Sticky situations

Senior Summer Solstice part 3/3

July 5th 1977
The day of the ball came far too quickly for Lily's liking.
She had really been enjoying just hanging out in the common room without all the screaming first and second years. She was sure she hadn't been that annoying.
Now she was in her dorm, suffocating from all the hairspray as Mary tried and tragically failed to get Dorcas'  frizzy hair into a tight bun. They ended up going with a casual Afro.
Lily herself was wearing her hair down with slight waves. Her dress was a simple maxi dress with thin straps. It was green to match her eyes.
Finally, at around quarter past 8, the girls headed down to the entrance hall to meet their dates.
Lily met Daniel who half-heartedly complimented her whilst staring longingly at Marlene.
Marlene really did look beautiful to be fair, lily thought. She was wearing a black strapless mini-skirt, which ,even though it was completely out of fashion, made her look like she belonged in Witch Weekly.
Lily scanned the room for her other friends.
Mary was embracing Reginald. She no longer seemed to care about her hair.
Dorcas was walking around with her date, tho Lily could have sworn she saw her look longingly over towards Marlene's direction..
Lily kept looking around and had to catch her breath when the next person came down the stairs.
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James was feeling crap.
He hated himself for feeling crap.
He had no reason to feel crap.
He looked great, had a great suit on and had a cracking girl as his date.
He should have felt fantastic.
But he didn't.
James walked down the steps to the crowded entrance hall, his eyes scanning the crowds for nothing in particular .
His tummy flipped when he saw his nothing in particular.
Lily was looking up straight at him wearing the most beautiful dress James had ever seen, not that he'd really paid attention to dresses before.
Tonight he finally understood all the fuss about them.
The dress spoke Lily.
It was modest and long but at the same time hugged her in just the right places to make any man lose his breath.
The best part was the colour.
James loved it because it reminded him of his favourite thing in the world.
Lily's god damn beautiful eyes.

James smiled back at her, suddenly excited for the night ahead. At least, before he remembered that he hadn't come with Lily, he had a different date to find.
James picked his way through the crowd and found Mai Chang.
Mai was a beautiful girl. She had long dark raven hair, beautiful chocolate coloured eyes and skin fit for Snow White. But she wasn't Lily.
James tried to hide his disappointment and took her arm, leading her outside to the marquee.
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"Wow it's really beautiful"
"Huh?"
"Remus, the marquee, don't you think Hagrid did a great job?"
"Oh that, yeah.."
Remus looked down at his comically short date, Nancy Parker.
She was a sweet girl, Remus had done patrol with her a few times as she was a Hufflepuff prefect, but Remus was losing interest fast.
He looked over again at Sirius, who was laughing and dancing with his date, happy as a lamb.
Remus hated that.
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Lily was trying, she really was, but Daniel Withers had no interest in her, and he wasn't bothering to hide it. He could at least pretend he found her a bit pretty.
Lily, flustered from the heat of the marquee and upset with her date, stepped outside.
'Merlin I'm pathetic' she thought, 'not half an hour and you've already scared away your date'
These thoughts put Lily in a worse mood.
She was definitely going to have to reapply some more powder now.
She grabbed her compact and hurried off to the nearest loo.
—————————————
James' bad mood had returned at quickly as it had left.
Mai wasn't giving him a chance to leave and find friends so he stuck in a mass of giggling non-Lily-Evans girls. The worst type of girl.
Suddenly a Queen song started playing and, from the sounds of the screaming, it was a favourite among Mai's friends.
James took his chance and slipped out the marquee while the group found their way to the dance floor.
Careful not to waste a second of precious freedom, James didn't even put down his and Mai's punch, he just ran full blast into the open air.
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THUMP!
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Lily was wet.
And sticky.
Why on Earth was she wet and sticky?
And why was she on the floor?
She looked up and found herself looking at a truthfully upset James Potter.
"Potter" she said sharply whilst standing up, "is there a particular reason that I am now covered in what seems to be raspberry flavoured punch?"
James' mouth kept opening and closing like a goldfish.
Lily sighed while simultaneously giving him a dirty glare.
"Never mind, I'll go back to my dorm. This ball kinda sucked anyway."
She turned and started walking back up to the castle.
Lily was so annoyed. She was angry. Obviously her night had to be ruined.
She just wanted to wallow in a bath and cry.
But James Potter obviously had other ideas.
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James was distraught.
Yes, distraught, that was the perfect word to describe it.
Poor Lily looked so defeated, nothing like the Lily he knew.
Also, it was entirely unfair that her left dress strap had fallen down in the process.
How on earth was James meant to process a full sentence with Lily in that state?
No instead he managed to make a fool of himself.
Before he had fully processed Lily talking to him, she had walked off.
It took him less than 3 seconds to decide he couldn't let her leave like that. Something was obviously bothering her, and James, as a Marauder, had a divine right to be nosy and find out what it was.
So he ran to catch up and tapped her on her bare shoulder. The contact made James shudder.
Lily, shocked, turned around to look at him.
James was upset to see tears filling in her eyes.
"Lily, I'm really sorry, honest, it was a complete accident, I was just trying to escape the ball whe-"
Lily cut him off.
"Potter, it's fine and not your fault, I just, I need to be alone right now."
She turned to leave again but James wasn't satisfied.
"Lily," he looked her right in her glistening emerald eyes, that didn't help his nerves, "Lily you can talk to me, come on let's go somewhere quiet, just let me help you because you are obviously not fine, and it's my duty as a friend to find out what's wrong."
James congratulated himself. He had just said a whole sentence to Lily, without stuttering or saying something slap worthy. Sirius would probably never believe him.
But James knew for certain that Sirius would definitely never believe him about what happened next.
Lily Evans broke down into tears and held out her arms for a hug.
James obliged and held her in his arms.
It felt warm, cosy and to James, it felt like home.

Ok that was sappy, sorry this chapter took so long, I can't promise that the next chapter will be much quicker as I am not so talented at sappy stuff but should be up by next week. Peace ✌🏻