Chapter XIV: Phase VIII: threatening territory lines
--
Will someone please call a surgeon
Who can crack my ribs
And repair this broken heart
That you're deserting for better company?
I can't accept that it's over
I will block the door
Like a goalie tending the net
In the third quarter of a tied-game of rivalry
-"nothing better" by the Postal Service
--
Wednesday
--
"So what do you think of James?" Alice asked, albeit not as inconspicuously as she would have desired, as the three lay on Lily's bed doing homework during their free period.
"He's great, why?" Lily asked her suspiciously.
"You two seem pretty flirtatious around one another is all."
"Wasn't that the point of all this?"
"Yeah, but you two seem to enjoy it."
"Well flirting is fun."
"I have a question," Elle piped up.
"Shoot."
"If you were single, would you go out with James?"
"well yeah, I mean he's hot and great company, can't get much better than that… plus we haven't been mates for all that long so we haven't crossed that line at which it can no longer be anything, but platonic."
"You seem to have put a lot of thought into that," Alice commented.
"She did seem to answer pretty quickly, no hesitation what so ever," Elle agreed.
"well I'm not about to deny that he and his mates are probably some of the most attractive guys I've ever met-I'm not that delusional. Plus, I also heard he's a great shag-but still, he's a friend, nothing more."
"It's true, he is a great shag," Elle agreed.
"You two have shagged?!" Lily and Alice simultaneously asked, shocked by he admission.
"Fifth year, we both got drunk and ended up in bed together. Honestly, I would have continued shagging him, he was just that good, but he didn't want to ruin our friendship."
"Did he know that you wanted to though?" Alice asked.
"Well I wasn't about to lose my pride by telling him."
"Yeah Alice, she already lost her panties to him, she couldn't afford to lose all that pride she had left," Lily teased.
"This is coming from the girl that is probably the horniest drunk I've ever met," Elle smirked at her.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Lily said in response, choosing to feign ignorance.
"If it helps Lils, I love you for that joke. It was great, such an uncharacteristic thing for you to say… it was just so me," Alice said in awe.
"Well I personally thought it was mean," Elle whined.
"You'll live," Lily and Alice simultaneously told her.
Lily's eyes widened in shock, "oh my fucking God!"
"Oy, it's bad enough we say the lord's name in vain all the time, don't add a curse into the mix as well," Alice chastised her.
"What is it Lily?" Elle asked her, ignoring Alice's ant.
"I'm turning into Alice!" Lily cried.
"Nah, impossible for you to become that big of a blunt bitch."
"HEY!" Alice cried.
"Do you honestly deny your bitchiness?" Elle asked her in disbelief.
"No," she meekly admitted.
"Bloody hell, we have potions in five minutes," Lily exclaimed, fumbling as she tried to gather all her things.
"And that's all folks," Alice sarcastically quipped as her two friends pulled her out the room.
"Why did I ever let you watch cartoons when you visited? Now I'm stuck with you making random quotes like that," Lily groaned.
"Don't lie, you love it."
--
It's true
Don't you realize
I've got you
memorized
I see it in your eyes
When you start telling lies
-"I've got you memorized" by Ivy
--
"Have you ever arrived on time for anything?" James asked Lily once she snuck into the room and took her seat by him in potions.
"So I have a bit of a time management issue, doesn't mean you have to be cruel and mock me for it. Besides, it's not like Slughorn's about to punish me for it, he adores me, hell I'm even part of that slug club crap."
"oh yeah, about that, we have to attend one of those tonight, couldn't get us out of it no matter how hard I tried," James told her.
"Damn."
"That was pretty much my reaction as well, plus a few choice words that are better off left unrepeated."
"Nice."
"He said that it's at eight, but I got us out of the first hour, so we can come at nine stay for a half an hour."
"Thanks."
"Is the prick going to be there?"
"Probably, he's part of it and I doubt that he'd willingly leave the two of us alone."
"So the old boy's jealous."
"And still with the slag," Lily groaned.
"Maybe, but he's angry with me so I'm pretty damn satisfied," James grinned.
"You really hate him, don't you?"
"Honestly didn't think that I could any more than I already did until I saw what he did to you."
She smiled at him, "thanks, that mean's a lot."
"Well it has nothing to do with you, he cheated on you, you were a mess, and I felt bad. Honestly I'd feel that way if it was any other girl in that position-plus I still thought you were an obnoxious bitch back then."
"Well that's very nice," Lily quipped.
"I'd like to think so."
The two sat there in a comfortable silence after those words until Lily chose to interrupt it. "You know," she paused, taking a breath as she tried to collect her thoughts. "As retarded as this may sound… even though I hate going through this hell, I kind of appreciate what I got out of it."
"A sexy mate like me? Why yes, I must say, you really did luck out on that one."
"You're an idiot-and you know what I meant."
"I'm your idiot, and yeah, I do, thanks for that. Always nice to receive a little reassurance like that… helps the ego, you know. Oh, and by the way, it really wouldn't hurt to leave your shirt a bit more unbuttoned, it really is a rather lovely view if I do say so myself."
"Perv."
"No my dear, I'm a flirt that can no longer deny your womanly wiles."
Lily laughed, "Bloody berk."
"You asked for it."
Once she realized as to what he was alluding to, Lily quickly and discreetly surveyed the room, "well it's working, I see Rachel and Melissa practically gawking at us and Benjy's glaring at you."
"Don't sound so surprised, I'm a master at the art of wooing."
"So basically you're a man-whore?"
"Now that's not very nice Lils."
"Ah, Ms. Evans, Mr. Potter," Slughorn interrupted the pair. "Let's see that potion now, shall we?"
"Yes sir," Lily obliged, handing him a sample.
"Oh, you're already done?" he asked them in obvious surprise.
"We finished yesterday," James told him.
"Well I don't know how you managed it, but it's perfect, you two are quite the pair if I do say so myself."
"I concur, we really are amazing together," James winked at Lily.
"Now, let's see Mr. Woodrow and Mr. Fenwick's potion."
"A fantastic pair?" Lily asked him.
"Do you deny it?"
"You don't want me to answer that question," Lily told him in response.
"Oh how you wound me!" he cried while dramatically gripping at his heart.
"You'll live, and that's the bell, so bye," she told him as she gave him a peck on the cheek before leaving.
--
It's as if I'm scared.
It's as if I'm terrified.
It's as if I scared.
It's as if I'm playing with fire.
Relax
It's as if I'm terrified.
Are you scared?
Are we playing with fire?
-"Relax" by Mika
--
"What the hell was that Lily?" Benjy asked her, grabbing her arm and pulling her into a secluded corner, as to avoid a public scene.
She looked at him incredulously in response, "what are you talking about Benjy?"
"You kissed him!"
"Yeah, on the check, so what?"
"You promised me-"
"I promised I wouldn't let him put his hand up my skirt," she interrupted him. "It's just a peck on the cheek, no big deal, I do it Elle and Alice all the time, James is no different."
"Yeah he is."
"How?"
"He's a bloke."
"And that means I can't be friends with him?"
"YES!"
Lily wrenched her arm away from his grip, "You can't control me like this Benjy, you're my boyfriend, but that doesn't mean you can stop me from being friends with other people. That'd be like me constantly accusing you of having an affair with Rachel just because you two are mates and spend time with one another."
He looked at her dumbfounded, and in her spiteful state she couldn't do anything, but pride herself on the fact that at that moment she had turned him into a blubbering idiot.
"Bye Benjy," she told him before walking away.
--
I took a right turn at confusion
A left when I should have gone straight on through
I ran ahead with my assumptions
And we all know what that can do
One little slip
One little slip
It was a fusion of confusion
With a few confounding things
-"One little slip" by the Barenaked Ladies
--
"Fucking hell Lily, I can't believe you said that," Alice exclaimed as the three at by the lake, Lily retelling the events after potions class to them.
"I just-I felt so spiteful, I mean I don't deserve to be cheated on. He shouldn't be doing that to me in the first place, but then to make it worse he has the audacity to accuse me of it!"
Alice looked at Elle with raised eyebrows, both shocked by the fact that Lily had actually admitted that she deserved more.
"Well, sweetie, maybe you deserve more, maybe you should find someone that can give you what you need," Elle told her.
"I know that I should, I get that now, I didn't before, but I realized it because of all of you and James. The problem is that I just can't seem to let go, I want to, I want to so badly, but I can't help loving him. We really just can't control the ones that we fall for. I know that it sounds pathetic, but it is what it is and I can't help it no matter how much I'd rather be a stronger person."
"He's a wanker, one that'll never stop cheating on you," Alice told her.
"I can't just leave without feeling like I did all that I could to salvage the relationship, I mean I guess it's not like it's totally his fault," Lily shrugged.
"Rachel's not the only one to blame though Lils, he is too! Just minutes ago you were talking about how you deserve more, I won't put up with you going backwards now by blaming Rachel for it all. She very well didn't get the stiffy for him-- no love, that one was him," Alice yelled at her.
"I'm not you Alice-"
"You don't have to be, you just have to realize that he very well could cheat on you again-in fact he most likely will."
"Then let me make my own mistakes."
Just as Alice was about to respond Elle put a hand on her arm to still her, "it hurts to see you make these mistakes Lils, that's all," she told her before pulling Alice by the arm, the duo leaving Lily on her own by the lake.
Lily sat there for an hour, unable to move and constantly replaying her two friends' words in her mind.
"Hey, your mates told me you'd be here," Benjy told her as he took a seat by her.
"Hi," Lily monotonously responded, never raising her head to look at him.
"So listen, I admit that I was wrong. You should be able to have whatever friends you want.""
Lily smiled when hearing those words, "really?"
"yeah, I guess I jut got jealous because you two have been spending so much time together, you mean so much to me Lils, I just-I don't want to lose you, and Potter-well he's Potter, you can't really blame me for feeling a little threatened by him. So what do you say, for give me?"
Lily paused; she didn't know what to say, her two friends' words still fresh in her mind, the looks of disappointment that she had received from them constantly replaying in her mind.
"Promise you'd never hurt me again?"
He looked at her, smiling so sincerely that she just couldn't make herself doubt him, "I promise."
"Then okay, I forgive you."
--
There are certain people
You just keep coming back to
She is right in front of you.
You begin to wonder
Could you find a better one
Compared to her now
She's in question.
-"all at one" by the fray
--
"Can this be any duller? I honestly think I'm about to die of boredom," Lily whined.
"You're not the only one," James assured her as he stifled a yawn.
"True, and just imagine, these people have been here an hour longer than we have."
"It's kind of sad that we're on the verge of passing out from boredom when we've only been here for five minutes," James admitted with a shrug.
"We're weak like that-oh look its Benjy!"
"YAY," James sarcastically raised his hands in a faux cheer.
"No need to sound so overjoyed."
"Hey love," Benjy greeted her with a quick kiss.
James smirked when he saw how the prick immediately took part in the classic male display of territory by purposefully leaving his arm around her shoulders as a silent "fuck off Potter, she's my property."
"Hello Potter."
"Fen-Prick," James nodded in acknowledgment.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me that."
"Okay Fen-Prick."
"James! He told you he doesn't want you to call him that," Lily chastised him.
"Well it's not like I actually agreed to stop mocking him," James shrugged.
"It's alright Lils. Potty here is just a bit jealous of me, it's a defense mechanism," Benjy assured her with a smirk sent towards James.
"That's it you two are immature wankers, I'm leaving."
"Now look what you did," James said.
"I didn't even do anything!"
"Well if you weren't the one that was so threatened by me we wouldn't have been in this situation in the first place."
"You're the one that's trying to steal her from me," Benjy accused him
"Well no shit."
"So you admit it!"
"Are you stupid or something? I admitted it to a class full of people yesterday," James told him in a bored tone.
"But never directly to me."
"You're an idiot."
"No, you are if you actually think you can take her from me. You won't, you just can't. She loves me Potter, you don't stand a chance against me," he told James with a smug smile before turning around to walk away.
"You forgot something Fen-Prick."
Benjy stopped dead in his tracks a those words, curiosity taking over, "And what's that?"
"You don't deserve her, and that is why I will get her," James told him before walking away, primarily due to the fact that he hated the idea of the wanker being the one to end the conversation rather than him.
"You don't stand a chance Potter, no matter how hard you try, she's just not interested," Benjy called after him, but James ignored his calls.
As James was walking down the corridors back towards the Heads' common room he heard Lily calling after him. He turned to face her, "you rang?"
"What'd you say to him?" Lily asked suspiciously.
"Why?"
"He's gone all caveman on me until I reminded him of our deal."
"Figures."
"James, what did you say to him?"
"All I did was threaten his territory a bit Lils, no big deal."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" asked a baffled Lily.
"Bye Lily," he said, kissing her on the forehead before returning to his walk to the rooms, leaving a flabbergasted Lily rooted in her spot.
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