When Sirius had grabbed his phone seeing an unusual notification – Instagram, which he hadn't opened for weeks – he had expected everything, but certainly not a message from James, his best friend. If he could still be defined as such, considering that they hadn't heard from each other for more or less 5 years.
Can I call you?
Surprised, he ignored the text for a few minutes. Which then became hours, and then a whole day. But when he finally said yes (of course), James replied within seconds.
He had missed his voice. Raspy, but sweet as honey. James always reminded him of the color yellow, in any aspect: perhaps, but it was only an assumption, because he had always been joyful as a kid. Or maybe because Sirius' most vivid memory of him belonged to a summer night, under the stars, when they were 15 and James slept next to him in Maya the Bee pajamas.
“Hey. How are you?" he asked.
Sirius, sitting at the table in front of a plate of Chinese food, shrugged, as if James could see him. “Um, good, I guess. You?"
He could sense his friend's smile through the screen. "Very good. I'm on this tropical island..."
James was travelling. Four years earlier, he had given up his life in London to do what he loved: exploring the world. He was rich, he could afford it. He regularly posted photos on social media of the amazing places he visited. The last of these had been Rio. A warm place, of course: those were his favorites.
“Oh, good” he replied, perhaps with a little too much rancor in his voice.
James noticed. He fell silent, and Sirius was suddenly aware of the noise behind him: the sound of sea waves, the cry of a seagull.
“You're still not mad at me, are you?”
James had this bad habit of blaming himself for everything. Even though Sirius had explained to him that he wasn't angry with him, he had never been, he persisted in not understanding. He wasn't listening.
Well, maybe it was true that Sirius had been offended at first, but before he left. And only because James had really thought it would be a good idea to tell him: “If you don't want me to go, say it. Then I'll stay.”
He had put a huge weight on Sirius' shoulders. Because, of course, he didn't want James to leave, he would miss him too much. But, at the same time, he couldn't, with a single "no", shatter his lifelong dream. James had forced him to lie. He replied: “Don't worry, it doesn't matter. I'll see you again when you come back."
It was a lie, because Sirius cared. And he hated lying. He had only done it for James.
"No."
"All right, then. Sorry. I know I shouldn't push it."
Sirius didn't answer, he just took a bite of his food and waited.
So James continued. “Well, the reason I called you was to–” he was cut off by a scream, and then a loud sound of something crashing on the water. He chuckled, “I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come here.”
This forced Sirius to interrupt his lunch. Well, it was more of a snack, since he was eating at 4pm. “Here where?”
“On the island. I'll pay for your plane ride, and host you at home. Of course, I understand if you don't want to see me again, but… I miss you, Pads. I want to try to reconnect.”
A long silence followed. And Sirius thought. He had imagined this moment several times, the opportunity to restart the most important friendship of his life. He had imagined thousands of possible scenarios, where he said yes, where he said no, filled with anger, and sent James back to the plane in tears. He still felt resentful about the way he had forgotten about him. 30 unanswered texts, 5 years of silence.
Yet, sensing the sincerity in James’ voice, he couldn't bring himself to tell him how he had made him feel, ending the call in his face. He couldn't even say yes to him, however, he still had some dignity.
So he drank some water and snorted, his chin resting in his hand, and all he muttered was: "I can afford the plane myself."
After forgetting to call me back, did you also forget how rich I am?
But he didn't say that last thing. He raised his middle finger at the screen, and hung up.
And this is the story of how, a week later, Sirius found himself sitting in the passenger seat of a small white car, next to James, who was driving and staring down an empty road.
His suitcases had been placed in the trunk. The cell phone didn't work. It was hot, and Sirius' freshly washed hair was puffy and sticky.
“So… This is my island” James said, breaking the silence. A patch of land lost in the middle of the Pacific. It took him a plane, a ferry and finally a car to reach his destination.
“Cool.”
"Yep. I wanted to invest my money in something big, so I bought this place. The sea is beautiful, and the house is huge..."
“And what's its name?”
“Mhm?”
“The island, what did you call it?”
James took his eyes off the road for just a moment. What was he afraid of, given that there was not a living soul there besides them?
He smiled, proud. “Prongs-island.”
He hadn't changed a bit since Sirius had last seen him. He still had the same unkempt hair and the same deep dimples, his round and always foggy glasses. He was just more muscular than five years ago.
He had to look at him twice to see that James wasn't joking.
He sighed. “That's the worst name I've ever heard.”
"Really?"
"Yes."
Saddened, James turned. And it was at that point that, among the trees, Sirius spotted the most beautiful house he had ever seen. It was large, modern. Massive, with huge windows and a spacious veranda. A walkway led directly to the beach, not far away. During the ferry trip, Sirius had been able to admire the beautiful blue sea, transparent the closer they got to land.
James parked. “Lily always says that too. That it’s a terrible name, I mean.”
Sirius unbuckled his belt. They hadn't gotten out of the car yet, even though it was stopped. With an annoying tremor, he remembered the scolding his mother used to give him outside school, when she came to pick him up and found out that Sirius had been grounded again.
He decided not to think about it. “Lily?”
James smiled slightly. “My girlfriend.”
He hadn't told Sirius about her. Neither by text, while they were organizing the trip, nor during that car journey. He had never mentioned the presence of a girl.
“She's nice, you'll see. Sensational” he added.
Sirius raised both eyebrows. “Oh, why? Is she here?”
James laughed hysterically and got out of the car, grabbing a suitcase and running towards the house, stumbling in front of the entrance and leaving Sirius wondering: what the fuck?
But it wasn't the only event that confused him.
Lily was weird too. It was the first, and last, thing that Sirius thought as he looked at her.
She was leaning on her elbows on the kitchen counter, wearing a tank top and a pair of very, very short shorts. She boredly scrolled through videos on her phone while nibbling on the stick of a finished popsicle. When James and Sirius entered, she looked up and turned off her phone.
She was beautiful, very beautiful: tall and slender, with pale skin dotted with freckles, fiery red hair and green eyes. Something in her smile and in her gaze gave her a sly, slightly petty, temptress-like appearance.
“Sirius, this is Lily. Lily, this is Sirius."
“Lily, not Lilly. And definitely not Lils, I hate it. Nice to meet you” she said.
She spoke with a strong American accent, but Sirius couldn't have said from which area. Probably, James had met her during one of his travels.
She tossed the stick into the bin and held out a sticky hand to him. As soon as Sirius shook it, however, James reached Lily and kissed her, licking her lips.
“Mhm, sweet” he commented.
She laughed, and while she was distracted, Sirius tasted the sticky substance that was left on his hands. Lemon popsicle, melted.
The kitchen was open plan, large. Even too much for just two people. There were two big windows, one of which was in the living room, that provided light to the room with very high ceilings. All white, almost blinding. Colorful decorations and a few photographs hung on the walls.
“Lily, can you show Sirius his room while I make food?” James asked, and she nodded.
She moved fluidly, swaying her hips. She was barefoot, and her golden anklets jingled with every step. They climbed, in silence, an immense flight of stairs and reached the upper floor, dotted with doors.
In the distance, they could hear the noise of pots and stoves.
“This is your room,” Lily said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, “James and I sleep there, and this is the bathroom. If you need to know anything else, just ask.”
She opened the door, revealing Sirius' room. It was also large and well lit. Although, near the window, there was a tree with beautiful green foliage. The bed was double and simple; there wasn't much furniture.
“Why does James call you Pads?” Lily asked suddenly, “Is that some kind of nickname?”
She sat in a small armchair next to the window, folding her arms behind her head and lifting her tank top, revealing a piercing in her navel.
“Um, yes. The full name is actually Padfoot, but he shortens it.”
“Padfoot,” she repeated, tasting the name on her tongue, “It’s funny.”
“Yeah.”
She seemed like just the kind of girl James liked: sexy, mysterious. Maybe even a little stupid. Her relaxed attitude was a bit intrusive, it made Sirius uncomfortable: after all, he knew nothing about her, he had only discovered her existence a few moments before.
He realized he was staring at her when she smiled.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, standing up.
Sirius stepped back. “Like what?”
“Like that.”
He couldn't understand. He didn't think he had a different expression than usual. But, after a few seconds, it all ended.
She left the room without saying another word, and as she went down the stairs she shouted: “Don't put garlic in the sauce, James!”
He made an annoyed noise. “But that's how they do it in Italia.”
Before reaching him, clutching the handrail, Lily gave Sirius one last incomprehensible look. Like she could read his soul.
“I don't care” she murmured, and disappeared.
***
They ate outside on the veranda, protected from the scorching heat of the sun by the large trees along the avenue. It was pleasant to be out there, watching the beach open up a few steps away from them, smelling, even if with effort, the salt coming from the sea. There were a lot of bugs, though. Sirius swatted a mosquito that tried to feast on his arm.
He had changed before going down to lunch, and he was wearing a black Queen t-shirt and a pair of short knee-length trousers. But the biggest problem was his long hair, which made him sweat incredibly: he gathered it in a ponytail.
“Voilà” said Lily, placing a plate of pasta on the table in front of him. She had another one in her hand, her own, and she took her place at the head of the table. She sat crossing her legs in the chair, in a way Sirius had never seen.
Seconds later, James joined them.
While changing, Sirius had made a list of questions to ask his two guests. Doubts, questions, which he hoped would be answered with sincerity. This seemed like the most appropriate time to ask.
“Where did you meet?”
James, in front of him, opened his mouth to reply, but Lily was faster. As he later discovered, she was quite chatty. Sexy, mysterious and talkative: again, perfect for James.
“San Diego.”
With his mouth full, James added: “I was there on one of my trips, remember?”
Sirius nodded, even though he had no idea what he was talking about. “So how long ago?”
“Mhm,” Lily mused, “Two years at least.”
James looked at her with two big loving eyes. “Two years, three months and twelve days.”
Sirius was amazed, it was much longer than he expected. Although James had always expressed, since he was a child, the desire to have a stable relationship and get married, his precarious lifestyle and the sparkling personality of his girlfriend would have never led him to think that the thing was so serious.
“So you followed him on all his travels?” he asked Lily, and she laughed.
“Oh, no. He called me a few months ago and asked me if I wanted to live on an island with him. So… Here I am.”
He spotted a familiar pattern.
“And you,” said James, looking at him carefully, “What have you been doing over the years?”
Until that moment, Sirius hadn't been able to meet his gaze or pay him too much attention, embarrassed. By the way James was acting, it almost seemed like he had forgotten that he had ignored Sirius for years.
But, in that moment, asked such a direct question, Sirius was forced to hold his gaze and surrender to the power of his dazzling smile.
“I work as a bartender, in my free time I play in some clubs.”
“Cool!” Lily exclaimed, “James told me you were an interesting person.”
Surprised, Sirius parted his lips and turned back to his friend. James had always drunk water with lemon since he was 11 years old, and at that moment he was squeezing a slice of the fruit into his glass. He winked at Sirius, but was distracted by an almost imperceptible clink: a seed had fallen into the water. He tried to remove it with a fork, such a cute annoyed frown on his face, but in the end he gave up.
He drank, and then said: “You're letting your hair grow.”
It wasn't a question, but more of a statement. Sirius nodded. As a teenager, he had always worn shoulder-length hair, but in recent years he had decided to let it grow, just to try a new style. He liked it: it made him feel more elegant.
“You're very beautiful.”
That compliment made him flush, and he looked down at his plate of pasta, eating in silence, interrupted only by the sound of birds in the distance and the clatter of forks on ceramic.
At the end of the lunch, when Sirius raised his head again, he saw Lily looking at him. James took their plates and stood up, clearing the table.
“So, Padfoot,” she said, making him wince at the use of the nickname, “Do you want to go to the sea or the pool?”
He didn't even know there was a pool. The idea intrigued him, but…
“Sea” he replied. She nodded. “Go change then, while we wash the dishes.”
About twenty minutes later (for some strange reason, he had an existential crisis trying to choose a costume), when he came back down to the living room, there was no sign of James and Lily. He could hear their voices booming, though, and could only imagine that they were already at the beach. He went towards them.
They were both in swimsuits, Lily in an emerald green bikini and James in a pair of shorts printed with the silhouettes of some palm trees. They were putting sunscreen on each other, laughing. When Sirius stumbled on the hot sand, and they turned, he knew he had interrupted a moment.
“Do you want us to help you put it on?” Lily said, handing him the cream. She was beautiful, and when Sirius looked at her for a second too long, he felt somehow that he had betrayed James.
“Um, no. I'll do it myself” he said, taking it and walking away.
He saw James and Lily exchange an incomprehensible look and a smile.
“Okay, then. We're going."
And they rushed to the sea, splashing and pushing through the waves.
They were twenty-six years old, but they acted like two teenagers. They teased each other, running among the waves, insulted each other at the top of their lungs and then kissed immediately afterwards. The water sent strange reflections on their bodies and, when Sirius dived into the sea, they immediately threw themselves at him, wetting him from head to toe.
He screamed at them, but laughed nonetheless.
If there was anything that Sirius in particular hadn't taken into consideration, it was the thought that James had invited him to the island to play and have fun. He hadn't felt such lightheartedness in years, since the last prank he pulled at school before graduating. And, if he thought that James might have lived such a life all the years he had been traveling, he felt a pang of jealousy.
They spent the afternoon in the water, on the beach sunbathing, and then back in the sea. Sirius swam exploring the seabed, collecting beautiful shells ("But don't touch or take the starfish out of the water!" Lily warned him, "They die if you do. Many people say they can last 3 minutes outside, but they don't have a built-in timer!”). He watched James teach Lily to do a handstand in the water, and then he swam where he couldn't touch the seabed, so he sank completely beneath the ocean.
The sun was blinding, and Sirius knew he had burned his shoulders. James, however, seemed to glow. His dark, wet skin glistened, reflecting the sunlight, and Sirius was distracted several times by the drops of water running down his pectorals and the muscles of his arms, which flexed every time he lifted Lily and hurled her into the sea, making her scream and laugh.
Several times he met James' gaze, and each time he smiled at him. It was only towards evening, when Lily left there to go prepare dinner, that Sirius had the opportunity to speak to his best friend. They were sitting on the sand, with their feet in the sea, looking at the horizon in silence. Their shoulders touched, missing physical contact.
And James cleared his throat. “I know I was an asshole to you, and I'm sorry.”
Sirius pursed his lips and turned to look at him. “A real asshole.” He still didn't understand how it could happen, “Why did you ignore me?”
James took a deep breath, and began drawing little spirals in the sand. “I was scared.”
"Scared?"
“Yes, scared of you.”
Sirius raised both eyebrows, particularly offended. “When, in all our years of friendship, have I ever given you the impression that I could be scary?”
James looked away, and grimaced, as if he'd swallowed something very bitter. “More times than you can imagine.”
That answer left Sirius breathless. He curled up, bringing his knees to his chest and saw a small fish swimming not far from them.
“Sorry, then.”
James laughed. “And for what? It's my fault."
“No, it's my fault too. And then, you've already apologized to me many times."
They were silent again, and suddenly it seemed to Sirius that they were no longer on the island, but once again sitting under the trees in James's garden, eating strawberries and getting their fingers dirty, rolling in the freshly cut grass, with Effie's reproaches far away, muffled by their laughter.
James smiled, and pushed a long lock of black hair away from Sirius' face. “I missed you, Pads.”
"I missed you too."
He did. He had missed him like oxygen, like the color yellow, like the joy he had taken away leaving. For a moment, he forgot all his anger.
“Come on, let's go take a shower. So we can eat without being all sticky.”
They got up and headed home. Like a few hours before, Lily looked up from her phone when she saw them walk in together.
But, this time, she smiled.
***
Sirius spent the rest of the holidays mostly outdoors, despite the sweltering heat.
He had the opportunity to explore the house, which seemed to never end and contained all sorts of entertainment: a cinema with red armchairs, a music room, an immense bathroom with different shades of light in the mirror, a hot tub with a strobosphere and a large button that, when pressed, started playing Dancing Queen by Abba.
Outside, at the back of the house, there was a huge in-ground pool with a diving board and a big tree with a large hammock. The house was surrounded by a forest, and one day James took Sirius to explore it. But they ran away soon after, chased by a small monkey, until Lily scared it away by throwing a furry slipper at it.
Despite their three different personalities and lifestyles, they managed to find a balance. They took turns cooking lunch and dinner, and cleaning. There were certain schedules to respect, such as shower times, but they were free to spend the rest of the hours as they pleased.
Often, when Sirius woke up and went down to the kitchen, he’d find Lily sitting in the living room, in her bathrobe, with a bluish face mask smeared on her skin. She flipped through magazines, put on nail polish or video-called her Californian friends. If Sirius entered the room, they would stop talking for a moment, before starting again, ignoring his presence. They called him “Tampon” and James “Sugar daddy,” and Lily had saved them both that way on her phone.
James spent most of his days training, Sirius played an acoustic guitar or simply watched the couple: he found observing them fascinating, hypnotic. Something about their attitude made them transcendent.
“Can you make me a drink?” Lily asked one afternoon.
She sat on the edge of the pool, sunbathing and reading the Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath. James had gone out on the boat to “stock up on food” and Sirius was staring at the sky, floating in the water.
Every now and then, even boredom reached that remote island. And so, with nothing better to do, Sirius got out of the pool and grabbed a towel.
“Okay” he said, walking towards the house, dripping everywhere and leaving wet footprints on the floor. Lily looked at him for a while, then closed the book and ran to catch up with him.
The kitchen was his kingdom. James, who knew more recipes than anyone else, at first seemed like he was the best at cooking. But once he learned the technique, Sirius excelled at preparation.
He moved the dirty dishes to the sink, tied his hair up in the towel, and then turned to Lily, who was sitting on the counter.
“What do you want me to prepare for you?”
She smiled. “A mojito.”
Fresh and light. Just like her.
As soft background music filled the kitchen, Lily helped him find all the ingredients. The little mint that remained, the rum, a measly shriveled lime and a generous confection of sugar (they had never cooked a dessert since Sirius had arrived).
The sun, which entered through the large window behind him, warmed his back; and Sirius started to work, humming, feeling Lily's gaze crossing him, following his every movement with curiosity, attention, and something deeper, hungry.
“Why do you like James?” he asked her, suddenly.
He had often thought about that question, when in the evening he saw them kissing sitting on the sofa, or running towards their room, murmuring secrets in each other's ears.
Lily laughed. Leaning towards him, in one sharp swipe, he freed Sirius' hair from the towel, and it fell onto his shoulders and face, wet but no longer dripping.
She caressed them, looking at him, biting her lip. “For the same reason you like him, I guess: because he makes me feel good.”
They were close. From this distance, Sirius could count every freckle on the girl's nose, make out the way her red eyelashes blended into the brown of her mascara.
Then he heard her words, with a slight delay.
“I don't like James” he said, stirring the drink.
"No?" she asked, with a smile.
"No."
“How strange” Lily commented.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. He hadn't even noticed that she had turned off the music and came closer. "Why?"
But Lily ignored him. “I don't care, you know? If you like him, I mean. You can have him.”
She was serious. There was not a single trace of irony on her face.
“What are you saying?”
“You can have him.” The hand in his hair gripped the strands tighter, “You can have me too, if you want.”
She smelled like rose bubble bath and liquorice. Her plump lips were red, shiny with gloss.
He realized he'd made a mistake by looking at them when she lifted her face, bringing it a few centimeters from his, higher above the counter.
“Do you want to kiss me?”
And Sirius, Sirius never lied. Yet, he had never considered that truth.
When he nodded, it was like confessing his greatest crime. But, when Lily kissed him, every hesitation lost its meaning and importance. They moved gently, uncertain at first; but it didn't take them long to lose themselves in the sensation, abandoning to desire. Lily wrapped her legs around his torso, inserting her tongue between his teeth, and Sirius melted.
He felt incredibly satisfied, proud. But, even though he had Lily in his arms, he couldn't stop himself from thinking about James, who he still resented. James, who had abandoned him; James, who had forgotten about him, thinking about Lily. Lily, who had stolen James from Sirius. And now Sirius was going to steal Lily from James.
But, when she separated and Sirius, in the silence of the kitchen, heard a door close and some bags fall to the floor, he froze.
James looked at them, a few steps away, with his mouth wide open. But he didn't seem upset, just...
“Fuck.”
Lily laughed proudly. And it got on Sirius' nerves.
“James, I–”
“You're not angry, are you?” she interrupted.
James rolled his eyes, running his hands through his hair and messing it up even more than usual. “Of course I am!”
Sirius couldn't breathe. “Oh God, I don't know why I did it.”
But neither James nor Lily were paying him any attention. And what his best friend said next made him freeze.
“You said, and I have the recording, that you wouldn't kiss him before me!”
What?
“Come on, don't be so tragic.”
James crossed his arms over his chest. “I should have made you sign that contract…”
Lily burst out laughing, inches from Sirius's ear, and he gasped.
He couldn't understand anything. He had betrayed his best friend by kissing his girlfriend. So why did James seem so calm about it? With an open shopping bag at his feet, the annoyed but resigned look of someone admitting defeat. He placed the food in the pantry, slightly sweaty from the effort of carrying the groceries home, under the sun.
When he turned and met Sirius' gaze, however, he smiled tenderly at him.
“Oh, Pads, I'm sorry for interrupting you. You can continue what you started. Or do you want more privacy? Can I go out..."
“No, James,” Lily replied, voicing his thoughts, “He wants you.”
“Huh?!” exclaimed Sirius, at the same time as James, who widened his eyes, clearly happy, and, smiling, asked: "Really?"
He was bursting with joy, and Sirius' heart skipped a beat. The realization took his breath away; but, when James approached, he felt drawn to him like a magnet.
“What's happening?” was all he could ask, “Aren't you really together?”
And, this time, Lily let James talk. “Of course we're together, we’d never lie to you about that. But… Well, every now and then we like to accept a third person in our relationship, as long as we both agree to it.”
Sirius gasped. “And so you… I…”
“Yes,” Lily said, breathlessly, “Yes.”
He didn't know how to react, overwhelmed by emotions. Submerged by desire, that he felt for Lily, who he had spent the last few weeks admiring and observing, and that, unconsciously, he felt for James, from the first day they met, for all his life.
He looked at his best friend, his eyes dark.
"Do you want–”
But Sirius didn't let him finish the sentence because, driven by an inexplicable voracity, he grabbed his face and pulled him in for a kiss.
Even though he had almost attacked him, passionately, James kissed sweetly and slowly. He took his time, dampening Sirius' rush, caressing his hair and intertwining his fingers with Lily's. It was a kiss that had no end. And Sirius certainly wouldn't have stopped if James hadn't pushed him away.
“Lily” he breathed out.
Of course, Lily, who was looking at them with lust-filled eyes. Lily.
“What should I do?” Sirius asked, expecting an indication.
They both grabbed his right wrist and brought his hand against the girl's costume, with the same urgency, as if they could both feel each other's desire.
Surius caressed the panty, looking up for permission, and when she nodded, he slid his fingers underneath. She was wet, and they both sighed as they felt it. James, with his face pressed against Sirius' shoulder, stopped breathing.
“Come on, what are you waiting for?” Lily complained. And, obeying, Sirius slipped a finger inside her.
She made a barely audible sound of pleasure, which made all of Sirius' blood flow downwards into his costume. James moved his long hair to one side, and began kissing his neck. His lips were soft, running over Sirius' wet skin and collecting the water. Then lips were replaced by tongue, and Sirius felt his knees buckle.
It was difficult to concentrate on Lily while James took care of him. But he turned his attention back to her, moving his finger inside her and watching her react to the sensation.
“It's not enough,” he heard her say, as if it weren't obvious, “More.”
He hesitated, but James laughed inches from his ear. “Come on, Sirius. Please her."
And so, unable to resist, he added a second finger, which made her throw her head back, while James' hand went down Sirius' chest and, furtively, slipped inside his costume.
He had to hold on to the counter to keep from losing his balance as James's wet hand began to caress his erection. Slowly, too slowly.
“James” he pleaded, curling his fingers into Lily, making her moan.
He was overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by pleasure, by the heat of the two bodies against his, by the sweet words that James whispered in his ear. “You're doing great, Sirius, don't stop.”
And he didn't stop. He pushed his hips into James's hand, red in the face, panting, and added another finger, the third, moving his hand mercilessly and ignoring Lily's cries of pleasure, ignoring the way she called his name, the way she kissed James, which almost made him come.
He lost himself in the pleasure, in the sweet touch of his friends, in their smells mixed on him, in the light coming from the kitchen. He closed his eyes as Lily reached climax first, arching her back and trembling, and James began to move his hand in Sirius' costume faster, disjointedly, desperately.
“Take care of him” Lily said, smiling and lying back on the kitchen counter, taking in big gulps of air.
Sirius pulled his fingers out of her, completely wet, and wrapped his hand around James' erection, hearing him let out a deep sound of pleasure, and began to move it along his length.
They looked into each other's eyes, kissed, and came into each other's hands, caressed by Lily.
Sirius collapsed with his elbows on the counter, trying to catch his breath, sweaty and clammy. He still couldn't understand what had just happened, he still struggled to believe that he wasn't actually dreaming.
Yet, when he raised his head, he saw James licking his fingers and reaching for the unfinished glass of mojito, observing it with an attentive gaze.
Lily played with his hair while adjusting his glasses with her other hand.
“Were you making a drink?” he asked.
Sirius nodded.
“Can I have one too?”
And suddenly, as if nothing had happened, Lily stood up and picked up the ingredients, pushing them towards Sirius and looking at him with expectant eyes.
He blinked, shocked. But, after a few seconds, he burst out laughing.
“Okay” he said, again.
He took another glass and got back to work, pouring, stirring.
And, as he created the perfect combination, he glanced at James and Lily, sitting in front of him, arguing over the song choice.
He shook his head and, for the umpteenth time, he found himself wondering: what the fuck?