“Evening, Evans,” a smooth voice said, making Lily jump with surprise.
Lily smiled, as if by instinct, and turned to face James. He was leaning against one of the bookcases of the library, his glasses slightly too far down on his nose and his black hair unexpectedly tidier than usual – that was, until he quickly ran his fingers through it. Lily tried desperately to ignore the fact that she had butterflies whizzing around in her stomach just by looking at him. How ridiculous. It was James! She had looked at him plenty of times before and had no bodily reaction except, perhaps, for anger. Except it was different now, wasn’t it? He had kissed her. She had returned the kiss. More than once.
Lily approached him with her arms folded; abandoning the table she had occupied which was covered in parchment and books she had been using for a Charms essay. James straightened slightly, shoving his hands in his pockets to prevent himself from automatically reaching for her. Lily suddenly remembered their first kiss and blushed at the memory. It had been unexpected, but sweet.
“Back to ‘Evans’ are we, Potter?” Lily inquired, raising one eyebrow.
James smirked that infuriating signature smirk of his and, unable to help himself, pulled his right hand out of his pocket to touch Lily’s waist, bringing her closer to him so that he was looking down into her eyes. He glanced at her slightly parted lips and swallowed, meeting her gaze instead. Before he could muster a reply, Lily reached up with a mischievous smile and stole the glasses from his nose.
“Evans, you do realise that I need those to see?” James asked, squinting in an attempt to bring her face back into focus.
Lily smiled coyly and put on his glasses, pushing them up to the bridge of her nose. They looked big on her and made her striking green eyes seem larger. “How do I look?” Lily asked, completely ignoring his question.
James looked at her and, even though she was out of focus, his answer was on the tip of his tongue within seconds. He couldn’t muster a sarcastic comment because the answer to her question was so painfully simple. “Beautiful,” he said softly. “You always look beautiful, Lily.”
The urge to touch her and to kiss her suddenly became overwhelming, consuming him until James could think of nothing else. Without hesitation, or a proper thought process, James stole back his glasses from her nose and kissed her. Lily froze with surprise - surprise at the sudden contact, surprise at the fact that every part of her wanted to be closer to him. It was like finally coming home after a long, tiring journey. And it was anything but sweet. It was desperate and full of unmasked longing. Had it really only been days since they had last kissed? Lily thought that it felt like years.
Her hands found his broad shoulders, her fingers clutching him tightly, and she made a small sound of shock as James pushed her against the bookcases, his fingers grabbing handfuls of her school cardigan in an effort to bring their bodies even closer together.
Lily thought, not for the first time, that perhaps dating James Potter was not such a terrible idea after all.
