Banana Pancakes

Chapter Seventeen

The entire ride to the party destination, Remus felt as if he would go into cardiac arrest. He sat, glued to his seat, fingers clawing into the leather interior of Lily's car. He was sure his heart was beating faster than the car had been going.

They had been in the driveway for about ten minutes, Lily had been patiently waiting until they were pressing on to fifteen minutes. "Remus. He's not even here yet. You need to get out of the car."

"I knew I shouldn't have chosen this costume." Remus stated, his fingers picking at his bottom lip, an anxious behavior of his. "If you could just start the car back up, that would be absolutely perfect. And then, if you drove me back home."

"You know I'm not going to do that. I don't like you being pressured, or panicked. It's going to be fine, Rem. I'll stick by your side, no one is even here yet, you can properly meet James, I told him about how I knew you. It was hard keeping my best friend from him, I'm excited for you guys to meet." She beamed. Lily had finger curled her red hair back, then pinned the rest of her curls up. She was dressed as Daisy from the Great Gatsby, her dress was covered with sequence and dangly things. Remus could tell she was trying to look like a flapper girl from a time in the Twenties.

"Remus? Hello? You in there?" Lily asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

While all this time thinking and looking at her costume, James had strolled on out. He wore the biggest grin on his stupid face, he had stuck his head into the passenger side of the window, which had been open, and literally scared the hell out of Remus.

"There a problem?" James asked, smirking at Lily. She just lifted her chin up, shaking her head.

"Nope, not a problem at all." She stated, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Well, you've been out here for.. a good fifteen minutes. Everything okay?" James asked, then his eyes fell on Remus.

"You're him! I thought Lily might have been lying when she told me about how she knew Sirius's Remus.." James exclaimed. "Wow, mate. It's good to see you, and to know you're real. I thought maybe Sirius was being scammed or something." He chuckled.

"Um, yeah. I'm him. Here in the flesh.." Remus stated, biting his bottom lip. He pulled at the door handle and opened the car door, James backing up so he could do so.

"Sirius isn't here yet, right? Remus is a little nervous." Lily laughed, finally getting out as well. Remus quickly looked at James, frozen in place. If Sirius was here...

"Nope, unfortunately the fucker procrastinated. He waited until the last goddamn minute to go shopping for his costume! I assure you though, it'll be worth it. He said he may be a little late.." James huffed, he quickly opened the door for them, Lily locking her car and following James inside.

Remus went in pursuit, he couldn't get over how large the place was. Wooden floors, fancy walls and furniture. It looked like something out of a magazine, he looked at the grand staircases and saw the pool from the summer party just a few months back, right through tall glass windows. Many decorations were put up, a plethora of snacks and different finger foods were laid out on any stable surface. There was punch spiked with strong alcohol, a fog coming off of it and other bottles of alcohol scattered all over the large dining table. A small bar to the right had more drinks to choose from, and a mixologist was already there preparing for the evening. A DJ was setting up in the spacious living area, most of the furniture moved out of the way, large stereos set out.

Remus was surprised that he was surprised, it was just like the summer party. But now, he wasn't wearing swimming trunks, he wore round glasses, khaki pants, and a white tank to go with it. His pant legs were tucked into his boots, which went up to his lower calves, and he also had a belt and a trench coat on.