reckless living • wolfstar & jily

Cigarettes- JILY

Lily thoroughly despised smoking. During her childhood, she was (thankfully) not surrounded by many people who smoked. There was the occasional smoker, like, you know, the scary old man round the corner, Severus' parents, Severus himself -he didn't start smoking until after she ended her friendship with him so she didn't exactly have to smell him all the time and she never met his parents- but they never did it in her face. Her mother and father begged her when she was thirteen not to smoke as they had seen fifteen year olds standing on corners and puffing ridiculously on pipes and such. They just didn't want their daughter falling in with them. A similar chat was also sprung on to Petunia but she just said she wouldn't do it and stalked off, clearly not fully taking in what they had said. However, Lily did her best to fully reassure he parents that she wouldn't start ever. So she didn't. And she was happy. But now, she was nearly always around someone who smoked.

*

James sat in the common room, taking out one of those white sticks. The ones Lily despised. He didn't know though. Completely unknowing, Lily sat on the floor, checking through all her essays. James needs to do this, Lily thought while piling everything beside her. A little click and a sound that resembled someone exhaling broke her concentration. She damn well knew what that was. A lighter. The black haired boy put the killing stick to his lips and took a long and, for Lily, nail biting drag. No words came to her tongue. A misty cloud of white of escaped his lips and Lily's nose wrinkled in disgust. She knew James was a part of the 'cool' group but she never really got herself to believe he smoked. Not at this age anyway.

"James, take that damned thing out of your mouth before I hex you." Lily said through clenched teeth. He obeyed and looked curiously at the redhead who glared at him. Her cold green eyes became burning emerald whips ready to scald the skin and confidence of anyone.
"Why? It's not hurting you." James thought he was being reasonable but Lily thought he was being stupid. James was being stupid.
"James. You're still 17- don't even think about putting that to you lips again!" She snapped. The nerve of him! How could this boy really think that there was a 'why?' behind him smoking. What. An. Idiot.
"You didn't answer my question." He reminded in a smug voice. If smoking made you an all round prat then James would just have to get used to being called Potter again.
"Stop trying to be clever with me, you prat! James, I know for a fact that you don't want to die young, you'd only want that if you did something stupidly heroic but right now being daft as hell. Those things kill you! Your lungs! Think about them you stupid boy! Think about your parents, for Merlin's sake!" She raged.
"Doesn't matter. Everyone will treat me the same." James shrugged. Oh of course the would treat him the same 'cos in about a year or two he'll drop dead because of his damned cigars!
"I won't. But oh, I almost forgot. I'm a nobody to you, aren't I now?" James stared at her, wide eyed. To him, she was everything. His cig's glowing end became duller by the second and James had to resist the urge to breathe in the sharp smoke.
"You-you are somebody to me, Lily. I just don't get it though. Sure it might not be good for me, but other than that, what's wrong?"
"Oh I don't know, if you carry on smoking, you and your future lover would be poor, don't you dare say anything about you having bucket loads full of Galleons because you won't if you carry on wasting it on cigarettes. 3 in 5 people who smoke only smoke because they parents smoked, do you want your future child to smoke? An innocent child starting to smoke because their father smoked. I'm hoping your father or mother don't smoke, they don't look like they do. Also, who knows if you're even going to have a future child 'cos nobody likes to snog a guy who constantly reeks of cigarettes. Especially me. So don't even think you have a chance before you stop that revolting habit of yours!" Lily ranted openly and passionately. Lily could lie to you and say she didn't like James in that way at all, but she did. She fell hard and there was no way she was getting back up to regular human status. But that was fine if James stopped being an idiot and and quit smoking.
"You don't like to snog a guy who smells of cigarettes? A'ight then." He put cigarette out on the wooden coffee table in front of him and left it there. Lily stood up and wiped off the excess from the table and sat next to James.
"I can still smell it." Liy pointed out expectantly. Honestly, she rather enjoyed bossing James about. It sounds cunning, she knew, but if he stopped smelling and smoking cigarettes, then it was worth it.
"My, you're picky aren't you, little 'un."
"I'm older than you by like nearly two months."
"You way shorter than me. I have every right to call you little 'un. I don't like it anyway so don't hex me. My mum still calls me that and I'm taller than her." James added after seeing the glare Lily shot him. James summoned his bottle of cologne and sprayed the right amount on, he judged by Lily's expression anyways.
"There, you smell fine now. Smoking is really bad for you. Honestly, you're stupid for doing it. 17 and you're smoking."
"I started when I was fifteen. Sorry." He wilted under Lily's look but he half liked it. Anything Lily did he liked. Everyone knew that but her.
"I'm going to bed so do whatever the hell you want, just don't take another cigarette out. Ever. For me." She begged. He couldn't fully admit it yet, but if something happened to James, she would crumple and her world would become black and white.
"I promise." At that, she left for the stairs triumphantly but also fully relieved. Never once when James was stressed did he beg Sirius for a cigarette. Never once did he feel the urge to buy another pack because 'Nobody likes to snog a guy who reeks of cigarettes.'.
Never once did he break his promise.

at the end, i was going to put that he took his promise to the grave but i was just thinking about the grave and i was getting so sad so i added some stuff in and tweaked the ending. oh, almost forgot, that smoking fact about 3 in 5 people blah blah blah, yeah, i just made that up. sorry. also, big thank you to the new voters!
see you next milleniun.