Chapter Text
Lily Evans stood in front of the full-length mirror in her bedroom with her hands on her hips and her lips pursed. She looked nice enough in her yellow button-down blouse and wide-leg trousers, but she wasn’t sure it was the right look for the very important meeting she had today.
“What do you think, Minerva?” Lily turned to her gray tabby cat, who was perched on her bed, watching Lily with mild interest.
Minerva rolled onto her back and yawned.
“Rude,” Lily muttered on her way to give the little asshole exactly what she wanted. Sinking her fingers into Minerva’s soft fur, Lily did a mental inventory of her closet. The yellow blouse was good – the color complimented her auburn hair – but the trousers felt a bit casual. Hmm . I did just wash that black knee-length circle skirt. The second her brain thought it her legs were already heading toward her unfolded laundry, still in the basket in the corner.
After a quick change, she looked back in the mirror. With the classy, flared skirt, her sheer black tights, and loafers, she felt a bit more confident in her appearance.
“Better?” she asked Minerva.
For some reason, the cat seemed to shake her head in disappointment. Right , Lily scolded herself . Her outfit didn’t matter. This was just a normal, everyday new client meeting. Lily honestly wasn’t even sure why she was so worried about it.
Though her memory of the low, dulcet tones that came through the phone yesterday begged to differ. And Lily wasn’t sure if she was reading too much into Minerva’s face, but it almost looked like she knew why Lily was so caught up in the small stuff. She wasn’t sure she liked her cat’s attitude at the moment.
“Look, you weren’t even on the phone call, I don’t think you can sit there judging me about it. You’d be freaking out a bit too!” Lily spun from her cat’s reflection to look Minerva right in the eye. The disapproving look she found there made Lily feel like she was back in primary when she forgot to do her homework.
Which was ridiculous, really. It wasn’t like Minerva was known for her sophisticated taste. She could spend half an hour playing with a feather tied to a string. So was it really so hard to understand why a girl might be a little bit intrigued by a voice that sounded like rich, dark chocolate? Lily hadn’t even known that was a thing a voice could sound like, but this one had. And his laugh, too. He’d chuckled when she quoted him her price for an initial consultation, the sound deep and playful, but before she’d had a chance to get offended he said, “Marlene told me you were the best, so I can’t be too surprised. And I certainly have to respect a woman who knows her worth.” Lily had almost blushed at the compliment. Almost. She would not acknowledge the pride she felt at resisting.
Lily was also not going to notice the way her hair stood up on end at the thought of that moment. Shaking her head, Lily grabbed her work bag and headed towards the door. “Have a good day Minerva,” she said, punctuated with the click of her door. She heard an annoyed meow from the other side.
Breathing in deep, Lily started off for the little coffee shop around the block. She glanced at the time, she should be getting there about five minutes early, giving her time to get ready. Despite what Petunia might think, Lily thought she was doing pretty well with her growing business. She was now working regularly and was able to afford an apartment, which her sister made her doubt would be possible on her own. A bit of pride swelled in her chest at the thought. She knew she could do this.
She was so busy hyping herself up that she was startled by the chime of the bells above the door as her body entered the cafe on autopilot. She was immediately hit with the smell of fresh coffee, and something sweeter mixed in. Her mouth watered. Was that cinnamon buns? She realized she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Maybe she and Mr. Smooth Voice could eat while they talked. It would be practical – she wouldn’t want to keel over from low blood sugar in the middle of a meeting with a client. Business lunches were a thing, after all.
“Excuse me,” A small voice said, and Lily jumped out of the doorway.
“Sorry,” she mumbled to the quiet teenager that walked by. She surveyed the seating area and saw a free table in the back. Lily tried her best to weave through the other patrons, and she was mostly successful – except for the chair she knocked into, but it was empty at the moment so it barely counted.
Sitting down, Lily pulled out her laptop and pulled up her portfolio, showing off examples of some of the sites she built. She also grabbed her notebook and pen, opening it to a clean page.
Now nothing to do but wait.
Lily glanced around, trying to look casual. She had no idea what her client looked like, but based on his voice, she couldn’t help expecting tall, dark, and handsome. That impression did not help, from a business perspective, but she didn’t have anything else to go on – her friend Marlene had connected her with the guy and said he was “great,” but that was it. Hell, Lily didn’t even have his first name! Marlene referred to him fondly as “Potter,” and he’d only laughed when Lily did the same on the phone. He said he was the business manager for The Marauders’ Den, the pub that was going to replace the Hog’s Head over on Magnolia Street, but he said he was only doing it to help his best mate. A quick internet search showed that the pub had recently been sold, but there was no info about the new owner (or his business manager) and no website yet – hence today’s meeting. Still, she wished she had a little more intel on the client before she had to sit down with him.
She glanced at the clock on her computer screen. Two minutes ‘til one . Lily wished she’d brought a water bottle. Her mouth felt a little dry. This meeting could be huge for her little company – the Hog’s Head was in a great location and had been very popular, so the Marauders’ Den had lots of potential. And Marley said the new owner was very wealthy, with a wide variety of interests including restoring old motorcycles, training service dogs, and magic tricks and illusions. A little eccentric, but whatever. If she could get the contract to design a website for his bar, it might open up a bunch of other opportunities for her, too.
So, where was the guy? Lily considered ordering herself an iced coffee, just to wet her palate a bit, but decided to wait. It would be rude to order before the client arrived, especially since he should be arriving…any minute now. It was one o’clock on the dot, after all.
She twirled her pen between her fingers, fidgeting. Trying not to just watch the time in the corner of her screen. Instead, she pulled up a site she was currently building, deciding to check her work to help pass the time. She went into the test site to test all the buttons and shortcuts, making sure they were redirecting to the correct places. She wasn’t finding any issues, and she caught her eyes drifting to the clock again, 1:05.
How had it only been five minutes? Also, where was this guy? She was starting to think that maybe she and Marley had different definitions of the word great. Which was honestly a shame – he really did have an incredible voice. She shook those thoughts away, they wouldn’t be helpful if the guy showed up anyway.
Maybe she should just get a drink. The client was running a bit behind, and she was about at her limit of putting off caffeine. She went to the counter and placed her order, glancing over her shoulder more than once to see if anyone who could be her potential client walked in the door.
Nope. When she sat back down with her Iced caramel latte, she decided to see how the load times for the photos on her most recent site were doing. It was 1:10 now, so she decided if her appointment wasn’t here in another five, she would head to the bookstore a couple blocks down as a consolation. She’d be fine without the new client, but it definitely would have been nice to have another project.
When the five minutes came and went, she decided it was time to call it. She glanced at her phone again to make sure she hadn't missed a call from this elusive gentleman, but there were no notifications on her screen. So she packed up her belongings and made her way to the door, sighing as she stepped out onto the pavement. She should’ve known something was up. Great voice. Great laugh. Seemingly supportive of women led businesses. There had to be a catch. There was always a catch. Apparently, "flake" was one catch. Who knew what else there could be.
Lost in her disgruntled thoughts, Lily gasped when a splash of cold liquid hit her in the chest, followed by a dull shock of pain spreading across her back. She found herself looking at the sky, which led to the slow, yet obvious, realization that she was on the ground. She also realized she was wet because her iced coffee had found a new home on her blouse. She took stock of her body and was relieved to notice there was no headache, though her tailbone did not seem to be as lucky. Looking up, she noticed a tall bloke with crazy hair, glasses, and a visibly soaked shirt standing above her. He stared at her, mouth agape.
Lily narrowed her eyes at him as he continued to stare. He was handsome, despite the wild hair and wet, wrinkled shirt. Her heart rate spiked as the thought crossed her mind that she was in a skirt and for all she knew her knickers were on display. She sat up quickly, and thankfully, her skirt behaved and kept her covered. Her gaze settled back on the guy, still frozen, and she furrowed her brow. What is wrong with this idiot? She opened her mouth to ask, but he spoke first.
“I’m sosososososo sorry! I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and I’m trying to find this place, but my phone was kinda destroyed by a puddle so I was reading street signs, and I didn’t even see you. Are you okay? Oh God, I’m so sorry I made you spill your coffee. Can I buy you another?” the guy babbled. He didn't seem to breathe between sentences, and Lily felt her smile spreading, though she tried to hold it in. “Or would you like some money for dry cleaning?" the man continued, sounding sincerely distressed. "I’m so sorry for ruining your shirt—”
Lily lost her battle with her laughter, and once it started she couldn’t stop. This disaster of a man was freaking out about spilling her coffee, even though he was the one who had a huge gray splotch that had taken over the bottom three-fourths of his shirt. And he was talking about paying for her dry cleaning! It was too much.
"Oh no, fucking hell!" The handsome chap appeared to be on the verge of panic. "Are you alright? Did you hit your head?"
"I'm fine!" Lily choked out between giggles. "Are you okay? You're talking so fast I can barely follow, plus you look like you're the one who's been knocked over and drenched in something!"
"What?" The man looked down at himself, then back at Lily. "Oh, right, well I guess I was. Not knocked over, but drenched. That puddle I mentioned?" He waved his presumably broken phone in a helpless gesture. "Got me good. But I'm fine though. Very late, but fine. Well, maybe not fine, since my friend is going to kill me–oh!" He reached out to grab Lily's elbow as she began to climb to her feet. The clack of ice hitting the ground as she stood almost sent her into another fit of giggles. "My God, I'm here ranting like a lunatic and I didn't even help you up off the pavement! I really am a moron, aren't I?"
He was, sort of, but a very attractive one. Lily was surprised to note that she liked the way his hand felt on her arm…gentle, but solid. Like his hand was meant to be exactly where it was. Like he intended to personally make sure she never fell again.
She blinked at the strange thought. "Thank you," she said and pulled her arm away. "Honestly, it sounds like your day has been about as bad as mine. Maybe we should both call it quits and go home, and try again tomorrow." She smiled, hoping it didn't look as forced as it felt.
The guy laughed, the sound warm and familiar. Another feeling like she knew this person – or was meant to know him, at least – swept over her.
"You're probably right," he said. "This day is a wash. Literally." He grinned crookedly. "Speaking of which, you've got to let me pay for your dry cleaning. It's the least I can do."
Lily glanced down at her coffee-covered blouse. “If I’m being honest, I’m not sure any amount of dry cleaning will fix this. So, I wouldn’t even worry about it.”
“Here, I’ll give you my phone number. If you change your mind, just drop me a line. Maybe just wait a day or two though." Lily raised an eyebrow, and the bloke shook his phone in way of a reminder. He had a boyish smirk that was making Lily’s stomach flip in uncomfortable ways. "Besides, if you get mine you don’t have to worry I'm just trying to chat you up."
"If knocking a girl over and wasting her coffee is your way of flirting, I feel terrible for you. And any girl you might be interested in."
The guy laughed loudly. "Cheeky. I like that." He paused a moment then said, "Okay, knocking you down wasn't an attempt at flirting, but that last line was. Is it working at all?"
Lily let out a surprised laugh. Maybe something on her face made it look like she was going to shoot him down, because he quickly said, "I'm sorry, no pressure. I really just want to pay for your dry cleaning, or whatever I can do to fix this."
“Well, if you insist.” Lily unlocked her phone, and pulled up the add contact page before offering it to him. She was not disappointed that he had walked back his flirting comment. She was glad he was trying to keep things professional. Really. Her chest didn’t feel any sort of hollowness at all. Sure, he was cute, but she was supposed to be in a business meeting right now, not flirting with a random hot guy on the street. That wouldn't help her business, and her business was the most important thing right now.
His fingers grazed hers as he grabbed her phone, and shocks shot up her arm. It took effort to keep from jumping back.
The guy didn't seem to notice. His face scrunched up as he typed, and Lily forced herself to look at anything else. God forbid he caught her looking and assumed she was staring. That wouldn't be business-like at all.
“Here you go." He handed her phone back to her with another crooked grin. "Now, I don't want you abusing that information.”
She glanced at the new contact and saw his name was James. Yeah, she could see him being a James. “And how would I go about doing that?” Lily teased.
“I don’t know. Maybe you're gonna sell it off to telecommunication companies so that I’ll never know peace again. That would really suck.” And there was that smirk again. And the same butterflies in her belly. This guy literally just knocked you flat on your ass. Calm down, Lily!
But instead of calming down, she tossed back, “Well, can I at least use it to sign up for discounts at my favorite stores?”
It was clear he was trying to look serious, but his eyes sparkled. “So that I deal with all the spam messages after? Nope. That falls under abuse!”
Those sparkling eyes. Lily had thought they were light brown before when she'd been flat on her back, but now that she was closer she could see they had flecks of green and amber throughout, as well. There was something magical about them, something that pulled her in despite her best efforts – fine, her incredibly weak efforts to resist.
“Well, James, I think I may need to know exactly how I’m meant to use this information. All I’m hearing is what I can’t do.” Wait, was Lily being bold? What happened to focusing on business? It was the eyes, dammit. And the laugh. And the crooked smile.
Shit. But considering how his smile widened at the comment, she was glad she did it.
“Well, of course, there's the dry cleaning bit," James said nonchalantly. "But I guess personal use would be permissible, too. No clothing required.” Lily raised a brow, and the movement must’ve made him realize what he said, because he started babbling again. “I mean that it doesn't have to be about dry cleaning or anything like that. Not that you shouldn’t wear clothes. You can do whatever you want! I’m not gonna tell you one way or—”
“James,” He went silent the second she spoke, “I get it. Breathe.” He did as he was told.
"Right." He chuckled softly. "Listen, I'm just going to go before I put my foot in my mouth again. But I do hope to hear from you soon."
"Okay," Lily said, her heart picking up speed – but only because she knew she would get a fifty percent discount at Zara once she claimed she referred him. It was the thrill of misusing his contact information, nothing more. The idea that he wanted to hear from her? That had nothing to do with her increased heart rate. Nothing at all.
She shook her head. Minerva was going to judge the shit out of her.