chapter 4
Lily Evans is not having a very good day. Lily Evans has been in the city for less than 4 hours, and she has never been more confused in her life. She (somewhat idiotically) thought that it would be fine for her to attempt to navigate London with her two humongous suitcases, all by herself. She had climbed off the train at Euston, aiming to head underground, and promptly got lost on the northern line. She knows that she’s a smart girl, but there was something about London that made it seem so cultish. If you’re a Londoner, you would just understand all of this. Maybe she wasn’t a city girl.
There was only one good thing about this move, which was living in the same city as remus. The two haven’t lived in the same area since she was in secondary school with him, wasting their lives together in her bedroom. Watching movies, listening to music. Getting drunk in the park and crying because they wanted to escape. Getting drunk in her room and crying because all they wanted was to feel at home in their homes. Their families had been friends for aeons, and lily knows that even when they didn’t live right next door to one another, remus would’ve flown across the world for her if she asked. Remus would do anything for the people he loved, if they asked. Sometimes even if they didn’t.
Last March, Remus had a birthday party/ housewarming party at his place. He had introduced her to all of his friends, and she had smiled politely and pretended that she liked them. Two of them, supposedly his best friends (she definitely didn’t grit her teeth at that), were the most idiotic men she had ever had the blessing of interacting with. She was staying the night with them, before heading back up to their childhood home. One of the two boys was by Remus's side the entire night, asking him if he was having fun, feeling okay. The other one had gotten completely sloshed and followed lily around the whole night. He repeatedly harassed her for her phone number, a date the next morning, an opportunity to spend more time with her. To be honest, she was mostly pissed off because he wouldn’t leave her alone. She didn’t like the attention. She didn’t even remember his name.
At one point, she had yelled at him for interrupting her in the middle of a conversation she was having with Remus and his roommate's girlfriend, marlene. She was explaining the plot of a true crime documentary she had been watching on the way there, before the idiot man had spoken in the middle of her sentence, explaining that he had also seen it. He had then had the nerve to explain why he thought the man convicted was innocent, which was what she had been planning to say till then. He kept turning to her, mid sentence, and asking things like “you agree, right? You know what I mean? Should I re-explain?”
It was one thing for this prick to ask her out too many times, and it was another for him to mansplain her own conversation topic back to her. He was on her last nerves. When he had finally finished rambling, he turned to her as if waiting for her to praise him; run into his arms as if she had never been more overjoyed. Why would she be impressed by a moderate display of intellect? She deserved more, and she knew that his obsession would fade the minute he saw her in regular light, in clothes that showed her figure instead of hiding them.
“Listen, I know you’re just trying to be nice. But would you fuck off? I’m not here for some one night hook-up, I thought that was clear. And I don't need you to mansplain my favourite show to me, you condescending prick. Your entire personality fucking screams privilege, and when you find your size zero, model wife, you wont even remember me. Can you leave me the fuck alone?”
Remus had glared at her then, and she felt bad for any problems she had caused with his friends. But as an apology was forming in her mouth, she watched him school his frown back into an easy grin. He pushed past her, gently. Reassuringly grabbed remus’ shoulder as he walked past, and went to talk to someone else. What the fuck? This guy ruined her night, and the minute she tried to do the same to him he walked off and her insults rolled off his back like water. She wanted to scream in frustration.
Looking up at the same man now, she can’t help but believe that the universe is playing some long-term cosmic joke on her.
“Oh god, not you.” she groaned, pushing her fingers up her nose bridge and taking a moment to stare at the floor and regain her composure. Looking at his idiot face brought the same rush of irritation as the first time.
“Me? You know me? You’re Lily Evans, right?”
“From Remus's birthday party?”
“Oh! Oh-”
“Yeah, exactly. I was expecting some mid white guy, with a name like James Potter.”
"I don’t really know what to say to that. Sorry I'm not white?”
“Oh my god, you are still insufferable. Can you at least take me inside?”
“Um, okay,” he says.
He pushes his glasses up his nose and rolls up his sleeves, before putting his arm around her waist, lifting her up, and taking her inside. He turns around promptly and grabs her two bags that are sitting, abandoned, in the empty hallway, and places them next to her in the living room. He lifted her like she weighed nothing? He hadn’t even broken a sweat.
“Excuse me, what the actual fuck?”
A look of horrified realisation dawned across his face, as if he just realised what he did.
“Oh, oh my god, what the fuck did I do, why the fuck did I do that-” he is running his hands quite violently through his hair, and it ends up standing up, like static. “Oh my god, that is so stupid, I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, I do not know the meaning of personal space, I have low impulse control as it is, but you’re pretty and it makes me nervo-”
“Oh good god, just shut up. Please. It was weird, but it's fine. Warn me? Maybe? Next time?”
As she starts dragging her two suitcases down the hall and to the door of the open bedroom, he reaches over to help pick up the bags. She glares at him. He puts his hands up in surrender, backs away.
“Would you like some lunch?”
“We’re,” huff, “Not,”huff, “Eating together.”
She shouts this last part from down the hall, looking around at her surprisingly big bedroom. James doesn’t respond to this, and she sticks her head into the living room to find him already cooking. He smiles awkwardly at her, and it seems that he is wearing one of those gag gift aprons. Emblazoned on the front in bedazzled letters, it says “let me eat your meat!”
“James, you are deeply irritating and I'd rather not know anything about your personal life. But why does your apron, I mean,”
She gestures in a semi violent manner, as if she hates that she's even asked.
“It's funny because I'm straight and I'm vegetarian. Although I'm not always straight, and I'm not always vegetarian. My mate, Sirius, bought it for me, but I think he just wanted to embarrass me in front of the ladies. Not that there are any ladies! I don’t normally bring people home. I assume he just wanted to embarrass me in front of all our friends. I cook for them all the-”
“I don’t remember asking for your life story,” she interrupted. “And don’t cook for me without asking first, because I don’t particularly want to eat every meal with you.”
she says the last part to the space next to his ear, a bit afraid of watching his smile falter slightly. It was like kicking a puppy, she thought, and then immediately shook her head to get rid of that idea. This is the same guy who asked you if you were still listening in the middle of his ramblings because he really thought he could seduce you by mansplaining. Get it the fuck together, evans.
The universe is definitely playing some cosmic joke on her.