Astronomy

Thirteen: James

    On James' first day back from Christmas break, it started snowing. He was sitting by the window, desperately wishing he could go outside when Sirius threw something at him.
    "James," he said miserably, "Bring me my tissues."
    James sighed and grabbed the tissue box, handing it to Sirius. Sirius, Remus, and Peter had all managed to get sick over the break, so James had involuntarily become the dorm room nurse.
    "Thank you." Sirius sighed dramatically. "I think I may die."
    James heard someone across the room sigh, and Remus poked his head through a pile of blankets on his bed. "You're going to survive," he mumbled, voice cracking. He fell back down on the bed and disappeared under the blankets.
    James stood up suddenly. "I'm going to go out for a little bit," he said quickly. "I'll be back in an hour, two hours at most."
"What about us?" Peter said from the couch. "We need someone here."
James grabbed his coat from the closet and went to the door. "I'll be back soon."
He closed the door behind him before he could hear anyone else protest, and started walking towards the entrance to the Slytherin common room. He figured he might as well see what Reggie was up to.
Once he got there, he realized he couldn't get in the common room, but then he noticed Reggie walking towards him. He had on a puffy black jacket, and as he got closer James saw that his nose was faintly red from the cold.
"Hey Reggie!"
"Hi," Reggie said quietly. He shivered slightly. "What are you doing here?"
"Everyone is sick in my dorm." James looked out the tall window next to him and saw the snow falling down. "Come on, let's go build a snowman!"
Reggie shifted and glanced out the window. "I don't know, it's really cold outside."
"But it almost never snows here. Come on, it will be fun!"
"I guess," he said hesitantly.
"Let's go!" James started waking outside, and Reggie slowly followed. "Where are your friends?"
"Leo is sick, too," Reggie replied. "And Eve, well, things are awkward between us right now."
"What happened?" James stopped walking and motioned to the snow around them. "I think we can build the snowman here."
"Okay," agreed Reggie.
"So what happened with Eve?"
Reggie didn't say anything for a minute, but then sighed. "She told me she liked me before we left for break, and I had to tell her I don't feel the same way."
James pat the snowball he was making with more snow, trying to make a base for the snowman. "What did she say?"
"She was okay with it. It's still awkward though."
"So if you don't like Eve, who do you like?"
Reggie looked down and shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't met anyone yet. The only girl I talk to is Eve."
"Maybe you should talk to more girls, then."
"Maybe," he mumbled. "Do you like anyone?"
"I don't know," James said. "I mean, Lily Evans is pretty, but I don't think I like her. I don't know." James felt awkward talking to Reggie about girls. He hadn't even told Sirius about how he thought Lily was pretty. He hadn't even really admitted it to himself, yet he found himself talking Reggie about it. "I don't think I like her. She's just pretty."
Reggie didn't respond, but continued making the snowman.
James helped him, and tried to ignore the awkwardness of the situation. He wasn't even sure why things were awkward, but he had been thinking about it for a while. He knew he thought girls were pretty, but honestly, he could think the same about boys.
This whole thing was started because before Christmas break, Sirius had told him he thought he liked boys, which made James wonder if he liked boys too.
But in that moment, it was snowing and he was having fun with Reggie, and he decided it was a problem for another day.