A/N: This is a Lily/James one shot completely inspired by Fall Out Boy's "The (After) Life of the Party." (My favorite of their new songs.) Told through Lily's point of view. Dedicated to GinnyRadcliffe, seeing as how this was me imitating her style.
You know the feeling you get every time this one person walks into the room and your heart sort of jumps? Yeah, I'm sick of it. Every time that stupid, arrogant git walks into the room, my heart responds. It's the most exercise it gets these days. No boys really care for James Potter's "girl." It's like there's some unseen sign taped to my back saying 'Property of James Potter.' The only boys that even dare speak to me are James's crew and Frank Longbottom, but only because Alice makes him.
I can't even enjoy a simple party. All the other girls are ecstatic that James made the winning catch in the Quidditch game and are hanging on to his every detail. I'm stuck in the common room's secluded corner chair, eyeing everything. I hate watching everyone else enjoy themselves. It only reminds me that I could be a tad bit happier if I just listen to my heart for once in my life. Though whoever invented that phrase must not have been too sane, because who listens to their organs? Ah, wait, that would be the male species.
A perfect example of that would be tall, brunette girl that's on Sirius Black's lap on the couch. Her name is something funny… like Hilda or Janette or something. All the boys know her solely for her bodily assets. Apparently, even Sirius Black enjoys those. Usually, he's more for the first girl to confess their undying love for him (which then ends the next week when Sirius dumps the poor sap for the next victim.)
I'm not the only one that notices Sirius and his latest prey. Lupin sits next to the drinks table on the other side of the room, eyes solely on the two flirting. I can't tell who he's more jealous of, the girl or Sirius. The look on his face I knew very well. It's practically a mirror image of the one on my own face as my eyes fall on James again.
There's just something about James Potter and other girls that cues the face. I only even noticed it because Alice laughed at me about it once. Apparently, my eyes get really squinty towards the girl and my mouth resembles a person's reaction to sour milk. It's an easy way to make yourself look terribly attractive to the guy whose girlfriend you're glaring at.
It's sad, really. The only thing stopping me from slapping James across the face at the moment is the fact that I really don't hate him. I can't hate him. My heart starts racing at the mere sight of him leaving his group of fan girls. That is not a symptom of extreme hatred.
I admire how much confidence he has as he takes his steps towards Lupin and Peter at the refreshments. His eyes show no fear that anyone's going to put him down from behind his silly frames. Why should he show fear? No one was going to criticize his game-winning catch.
His hand's running through his hair again as he says something that makes Lupin chuckle. Probably some stupid remark about how much Peter has eaten. That little 'fingers-through-hair' trait annoys me. If his hair grew any longer, he'd be the master of the hair flip too.
"Lily." Alice is standing above the chair, her eyes and face revealing her confusion. "Frank just noticed you staring at James again. That can't be healthy."
"I was only glaring at the girls who pretend to know everything about Quidditch just to talk to him." Alice is one of the two that knew about my little James secret. The one other person is Lupin, solely because he can be trusted to aid on both sides of the situation.
"Lily, you know what I'm going to say. Stop destroying people in your head and say 'yes' to James when he asks you to dance later." Alice knows me much too well.
"But that's giving in. I've spent six years saying no!"
"But he's the Quidditch hero at the moment!"
"Yeah. And then I'll be just another fangirl." My eyes drift back to James, but he's not at the table anymore. He's instead over by Sirius, handing his best friend a glass of something that's obviously not Butterbeer. Great. James will probably be drunk when he wanders over for his daily Lily-harassment.
"Well, I'm going to go dance with Frank. If you don't dance with him today, I will no longer be able to help you. Take a shot with him!" Alice smiles quickly before dashing off to her boyfriend.
"Alice!" I yell after her, but she's already got her arms around her boy. I don't know how she has so much confidence with Frank. She's the one who asked him out, and the one that kissed him first. Somehow, that just doesn't seem possible with James and me, seeing as how we aren't even together.
That's when I finally notice James, who happens to be standing in the very spot beside me where Alice was seconds before.
"Hiya, Lily. Did you see my spectacular Quidditch moves today?" James does the annoyingly hot fingers-through-hair thing again.
"If you came over here only to babble about Quidditch, then you can leave." There! There was that awful temper again. The correct answer would have been, 'James, you're brilliant at Quidditch and I love watching you." Like I would ever say that, though.
"Well, what would you like to talk about, Lily-dear?"
"If you had one sip of whatever alcohol you gave Sirius, I will never speak to you again. You calling me 'Lily-dear' makes me extremely curious…"
"Curious about what? My beautiful Quidditch muscles?"
"Whoever told you that was delusional."
"Would you like to find out? One slow dance is all I ask." James extends a hand down to me and I take it hesitantly. I can see Alice grinning from where she's dancing with Frank. I think she's even the one who puts the record player on a slower number. Or it may have been Sirius who has very recently, as in three seconds prior, been ditched by Asset Girl.
"One dance," is all I say as I stand up. James is beaming and I know my face is turning pink. Every pair of eyes in the room is on us. This is exactly the way I didn't want this to go.
He places his hands on my waist - any lower and even he knows I would have stormed off. My hands are shaking around his neck, my brain assuring me that I could strangle him if I felt like it. That was reassuring.
The eyes left as the music played and others stepped around us. I'll admit that he had improved greatly at dancing. He was no longer stepping on my toes, like our first dance, and the Quidditch muscle arms were indeed very nice.
He flashes a grin to someone else in the room, and on the next rotation I see it's Sirius Black dragging Lupin out of the room. I have the feeling that could only end awkwardly. I've never seen Sirius Black when he's drunk, but if that's anything like the way he is sober, then it's only double on the obnoxious scale.
In my head, I'm laughing at James's never-faltering confidence again. I put him down week after week but in front of me, he is fearless. Rejection after rejection and somehow he's making me smile with the way he adds a little flourish to his steps by twirling me or moving a little closer.
He bows to me as the music fades, bringing my hand to his lips. And so our first dance ends almost as abruptly as it began, James disappearing back into the crowd. Though, he never really can disappear. His laughter always sticks out among the crowd, and his hair is always sticking up and out in a room full of perfectly gelled locks. Watching him in a room is like watching him arrive- the thrill can never go away.
A/N 2: Reviews are greatly appreciated. Flames are not. Constructive critcism would be loved.