You are viewing a story from harrypotterfanfiction.com
View Online | Printer Friendly Version of Entire Story
Format: Novel
Chapters: 21
Word Count: 153,513
Status: WIP
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Strong Language, Strong Violence, Scenes of a Sexual Nature, Substance Use or Abuse, Sensitive Topic/Issue/Theme, Contains Spoilers
Genres: General, Humor, Romance
Characters: James (II), OC, OtherCanon
Pairings: James/OC, Other Pairing
First Published: 01/08/2012
Last Chapter: 04/24/2013
Last Updated: 04/24/2013
Summary:The most gorgeous banner by atellam ^^ | | Gryffindor Story of the Month, June 2012
Just ignore him, Gwen, you can do it! He doesn't feel the same way.
Look away, don't get distracted by those gorgeous eyes of his.
"You look beautiful," he whispered in my ear.
Oh lord, stop saying stuff like that! Can't you see I'm...
Trying not to love you
Chapter 8: Chapter eight - Cue the awkward silence
[View Online]
[View Online]
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything else that you might recognize.
Chapter eight – Cue the awkward silence
I can do this.
Yeah, just focus on something else.
Now if he would only stop playing with my hair…
Just ignore him, Gwen! You can do this!
“Aunt Ginny, you looked gorgeous!” Victoire cried and I managed to turn my attention away from the soft hands that were buried in my hair.
“Oh, thank you, sweetie!” The redhead beamed.
I shifted in my position on the floor in front James and my eyes finding the large white sheet we where using as a screen on the wall. The couple there were dancing and beaming at each other, practically glowing with happiness. Surrounded by their closest friends and family, Harry looked handsome in his dress robes, his hair messier than ever. Ginny was in a beautiful white dress, with her flaming red hair in big loose curls down her back, a striking contrast to the pale fabric. They looked so radiant and happy together, just like they do every day.
I wish I could find someone who loved me like that.
“I’ve completely messed up your hair.” James, who was sitting on the couch, leaned closer to whisper in my ear. I resisted the shiver caused by his hot breath brushing my skin and just hemmed.
“Really, it’s a big tangled ball right now,” he continued.
“Can’t be worse than yours.” I chuckled. James tugged my hair in retaliation to my comment and I elbowed his calf. It made him yelp and Victoire to shush us amusedly.
I turned my attention back to the screen. All the planning I had gone through for James’s birthday present hadn’t been a complete waste after all, as Hermione had pointed out that we could use the pensive to watch the wedding memories of all the Weasley women, trying to pick up ideas for Victoire’s and Teddy’s ceremony. Which was exactly what we were doing.
They’d all had such lovely weddings; homey and down to earth, filled with some hilarious moments that warmed your heart. But still, it made me feel a bit melancholic, only reminding me of the fact that I could never have what they had had. I didn’t have a big family, I only had one person who was related to me, and I never wanted to see him again. The only other person that was close enough to me was my best friend and the members of his family.
It was quite sad actually.
Not that I even wanted a big wedding. For me, perfection would be a deserted beach, with only me and the man I loved, married under a starlit sky. Something that was away from all this hassle that’s surrounding me and my life, that would be all I really wanted.
But I doubt that’s ever going to happen. First of all, I’d need to get over my feelings for James – which, despite my efforts, didn’t look like it was going to happen anytime soon - and then find someone else whom I could fall in love with just as passionately. Yeah, highly likely. I don’t think I’m that lucky.
Oh Godric, why did I let myself to fall for him in the first place?
No, that’s a stupid question. It’s not like I had a choice. I don’t think any woman on this damned planet could resist his charms, and there I was, right in the middle of it all, getting the full effect every single day. It would probably be odd if I hadn’t fallen in love with him.
But it’s my own fault I haven’t gotten over him, same with everything else in my life; continually pushing things into to the background, only dealing with them when I have to and always choosing the easiest way out. And the fact that I let my heart fool itself into thinking he might actually feel something similar towards me wasn’t really helping either.
My plan to get over him needed a re-write.
Firstly, I need to force my heart to understand that he really doesn’t feel anything but platonic love towards me. That should be easy, I mean, if there was something else between us, he would’ve reacted already. James isn’t good at hiding his feelings; he couldn’t keep them as a secret from me.
I’ll just have to pass all the cute comments and think about something else.
“So, any ideas?” Victoire asked and I focused my attention back to the surrounding people. Apparently the memory had ended; Ginny was bottling it back into the little vial. It had been the last one; we had already watched all the others.
“It’ll be held at the Burrow, right?” Louis questioned.
“Yeah. I would’ve wanted to organize it here, but the wind off the sea will be a nightmare. So the Burrow seems like a better option,” Victoire explained. “And it’ll be the same place where mum and dad got married. I think it’ll be nice to have that added sentimental value.” She beamed at her mother.
“You’ll need loads of tissues, Aunt Fleur!” Rose reminded.
“I’ve already prepared for that.” The blonde woman hemmed.
“Oh Merlin, mum will cry again too, won’t she? She was so happy when Harry and I got married, that she barely managed to say anything other than ‘Finally!’” Ginny said. “Maybe one day I’ll get to experience that too, eh boys?” she continued, glancing at her two sons.
“You think those two will ever find a girl that’ll endure them enough to marry them? No, I think Lily’s your only hope,” Dominique joined the conversation. “Oh, and let’s hope they don’t reproduce!”
“Oi! I don’t know about Al, but I am planning to get married and be a dad too!” James protested.
“Hah, I can’t see you ever settling down, dear cousin!” Dom laughed.
“Oh, I will. One day. In the distant future. Though my wedding will be completely different from all of this,” James gestured at the wedding memories, “…stuff. Talk about boring, mum.”
Ginny raised a threatening eyebrow and James immediately took cover behind me.
“Some Gryffindor you are,” I muttered to him and sent Ginny a smile. She was sniggering enjoyably at her son’s actions.
“Well I knew she wouldn’t hex you!” James said, returning to my side.
“Anyway, I bet it’d be different. You’d throw a huge party and invite all your friends, wouldn’t you” Dom continued the topic.
“Actually, no,” James said and pondered awhile. “I don’t want a big wedding; something really small… and private, you know? Like a beach wedding or something…” he trailed off.
Oh Merlin, even his wedding plans are similar to mine; kill me now, because I have no way of making it through this alive.
“What about you, Gwenny?” Dom questioned me.
“Hmm? Sorry, I wasn’t listening,” I commented, trying to buy some time and think of what to say. I couldn’t just say the exact same thing.
“Haven’t you ever pictured what your wedding would be like?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe…” I started but was interrupted by the knocking on the front door. Fleur rushed into the hall to see who it was.
“As I was saying, maybe something really small. I really haven’t thought about it that much.” I shrugged.
“Are you guys both saying that you wouldn’t invite me?” Dom teased.
“Yeah.” We laughed in unison.
“Some cousin you are,” Dom muttered to James. “And you too, Gwenny! You’re practically family, you have to invite me to your wedding!”
“Let’s not jump ahead of ourselves here. I need to find a guy who I want to marry first;” I chuckled.
James opened his mouth to say something but didn’t get the chance as Victoire’s friend, Samantha, walked in the room with Fleur.
“Sorry I’m late, I overslept! Had a horrible day at work last night. I got home long after midnight.” Samantha grimaced at the memory.
“It’s fine; don’t worry about it. We were just looking at old wedding memories, you didn’t miss much.” Victoire smiled.
“Aww, I wanted to see them! Did you get any ideas?” the black-haired girl asked.
“Yeah; for instance, it’s not a good idea to have a band of goblins to play at your wedding. Gobbledegook isn’t a pretty language, particularly when sung,” Victoire said, sending an amused glance towards Freddy’s mum, Angelina.
“Oi! Don’t look at me; it was George’s idea. But you can’t honestly say you didn’t laugh even once during that memory. You can imagine how much fun we had then, which is exactly what your wedding day should be like; full of laughter and happiness with the people you love.” The woman grinned.
“Oh, yes. I want to see Uncle Ron and Harry do that dance again!” Vic laughed and mouthed the word ‘embarrassing’ to Samantha.
“I wonder where you inherited your flawless dancing skills.” I smirked at James’s direction.
“I happen to be an excellent dancer. You should know that; you’re the one who needs all my help to keep in time.”
Okay, that’s probably like hundred per cent true.
Why does he have to shine in everything he does?
“Hey, James! How are you?” Samantha appeared next to us and batted her lashes at my best friend.
Ignore her Gwen. Let’s see if that works better than forcing myself to look and suffer.
I pretended to be interested with the wedding stuff on the table so I didn’t have to watch the flirty glances she was throwing James who, of course, was winking back at her.
“I’m fine. Anxious about tomorrow’s game; want to test out our new moves on the Tornados,” he replied, poking my side and successfully returning me to the conversation.
“Hey there, Gwen,” Samantha greeted me.
I smiled; she was a nice girl after all, and my stupid feelings had nothing to do with her.
“Who have you slept with?” she asked.
“What?” I gasped.
“You have sex hair,” She giggled.
Right. My hair was still messy.
“Oh, you can blame James for that,” I hemmed, glancing at my best friend’s direction. He seemed to find Samantha’s claim highly amusing; sniggering while drinking his juice.
“Right, so it finally happened then?” Her tone was one of disappointment, and I peered at her, trying to keep the suspicion off my face.
“What happened?” I asked.
“You and James. You’re together then?” she clarified.
Many things happened at that sentence. I froze to the spot, not knowing how to respond. But that lasted only point o five seconds as the next thing I knew was the pumpkin juice shower that James had spurted, covering the right side of my face. I turned to look at his bewildered expression, noticing that everyone else in the room had fallen silent.
“Sorry!” James managed to mutter, despite the beetroot colour of his face, as he took out his wand cleaning the liquid off my face.
“So, you aren’t together then?” Samantha looked puzzled.
“No!” I responded immediately, hearing James’s voice unite with mine.
“Oh, right. Sorry, forget I said anything then!” The black-haired girl started to blush too.
Oh, Merlin; she was one of them too! She also thought we’d end up together one day, didn’t she? How have I never noticed any of this?
“Wait - what did you mean with ‘finally’?” James asked, sounding suspicious.
“Oh, I –“ Samantha started, eyeing around the room, looking for an escape, but all the Weasley’s seemed to be suddenly interested at the patterns on the wall. The girl sighed, turning to look at us embarrassedly. “I’ve always thought you two will end up together eventually,” she muttered.
I could feel the blush creeping on my cheeks and I just stared at Samantha, unable to say anything and not even planning to. James would handle this, I was sure.
“What? Wh-why would you think something like that?” he stuttered.
“I- I don’t know! Because you’re always together and really close?” she suggested.
“We’re best friends! That’s normal. Right, Gwen?” James looked at me for backup.
Oh, shit.
I couldn’t speak; my voice would give me away immediately.
“Yeah” was all I managed.
“Well me and Vic are best friends, but we don’t see nearly as much as you guys do. Only person she sees as much is Teddy, and they’re together.” Samantha shrugged.
“Right…” James murmured.
Cue the awkward silence in 3 - 2 - 1... and - Oh, look. There it is.
Charming.
Fortunately, Victoire stepped in that moment; easing some of the tension. I guess she couldn’t watch us suffering anymore. “Alright then; planning. We’ve still got a million things to finalise, and I don’t want you all giving up the whole day to help me out.”
The room was quickly filled with mutterings and conversations on napkins, but the atmosphere between James and me was still awkward. He was still standing in the same spot, looking rather puzzled, a light pink colour still visible on his cheeks. I wanted to say something, but didn’t know how I could work on fixing it.
Oh Godric, this won’t end well.
He’ll bring up the subject later; I know it.
Because things weren’t damned well hard enough for me already…
*
“So, what do you want to do?” James asked as we entered the hallway again. We had just returned from Shell Cottage to return the pensieve to his flat and start our relaxing afternoon, a ritual we did together before every game.
“Whatever you want to do, as long as it’s something easy,” I replied, shrugging indifferently.
Although, dropping at Fortescue’s wouldn’t be a bad idea.
“Ice-cream it is then.” James chuckled, reading my mind before I managed to open my mouth.
It’s really infuriating sometimes; that he knows me so well. It’d be a whole lot easier to stop liking him if he wasn’t so damned cute all the time.
We Apparated to the Leaky Cauldron, which thankfully was quite empty - most people still working at this hour - so nobody was there to notice us. But out of force of habit more than anything else, I pulled my hood up as I followed James towards the back door.
The bright sunlight blinded me for a few moments as we stepped outside and I covered my eyes with the pair of muggle sunglasses I had bought last summer. They weren’t much, but they kept the fans away; something I was grateful for, even if they did nothing to get rid of the reporters.
Luckily, today was peaceful; not a single camera in sight. Perhaps they’d finally gotten over me breaking their cameras. That, or, they’d finally realised what a useless story two Quidditch players getting ice cream was, and had gone to find a half-decent story.
Coach McGormack hadn’t liked the last news about broken cameras, and dear Godric, he’d made sure I knew it too. It’s a wonder I was able to walk after the amount of laps he’d made me run. Combine that with all the other physical exercise I’d had to endure, and it was a miracle I wasn’t lying in St. Mungos right now.
Don’t even get me started on what my poor eardrums had gone through. That man had a voice box on him; I’d give him that. Honestly, what does it matter? If anything, all the bad publicity I got might just be enough for the Tornadoes to give me a wide berth, letting me score. He had no problem with scoring, right?
But I guess McGormack has his reasons.
James opened the door of Florean Fortescue’s Ice-cream Parlour, and we stepped inside. The familiar man behind the counter beamed as I removed the sunglasses and lowered my hood; we visited this place far too often, although I never complained.
“Potter! Miller! Over here!” a voice called from the far corner of the room.
I turned my head towards the sound and saw two of our teammates, Stefan Ward and Thomas Anderson, waving at us. We both nodded as a greeting, and then exchanged a few words with the owner as we made our order before joining the two Beaters at their booth.
“Hello Miller. You are looking fine today! Something’s different…” Stefan winked to me as I sat down next to Thomas.
“It’s the hair.” I rolled my eyes at him.
“Oh, you’re right. It’s shiny.” He pursed hi lips while analysing it, before giving my hair a nod of approval.
“For once!” James teased from across the table, and winced as I kicked him.
Good. Serves him right. Even if he is speaking the truth…
Victoire had spent over forty minutes untangling the mess James had made of my hair, leaving it all silky smooth and pretty. I don’t think it’s ever looked this good; totally out of character for me. No wonder Stefan noticed.
“So, any thoughts about tomorrow’s game?” Stefan asked, pushing his long, light brown hair out of his eyes.
“Nothing new. We’ll beat their arses easily enough as long as everyone’s game is up to scratch.” James shrugged.
“Well their Chasers are easy pickings for me and Thommo here, they won’t be even able to see the Bludgers we swing in their direction,” he said cockily.
“You should be aiming on their Seeker, she’s more of a threat. We can handle the Chasers; they won’t even be able to touch the Quaffle!” James laughed.
“Well, we would, but she’s so annoyingly fast – not to mention tiny – it’s hard to get a good shot at her,” Thomas muttered.
“Although, she is quite foxy,” Stefan said with a dreamy smirk on his face.
“Don’t bother. She’s lousy in bed.” The other Beater grinned knowingly.
James and Stefan turned to look at him interestedly while I fought to roll my eyes. “Oh, Merlin…”
If you could see through the obnoxious crust they were both so eager to withhold, they weren’t that bad. But no, they had to keep up it to attract the ladies. Seriously, why do girls always fall for the most chauvinistic type?
Right, because I can talk…
“Jealous, are we, Miller?” Thommo chuckled.
“Oh, yes. My biggest dream is that we’ll fall madly in love,” I said, my tone dripping with sarcasm.
“I’m already there, darling. I’m just perfecting the plan to keep Potter here from killing me when I whisk you off your feet.” He laughed.
“You’re stepping in dangerous territory there, mate,” James commented calmly, taking a bite of his cauldron cake flavoured ice cream.
“Oh, lighten up, Potter. You know I’m just kidding! You’re even more protective of her than you are of your cousins!” Stefan grinned. “Which reminds me; how is the beautiful Roxanne?”
“Still not interested in you, I can tell. And of course I am; Gwen’s the most important person in my life,” James pointed out.
Yep, resisting the mental swoon and concentrating on my portion of ice cream; easy as that.
Not.
“Right, the ‘best friends’ thing.” Thommo sniggered and Stefan snorted in amusement into his food.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” James frowned.
Oh, come on! Not them too! Honestly, does every single person on this planet think we’re going to end up together? Why the hell have I not paid attention to these comments before?
Though, maybe the sideways glances and knowing smirks haven’t been there before? Or maybe I’m just imagining things and everything means something entirely different.
I’m getting paranoid...
“Nothing. Oh, look! We’ve got company,” he replied, turning his attention to the window. We all turned to see a few cameras pointed in our direction.
“Honestly, this will make a great headline: ‘The PoP-players popped at Fortescue’s to enjoy a pre-game Popsicle together,’” Thomas emphasised every ‘pop’ with a nod that sent his blonde hair into his eyes.
“If you ever fail at Quidditch, please remember that you would not succeed as a reporter either. That was awful.” I chuckled and patted Thomas reassuringly on the back.
“Oi! I think it was quite clever.” he protested.
“It really wasn’t,” I commented and the other two nodded in agreement
“Then how about…” Thomas started but the rest of the sentence came out as pointless mumble as I closed his mouth with my hand.
“Save us from it, I beg you!”
“You’re evil, did you know that, Miller?” he muttered, when I released him.
I smacked him in the back of his head and was immediately reminded of the reporters again as the flashing went wild.
Stupid gits, can’t we have any privacy at all here?
“You want to skip to muggle world?” James asked, noticing my annoyed expression towards the window.
“Please?” I sighed in relief.
“Come on, let’s get going then. We’ll see you guys tomorrow! Try not to be hung-over, alright?” James teased.
“Oi! That was one time! And I still played spectacularly!” Stefan called after us as we made our way towards the backdoor, away from the journalists on the main street.
“Sure you did. Take care!” James laughed. I waved as we walked out the exit and Apparated away.
*
What’s wrong with today?
Everything is just wrong and awkward. Like the world just suddenly turned its back on me and decided to make everything difficult.
I mean, seriously. There were at least ten perfectly love-free, action-packed blockbusters on the list when we picked our movie, but guess what our fool proof raffle system ended up choosing for us? Oh yes, the comedy about a girl who’s madly in love with her best friend, but of course, he’s dating another girl and is completely oblivious to how she feels about him.
Sound familiar? Yeah, didn’t think so.
Bloody hell.
Well, at least it did me one favour. When James realised what the plot was about, he immediately released my hand where he’d been absentmindedly fiddling with my fingers, once again. But that left this weird tension between us. So, in the end, it really didn’t do any good after all. I don’t think we’ve ever sat through a whole movie in complete silence.
Oh, come on. Kiss already so we can get out of here.
After another fifteen minutes the screen finally went black and the credits began to roll.
“Ready to go?” James turned his head towards me and finally broke the silence.
“Yeah, lets,” I replied, pushing myself up from the seat.
“Hey, look! For once we actually have popcorn left!” James showed me the half-full cup as he followed me down the stairs.
“Ha! Actually? But we always finish it.” I chuckled.
No; this didn’t surprise me at all. It had just been way too awkward to reach over James and grab some.
“Do you want to head back already?” James asked once we exited the theatre.
“Sure. We should probably have an early night. McGormack will kill me if I fall asleep during the brief tomorrow morning, and I want to avoid giving him any more excuses to make me run laps,” I scowled at the thought.
“True, true.” James half-heartedly agreed, distracted at the group of girls that had just passed by. I turned so I couldn’t see the winks he was giving them and tried to ignore the sounds of their giggles. It was only when they where gone that I turned back towards James, no longer pretending to be interested in the shop front across the road.
“What?” I questioned.
“Just waiting to hear you comment on the film; you always say something as soon as we leave.”
Oh, right. I forgot I was opinionated.
“Well… it was okay, I guess. Quite farfetched for the most part, but if you get past that…” I shrugged.
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” he said quickly.
“Do you want to take the ‘short cut’ through the park?” I asked overly brightly, far too keen to change the subject.
“Sure.” His whole face lit up. The short cut meant an additional forty minutes delay on our walk home, but it was James’s favourite place in the world. There was this one particular tree that he absolutely loved to climb. And then of course, he’d gloat because I couldn’t get as high as he could, unable to reach the branch in the middle thanks to my height.
James started to talk about the tree and his climbing process eagerly and I wanted to sight out of relief. We could do this; we would never let the awkward things to bother us.
“Oh, hold up!” James cried after we’d made it a few block, dashing off somewhere to the left. I started and turned in the direction he was hurrying, noticing an old lady trying to pull herself up. Apparently she had slipped and fallen down on an icy spot while she was crossing the road.
The small hem escaped my lips and I smiled as I watched him help the woman up and assist her to our side of the street.
How do you resist something as cute and chivalrous as him?
“Thank you so much, young man, I can make it from here. You don’t want to keep your girlfriend waiting,” the old lady beamed to him as they stepped on the sidewalk.
What is it with everyone today? Repercussions people! Stuff gets awkward pretty quick when you chose to comment on stuff that doesn’t actually exist, our romantic relationship for one thing.
“Oh, err - she’s not… I mean, we’re not together,” James replied, stumbling on his words a bit.
“Really?”
Why did she have that disbelieving look on her face?
“We’re just friends.” James let out an uncomfortable chuckle.
“Why wouldn’t you be interested in her?” the woman continued her interrogation. “Honestly, boy, make a move already, or you’ll lose her to somebody else. Girls like her won’t wait around forever, you know.”
“Err… I… Well… You know…” James was starting to look quite red already.
But the lady just shook her head as she walked away, muttering something about kids these days.
The painful silence fell upon us as we both stared after the woman.
“Right…” James managed to mutter eventually. “Strange.”
“Yeah,” I replied, not knowing what else to say.
“People are acting weird today…”
“Yeah.” The idea of articulating anything else right now was daunting.
“On second thought, maybe we should just head home?” he suggested.
Oh, James. Please don’t make this worse than it already is.
“Sure.” I just nodded.
We continued to walk side by side quietly. It wasn’t the normal, comforting silence that usually lingered between us from time to time. This was something else; there was some serious awkwardness in the moment that made me feel really uncomfortable. It reminded me too much of Hayden and that’s the last thing I wanted right now.
Or ever.
But I didn’t know how to make the situation any better; for the first time in my life, I didn’t know how to talk to James.
We didn’t speak once during the whole walk to our favourite Apparating place. He stopped to check that nobody was near us, and then turned his eyes towards me. Opening his mouth a few times, trying to say something, he let out a small uncomfortable sound. This was getting more awkward and awkward by every moment. I had to say something.
“Shall we go then?” I managed to force the words out of my mouth.
“Just a second, there’s one thing I wanted to talk to you about,” he murmured, giving me one unsure glance.
“Sure, what’s up?” I questioned.
“I- I wanted to talk about the thing Samantha mentioned today…” he started a bit embarrassedly.
No.
No, no, no, no, no.
No.
Why couldn’t he have just forgotten the whole subject?
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Lily once said something similar to me,” he continued and I stole a quick glance in his direction, wanting to figure out what was going through his head. But James was staring at his feet, leaving me unable to see his expression.
Come on. How was I supposed to give a witty answer that would get rid of this awkwardness if I couldn’t pre-prepare a response?
“Oh?” Why did that sound choked?
“Yeah, but we didn’t much, because we had to desert the kitchen pretty quick after I managed to drop a whole bottle of salamander blood in her potion,” he explained with a small chuckle.
I remembered the explosion. I’d been playing wizard chess with Al and had used the time he’d gone to investigate what had happened to re-organize his chess pieces so I would win for once. Didn’t work out, but it was fun to see him suffer for a few seconds.
“I asked her about it later, but she said she’d just been joking. I bought it back then, but now I wonder if it wasn’t a joke after all,” he added, running his hand through his hair.
Even though he did it all the time, I could tell it was a sign of awkwardness.
What the hell does all of this mean? Maybe it’s just because we never talk about stuff like this that I have no idea what I’m supposed to say?
“And you know, there have been looks from other members of my family and friends too that I’ve thought to be a bit suspicious. I’ve never been bothered by them so much, I’ve just let them pass, but come to think of it, maybe they have been thinking about it too. What do you think?” he said, turning to look at me.
Hmm, he had the puzzled look on his face. Another completely pointless clue. I have no idea what answer he’s looking for…
Okay, time to play it safe. Casual tone, don’t let it show that you’re bothered about this.
“Jenny said something like that during Christmas, that she thought there was something going on between us. But Victoire hurried to interrupt her, and she said that they don’t say stuff like that to us to avoid things getting awkward. But apparently they’ve all thought about it once,” I commented.
“They have? Why didn’t you tell me this then?” he questioned.
“What would’ve I said? ‘Hey, I know your dating and all, but guess what Vic said?’ I bet Kat would’ve loved that.” I used a chuckle to hide my embarrassment.
“Yeah, I bet she would have.” James laughed. “But after that, I mean. It’s been over a week since we broke up.”
“Should I have shouted it to you across the pitch then? I’m sure the team would’ve loved that. That’s all we’ve been doing for the past week; practising,” I pointed out. “And, I also may not have mentioned it because I’d completely forgotten about it?”
Okay, that last part was a lie, but he doesn’t have to know that.
“Alright then.” He nodded, a slight smile on his face, but not enough to cease my worrying. “Well, anyway, I don’t know why they couldn’t just say it. They should know that we never get awkward. We can talk about anything, right?”
No. Not everything.
“Yeah. Definitely,” I replied.
“We’ll never let anything make it weird between us, right?”
Does he mean something with that?
Oh Godric, he knows! He knows I’m in love with him and he’s trying to subtly hint that I should let it go, isn’t he?
Well you’re in luck, buddy! Can’t you see I’m trying not to love you already?
“Right, nothing can come between us,” I said firmly.
“Good!” He ruffled my hair with both of his hands.
I opened my mouth to protest but James just laughed, interlacing his hand with mine and pulling me on a side-along Apparation.
Have I mentioned that I hate it when he does that?
We materialised in front of the familiar apartment building. I loosened my grip on James’s hand, but he refused to let go. His soft fingers only tightened around mine, like he had no desire to ever let me leave him. My heart started to thump faster than before; this was new behaviour.
A hem escaped James’s lips. “How did your hair manage to get all messed up from the Apparation?”
“I don’t even have an explanation anymore.” I rolled my eyes.
The warm smile on his face was so captivating. I wanted to just let my feelings loose once again; to love him with all my heart, but I couldn’t do it. This was just an act, or my own imaginary doing tricks. I’m not falling for it this time.
James let out a laugh as he turned to face me, his fingers brushing a stray hair behind my ear. “You know, it does look like sex hair when it’s all messed up.” He smirked.
Right… And what next? ‘Yuck, I can’t even picture something like that because it would be wrong and stuff, sis?’
“I love it. It’s very hot. You should wear it like this more often.”
I’m pretty sure everything stopped moving right then, while my mouth just fell open. James doesn’t say stuff like that.
Well, no. He does; just not to me.
This is the moment when you usually wake up, Gwen.
But he was still standing there, right in front of me, staring at me with those bedazzling eyes of his, still holding my hand. Every rational thought escaped my mind as I just goggled back at him, refusing to believe what I had just heard.
But it had happened, right? I couldn’t have imagined that, right? I just couldn’t.
Oh Merlin, why is he doing this to me?
“Are you tired already?” James asked, brushing another lock aside.
I shook my head as an answer as my mouth wasn’t working at all.
“Good, me neither. You want to do something else?” he continued.
I nodded and watched his whole face light up. “Great, let’s go up to your flat. I’ve got something I want to -“ he started but a sudden cough interrupted him. We both spun around, the butterflies in my stomach being immediately replaced by the sensation of falling.
“Kat? What are you doing here?” James questioned with a surprised tone.
The blonde girl was staring at the both of us, an expression I couldn’t quite read plastered across her face. She snapped out of it quickly though, turning all her attention to James and batting her eyelashes like she had a medical condition.
“I came to see you. I wanted to talk,” she replied, voice filled with honey.
“You’re wasting your time,” James said in a flat tone, which gave enough hope for the warm feeling in my stomach to slowly return.
“Well, I have something for you. It won’t take long. Then you can continue whatever it was you were doing,” she commented, sending me a loathing look. I could tell she wanted to say something more, but she bit her tongue. It wouldn’t do her any good to loose her temper now.
James seemed to be considering her words for a moment, before eventually sighing. “Fine. I’ll give you five minutes, that’s all. Take it or leave it.”
“I’ll take it,” she said, a small, smug smile dancing on her lips.
“Right,” James nodded, then turning to look at me again. “Sorry… I – I’ll come by when she leaves, okay?”
“Yeah, of course. No problem,” I hurried to say.
“Good, because I – yeah, I’ll see you soon then.” He gave me a heart-melting smile and finally let go of my hand, quite reluctantly I noticed, which made me feel a lot better for this sudden interruption.
“Sure. I – I’ll be waiting.” I swallowed the rest of my disappointment and slowly left towards the front doors. I didn’t turn to look back before I reached the elevator.
James’s standing position was practically screaming annoyance as Kat was whispering something in his ear. I pressed my eyes immediately on the floor, not wanting to torture myself with the sight no more than necessary. I let out a small sigh as I pressed the button on the panel, hoping that this wouldn’t take long.
A/N: Hello! So, another chapter once again (: hope you all like it d:
I'd love to hear your opinions about it!
Were G and J cute in this one or what?
And Kat made a reappearance just when you thought she was gone! Who saw that one coming d:
Do I have to bribe you with cookies so you'd tell me? (x
Kidding! Love you all and thanks for reading!
~E
http://www.harrypotterfanfiction.com