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L I L Y
Lily felt horrible. It was 10 a.m. and the two friends basked under the Floridan sun by the swimming pool as Irene talked animatedly about her date night with Sirius, but Lily wasn't listening. Her brows were furrowed, her teeth gritted in an effort to remain silent because she was afraid if she opened her mouth to speak, she'd start spilling everything to Irene.
She was pissed. The way Marlene had played with Remus' feelings out of a stupid hope to get Sirius' attention had made a flare of anger build up within her. Lily just hoped she wasn't making it too obvious because she didn't want her best friend to get suspicious. She wasn't used to keeping secrets from Ira, and Lily knew that if she caught on that something was off, Lily wouldn't be able to hold it in anymore.
Had Ira been more observant like she usually was, she would've seen the change in Lily's demeanor: her unusual silence, vacant looks and pursed lips. But the exuberant girl was too wrapped up in the recollections of the previous night, her doe-like eyes twinkling, her smile so broad her cheeks had to be aching; and Lily was just thankful Marlene hadn't stuffed up the date out of some foolish jealousy.
". . . And then Sirius went, 'are you a fruit, because honeydew you know how fine you look right now?'," Irene threw her head back in laughter, and Lily couldn't help but smile too.
The smile lingered on her lips even after Ira stopped laughing, and despite her anger at Marlene, her friend's joy was contagious.
"What?" Irene asked.
"Nothing," Lily said softly, still smiling to herself. "It's just weird to see you talk so passionately about Sirius. Not that it's a bad thing, of course. I just didn't think I'd ever see the day Irene Jones would act like this over a guy."
"Oh, shut it." Irene rolled her eyes, but she was smiling too. "Now tell me what happened with you and James."
The blood rushed to Lily's face and she lowered her gaze. The smile on Irene's lips broadened to an anticipating grin.
"Well, I guess you could say it's official now," Lily murmured.
"FINALLY!" Irene exclaimed, loud enough for everyone around to hear and jump up in alarm.
She leapt to her feet and tackled Lily in a bone-crushing hug.
"Ira, I can't . . . breathe," Lily choked out in a muffled voice, half laughing, trying to free herself from her friend's tight embrace.
When Irene finally let go, they were both laughing.
"Now this is what I call a double score," she said. "This calls for a celebration. Let's have a girls' night tonight, shall we? We should call Marlene too. Actually, let's dine at Lotus and then do something fun in the evening. I think there's gonna be live music at The Three Broomsticks tonight. Then she could sleep over and we'll have a movie marathon. What do you think?"
