Jily oneshots

Stay With Me

Done by jamespotterthefirst on fanfiction.net

"Are you excited to see him?" Dorcas asked in a voice that could have easily been singsong. Though her eyes were hidden behind her sunglasses, Lily could imagine them sparkling as they did when she could barely contain her excitement.

At Lily's stubborn silence, Dorcas laughed, the wind from her open window sending her blond hair swirling around her like a pool of sunshine. It annoyed Lily even more. "Lighten up, Lily," her friend said when there was still no response from the redhead. "You can't tell me you didn't miss him."

Lily tore her eyes away from the blur that was the city speeding past them. She did not deny the fact. "You told me we were going to go see Ben," she said at last, having spent the drive in a furious silence since she realized where her friend was driving her to. She realized how childish the words were seconds after uttering them but she did not care.

Dorcas flicked a dismissive hand before fumbling with the radio. Balancing her attention between changing the station and the road ahead, she said, "Fenwick hasn't changed much in the six months you were gone. He's still the same prat. You won't be missing much, believe me. James on the other hand…"

Her pulse picked up at the mere mention of his name.

"He's a famous football player these days…" Dorcas hedged, glancing at Lily for a reaction. "He's on telly and everything, playing for one of those football clubs. Looks like they play him now instead of keeping him on the bench. He took his shirt off one time after a match and my goodness."

Lily simply hummed noncommittally. She had seen the match she referred to online.

"He was also asking about you…," Dorcas continued, a knowing smirk on her face, her voice leaving no doubt that this was what she was getting at all along.

Lily attempted to mask all interest from her expression, stubbornly staring ahead at the road instead. She was grateful that her friend had to keep her eyes trained on the road, keeping her from closely studying her reaction. The question almost left Lily's lips, however, when Dorcas guessed what she longed to know.

"He'd ask me about you every time I ran into him. You know, wanted to make sure you were all right," Dorcas stated, momentarily distracted with checking the traffic in the rear view mirror. "Though honestly, I think he just wanted to make sure you hadn't run off with some Italian model while you were over there."

Lily rolled her eyes, prompting more laughter from the blonde. "He could have asked me himself," Lily said, failing to withhold the bitterness in the words.

Dorcas's laughter ceased. She threw Lily a puzzled look. "He never wrote to me or called," Lily explained, cringing at the unmistakable hurt in her voice. Angry with herself, she cleared her throat to help the knot in her throat subside.

"Maybe he was busy?" her friend offered after a moment of thought.

"I was busy with my workload and I still managed to call you, Marlene, and Ben every now and then," Lily refuted at once.

"Yes, but he was probably even busier than you with football," Dorcas went on. "He must be training like mad. Last time I spoke to Sirius, he said James had a good shot at making the national team."

Lily said nothing after that, too preoccupied as she was about containing her stomach. Their surroundings became even more familiar as they drove out of the city and the concrete was replaced with beds of green. She remembered traveling that path many times on her way to visit him over summer holidays, except this time her insides felt like ice and not warm with the anticipation of seeing him.