Jily Oneshots (pt2)

And Then I Met You

by thejilyship

James Potter stood outside his new building fidgeting with the zipper on his jacket as he waited for the bus. He didn't often take the bus, he preferred to walk places, but he didn't have time to walk to the other side of town today, and he was on his way to a final interview for a job that he was actually quite excited about. He was trying to make a good impression, so he'd combed his hair and put on some nice clothes that were casual, but fancy-casual and he didn't want to show up all windswept and slightly damp from the rain anyway, so he'd planned to take the bus that afternoon.

And in his planning, he'd decided to give himself ample time, because he was known to show up late to things. So he'd planned to leave his flat fifteen minutes before the bus was supposed to show up, thinking that that way, there was no way that he'd miss the bus.

Of course as soon as he had that thought, he figured he should go out twenty minutes early, just incase his absolute certainty had jinxed everything.

So he was standing on the concrete, knowing that he had quite some time before the bus was going to arrive. He had his earbuds in and was listening to a rather angsty playlist that Sirius had put together for him when he'd moved here, but James was starting to think that this was just another thing that Sirius had done to be overly dramatic about the fact that James now lived without Sirius, in his own flat, on the other side of town. Sirius was acting as though James had moved across the country. Across the country and to a city that outsiders weren't allowed in so, Sirius couldn't visit. James had been moved in a week, and Sirius had still yet to come over.

He turned his screen on and changed to a different playlist before pulling up his messages and clicking on Sirius' name. He was about to type out some sarcastic and passive aggressive comment about how childish Sirius was being about the whole thing, when he noticed that he was no longer standing at the bus station by himself.

He looked over at the woman who had just stepped up next to him.

He hadn't realized that he'd been staring until she looked over at him and crossed her arms over her chest, turning away from him slightly. James, while he hadn't been ogling her chest, had cast a glance or two down there and quickly chastised himself. He turned his attention back to his phone, but found it difficult to think of something petty to type out to Sirius right now. He actually was finding it difficult to keep his gaze away from the woman standing next to him. But he'd already been labeled a creep in her mind, so he couldn't chance looking at her again.

But the thing was, she was beautiful. The kind of beautiful that had his mouth feeling slightly dry. And James didn't get nervous around pretty girls all that often. There had been this one girl back in secondary that had always managed to make him look like a fool, but after puberty had taken full affect, and James had grown into his limbs, well he'd gotten extremely confident. He was good at making girls blush and giggle nervously around him, and he didn't get nervous.

So maybe he was nervous about his interview. Maybe he was nervous about missing this bus.

But then the redhead (because of course this girl had red hair) turned to glance at him and his hand shot up to his hair. He cleared his throat and looked down the road for the bus.

It was definitely her giving him this strange, tight feeling in his stomach.

He could feel her eyes were still on him so he turned back to look at her and they made eye contact for a moment. James felt his hands getting clammy and shoved his phone into his pocket.

For all things holy, he hadn't even spoken to this woman yet, why was he reacting like this? Was she some kind of siren? Though that would have required him hearing her voice. She tapped him on the shoulder and he jerkily pulled his earbuds out and looked over at her.