Work Text:
prompt: are you drunk? | jily
“Haven’t you had enough drinks already?”
In spite of the words that come out of his mouth, James is pouring Lily yet another shot of vodka. Not like it is his choice, of course. If she payed for it, it was literally his job to do so.
Still, she knows that, if he could, he wouldn’t be giving her any more alcohol. But she knows he underestimates her tolerance and she knows she’s still fine and still needs a few more shots before she starts to lose her senses. So she drinks all the transparent liquid in the cup all at once before she says anything.
“My ex is having a baby, James,” she finally answers. “I can have as many drinks as I’d like tonight.”
He grimaces as she slides the glass once again through the wooden surface between them, asking for more vodka. He pretends he doesn’t see it and looks around, looking for some other costumer to attend, but his search is useless.
It’s Tuesday night, and the bar is mostly empty. There’s just the usual drunk old men absorbed by their bottles of whiskey and a couple of groups of friends or coworkers talking calmly, their beers still half full because they don’t really intend on getting drunk in a weekday.
“James,” Lily calls him and shakes her glass in front of his face when he looks at her.
He sighs and unpleasantly pours her another shot of vodka. “Can you at least eat something?”
She rolls her eyes. “You just want me to spend more money.”
“Lily, please. Just order some fries, it won’t even cost a quarter of the money you’ll be spending on alcohol.”
“Fine. Get the fries.”
He walks away to the kitchen and it’s not long before Sirius hands him a fresh portion of french fries and says he’ll clean everything up and leave in a few minutes. Putting the bowl in front of Lily, he grabs a couple of fries before leaning back and watching her eat. She doesn’t say anything about him stealing her food. Instead, she just slides her glass again towards him and starts eating the fries.
Rolling his eyes, he grabs the recipient but leaves his hand there, fingertips touching hers as he stares at her.
“So. Your ex is having a baby.”
Huffing, she glances at their hands and then looks back at him, slightly annoyed. “Yes. And that gives me the right to drink as much as I want to.”
“Technically what gives you this right is the law.”
“Whatever.”
“Right,” he finally pulls his hand away with the cup, but leaves it standing a few inches away from where it was and leans back, arms crossed. “So, tell me about this ex of yours.”
“Ugh. Don’t pretend you don’t know him, James, you were my ex before he was my boyfriend.”
He chuckles, but sustains his gaze. “Right. I was your high school sweetheart.”
Something about her eyes changes when the subject comes up, and she looks away. “Yeah. We really were something, weren’t we?”
“Sure. I always thought you were the one.”
Their eyes meet again, but there’s too much tension in their gaze for it to last long. There are too many feelings, too many thoughts and things left unsaid between them.
“Yeah. That would’ve been fun.”
He clears his throat, eager to change the subject. “So, your ex’s baby.”
She wrinkles her nose. “Yeah. Dylan’s having a baby. And really, I’m fine, like- I really am over him, you know?”
“Well, I imagined you would be. You were the one who didn’t want to marry him after college.”
“You had to bring this up, hadn’t you?”
He shrugs. “I’m just stating the facts.”
“Of course you are,” she sighs. “Anyway, I’m doing good, you know I am. I love my job and I have a good life and lately I’ve been on some new shit. It’s cool, I like my life. And I guess I’m happy for him, it’s just-,” she reaches for her glass and notices it’s still empty. “James can you please give me some more alcohol?”
He makes a face and tries to protest, but ends up leaning down to grab the vodka bottle.
“Thanks,” she says, after she drinks.
“Hm. So you’re happy?”
“Yeah, I guess. I am, it’s just... It’s frustrating, you know. It feels like a door is locking and it’s okay because I didn’t even want to open it, but- It feels lonely outside. And it reminds me of everything I could’ve had.”
He reaches out and grabs her hand, holding it softly. “Hey. It’s not like you can’t have it anymore. You just can’t have it with him”
“U-hum.”
“And damn, Lily, that guy...”
“I know.”
They stay silent and eat the rest of the fries, listening to the familiar noises of the bar.
“Do you ever think about that?” She suddenly asks.
“About what?”
“About like... What it could’ve been?”
His eyebrows come together. “You mean you and Dylan? Why would I?”
“Not me and Dylan. Us.”
The air gets denser and he stares at his own hands. For a while, neither of them speaks again.
“Yes. I think about it.”
“And what do you think?”
He lifts his eyes to meet hers. “I don’t know, Lily. A lot of things. We couldn’t have known back them, that we’d still be close by now. We were going to different cities and I didn’t think you’d come back to London and be my favorite costumer.”
“And you messed up.”
“Yeah. I messed up.”
Another round of silence, and this time they realize they are the only people left there.
“It must be getting late,” she says, finally.
“Probably.”
“I guess I should go home.”
He nods slightly and they stare at each other’s eyes for a few moments longer. She keeps looking at him in a strange way, as if waiting for him to say or do something, he doesn’t quite know what it is. She hesitates before reaching for her purse stops to look at him.
“It’s fine, you know? I mean, you messed up, but I forgave you a long time ago. Sometimes I wonder too... Maybe if some things had been different-,” she shook her head, as if to dismiss her line of thought. “Well, it doesn’t matter. How much do I owe you?”
He shook his head. “Consider it on the house.”
She stares at him and they have a silent discussion about this with their eyes. He wins.
“Fine,” she says. “Bye, then, James. And thank you for the drinks and the food and the talk.”
She turns around to leave, but something about the air and the way she walks makes him have the urge to call her back. “Lily?”
She turns her head around.
“Are you drunk?” He asks.
She furrows her eyebrows. “Drunk enough to be dangerous behind the wheel. Sober enough to know that and make the decision to call a cab.”
He just stands there for a moment.
“Don’t worry James, I’m fine. And I’ll remember all of this tomorrow.”
She starts to turn around to leave again, but he moves fast this time, almost running and coming to the other side of the bar, reaching her in a few steps.
“James?”
He stands right in front of her, and instead of answering he just keeps staring at her, at those green eyes and light freckled nose and rosy cheeks that were so familiar. Slowly, he takes her face in his hands, holding her jaw and the back of her neck softly and tilting her head slightly up.
Almost trembling, he leans in a soft motion, giving her time to say something or back away if she wants to.
She doesn’t. So he brings their lips together and kisses her gently, but passionately. When their tongues meet, it’s like they’re finding an old path, a road they hadn’t traveled for years, but still know exactly all the details from. It doesn’t take long for them to be breathless and itching for more. More of their mouths, their bodies, more of that. More of them.
“Oh, shit,” she mutters when they break apart, his hands still on her head and hers lost on his hair.
“That is what I think about, Evans. When I think about us,” he says, firmly, before stepping away and starting to clean the place.
She gulps. “Oh. Okay.”
He lets a side smile show. “Maybe we can figure it out, you know. What it could’ve been.”
She blushes as he smiles at her.
“You can call me, if you want to... do something different.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
They stand there staring at each other. She breathes in and out several times. Then she turns around and leaves, the door making a soft noise behind her.
A second after, his phone rings.
“Hello?”
Lily’s voice is soft on the other side. “I thought we could do something different. Maybe tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow sounds great.”