Him and I

chapter 14

the next day came soon enough. the sun was shining brightly and the sky was the most beautiful shade of blue.

remus was beyond excited. his favourite place in the world was his childhood bookstore because it was full of the most amazing books. i guess you could say he was excited for the beach too but not as excited as he was for the bookstore.

he steps out of the shower he took that morning and goes straight over to his wardrobe. he pulls on a pair of boxers and then searches through his clothes. he pulls out a big, autumn brown knitted jumper and got out a pair of black jeans to go with it. he pulls both on and slips on a pair of black trainers as he skips out of his room. he walks down the stairs to be greeted by everyone waiting for him by the front door.

"ready to go rem?" lily asks with a smile as james and sirius look up.

"ready!"

—

the car journey, in remus' opinion, was way too long. it was only a 10 minute drive but remus was way too excited to hold himself together.

james parks the car and as soon as it stops remus jumps out of the car. sirius follows after him chuckling at his excitement.

he runs over to the pavement as lily, peter, sirius and james join him, smiling widely.

"okay rem. me, james and peter are going to take a look at the beach. you and sirius can join us after okay?" lily says with a smile and remus nods quickly.

"yeah- bye guys!" remus says overly excited to listen.

he grabs sirius' hand and quickly pulls him up the road towards the bookstore.

"i'm coming i'm coming" sirius says quickly following to keep up, laughing in between his words.

they make their way into the bookstore and remus immediately stops to look around. he sighs happily and glances around at all the shelves and books. just how he remembered it.

he grins and quickly walks over to the bookshelves. he scans the blurbs of the books lined out in the different sections.

sirius follows after remus watching him closely. yes, sirius didn't like to read but he loved seeing remus' face light up everytime he looked at a book. it was adorable, truly.
sirius looks over some books with remus, watching him smiling wider than he's ever seen possible.

an hour passes, remus had already picked up 4 books he would like to buy and was cradling them in his arms. sirius was following remus, not bored one bit. remus' company was enough to keep him entertained and smiling.

"black?"

sirius hears the voice call and he turns around to see where the voice was coming from. he turns to meet a pair of big blue eyes. remus turns a little after the voice calls and glances at an average sized, young woman with platinum blonde hair and a very cheerful expression on her face.

"mckinnon?" sirius replies with a small laugh "mckinnon is that you?"

the girl laughs.

"i knew you said we'd see each other again but i didn't expect it to be this soon" she grins "how long has it been? what- three years?"

sirius nods in agreement.

"it has! it's been so long" he pauses and then opens his arms walking past remus "come here give us a hug"

the girl wraps her arms around sirius and he wraps his arms around her in return. remus awkwardly stands there before looking back to the books in his arms, pretending to do something.

as their hug breaks sirius turns back to remus.

"oh! mar, this is remus-" remus turns around at the pause and looks between sirius and the girl who was looking at him "my friend"

ouch. maybe sirius really didn't see anything between them. maybe that kiss actually didn't mean anything.

"it's nice to meet you remus"

"likewise" he replies putting on a fake smile.

the girl turns back to sirius.

"would you like to grab a coffee? have a catch-up maybe?" the girl asks him and sirius doesn't hesitate to nod.

"of course, id love to!-" he looks to remus "would you mind?"

remus didn't want to seem like a bitch. besides sirius didn't see him as more than a friend so what's the use in asking the guy he lo- likes.. to stay? it sounds selfish, really but remus was hurt that sirius didn't feel the same especially after the kiss.

"not at all go ahead" remus says, another fake smile on his face.

"i'll be back in an hour to help you carry the books and take you to the beach!" sirius says before waving and turning to leave with the woman.

ouch.

so remus waited. he looked round at more books and by the time the hour was up, he'd picked up at least 8 books he wanted to buy.

he looks down at his phone.

it's been an hour where the hell is he?

so he waited some more. even more time passed and still no sign of sirius.

maybe he just forgot about you?

remus sighs to himself. it's been two hours.

he puts all of his books back. he wasn't going to be able to carry them to the beach and then all the way back home. even one book was too heavy for him.

so instead he walked out of the bookstore and took a slow walk down to the beach.

the beach was pretty. the sand was a nice yellow and the sea was a bright blue. it wasn't too crowded but there were still lots of people there.

remus walks across the sand now barefooted, and walks towards lily, james and peter.

lily looks up first, slightly confused and soon james does the same.

"where's sirius?" james asks.

remus huffs and sits down on the sand.

"he left with some girl"

james tilts his head giving him a "what??" expression.

"they knew each other. said he'd be back in an hour and actually it's been two. he didn't even bother to come back to help me" remus frowns and looks down at his hands and james' eyes narrow.

"a girl? what was her name?" james asks.

"uhm... mckinnon? i didn't catch it all" remus replies and james scoffs.

"is he kidding me." james rolls his eyes "him and marlene had a fling going on last summer and now i supposed he just ran back to-"

james pauses when he sees remus' face drop even further. it was as if he had no emotion left on his face.

"oh mate- i'm sorry i took that far"

james moves over and puts an arm around remus.

"oh rem... i'm sorry he turned out to be a dick" lily says.

"no lil. we weren't even together he can go with whoever he wants... it was just-" remus pauses and lets out a sigh.

"the kiss." he finishes eventually "we kissed. did that not mean anything to him?"

james, lily and peter look over half shocked but soon james clears his throat.

"remus it's not that- he's just- he's probably not thinking right." james pauses "let's get you home. i'll talk to him when he gets back okay?"

remus nods slowly and they all get up. they get back to the car and begin driving home.