Chapter Seven: A New Dreamer
By Natali K. A.
James sighed, unable to fall asleep. He'd woken up in the middle of the night to use the toilet, and now he hadn't been able to sleep again. It was probably because he had so much running through his head.
While he was happy that Lily had said yes, he was somewhat disturbed. She had barely thought about it. He supposed that it should bother him that she had to think at all, but he had the strangest feeling that she hadn't actually sat down and thought about it.
Lily had been satisfied with him. Just him-no flowers, no pretty words, no bended knee. He'd asked and she'd replied, albeit in his favor. Almost businesslike.
Not that he didn't think she had feelings for him. He glanced down at the woman in his arms and felt a pang of longing so incredible. Maybe it hadn't been such a great idea to withhold sex from her; he was suffering for it.
He hadn't had any problems making love to her before she'd conceded to becoming his wife. Damn it, it was part of his little plan to lure her in. As much as women thought that men were led by their cocks (which they were) they were also quite partial to sex themselves. It wouldn't have been futile to give her such great sex she wouldn't have been able to resist.
It was a bit evil of him, but he would've done it in a snap.
But he was enough. That thought was a little scary. James had been expecting to have to catch her by surprise in such an utterly romantic way that she could not have said no. Yet all he'd done was ask and she had been content with just him.
And now he still had to come up with that out-of-this-world proposal, and hopefully soon because he was already horny. He'd just shagged her last night and he already craved more.
He leaned down and kissed her temple. His beautiful little addiction.
It sometimes scared him how tiny she was. It was true that he was a bit taller than most men and she wasn't a midget or anything, but she didn't even reach his shoulders. Her weight couldn't pass 115, though his judgment couldn't really be trusted. He couldn't guess weight. But whenever he lifted her, she was light as a feather.
He had asked her once, early in their relationship, why it was that girls always liked their men to be taller. He'd been joking somewhat, that the only reason Lily liked him was because he was so tall.
But she'd honestly thought about it for a minute and had come up with a surprisingly accurate answer.
"Well, I suppose it's a question of feeling protected," she had said, staring into the common room fire, thinking. "It's just natural that someone bigger than us would make us feel protected. I think that's important in a relationship. I know I wouldn't want to think that I'd have to fend for myself if something bad happened. But that's the superficial reason.
"I think it's also trust. It's knowing that he could hit you or that he could force you, but also knowing that he wouldn't ever even consider it. He has a physical advantage but you trust that he won't actually act on it. Or at least against you," she had finished, turning back to look at him.
James had then laughed a little-she had taken it very seriously. But he saw now what she meant. The truth of the matter was that he could kill her twenty different ways in under thirty seconds if he'd had the desire to do so. But that wasn't, of course, the case.
He shut his eyes, holding Lily even closer to him. In her sleep, she snuggled down and sighed. He could tell she wasn't dreaming.
*~*
"James…?"
James looked up from his meal inquiringly.
"Remember how you proposed to me?" Lily asked softly, cocking her head to the side.
James snorted. "Lils, as if I could forget. I was so nervous."
Lily smiled. "Yeah. Your hands were sweaty."
He raised a brow. "You'd be nervous too."
"Yes, I know. But you knew I'd say yes."
"Nothing's guaranteed in life, Lily, except birth and death."
She nodded, pushing her carrots around on her plate. "You'd dropped my house one day when I was out with one of my hometown friends. I'd wondered why my mum was crying."
James grinned. "She almost choked me with her hugs. I remember thinking that it was as if you were some ugly chick that no one else would marry and I was doing them the biggest favor…"
Lily threw a bread roll at him. "Very funny."
"You didn't let me finish! It's very obvious that you're not undesirable."
Lily continued to play around with her carrots. "She'd given me the lame excuse that she'd been cutting onions. Mum hates onions. Dad and I used to kid around that she was killed by a giant onion in a past life."
"Can't say I blame her," James grimaced. "Onions are evil."
"You like my onion soup."
"Notice that I pick around the onions."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Daddy gave me this big hug before you came to pick me up, too. Said I looked stunning and why didn't I go put on Grandma's pearl earrings?"
"You were, and those earrings did contrast nicely with your coloring. You looked like an angel, Lils," James sighed. "I almost backed out of it. You'd intimidated me."
"You're joking!" Lily laughed. "Then we left for Vicky's wedding-I told you she'd get married to him, but no, you thought you knew more."
"How was I supposed to know? She'd always been so bloody adamant about staying single, and then she ups and gets married. That was the shortest engagement I've ever heard of, too."
"Don't be ridiculous. Two weeks for Vicky is a miracle. She's the sort that likes to have her mind made up quickly and she hardly ever regrets a decision. They're still happily married aren't they, and they'd only met three months before the wedding."
"She's amazing. Yes, I get it." James skewered a piece of chicken and popped it into his mouth. "I could barely breathe, you know. After the ceremony when the removed everyone to the banquet hall for dinner I thought I was going to be sick."
"Then you stood up after we ate and asked for everyone's attention. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what you were going to do. You started saying-no, babbling, you hardly made sense-about how happy you were for Vicky and that she'd inspired you. Then you were mumbling and no one could hear what you were saying."
"Yes, I remember feeling utterly rejected when you just looked at me blankly. I stepped down then and resolved to pretend as if nothing had happened. I hadn't realized I'd had one too many glasses of whiskey."
Lily smiled lovingly at him. "Then our song came on and you didn't want to dance. You were scarcely talking. I thought I'd done something to upset you."
James nodded, remembering. "Some bloke asked you to dance, you asked if I minded, I said I didn't, and you went to dance with him to our song. I felt homicidal."
"You sure did look it when you interrupted us about half way into the song and didn't mince words when you told him to… what was it exactly?" Lily giggled a little. "'Take your fucking hands off my girlfriends, I do mind, don't you have the brains to figure out that you don't ask some other guy's girl to dance if you want to keep your manhood in one piece? Let me take care of that misunderstanding then.' I was utterly humiliated when I found out he headed a major organization."
"Shouldn't have touched you."
"You said it was alright!"
"He should've known it wasn't."
"And then you remember what happened?" Lily whispered, leaning forward so that their heads were only inches apart. "Remember how you asked me to marry you?-for the second time, supposedly."
"I believe I forced you to say yes."
"Told me it wasn't an option."
"You were so confused."
"I thought you were drunk. You were, but I thought you were seriously so."
James chuckled. "The look on your face, Lily, when you finally got what I was saying… Priceless. Then you had to make all that commotion."
"You'd proposed-of course I'm going to make a bloody commotion! You know girls squeal."
"If I hadn't known it there, I sure know it then." James wondered why Lily had brought up the day of their engagement, then remembered the date. "We got engaged a year ago today, didn't we?"
"We did," she nodded. "It's been on my mind all day. What stands out the most was how hot you were and what a good shag we had in the ladies' bathroom at that banquet hall. Vicky nearly threw us out, remember?"
"You were damned loud."
"You were damned good. It's your fault."
He kissed her. "I'm not much for remember dates, you know me."
"You're full of it! You still the remember when our first date was," Lily said, standing and taking their plates to the kitchen.
"You don't?" he asked in a wounded voice.
"No. I've got enough on my mind without all those silly little anniversaries. Once a year is fine with me, thanks. Dessert, my love?"
"Yes," James replied, following her into the kitchen of Godric's Hollow.
"What would you like?" Lily asked, surveying their choices. "Ice cream, strawberry pie that Mum sent over, biscuits… I think we've got grapes…"
"None of that has what I want."
Lily turned around, unaware of the look he was giving you. "Oh, what do you want then? I could make your favorite-"
"My favorite's already made."
"What is it you want, James?"
She finally noticed the look he was giving her, and she smiled somewhat proudly. "If you insist." She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his middle.
James carried her up the stairs to have his dessert, just as he liked to.
*~*
"James, are you gonna wake up or not?"
James slowly woke up, feeling something heavy on him. Well, his first thought was that a certain part of him was a little painful and that something was definitely making him feel good. It was the next second that he realized that Lily was straddling him, still in nothing but her boy shorts and camisole.
He grabbed his glasses and shoved it onto his face. "What are you doing?" he asked groggily. He groaned as she kissed him and sat back. "You're killing me."
"Hey, I'm not the one who doesn't want to have sex. You were sleeping like that, by the way," she grinned evilly. "I couldn't resist torturing you."
"You're Satan."
She laughed, head thrown back. "I know, I'm devilish for sure. Thought I'd wake you up before I left to invite you to dinner tonight. My parents are having clients over or colleagues or something. I wasn't paying much attention. Will you come?"
"If you don't get off of me, I'm afraid I will come."
"James, that's disgusting!" she shrieked, snickering anyway. "But really, do you want to come? Just so I can tell my mom to set another place at the table. Vicky will be there, once I tell her about it."
"I'm there." He tried to push her off. "But honestly, if you don't get off-"
"Go take a cold shower." She leaned forward and kissed him again, disappearing with a pop moments later.
James took a deep breath. "She'll kill me, I'm sure of it."
He let the dream wash over him. Had he just had the same type of dreams that Lily had been having for nearly a year until just two nights ago?
He grinned. On the bright side, he finally knew what it was like to see Lily and him shag in a dream. They were damn sexy.
He put his hands behind his head and thought about what had happened in the dream. He wasn't sure it actually predicted the future-from the little Lily had told him about the events in her dreams, they'd never come dream. Except for them dating, naturally.
Then it hit him. He knew how he'd propose. He didn't know when, but he knew how.
And that was the first step.
"Now that that's settled, it's time for a cold shower."
*~*
"Vic? You here?" Lily asked, having just apparated to Vicky's house.
"In the bathroom. I'm fresh out of the shower."
Lily walked into her best mate's bathroom and instantly gave her a giant hug. "You're a genius. Thanks for the alibi."
Vicky snickered. "My pleasure. Here, braid my hair, will you?"
Lily grabbed her brush and began to dress Vicky's hair. "You won't believe though, what I have to tell you. It's great."
"Yeah?"
"Mmm hmm. He asked me to move in with him last night at dinner."
Vicky gasped with delight, turning to face Lily, causing her to lose her place in the process of braiding her hair. Lily took hold of her head and turned it again, to start all over again.
"What'd you say?" Vicky asked.
"I told him I'd think about it. Then I said that he might as well ask me to marry him-"
Vicky whipped her around and once more Lily lost grip of the braid.
"You told him what, Lils?! Are you out of your bloody mind?"
Lily turned her head again and for the third time got to work on Vicky's hair
"Stop moving. Yes, I said that. And then he told me that that's what he really wanted to do, but he didn't think I'd be up to doing so. Then he took me home and I was going to go to his house while my parents thought I was at your place. So you're some sort of Seer, I swear."
"I am."
"Well, I get to his room wearing my adorable lilac boy shorts and matching camisole-"
"Great color on you."
"-and we start kissing and then I blurt out yes."
"Yes to what?"
"Yes, I want to marry him." Prepared for Vicky's head to turn this time, she got an extra tight grip on the braid and refused to let go.
"Ow!"
"Don't turn!"
"Fine. I can't believe you said that, Lily." Vicky was quiet for a moment before her eyes got as wide as saucers. "…Does that mean you're engaged?"
"No."
"No? I don't get it."
"He said no, he wanted to ask me in `the right way'," Lily scowled. "Then you won't believe what he did."
"I haven't believed this story ever since he asked you to move in with him-which I'm all for. Lie to the parental units and say you moved in with me. You know, I'm such a good alibi and all."
"Don't think he's up for it. He denied me sex." She put the rubber band in Vicky's hair just in time for Vicky to whip her head around so fast she fell off the toilet she'd sat on.
"Fuck."
*~*
A/N: Am finally going to Halloween Horror Nights. Will try to post for those who read A Budding Romance/White Houses but I'm not making any promises.
Half hour late, got caught up on livejournal. Lol. And I spent the day at my best friend's house.
So. Yeah. Laters.
Oh, liked writing this chapter. Cuz yeah, James had a dream. Originally I'd planned on including smut here, but I think I'll wait. Heh heh! Also, that quote from Lily about why girls like their guys to be tall, I came up with that. A guy friend had asked me one night and yeah. Decided to include it.
Love you all!
Natali K. A.
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