Disclaimer: idea's that Rowling girl's.
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The one that he pushed away
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Summary: she had loved him, but he broke her heart so many times that it dissipated to a point that all she felt when it came to him was pain. He hurt her so many times and she finally got up the courage to leave him… but she did so with something of his.
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Chapter XVIII: prove it
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Previously:
"So maybe you're right, but that can't last. It's Lily and James they are like an institution, they belong together."
"Doesn't mean that they will end up together."
"So maybe, maybe we can give it a little push Remmy."
"Naturally, at the very least we owe them that much."
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Marauders' residence
Saturday, 4 p.m.
"Hey," Lily hugged him as soon as he walked through the door. "We've missed you so much; it's just not the same here without you."
"I've missed you too love."
"And while you were gone Harry made so much progress on speaking."
"Now I feel like I've got a lot of catching up to do."
"Well there's a meal in the kitchen with your name on it. Why don't you have some lunch while I fill you in on everything that's happened while you've been gone."
"Sounds lovely, thanks Lils."
"It's no problem James, really."
--
Kitchen
"So in his exploration of the English language Harry has also become exposed to a rather wide variety of curses, ones which he enjoys to use on a regular basis."
"No!" James roared with laughter.
"I think it was Sirius that corrupted him."
"Nope, definitely Remus."
"No way, he's the good one."
"He has a dirtier mouth than a sailor, actually than Sirius and me combined. He comes up with new ones on a regular basis, very colorful vocabulary there; he's rather talented at it. I'm surprised you haven't noticed it."
They both just sat there in comfortable silence, both eating and enjoying the moment.
"Prongs!" they suddenly heard a voice bellow through the house. Remus and Sirius walked into the kitchen and grabbed James, hugging him.
"I always knew that there must be a reason why quidditch players seem to insist upon slapping one another's butts before or after a game," Lily teased.
"Now Lily, think about it, if I'm gay, who's the one that slept with a gay guy?"
"Half of England?"
"Including you," he winked at her.
"I plead temporary insanity."
"You know that you liked it, don't try denying it."
"Keep on deluding yourself Jamie-Poo," Lily teased him as she exited the room.
--
"Hey love, how are you?" se asked the little boy as she picked him up.
"Mama."
"He's adorable," a voice from behind commented.
"And thanks to you he now also has a very colorful vocabulary to go with it."
"If you think about it, I was actually helping him."
"How?" she asked Remus doubtfully.
"He'll be able to defend himself rather then acting like a bloody pussy that can't stand up for himself and show some pride."
"Language Remus," she admonished him, teasing him.
"It's true and you know it."
"You're a riot Remus."
"Why thank you."
They stood in silence as Lily placed Harry in his play pen, playing with him and his toy quidditch set.
"So that looked like a really nice moment that Sirius and I interrupted."
"Subtlety never was your strong suit Remus."
"I was just commenting." He paused before continuing his thought, "almost seemed like old times you know."
"Remus," she told him in a reproachful voice.
"I know, I know, `stay out of it,' but do you really think that you're over him?"
"No, but I'm getting there."
"Prove it."
"How?"
"Go out with us, it'll be a triple date."
"What about Sirius?"
"He's my date," Remus blushed.
"No way!"
"We figured that we'd give it a go since we're both single and get along so well."
"Okay then, tomorrow night all of us will go out, but I'm telling you, it's pointless, nothing will happen."
"And somehow I doubt it," he told her as he left the room.
--
"So you're really over Lily?" Sirius asked James as they sat in the kitchen.
"I don't think that I'll ever be, but I'm close."
"Bull shit."
"It's true."
"And once again, bull shit."
"But I'm not lying."
"Prove it then."
"How?"
"We'll all go out on a triple date."
"What's that going to prove?"
"If you don't get jealous when you see Lily and Riley acting all lovey-dovey I'll believe you."
"Fine, I'll do it."
--
Sunday night
8 p.m.
"You look amazing," Riley complimented her when she opened the door to her room.
"Why thank you kind sir."
"These are for you," he told her as he pulled out two dozen white tulips in a vase out from behind his back.
"My favorite."
"I know, I figured that since I live down the hall from you I'd save you the trouble of putting them in a vase by bringing them to you so you can just put it on a table or something and not have to fuss over them-"
"Riley, you're rambling."
He blushed in response, muttering, "you know how I am around beautiful girls Lils," before kissing her passionately.
"They're beautiful," she told him when they separated.
"It's not that big of a deal, customary anyway."
"You really know how to make a girl feel special," she sarcastically quipped.
--
classico e di base
"I love Italian," Lily exclaimed as she saw the restaurant that they were headed to.
"I know, I asked Sirius, James, and Remus if it was okay with them if I chose the restaurant since I know your fetish for the food."
"You're a good guy Riley."
He looked at her oddly once she made that statement, trying to make of what she had meant with that statement, "I'll take that as a compliment… I think."
"You should, it was one."
"Well then, thank you."
"how may I help you?" the maitre d' asked them once they reached him.
"Yes, reservations under the name Black."
"Your party is already here, Roberto will take you to your table."
Once they arrived at the table Lily saw a stunning brunette sitting beside James, but her thoughts on the woman were soon interrupted by Sirius exclaiming, "It's about time you two got here!"
"We're only five minutes late."
"You're still tardy Lils, you know, come to think of it, I've never seen you arrive on time to anything. You were even ten minutes late four our OWLs and twenty for our NEWTs."
"What can I say, it's a gift." She redirected her attention to the brunette, "hi, I'm Lily, and this is Riley," she greeted the girl, while pointing to Riley when introducing them.
"I'm Jacqueline, nice to meet you," the girl kindly greeted her.
Lily settled into her seat and quickly leaned towards Remus, whispering, "prognosis?" referring to an old game that they had played before Lily and James had ever dated and they would judge his and Sirius' girlfriends whenever met them (since Lily had been close friends with Remus and Sirius prior to that).
"Slightly dull-witted, but pretty nice," Remus whispered to her.
"So Jacqueline what do you do?" Riley asked her while slightly nudging Lily, having caught on to what she was talking about with Remus.
"I'm a model; I'm actually on this week's cover of Witch Weekly."
"Congratulations."
"What about you guys, what do you all do?"
"I'm a beater on the same team as James'," Sirius told her.
"Oh yeah, I see you in all of the magazines, I think I just had an inner blonde moment," she laughed in a good maturely manner.
"You realize that Lily and Remus are always in the news papers as well right?" Sirius asked her incredulously, in turn receiving a warning glare from James for the rudeness behind his comment.
"You are?" she redirected her attention to the other two, "for what?"
"We are co-heads for the auror department," Lily shyly told her.
"That's cool too," the girl told them, as though she were reassuring them of the fact that their job was in fact interesting. "What about you, what do you do Riley?"
"I'm in marketing."
"Really what part of it?"
"Oh, this and that," he modestly told her. Lily had to squeeze his hand under the table, knowing that the third degree as far as his career was concerned was quickly waning on him.
"Explain the this, explain the that."
"Buying and remodeling mainly."
The word "buying" had quickly caught her attention (sadly, as it did with most people, a fact that thoroughly annoyed Riley as far as his profession as concerned). "What things?"
"Media related things."
"Like magazines?"
"No, I primarily focus on news papers."
"You've got yourself a great catch Lily, isn't it fantastic that we've been so lucky in life?" the girl giggled as she squeezed James' arm.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Lily muttered.
"It'll be okay, this'll be done with soon and if not, I'll get us out of here," Riley told her as he reassuringly squeezed her shoulder.
"Thank you, you're officially my god," she whispered to him, giving him a peck on the cheek.
"I serve to please."
Suddenly their private moment was interrupted by Jacqueline, "they are so adorable together, don't you think so James?"
"What- oh, yeah, I guess."
"Riley, you never told me where you're from; your accent is so sexy."
"He's Australian," Remus told her before quickly downing his drink.
"What a coincidence, I was there last week working on a shoot for a swim catalogue. I loved it there, people were so nice to me," she gushed.
"She's as vain as James," Remus whispered to her.
"You may want to take it easy with the drinks Remus," she quietly reprimanded him as she saw him refilling his glass.
"I'm bored; it's what I do when I'm bored. What are Riley and Sirius talking about anyway?"
"Quidditch."
"Again?"
"It's your boyfriend."
"Yours too."
"I know," she responded with a smile.
"You really like him, don't you?" Remus asked, genuinely surprised by her reaction.
"I may not be in love with him, but he means the world to me. Life without him just wouldn't be the same, it wouldn't be complete."
"He sounds like a great guy."
"He is."
James lightly kicked Remus and Lily under the table. "Could you two at least pretend to listen to her?" James pleaded quietly from his seat across from her, redirecting their attention to Jacqueline who was still talking to the table about the fascinating world of modeling, totally unaware of the fact that everyone else was hosting their own private conversations on the side.
"If she hasn't noticed yet, why would she now James?" Lily asked him.
"Well you could at least have the decency to pretend that you care," he snapped at her.
Riley suddenly interrupted the argument, "Lils, I'm sorry, but I just got a text from the office. I'm going to have to go, there's an emergency in one of the Paris offices and they need me now."
"Do you really have to go?"
"Yeah, I don't want to, but I don't have much of a choice, I'm sorry."
"It's okay; I'll walk you to the port key they set up for you."
"You don't have-"
"I want to," she sweetly told him as she gently kissed his lips.
"Can't argue with that one."
"Oy," Lily called out, trying to get the table's attention. "Riley has an emergency to attend to so I'm going to go walk him to his port key."
"Do you have to?" Remus asked.
"Yeah I do," she then redirected her focus onto Jacqueline, "it was really nice meeting you."
"You too, I hope we see each other again."
Riley then said his goodbyes as well before they exited the restaurant hand in hand.
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Marauder's residence
1 a.m.
"Where have you been?" James asked her as soon as she walked through the doors of the house.
"Out dad," she sarcastically told him.
"You left the restaurant at eleven and you're just back now?"
"Why does it matter?"
"It's not safe to be out at night like that."
"I know that this may come as a shock to you James, but I'm twenty, I think I can handle it. Why were you waiting up for me anyway?"
"I wanted to talk about dinner."
"What about it?"
"You were rude to Jacqueline," he accused her.
"Oh please, Remus and I were just talking."
"You were ignoring her when she was talking to you-"
"she was paying more attention to you and constantly showing you just how much she loves you than she was to Remus and me," she yelled at him.
"Who are you to talk?! You were practically all over Riley in the restaurant."
"I was not!"
"I was there, I saw it."
"Oh please, if anyone was inappropriate it was your girlfriend. The girls a bloody S.T.D. infested fuck bunny."
He suddenly began laughing, "I can't believe it, you're jealous!"
"I am not!"
"Yes, you are."
"Well if I am then you are too!"
He closed the distance between the two of them huskily whispering to her "how'd you guess?" Then he grabbed her and kissed her.
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author's note: so sorry if you find any mistakes in this, but my BETA didn't look over it because I wanted to post this as soon as possible because I felt so guilty about making everyone wait so long, (I'm sorry, but on the plus side this chapter was nine pages as opposed to the usual 4-6, big accomplishment on my part if I do say so myself, WHICH I DO, LoL)
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