lovely lady may • sirius black

Chapter 23

"I love you too," he murmurs with a soft smile before letting me go.

I turn the door knob as quietly as I possibly can and pray that the door doesn't creak when I open it. For once, Sirius has decided to shut up, and I'm grateful for that. We creep through the house and up the stairs, and so far it seems my parents haven't woken up. I breathe a sigh of relief once we've actually made it upstairs without disturbance.

"Let me go change into my pajamas," he kisses me quickly, "I'll be right back."

"Wait," of course Thea had to choose bridesmaid dresses with buttons and not zippers. There's no way I'm getting out of this thing on my own. My cheeks feel like they're on fire, "can you unbutton me, please?" He wasn't kidding about this being straight out of a novel. "I feel stupid for asking—"

"It's not a problem," he smiles without any bad intent. We step into my bedroom, and he slowly begins to carefully undo the buttons on the lace back of my sage green dress. My heart is beating out of my chest. I have to keep myself from shivering very time his fingers brush against my skin. "There, all done," he says politely.

"Thank you," I turn back around to face him, crossing my arms awkwardly over my chest because I wasn't wearing a bra under the dress, and now that it's loosened I don't feel like putting on a show.

Sirius loosened his tie nervously. Him and Octavia had fooled around plenty before, but they'd gotten nowhere near undressing, and now that he was in the moment, he was on the verge of panic, "You don't have to be embarrassed," he said quickly, immediately regretting it.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "I'm not embarrassed." That was a truthful statement. Octavia wasn't embarrassed, she was just terrified for the exact same reason Sirius was, although she wasn't ready to admit that to herself, much less him.

"That isn't what I meant..." he sighed, still unsure of what the right thing to say was. "I guess I just hope you don't feel uncomfortable with... that sort of stuff around me."

"I don't," she assured, arms finally dropping to her sides. She then reached out and took his hand, "I'm sorry I didn't want to get back together sooner, it was a mistake."

He shook his head, "No it wasn't. I messed up in the first place, and you deserved to take some time to yourself."

"I shouldn't have dated James, that was wrong."

"It's water under the bridge now. Feels like it was years ago."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he nodded. They were both still soaking wet from the rain, "Now go change into some dry clothes. You'll catch cold."

She rolled her eyes at his little mother hen moment, "Okay."

He started to back away so he could put on pajamas in the spare bedroom where he'd put his things, "I'll be right back."

My heart is still beating uncontrollably even after he leaves. It feels like he's grown up so much since the last time we were dating and it's so nice. I slip out of my dress and change into my pajamas before going into the bathroom to wash the makeup off my face and get ready for bed. By the time I'm done, Sirius is already, by the looks of it, either fast asleep under the covers or pretty damn close to it. I carefully lie down, trying my best not to disturb him.

As soon as I get settled, I feel his arm sneak around my waist, and he places a light kiss on my shoulder. "Goodnight, Octavia," he mumbles sleepily.

"Goodnight, Sirius," I smile to myself and take his hand in mine, shifting closer to him so my back is pressed against his chest. I could get used to this.