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“I heard Lily Evans is going to be here.” Peter, James’ cameraman, said sneakily as he set up his tripod. “Are you going to act like an idiot again?”
“James always acts like an idiot when Lily Evans is around.” Marlene, James’ producer, said with a tinge of annoyance, “and the reason I am here and not in the studio.”
James shot his producer a sheepish grin. “You act as if you have better things to do with your time.”
Marlene waved the cards in her hands at James. “I brought cue cards, in the hopes I can keep you on topic around the woman, although after the last interview I highly doubt it.”
“I can be professional.” James argued as he straightened his bow tie. “She’s the one who got me off topic last time.”
“You guys spent twenty minutes comparing cows to cats.” Marlene deadpanned, “so forgive me for the lack of faith in you.”
“We don’t even know if she’s truly going to be available for an interview.” James reminded them, “or if she’s even here at all.”
The screams from the fans across the road announced her presence first. People begging for her to look their way, to come over, and to acknowledge their existence.
James would honestly do the same for her attention. In fact, he had done so back when he was nothing but a footballer and she was a child star trying to live a normal life. Going to American high school and being two of the three brits on site had placed them both in similar crowds, but nothing had ever come of their connection but friendship.
And this wasn’t high school.
Now they were basically strangers, possibly acquaintances at best.
James had done his football thing, retired early due to a poor knee, and became an entertainment host for ABC. It wasn’t his dream job, but it paid the bills and allowed for a comfortable life.
Lily had propelled from her childhood sitcom on Disney into an impressive acting career. Her acting chops had landed her at the Golden Globes that night, and everyone was itching to see her.
Sometimes James saw her around Hollywood, mostly at these events, but every time he was reminded just how much he missed her quick wit. Seeing her flourish as an actress was great; he still missed the girl she used to be.
Then, suddenly, Lily appeared and James felt as if his breath left his lungs at the sight of her. She was walking over to him with the biggest grin plastered on her face. It almost knocked him onto his knees, it was so bright.
Her cheeks were shining with glitter painted on like freckles, and her green eyes were shadowed with golden dust. She wore a stunning dark gold dress that made her pale skin look tanner than usual…that or she’d just gotten back from an ocean-based vacation.
God, she was just beautiful.
She wasn’t going to come over to him though. He couldn’t blame her, the last time they’d seen each other had probably scared her off for good.
He turned towards the cameraman, pretending to be interested in a nonexistent conversation. He tried to look nonchalant, cool, and suave. He didn’t dare look at Lily until after he was sure she’d passed by.
He couldn’t take a rejection, not from her.
“James.”
Lily was standing directly beside him and hadn’t passed him by. James turned halfway and looked at her again, starry eyed in the worst way.
She stood eye to eye with him since she wore heels tonight, normally she was shorter than him by a foot. And fuck, Lily was even more goddess-like up close and personal. He’d forgotten how pretty her emerald green eyes were, and the way her nose crinkled when she smiled.
James looked back at his coworkers for confirmation that he could start an interview with her.
(Even though he never managed to talk to her normally, in any situation.)
Peter nodded at him, and Marlene made a motion with her hand that meant the camera was rolling. They officially wanted him to interview her. That was his cue and James had to do his job.
Lily, however, gave an awkward wave to the camera. Then she turned her back to the camera altogether looking around. James touched her shoulder with the microphone, and she cackled. She turned back to face him, and allowed the camera to angle down her body for dress shots.
“Looking lovely, Lily.”
His voice cracked like a twelve-year-old boy, bloody hell.
“Oh, you are interested in talking to me?” She pestered him.
“Of course.”
“I just saw this…” Lily gave an imitation awkward smile and turned away from James, pretending to be him five seconds ago when he’d seen her coming and hadn’t known whether to run away or die on the spot.
“No, I didn’t do that!” He sniggered off his awkwardness.
She always managed to get him laughing when she’s around. She had that affect on everyone, even total strangers meeting her for the first time.
“You did!” Lily pressed a fresh manicured hand to her red tainted mouth, “you’re like a capybara in the wild”
“No!” He wanted the red carpet to swallow him up now that he knew she’d seen how awkward he’d been at the first sight of her. “I was smiling!”
“Good.” Lily brushed a strand of her auburn hair back, “I thought you were going to pretend you didn’t know me.”
“I was smiling! I was like…” his smile was strained because he was aware of everyone within fifteen feet watching them. “Happy to see you!”
“It was not! It was this…”
Lily did a perfect imitation of James’ side eye. He had to laugh at that, because she looked preposterous, which meant he’d been even more stupid looking.
“No, I was happy!” He cried, touching her shoulder, and forcing her to bring her eyes from her feet to his face.
There was a playful fire in her eyes that made his stomach twist into knots as they stared each other down. It was if she were daring him to give in and finally make a move, declaring her mutual attraction. James tilted the corners of his mouth into a quizzical expression as she stuffed her hands into the folds of her gown.
“Can we start over?”
Lily and James both looked over to the camera man and producer. Marlene currently had her arms crossed. She was the one who had interrupted their little reunion.
”what do you need?” Lily asked so politely.
“This isn’t usable material.” Marlene said, “I need a real interview.”
“Right.” James cleared his throat and then pointed the microphone at the actress. “Professional.”
Lily bent down a little so that her mouth pressed into his microphone as she gave a sly little, “hi.”
He couldn’t resist matching Lily’s bright smile with one of his own smouldering grins. He brought the microphone back to his lips just to respond to her coyly.
“Hi, Evans.”
The sparks flying between them tonight were undeniable. Lily looked beyond happy to be standing in James’s shadow amongst the bright lights of Hollywood, like she’d prefer to stay there forever.
There were no words in the English language that could describe how James was looking at her, at least none that he could remember.
When he started to ask a question, Lily bent back, face ecstatic, and she winked at him as she said, “Fancy seeing you here.”
Her red hair was also dusted with gold, making her look as if she were hand painted by an artist. James would love for one afternoon to sit and paint the way her smile lifted her cheeks. He’d love to sketch every feature to perfection.
He’d taste her skin with his tongue and—nope!!!
Wrong time to think about that.
The last time they had run into each other had also been another awards show. He’d complimented her cat, asked her if she liked pizza, and made some off-the-wall comment about her leg hair.
This time, for the golden globes, he ought to be more refined. There was something about Lily Evans that brought out his worst and best parts. The last time they’d met, he hadn’t gotten even a reel of good footage to use. It had all been banter and calculated wit, something that they both excelled at.
James was polite, mildly flirtatious, when he spoke again. “You know, we must stop meeting like this.”
Lily snorted, brushing off his claim with a wave of her hand. “I only ever want to see you.”
His voice dropped an octave. “What?”
He cannot comprehend what Lily just said out loud, but thankfully he could rewind the tape a million times. When he got back to the studio, he’d force Peter to make him a copy.
Meanwhile, Lily was still talking like a mile a minute.
“At an, on like a—“ And then Lily saw James’ shocked expression and she quickly covered his hand on the mic. James felt like he might feint as he was now holding her bloody hand. “No, that’s not the end of—“
“What?” James asked again, tugging her up and closer to him.
Lily paused, as if mesmerized by him, before shaking herself from her stupor and adding quickly, “—the sentence! That’s not the end of my sentence!”
James licked his lips and asked, “would you care to clarify?”
“I only ever want to see you in these kind-of, sort-of, situations.” She seemed to wince, but James didn’t know if his eyes were able to do anything beyond gape at her, let alone deduce her actions fairly. “I mean, I like to see you in these situations.”
“What about other situations?” He asked boldly, or stupidly,
“Not, uhhhh, yet.”
Lily’s face was tomato red as she glanced at her publicist who nodded thoroughly at her for whatever answer she was about to give. James arched a brow.
So, Lily was being babysat that night. He wondered if it was due to him, and the last viral interview they’d had.
Lily turned her eyes back on James and said without an ounce of truth, “I’m not interested.”
James clicked his tongue with feigned disappointment. “I was gonna invite you to my birthday party!”
Lily’s publicist hit herself with her notepad when Lily grabbed James’ elbow and inhaled, “wait, when’s your birthday party?”
“March.” James said, “all our friends will be there.”
“We have mutual friends?” Lily giggled, fucking giggled, in his direction.
She was flirting.
She was flirting so much that everyone watching was picturing what he might say next.
“Oh loads.” James lied. “We miss each other on all the big outings.”
“Well then I should invite you to my birthday.” Lily said, “how rude of me!”
“What astrological sign are you?” James asked, seeing Marlene throw her que cards on the ground in frustration as he once again pulled the interview into a mad direction.
“I’m an Aquarius,” she said, “and yours is Aries.”
“How’d you…” he cut himself off and glanced over his shoulder at the camera crew literally gaping at them, speechless.
He would hate himself forever if he didn’t be wholly honest with her now. Screw Marlene and her cue cards.
“Did you know that if you have a sun, that’s the same as the sun sign of someone else…”
Lily grew worried by how serious he had become, “is it not good?”
“Nah,” he leaned into her space again, feeling quite courageous. “it’s good.”
They were compatible without all the astrological signals. Hell, he had been attracted to Lily from the first second he saw her walking the hallways of their old school. Everyone had known he’d had a crush on her, everyone but Lily. He had been determined to take her out, but it had always been the right girl at the wrong time.
He hoped the timing was finally right.
“Oh, so it’s good that we share a sun or a moon?” She rocked in her heels, “well that’s interesting.”
“Why?” He stepped into her with a cool smirk, his knees brushing the edges of her puffy gown. “Is that an issue?”
“Well because, I don’t…I don’t think we should explore this…” She said faintly, but her eyes weren’t leaving his.
It was almost like she was begging him to just kiss her already.
“Okay, well, I’m not even asking to explore it.” He resisted the urge to tuck her red hair behind her ear, even as it tickled her cheek.
“I know, but I’m just like really kind of…” Lily’s voice trailed off as looked at James like she wanted to push him against the nearest wall and find out just how compatible they could be.
He wouldn’t argue, and told her as much with a clever arch of his brow and a seducing brush of his teeth on his lower lip.
“Okay,” Marlene, his producer, retorted boisterously from beside the camera, “we need to do an actual interview you two!”
Lily pretended to not look flustered as she stepped back from James a bit. “Whoops, sorry, he’s just so into me.”
“I’m sorry,” James tried not to flush red and he casually brushed Lily’s wrist with two fingers. “You’re the one who’s obsessed with me.”
“That’s what I’m saying!” She said, motioning at all of him like he hadn’t been joking with her. “I’m scared of what it could turn into.”
Holy shit.
Was she being serious?
Was she being serious and not joking right now?
James’ heart was beating a mile a minute.
“Ugh, okay.” James scratched his head, unsure of what to say because Lily Evans was having a crisis on camera in front of him, about him.
“And I’m not ready for that kinda thing.” She seemed to be talking more to herself than to anyone else. “it’s not you, I just am not ready to really dig into that, right?”
“It would be too much,” he deduced, offering her an out that he didn’t really want to give.
“I’m not ready for it.” Lily confirmed, but she confirmed it a little too hastily as she glanced at her publicist who gave her a thumbs up.
Something was keeping her from bluntly asking him out, and that something was her publicist. James wondered if they had some other plan for her romantic life, a marketing relationship to get her more screen time. James doubted Lily wanted that because she acted like she wanted him instead.
“Oh okay,” James placed his hand on his chest, “well, I am ready whenever you are.”
“Wait.” Lily froze in place, her eyes widening with astonishment at his admittance. “Fuck.”
James realized he had thrown her off and quickly tried to backtrack. “You’re nominated tonight, congratulations.”
“Thank you very much.” Lily still looked like she was sweating, she kept glancing at her publicist who seemed at a loss for words or advice for her client.
James couldn’t remember the questions he had prepared. He felt like a dunce standing in front of her. He willed his brain to come up with something.
“You have, I feel like you have an affinity to playing religious characters.”
“Are you serious?” Lily’s face cooled down as she cracked another tickled smile. “That’s what you want to talk about? Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you going to ask a serious question?” she argued, “this sounds like you pulled it out of your arse because you forgot what you were really going to ask me.”
James shrugged, “I mean if you don’t want me to interview you—”
Lily took a deep breath in through her nose and then let it out. “You aren’t going to ask any serious questions?”
“Fresh out, sadly.” He admitted, winking at her.
“I knew you would do this!” She hit him with her little Prada bag.
“Ouch,” James gripped his arm dramatically making Lily roll her eyes.
“It’s a good thing you didn’t try acting after football.” She baited him, loving the banter just as much as he did.
James glared down at her, “I’ll have you know, I’m an excellent actor.”
“Hey! Focus!” The producer called to them both. “Please for the love of God, focus!”
“Sorry Marley,” James shot his producer a grin, “old friends—you know the deal.”
“No I don’t know,” Marlene snarled, “but I do know this isn’t an interview!”
Lily grinned sheepishly at James when he looked back at her for confirmation that they were both being yelled at, “No. Go on then. Let’s see what we can do. Let’s see if we can do it.”
Was she talking about them?
Or the bloody question he still hasn’t made up?
“You seem to have an affinity…” he bit his lip, and she let lose a bubble of laughter, “to playing…”
Just then a man, an actor, in a black tux ruined any semblance of an attempt at a normal conversation. He pushed between James and Lily, and the camera, cutting them both off from the camera pointed in their direction. His bodyguard followed him, also blocking the camera.
James’ face fell. “Oh sorry.” He shouted after them sarcastically, “just in the middle of an interview here!”
Lily noticed James’ frustration and started yelling after their retreating backs too. “Yeah, go ahead. Cut in front you fucking bastards!” Then Lily looked at James warily. “Wait, are we live?”
“Kind of?” James said, having to kneel over because he was laughing so hard at her ‘fucking bastards’ comment. “Holy shit you’re hilarious.”
Lily stared laughing too, and they leaned into each other as they cracked up over the situation they had found themselves in.
“Please ask your fucking question.” Lily said while still laughing, wiping her eye, removing some of the glitter from under her eye. “Before we’re rudely interrupted again.”
“You have an affinity for playing religious characters.” James continued, slowing down his breath as his laughter died. “I feel like you’re always playing a religious woman in some way.”
Lily put a hand on her hip and tilted it right. “That’s not a question.”
“Oh yeah, sorry.” He adjusted his glasses on his nose and then very cheekily added, “Why?”
Lily burst into laughter again and walked back a few steps, holding her face as her shoulders shook. The producer, the camera man, and Lily’s handler were all shouting at them now. James knew they were on borrowed time, and about to be separated for their nutty antics on the carpet.
“Wait, we can do this,” James motioned for Lily to come back over, “tell me your favorite food.”
Lily broke down with laughter again, doubling over in front of the camera this time. Her dress shook, looking like a waterfall as it vibrated against her skin. James brushed his fingers through his hair, chuckling, as she placed her lips near the mic, he was still holding it out between them.
“I’ll tell you my least favorite food.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes,” She started listed several foods.
James glanced over her shoulder when Sirius Black did bunny ears behind Lily without her noticing. Unfortunately, James didn’t look back at her quickly enough because she caught his interest moved elsewhere.
“You just looked over my shoulder. Is it someone more important?” Lily glanced back and spotted Sirius bounding away like a troublesome toddler. “Ah, yes, my costar.”
“Yeah, Sirius Black.” James joked, “can we like wrap this up because I need to speak to him about your terrible interview skills.”
Lily pretended to talk into a mic attached to her ear, “SB is coming in. I better bounce.”
James said speedily, “can I get your autograph before you go?”
“Wait, this feels like a trap,” Lily said as he took a pen and paper from his pocket, balancing the mic on the crook of his elbow. ”Is this a trap?”
“No.” James said, “not a trap, just sign it.”
“I’m not going to read what it says.” She dipped the ink against the page and started writing with great big curly letters.
“It says…”
“I’m not reading it.” She repeated, handing the paper and pen back to James, “I won’t.”
“Okay.” He shrugged, “but full disclosure, it’s a best friend’s certificate.”
“Well then call me later bestie,” she winked as she was walked away, or rather, was pushed away by her exasperated publicist. “Bye James.”
James glanced down at the paper.
She had signed it with two hearts.
And her cell phone number.