Familiar Stranger
Chapter Two - Of Flaws and True Beauty
James's house was fairly small - it consisted of two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living area, which led into the kitchen. It was modest and homely. In fact Lily was shocked by how welcoming it seemed, not quite the bachelor pad she'd expected. He poked his wand into the fire and roaring flames sprang up. Grinning cheekily at Lily, he motioned for her to sit in the chair by the hearth; however, Lily was quite sick of obeying other people's suggestions and having to sit all prim and proper with a ramrod straight back, so the petite redhead slumped to the floor and stuck her legs out in front of her, wriggling her toes happily against the fluffy white, sheepskin rug.
"Thanks for this, James. It means a lot…I think I'd have probably given in and gone back to my apartment just to be discovered by my manager again."
"No problem," smirked James. Helping pretty, young females was his specialty. Leaving the kitchen, holding two mugs of steaming coffee, James sat opposite Lily. "So, Ms. Evans, why is it you're running away?"
Lily turned her jade eyes from his chiselled face and stared into the orange flames, watching as they licked at the blackened brickwork. "I don't really want to talk about it."
He nodded, accepting her answer.
"And you, James? What do you do?"
Drinking deeply, he sighed and leaned back into the squashy, fat, cushions behind him, "I used to be an Auror."
"Oh…awesome." smiled Lily, "Wait…used to be?"
"I don't want to talk about it," he mirrored her, and she laughed slightly. He too grinned…both were strangers and yet seemed so comfortable in each other's presence.
She studied his face as his hazel eyes fixated upon the flames lapping at each other - playing some sort of game that resembled 'Tag' she supposed. One would catch the other and no sooner had it gotten away than the flame would scoop it back up again. He wore glasses usually - either that or he needed to. She could tell by the amount he squinted, that and the fact there were a few lines already beneath his eyes, showing that he often didn't wear the needed spectacles …she wondered why, he was handsome and could surely pull off anything - so why not just wear his glasses? She mentally shrugged. Lily would not push the matter…it was not of any consequence to her. Tomorrow, no doubt, she would walk out of this house and never make eye contact with James Potter again. That was life.
"James?"
"Mmm." He slowly raised his dark eyes to her face, seeming slightly confused and lethargic - it was obvious he was in no hurry to do anything.
"Can I, erm, I mean, may I use your bathroom? Please? I really need to get out of this dress and cleanse my face of makeup and my hair of gunk."
His stomach shook with a deep throaty laugh. "Go for it." He pointed behind him carelessly, indicating where his bathroom was. "There's towels in the cupboard by the sink and a spare toothbrush in the cabinet above the sink."
"Cheers."
0x-
When she turned the lights on, the bathroom illuminated and her eyes were slightly shocked as everything about her was so brilliantly white that she had to blink a few times to gain her sight back - white tiles, white porcelain, white mats, white cupboards…silver taps - slightly out of place but just as immaculate as everything else in the room. Yanking her dress off of her slim form, she allowed it to flow to the ground where it lay in a heap, looking like a pool of molten gold - the silk catching the light like water in the sun's rays.
Standing in only her white lacy underwear, Lily leaned over the bath and twisted the taps so that hot and cold water began to cascade into the tub. After poking about in the cabinets, she found some vanilla scented bubble baths and dropped a couple of blobs into the water, watching as they disappeared into thick snow-coloured bubbles. Leaving the bath to run itself, Lily stood in front of the mirror, observing herself. Good Godric, she did look a mess. Her hair was falling out here and there, the kohl around her eyes was smudged worse than ever, and due to the white of her negligee, her skin looked stark and too pale, her smatterings of freckles more prominent than ever.
Glaring at her own reflection, Lily began to unpin her hair, grimacing as she tried to run her fingers through it. Thanks to hair spray, the wind and the Knight Bus's unsafe driving, her mop of scarlet locks was tangled and course. Finally, when all the hair grips were disentangled from her head, Lily turned off the running water and slipped out of the last offending items on her body. She then slid into the bath and did not stop until her entire head was submerged beneath the sweetly scented water. It felt so good. All her makeup slipped off of her visage and her hair fell naturally around her shoulders. She felt ordinary again - more human than a dressed up dolly.
0x-
It was odd, James thought as he rubbed his hand against the stubble on his chin. He knew nothing about the woman he was currently harbouring in his bathroom, and he had no idea, really, why she was running away from her life…or, in fact, why she'd run away from her magical life, too. It was obvious that she was a talented and intelligent woman - feisty and confident - so why did Ms. Evans always seem to be running? This was all presumption on James's part of course, but maybe she hadn't ran away from the Wizarding world…and maybe she just needed a break from her fame…though she did seem to be doing things with a bit of an urgency. Still, it was not his place to pry.
She was an attractive woman - beautiful in fact - but of course she'd have to be to survive in her industry for so long - once you got ugly the spotlight seemed to no longer shine on you. James knew this…one disability and suddenly the Head Auror position was swept from beneath his feet quicker than you could say 'Voldemort' - or rather - 'You-Know-Who'. He cursed his weak eyesight silently.
Suddenly losing his tiredness, James stood and meandered into the kitchen where he hunted out a bottle of Firewhiskey and slammed it down on the surface of the table. Not bothering with a glass, he yanked the cork out of the bottleneck and slugged down a fair amount. It burned his throat and made his eyes water slightly and, much to his chagrin, caused his eyesight to blur further. The slamming of the bathroom door made him jump in surprise. Lily, wrapped in a thick, fluffy towel, greeted his eyes. She padded into the living room and did a slight double take when she realised he wasn't by the fire, but soon her emerald eyes clashed with the vision of James hunching over the sideboard in the kitchen, bottle in one hand the other giving her a sort of half wave which she returned with a sort of half smile.
Walking into the kitchen she slid in front of James, sandwiching herself between him and the sideboard. Lily's long slender fingers enclosed around the bottle and plucked it gently from James's grasp. He thought she was about to put it away before insisting he shouldn't be drinking quite so much, but she lifted it to her dark pink lips and downed a good amount.
"Damn. I forgot how strong this shit is," she breathed. Her whiskey scented breath played about his face. His eyes caught hers.
The heat in the room intensified. Oxygen suddenly seemed scarce as Lily began to take deep shallow breaths, her chest heaving and straining against the edge of the towel.
"Lily," whispered James, his hands snaking their way around the back of her torso. "I know we haven't known each other long, and I really…and you don't…know much about…"
His ramblings were cut off by her desperate lips clashing against his equally thirsty ones. His lips were warm, slightly chapped by the wind and tasted of whiskey and hot chocolate - or was she just imagining the chocolate remains on his lips…simply because she knew that they'd both drank a mug of it earlier. This train of thought suddenly struck Lily as being pointless, and she found her hands driving up his chest, around his neck and roping themselves into James's messy locks. The bottle fell to the floor…smashed, but neither heard, neither cared…all that mattered was that they were both enveloped in a stranger's embrace. It wasn't Ex-Auror and Tired Actress or Heavy Drinker and Self Loather. It was Lily and James…two people fusing together at the lips.
The kisses became harder, more frantic and passionate; nibbles of the lips came into play, as did the feeling of hands roaming the outlines of one another's bodies.
"My room." murmured James, taking Lily's hand in his calloused, tanned one and leading her into his chamber.
The room was fairly large in comparison to the rest of the house. There were a few odd socks strewn on the floor, but that was the only untidiness that appeared in the entire bedroom. The walls were a dark red, complimented with a golden border - Gryffindor. On a cork board was pinned various photos of a younger, happier James surrounded by different girls and a few males, all wearing their school uniforms and propping themselves up against broomsticks or swimming in a lake or various other frivolous activities Lily would have loved to have partaken in.
She was thrown onto the bed playfully, landing with a slight thump. She laughed - the sound was charming and light - the towel fell from around her, discarded and James stopped his de-clothing to watch her. She was enchanting, her soft, pale, skin glowing slightly in the luminous moonlight gambling in from the window behind the bed. Her hair was long and damp, sprawling about the duvet and looking deliciously erotic as it clashed with his cream sheets. Her eyes were large and alight with laughter and yet hazy with seduction, so green it was entrancing beyond belief. Was this really the woman he'd met mere hours ago with her makeup smudged and swathed in a dress worth more than his entire wardrobe? No, on the Knight bus he'd awoken to Lillian Evans - Muggle Actress…now this, this was just Lily.
She watched as he surveyed her, her cheeks burning under his observation, but still she would not turn her head and bashfully hide, nor would she yank his arm and distract him in order to stop his analysis. She would let him look, let him drink her in. It had been years since she'd felt this beautiful. Odd that, she mused. She was constantly told her looks were stunning, that her figure was to die for, and that her grace rivalled that of a Nymph's, and yet, as she lay there on his linen sheets, her hair moist, her face devoid of makeup and her body revealed, dowsed in muted light, she felt perfect. Her insecurity washed away. His dependence on alcohol fluttered out of the window. At that moment there was no superficial happiness, no feigned contentment - both were flawless to each other.
He crawled over her, his eyes not breaking contact with hers, his rough, darkly tanned skin causing friction against her milky form. Finally his face reached hers, noses touching gently, and their lips moulded together. It was so wrong. Lily had not been able to do this since leaving school, no move she made was ever not caught on camera…and here she was being devoured by this man…this stranger.
0x-
It was beautiful. Flawless. Both moved to the rhythm of lust and slaked their need for one another. It was like melting ice, thawing their needs, soft and cool -- purifying. Extinguishing the flames of their defects, obliterating the fire that fuels their imperfections -- leaving just them. Their souls, bare and naked, exposed for the other to ridicule and scorn, but trusting that they wouldn't. She felt his lips kiss every fading freckle and his hands caress her every scar.
This man cared not that she wasn't enveloped in makeup and did not flinch at the fact she was a renowned actress. He was simply there, worshipping her every contour and tracing each part of her intricate design - captivated by her porcelain-like skin and forgetting himself - intoxicated by her scent. James, allowing his mind to become blissfully blank, let himself forget his mistakes, forget his past, forget - as so many people had pounded into him - that he wasn't good enough. This night he was more than good enough, this night he was James, this night he was saviour and sinner, this night he was as perfect as she.
0x-
Author's Note: Mmkay. There we go. Second installment.
And thank you for the lovely reviews.
Tasha x