, you are at least a bit curious, aren't you?"

He tilted his head to the side. "I am." He allowed, not sure what the correct level of curiosity was when it came to this topic. "Harry mentioned his dad. Briefly and then changed the subject back to Ron. I didn't really know what to make of that." He admitted.

"His name is Anthony and he moved to Norway a little more than a year ago. He got a job opportunity that he said he couldn't pass up."

"Were you two together at the time?"

"Oh fuck no," Her tone vehement. Her expression softened as she looked up at him. "Sorry, but no. I ended things a few months after Harry was born, which was terrifying but necessary. It seemed like things were getting better after that too. We stopped shouting at each other all the time, and it made sense to me somehow that he always had to cancel seeing Harry because of school or work. We were both young and I was- I don't want to call myself stupid but… my mum calls me naïve and I've never been able to come up with a convincing argument to counter her."

She took a deep breath and James tightened his grip on her hand, just to let her know that he was there, that he was listening. She smiled at him again, "He called me six months ago to tell me that he didn't think it was a good idea to have Harry keep calling him."

James couldn't comprehend why someone would choose to not be in Lily or Harry's life if they had the opportunity to the contrary. For all the time that James had spent thinking that he was a dolt or a git for thinking himself in love after ten minutes at a bus stop with Lily, Anthony actually was a git (and many other more terrible things.) "I'll never understand how some people can do that." He said, because he didn't know what to say and he figured it wouldn't hurt to tell her what he was actually thinking.

"You and me both," She sighed, stuffing her hand into a pocket on her dress. "But anyway, that's that. Now you know. Now, will you tell me where we're going?" James grinned at her before refusing.

When they finally reached the restaurant that James had chosen, which was very nice of course, they'd gone through the topic of James' career ending injury to his right knee, how she'd wanted to be a doctor when she first started uni, and how 'yes, that billboard there is selling a hair product that my father invented.'

"So you grew up the spoiled heir to a family fortune then? That stuff is mighty popular."

"I might have."

"You might have, or you definitely have? You don't have that usual sonofabitch-iness that comes with second generation wealth."

He laughed and shook his head. "I think I'm more sixth or seventh generation… but thanks? I think."

She smirked that smirk of hers and her smiled back. "Well if this date turns out to be a bust, I guess that's a reason to keep you around."

"At least I'll know I got the first date without my money." He shrugged.

"Yeah, it was your quick wit and gracious charm." She pressed her lips into a thin line and James rolled his eyes.

"I'll have you know that I've never fallen into a doorframe in front of any other girl I was trying to flirt with." She snorted.

After they sat down they moved onto Sirius and how terrible and wonderful he was, and James told her how he actually wanted to ask her out, and she told him that she had been surprised that Mary had ratted her out yesterday and told him that she'd been talking about James more than Harry had.

James couldn't believe how many times he'd managed to make her laugh. How many times her smile grew wider after something he said. He couldn't' believe that her eyes were so bright and happy as she looked at him, or that throughout their meal, she kept playing with his fingers and leaning her legs against his under the table.

He felt like he hadn't even blinked, and they were already walking back towards their flats. They'd had dinner, drinks, walked along the river, gotten ice cream, and it was well after midnight now. Their building came into view and James tried not to slow down his steps. He knew that he'd see her tomorrow in all likelihood, but he didn't want to say goodnight.

"You know," Lily looked up at him, his jacket now hanging over her shoulders as they walked hand in hand. "That was… a really good date." She grinned, her fingers tapping against his knuckles. She'd done that every so often when she got excited about something.

"It was." He agreed, starting on the steps and then pulling the door open for her. "Great." He added more quietly.

"Yeah," She nodded her head and shrugged off his jacket, handing it over to him now that they were in the building. "And now we get to make out in the hallway for a while." There was that smirk of hers again. He felt his heart leap to his throat and start beating wildly.

Of course, he'd thought it would be likely that he got another kiss at the end of the date, she had already kissed him after he asked her out. And even if she hadn't, it had been a really good date. A really, really good date. But she was always so forward with what she wanted to do, and he wasn't used to a woman talking like that. The last date that he'd been on, the girl hadn't even been able to decide if she wanted to walk or take the train.

The kiss was different than the first one. He wasn't shocked this time when it happened, she'd given him a bit of warning, and he'd been planning on kissing her. This time he did get to push her up against the wall next to her door, and his hands were greedy as they carefully explored what he wouldn't have been too embarrassed to be caught exploring in the hallway outside her flat. Though, he thought there was a very good chance that Bathilda was sleeping now, and there weren't any other neighbors to worry about on this level of the building.

It was hard, and a little rough, and he wasn't the only one with wandering hands either. She hummed against his lips and he slowly pulled away from her mouth and started trailing kissed down her jaw until he reached the hollow of her neck. The way her hand tugged at his hair had him nipping at her soft skin, and then her other hand was slipping into the top of his shirt- which she must have undid some of the buttons, but he hadn't noticed that. It was hard to notice much of anything when he was overwhelmed with the taste of her. The feel of her. The scent of her.

He wished she wasn't wearing this stupid dress of hers now since it would be wildly inappropriate for him to slip his hand under her dress while they stood in the hallway, though with each passing moment, he was finding it harder and harder to remember that. Especially after she let a quiet moan escape and he felt a shiver run down his spine as he pushed himself flush up against her.

He moved his lips back to hers, reaching up to properly cup her face, holding her against him, but it wasn't long after that when she gently pushed at his chest and he was forced to take a step back, putting much unwanted space between them. "Shite," She muttered, her eyes bright, her pupils dilated so that only a slim ring of grin shown around them.

While the word 'shite' wasn't generally a ringing endorsement, he quite liked the way the word fell off her lips. It was clumsy and heavy and definitely not a description of the kiss.

His lips quirked, and he went to lean in again, but she kept her hands on his chest and shook her head. "I think we need to stop now." She said, though she looked as though she regretted saying it immediately afterward. "It's just- well this is a first date and all." He nodded.

"Right," He nodded some more. "I can be a gentleman. I was planning on being a gentleman, and then things kind of… escalated." She grinned at him.

"They did," She agreed. She took a step away from the wall, a rather determined step by the look of things, and if she was feeling anything like James was, he applauded her determination. She was much stronger than he was. But she was right, there was no need to rush things. Rushing, while it was his main way of doing most things in life, never really- well actually, it normally worked out well for him.

She stood on her tip-toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek, lingering only a moment before she fell back onto flat feet and pulled her keys from her bag. Her eyes searched his face for a moment and then she took a deep breath. "I'll see you soon," She said, which was slightly different from her usual farewell.

"Hopefully very soon," He agreed, which made her smile at him. "Have a good night, Lily."

"You too, James." She opened her door and stepped into her flat. She looked as though she wanted to say something else but then just gave him another smile, and closed the door.

James took a deep breath and forced himself to turn away from her door and walk down the hall, open the door to his flat and enter before he let himself lean against the wall and slide down to the floor. He raked his hands through his hair and breathed, in and out, in and out.

He'd gone on a date with Lily Evans. He'd gone on a date with the beautiful woman from the bus stop, the one that had made him speechless, and he hadn't made a completely fool of himself. He hadn't embarrassed himself, he hadn't tripped over his words- or into oncoming traffic!

It had been a success. He was almost one hundred percent sure that he was going to get a second date with her. And a third. He was going to get to kiss her again, and run his fingers through her hair, and hopefully sometime soon, he would get to snog her somewhere where he didn't have to worry about their elderly neighbor walking in and chastising them.

After he'd calmed himself, he stood up and went to his bedroom to change for bed. His brain seemed to be buzzing and he couldn't shut it off. He pulled out his phone and texted Sirius, who responded much more quickly than James had expected, and James was about to answer the four questions that Sirius's text had asked, when he heard a knock at the door.

He looked at the clock and thought that it must have been Sirius. He was the only person who thought it was okay to show up unannounced when it was nearing two o'clock in the morning. He tossed his phone onto the couch as he walked through the living room and pulled open the door while saying, "If you were here, why did you text-" But then stopped abruptly when it wasn't Sirius in the hallway, but instead, Lily.

She was wearing a different t-shirt for pajamas than he'd seen her in the last time they'd been standing on opposite sides of a doorway, at a similar time of night. And quite like the last time, he had a hard time keeping his eyes from her legs. And like last time, if she was wearing any pants, he couldn't see them.

She was worrying her lip and twisting her fingers together and looked the most unsure that he'd seen her since he'd met her. "You said you'd like to see me very soon, yes? Is this too soon?" He chuckled and stepped aside to let her inside if that's what she wanted.

"It's never too soon."

She stayed in the hallway for a moment and then quickly crossed the threshold. "I managed to stay in my flat for almost an entire hour." James looked over at the clock, but he didn't know what time it had been when he got back into his flat so he couldn't confirm not deny what she said. She looked at him, putting her hands down by her sides, clenching them into fists. "But, you live right down the hall." He grinned at how exasperated she sounded. "I did everything the 'right' way last time. I normally do everything the way that you're supposed to, but things haven't really gone according to plan despite my best efforts, and you're- you're right down the hall!" She laughed and shook her head.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm brilliant!" She laughed, stepping closer to him and reaching for his hand. "But I'd spend all of tomorrow kicking myself if I just went to sleep tonight. And probably a while after that as well. And I'm guessing that I'm not making much sense right now because you look adorably confused." She bit her lip again and brought her free hand up to brush over his cheek. "James," She said, the wicked smirk of hers shadowing over her mouth. "I'm not wearing pants."

And that's when all her rambling clicked. She was attempting to validate something to him, to explain herself or her reasoning for being here after they had said goodnight, after she said they should stop snogging before things go too heated.

His hands went to her hips and he slowly inched up the fabric of her t-shirt, inhaling sharply when he saw that she was indeed, not wearing pants; only small, lace panties.

His eyes flashed back up to hers and he felt his breathing become shallow. "Well I don't much want to be wearing pants then," He said, meaning to sound playful but it didn't sound right coming out. Luckily, Lily still laughed.

And then she was sitting on his kitchen counter with her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer.

And then her shirt was tossed somewhere over his shoulder and he saw that her bra matched. He wondered briefly if she might be wearing one of his t-shirts the next time this happened.

And then she was clinging to him as he carried her back toward his bedroom and his arms were wrapped tightly around her middle, his face buried in her neck.

And then he was laying her back on his bed and he truly did let his hands wander wherever they wanted. No longer worried about prying eyes or what was appropriate as she worked to push his pajama pants down his legs. He couldn't believe his luck. He felt euphoric, full, completely warm all over.

He'd thought about this much too often, especially this last week, but as things usually did, his imagination paled miserably in comparison. Nothing could feel better than the reality of every small sensation all melting together.

Nothing could feel better than knowing that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

oOo

After, when they had nothing between them but a pair of identically elated, sleepy smiles and were entirely tangled together under his sheets, James nudged his nose against hers. "I'd very much like this to become a thing we do now." Lily laughed quietly and shifted impossibly closer to him.

"A thing we do?"

"Yeah," He nodded. "You know, how we flirt in the hallway, and shout at each other on the balcony, and leer at one another. We should do this too."

She sighed as she settled against him, "Shout at each other?"

"Bathilda's words."

"Ah," She nodded. "There are a lot of things I'd like to do with you." James' heart gave another leap at that and he wondered if it was still too early to tell her that he was in love with her. Probably. But he wasn't sure. Every time he thought he'd beaten her to a conclusion, she seemed to be three steps ahead of him.

"Yeah? Like what?" He asked as she let out a yawn. James wasn't wearing his glasses any longer, so he couldn't check the time, but he knew it was late. Very late.

She was quiet for a moment and James thought that she might have fallen asleep, "I want to watch stupid movies with you when it's raining. I want to argue over who was supposed to bring sunscreen to the beach on the one sunny day of the year. I want to go to the shop to buy groceries with you, and hold your hand a lot."

"That all sounds good to me."

"It does, doesn't it?" She was definitely half asleep by now. Her voice was lazy and slow, her couldn't see her eyes anymore either.

"Absolutely." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and pulled her closer. "It sounds perfect."