GOFLL 5 Snippet
Jealous!James for your reading pleasure (plus flirtatious date jily 👀). Also there’s kissing so technically it’s two in one!
Inspiration for Lily’s dress at the bottom!
|| Read Good Old Fashioned Love Letters on Ao3 ||
The restaurant is dimly lit, small round lamps casting a dim glow across the room, and the gentle clatter of forks and conversation carries through the air.
Lily can still feel James’s gaze on her, hot and steady, from the second he saw the dress: black velvet, skin tight to her curves, and her hair loose around her shoulders. Her heels click on the floor as they pause by the door.
She glances at him, heart pounding, and she swallows. He’s still looking, eyes tracing every inch of her, from her bare legs to the hem of her dress, wrapped tight around her mid thigh.
His hand flexes, but he doesn’t make the move to touch her, and he maintains the same slightly stilted silence they’ve been in since arriving as they walk over to their table and sit down. Frustration burns in the back of her mind. Frustration and nerves. We’ve managed to shag multiple times without a stitch of awkwardness but one date does us in, she thinks irately.
Lily clears her throat, pulse hammering as she settles into her seat. The menu—made of thick, expensive paper with black calligraphy—shimmers in her vision. “Well,” she says. “This is…something.”
James’s lips twitch and she flushes. “Something?” he repeats, and he looks a lot more like himself as he shakes his head in mock disapproval. “Come on, Evans, don’t tell me your stalwart wit has hit a dead end now?”
“Stalwart wit?” she repeats skeptically.
“Well, sharp wit, certainly,” James says and he smirks fully at her now, relaxing back in his chair. The strange, tense aura that’s been lingering since she asked him to dinner appears to have dissipated and Lily feels her shoulders relax with each second. He’s back. “Vicious, maybe. Bluntly honest? Sarcastic bordering on harsh—“
“Okay, okay, I get it,” Lily says, rolling her eyes, cheeks flushing. She taps a finger on the table. “You know, generally, you’re supposed to be nice when you’re on a date.”
James cocks a brow. “Are we? On a date?”
Lily hesitates, nerves ratcheting up again, but his face is still in that easy smirk, so she says, “I asked you to dinner, didn’t I?”
He looks at her for a moment, an unreadable expression flashing across his face before it clears, then he chuckles. “You certainly did,” he mutters, and glances up at her, a decidedly mischievous look in his eyes. “And I agree. It’s…something.”
“Fuck off,” Lily says, a pleasant flush stealing across her features. A wicked thought occurs to her and she purposely looks down before glancing back up at him. “You know, this is all your fault.”
The waitress arrives at that exact moment, stopping James’ response, though his brow has already lifted. Lily hasn’t even glanced at the menu sit they sat down, so she blindly orders the first thing she sees. Inwardly, she winces at the price, but tries not to let that show on her face. James orders his own food and adds a bottle of wine.
“What’s my fault?” he asks the second the waitress departs. He’s leaning forward on his elbows, intent on her.
“Isn’t everything?” Lily drawls, purposefully teasing.
James shoots her a glance. “Evans,” he says. “I thought we were past playing games.”
“You may be past it. I’m certainly not.”
“Tell me what’s my fault, Evans, or we’ll see who can play dirtier,” James says.
Oh, he has no idea.
Lily shrugs. “It’s your fault that my ‘stalwart wit’ is hitting a dead end tonight.”
“Why?”
The wine arrives, and Lily swallows a laugh as James gives the waitress a truly irate glance. “Fuck’s sake,” he mutters under his breath. “No—just—we don’t need to taste. It’s fine—I’ll pour—“
Lily starts laughing in earnest.
“You’re enjoying this,” James accuses, narrowing his eyes at her. Nonetheless, he pours them both a generous glass and she picks it up as she ponders his words.
“Maybe a little,” she admits.
“So, why exactly is it my fault you’re not in top form tonight?” he asks, shaking his head with a smile directed at her that seems—oh God, it really is—fond. She’s sure the look on her face right now mirrors his.
Lily waits until he’s taking a sip of wine before she says, “Because you’ve spent the last three days fucking me so good it’s a miracle I can even think around you anymore, let alone verbally spar with you. Sorry.”
James chokes, coughing and spluttering as he barely keeps wine from spraying onto the white cloth. He slams his glass down on the table, one hand still covering his mouth and looks up at Lily with a look that could best be described as wild.
She keeps her face innocent. “I mean, statistically I’m sure there’s some data to back me up. Orgasms probably decrease brain function.”
James’s knuckles are white as he lowers his hand. “Brain function,” he says, deadpan. His voice is rough. “You probably need that for your lab work, don’t you?”
Lily bites the inside of her cheek so she doesn’t burst out laughing like she desperately wants to. Fucking hell, she fancies this man. “And the term starting too. Very important.”
“Too bad,” James says. His eyes travel over her top half, the curves revealed by the tight black velvet, her bare shoulders and hair swept over one. His eyes darken. “You’re probably not going to get it.”
“Probably?”
“Definitely.” James shifts, tension in his entire posture as he leans closer to her. “In fact…I wouldn’t bet on doing any thinking tonight. Or tomorrow morning.”
Fuck.
Lily manages a laugh, trying to hide what that suggestion is doing to her, though she knows he can see the flush in her cheeks and probably guess at the rest (limbs: suddenly shaky, heart: pounding, knickers: flooded). The bastard. The stupid, hot bastard. “Is that so?” Her voice is low too.
James exhales slowly, the sound all tension and release, and he merely nods.
That sound does something to her. Something she can’t even explain, that she absolutely shouldn’t be feeling, not when the entire point of this date was to talk to him, to actually get to know each other and see if this even worked. It comes out of her mouth anyway. “They’ve got a loo here, don’t they?”
James doesn’t choke this time, but he freezes so completely she wonders if he’s even heard her. A tight, harsh, “Fuck,” a second later answers her question. “Evans—“ he sounds physically pained.
“Lily? Potter?”
Lily jerks, heart jumping at the sound of the surprised voice and she quickly turns her head to see—
Eddie Bones. Standing just a few tables away, staring at her with a disbelieving smile.
She doesn’t have to look at James to know all amusement or heat has left his expression, or to feel his sudden tension.
“Hi,” she says weakly as Eddie comes closer, stopping in front of them. She can’t look at James. “Eddie. What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same question,” Eddie laughs, though his eyes are narrowed. They dart between James, still tense and silent, to Lily, then pause on her. “Are you two here for dinner?”
Lily hears the implicit question in his tone and she hopes her face doesn’t look as panicked as she feels as she answers casually, “Oh, yeah. Just a last minute thing. It’s fun to…you know, go out sometimes.”
“Yeah, fun,” James echoes and his voice sounds wooden. He’s staring at Eddie and Lily suddenly remembers the last time they saw each other she was hugging Eddie in a bikini while he laughed. Fuck, fuck.
Eddie’s eyes narrow further, and the glance he gives James is slightly cool. “Well, I’m just here for a business dinner,” he says. He rolls his eyes. “High-flying wanker’s late though, of course.”
Despite herself, Lily snorts. “Aren’t they always?” she asks dryly. “God, did I ever tell you about the time the rep from Novartis had a meeting with Slughorn? He showed up forty minutes late and gave me his valet slip.”
“Rich bastards, innit?” Eddie says, sighing with clear humor, and Lily can’t stop her laughter, nodding. Eddie’s smile brightens and he shifts closer. “You know I had a similar thing happen—“
“I think your high-flying wanker is here,” James interrupts. His tone is clipped, jaw clenched tight.
Lily starts, leaning back slightly instinctively. She hadn’t even realized she’d started to lean towards Eddie as they talked.
Eddie’s smile fades a bit, replaced by something that looks a good deal like a challenge as he looks at James. “Thanks, mate,” he says eventually. It doesn’t sound amicable.
James doesn’t move, a muscle in his jaw jumping. “No problem,” he says and picks up his glass of wine. He takes a long sip, then glances over at Lily. “Evans, I think our food is coming too.”
Both of his observations are true: there’s a stern, wankery-sort of bloke hanging by the reception with a clearly agitated look, and the waitress is coming back with steaming plates of food.
“Right, well have a good night,” Lily says to Eddie. Her face feels permanently flushed, though it shouldn’t. Eddie is nice, and she likes talking to him as a friend, and—
It bothers everyone, clearly. Even her.
“Bye, Lily,” Eddie says, eyes lingering on her. They dart down, note the low neckline of her strapless dress. She’s got a freckle on the swell of one breast and it feels strangely exposed, like his gaze is going to be drawn to it. But Eddie just looks away after barely half a second and gives them—James—a polite smile, then moves on to meet his dinner partner.
However brief Eddie’s look was, James noticed.
He noticed because he notices absolutely everything, especially when it comes to her, and Lily’s really come to enjoy that fact in the last few days, but right now she really dislikes it.
He doesn’t say anything though, just looks at her with a tight furrow in his brow, then starts to eat.
Lily barely tastes the first few bites of her food, heart beating strangely. She keeps glancing at James, like he’ll say something to break the tension. It feels like it’s about to snap, then she sets down her napkin and pushes to her feet. “I’m going to the loo,” she says. The word sends a burst of heat through her at the reminder of their earlier conversation, but James’s face is still in the same tense mask.
Frustration and upset—at herself, at Eddie, at James—swirl through her on the way to the loo, and all the way as she’s walking back, right until she nearly bumps into someone. “Oh, sorry—“
“It’s fine—“
Lily blinks. “Oh. Hi.”
Eddie laughs, stepping back. “Hi again,” he says, then his grins flattens a bit. “Sorry I—I feel a bit like I’ve crashed your date.”
Lily stares, then blushes so brightly she’s surprised she doesn’t match her hair. “Oh, no, its—“
“No, it’s my fault,” Eddie says, then gives her a sort of self-deprecating smile. “Should’ve moved quicker.”
Lily doesn’t know what to say to that, mostly because, well…even if he moved quicker, by the time they met she was already gone for James. In the week since then, it’s only gotten worse, to the point where she’s panicking about what to say to him on a date that’s starting to feel more and more like a disaster.
Eddie reads some of that in her face and his shoulders drop. He sighs, then gives her a humorless smile. “See you around, Lily,” he says quietly.
“Right,” she says, off-kilter. Her face is still burning. “Have a good night, Eddie.”
Eddie walks away and she stands there in the hallway for a second, feeling...what? What is she feeling?
Lily exhales, pressing a hand to her hot cheek. This entire night suddenly feels like far too much to handle, like the desperate bid it was. Why the hell did I think asking him on a date would be a good idea? she chastises herself. Like it would even matter if James was already…if what she’d overheard him and Marlene talking about meant…
Lily’s about to head back to the dining room when there’s the sound of footsteps in the hallway, then suddenly she’s face to face with James. She comes to a halt automatically, startling.
“Hi,” she says. She’s breathless suddenly without any cause, and it couldn’t be a more stark parallel to running into Eddie, except when she looks at James…
Fucking hell.
James, who doesn’t look the least bit surprised to run into her, or the least bit sorry about it. His jaw is still clenched, eyes dark, but then his gaze travels down her form, pausing on the swells of her breasts. “You’ve got a freckle right there,” he says suddenly, like he popped into the loo hallway to discuss her dermatological anomalies. His voice is low, though and the way it sounds, the way he’s looking at her…
Lily’s heart jumps, breath suddenly coming difficult. “I—you noticed?” It’s barely a question, half breath and longing.
James nods, then steps forward into her. Their bodies press together, the dim lighting sending shadows over both their faces. His hands brush her waist, gently gripping, and then he leans forward to place a kiss on her neck. Lily sucks in a breath, head automatically tilting back. Confusion and arousal mix inside her. “James…” It’s a soft breath of air.
He acts like he hasn’t heard her and his lips move. Another kiss, a gentle suck. He reaches the edge of her neckline and his tongue darts out, smoothing right over that freckle.
Fuck.
“James—“ she says again, not sure what’s going to come out. What are you doing or keep going or dear God please don’t ever stop or—
She doesn’t have time to formulate any one of those, because James is suddenly straightening and she’s forced to tilt her head to look him in the eye and…
She’s never seen the look on his face before. Furious, wanting, pained. Jealous. His hands grip her waist, and then he’s kissing her.
Lily’s gasp is swallowed by his mouth, and—bleeding hell, she’s never been kissed like this. Not by him, not by anyone. His mouth is demanding and hot on hers, tongue working cleverly in her mouth until a whimper escapes. His hands don’t stop moving, shifting to splay across her back, then down to cup her arse.
“James,” she says for the third time when he breaks away long enough for it to escape.
“What?” he says harshly, panting. He presses his palm against her cheek, then tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. His eyes are blazing and she wants him kissing her again, wants that feeling back.
“Just…” Lily’s chest rises and falls as she tries to catch her breath. “Why—“
“Do you like him?” He cuts her off, and if she wasn’t still being held right up against him she would’ve jerked back out of surprise. James’s intense stare doesn’t lessen. “Bones. Do you fancy him?”
Lily gapes. “I—no. Of course not, he’s—”
His jaw clenches. “It didn’t look like that to me.”
“So you thought snogging me in a public place was the answer?” she demands, surprise shifting to irritation. She sticks him with a glare. “For fuck’s sake, James, I asked you to come here, I didn’t ask him and I’m currently letting you grope me in a public loo hallway even though any sane woman would be well on her way by now—“
For the second time in as many minutes, she’s cut off by his mouth. “Fucking hell,” he growls, clutching her tighter to him. He kisses her harder. “You can’t—you can’t look the way you do, baby, and—“
“And what?” Lily’s surprised to find anger beneath the surface of her emotions even as she kisses him back, then she breaks away, panting. She glares. “Have a perfectly normal conversation with a mate?”
His eyes flash. “He likes you.”
“So what?”
James’s mouth opens, then he pauses. His brow furrows and she nearly laughs. “You’re an idiot,” she tells him and this time she’s the one who kisses him, gripping his collar and pushing her body as far into the hard lines of his as it’ll go. “An idiot for jumping to conclusions and honestly, just an idiot in general, but mostly you’re an idiot for thinking I’d ever be interested in Eddie Bones when I’m already so fucking gone over you—“
Lily’s dress inspo:
