hopelessly hopeful

txt → james [sept 19]

James slips an arm around her waist, drags her onto the same step as him. Lily feels her breath catch in her throat and thinks about kissing him, wants to close the space between them so badly it aches. He’d touched her hip to steady her when she fell into him outside the store but this is different, deliberate, and Lily finds that she really, really likes it.

James couldn't imagine having a sibling that much older – it would be so weird, like having more of a live-in uncle or aunt than a sibling. But then again, he's not quite sure what growing up with siblings would have been like. "I'm sure you're not a terrible sister," he says. "I mean, what, you're allowed to think someone is kind of an ass or whatever."

Lily can’t help but hop onto the escalator, turning to face him when she’s standing a step above him. “I’m good,” she says with a wide smile. “Better now that I’m closer to your height.” She laughs and twists their hands so she can intertwine their fingers, squeezing as they ride up to the fourth floor where the restaurant is. She hopes the lack of traffic in the mall doesn’t mean that everyone is at Dave and Buster’s — she wants him all to herself, for a little it, and doesn’t want to have to share with even the awful crowds of middle schoolers who like to hit the arcade on the weekends.

Lily practically skips up to the step above him, the extra six inches bringing her to eye level. He laughs, raising an eyebrow and thinks about kissing her. He grins, a bit wicked, and slips an arm around her waist, moves her so that they're on the same step. "Uh-huh," he says, feeling sly and flirty. "About that."

msg: no one ever has a kick ass life working at that mall

msg: it’s been over an hour and you haven’t replied, so i’ll assume you’re not okay

The lights in the mall have all dimmed or been turned off by the time the Hot Topic TVs go off. Lily glances up from her phone and can’t help but smile when she sees James walk out, trailed by Sirius carrying a skateboard. The latter drops his board to the floor and skates off toward the escalators, telling James he’ll see him at home. Lily arches an eyebrow, but figures she can ask about that later. (After all, she and Ted work together and don’t have any issues at all.)

He smiles at her when she practically falls into him. His other hand curves around her hip, steadying them. James laughs. "Sorry," he murmurs as she pulls away. Lily doesn't let go of his hand, through. She swings their hands and he feels – happy, he'd say giddy but that's not right. 

Lily wanders around the mall for the last half hour or so that it’s open, dropping into Nordstrom to say hello to Andy and tell her she officially has a date. She tries valiantly not to squeal or do anything stupid, because Lily is more dignified than that. She lets her friend go after just a few minutes, knowing how much of a pain in the ass it is to close on a Friday night, and then wanders back through the mall again.

They have to leave the TVs on when they leave, which James always thinks is a huge waste of money and electricity and on nights he knows he's opening, he turns them off because fuck that. (He's not going to lose his job over those TVs – if he loses his job it'll be because Sirius did something stupid and Al blamed him for it.) He resists bouncing out the doors as they lock up because he has a date (with Lily!!). He waves goodbye to Sirius, who gives him an eyebrow waggle. Sirius drops his board on the ground and illegally skates down the hallway to the stairs, showing he'll see James at home later.

Lily’s eyes widen and she nods. “Oh. We get a handful of those at Newbury, but not often. We don’t carry a lot of Supernatural merch anymore.” She laughs then and ducks her head.

I'll invite someone else on my murdering sprees, she says with a smile. He drags his thumb over her knuckle and laughs. "Thanks," James says, grinning. "I don't want to lose my scholarship, so no arrests is probably good." A ton of people stampede the store and James and Lily's hands drop. She says that she'll come back. He believes her.

message: gonna have to wrestle a scary Pomeranian next time am afriad

message: an actual fucking dog

Lily shrugs in turn, stepping a little closer. “I don’t need love looking like diamonds,” she sings quietly, trailing off into a laugh. As stupid as it sounds, she’s sort of lost track of every other sound around them. There’s just them and their hands and the shrinking space between them and it’s nice, even if her heart feels like it’s going to beat right out of her ribcage and escape through her throat.

James wishes he was talked to about the Lannisters all day. He shakes his head, laughing. "Not quite," he says, "Try Winchester brothers. Not nearly as fun or easy to derail the conversation from." (He is very afraid of the "wincest shippers".)

txt mgs | To: Prongs [12 September]