Sirius was a bit overwhelmed by the attention at first, to have an entire band of people, most of which had known each other for years, trying to get all up in his space and be buddy-buddy with him. Though now it was fairly easy to deal with, minus...
Sirius hadn't spent much time thinking about Regulus once Friday came around. The day had been kicked off with a bang-- students decked out in red and gold as they cheerfully made their way through classes that had been shortened to make room for the pep rally. Which had gone fairly well, other than the moment when a freshman accidentally hit another student with a drum mallet.
Oh well, Sirius had thought, Can't always win .
The afternoon that followed was filled with hours of practice where Lily had snapped at people like a piranha if they so much as played one wrong note. He'd found it pretty funny though.
Soon enough they were released from the gates of hell for dinner, and Lily offered for Sirius to get sandwiches with her. The two of them chatted about previous games, past experiences, plans for college, and tonight's game.
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"How're you liking it here so far? School and all." Lily questioned as the two of them climbed up into the empty bed of James' truck to eat dinner.
Sirius shrugged, unwrapping his sandwich and fidgeting with the paper, "It's nice. School's easy enough and people are kind, most of the time." He glanced up at Lily as he finished speaking, watching her nod along to his words.
"Yeah, It's pretty great here.. Do you, um," she paused for a moment, swallowing a bite of food, "Do you ever miss home?"
Sirius shifted uncomfortably at this, rapidly gathering things to say in his thoughts, eventually deciding on a kind of reeled in version of the truth, "Sometimes, just the familiarity of it. I didn't have many friends there, just girlfriends. I don't think any of them truly liked me." he replied quietly into the night, listening to the sound of cars driving by and the football team practicing in the distance.
Lily nodded solemnly, though she had some kind of look in her eye, "Sorry to hear that. They're missing out, anyway. You seem pretty cool to me."
Sirius smiled at that, nodding his thanks to her and reaching for his sandwich again. The two of them sat there, eating in silence for a few moments, before a nervous-looking Lily opened her mouth to speak again. Sirius shot her a puzzled look as he waited for her to say something.
"You don't think Mary is like those other girls, do you?" she mumbled.
He blinked, staring down at his shoes, "I don't know, maybe."
"Why'd you refer to them as just girlfriends?"
"Huh?"
Lily turned to face Sirius, meeting his eyes, "A few minutes ago. You said you didn't have many friends, just girlfriends." she paused again, looking apologetic before continuing, "Maybe you were the one who didn't truly like them. "
Sirius nearly felt sick to his stomach. the feeling you get when someone hints at knowing your biggest secret, though it wasn't really a secret in his case. He really, really couldn't care less if people knew. But something about people finding out still chilled him to the bone.
"Oh, god, I'm sorry. You look upset. I didn't mean to make you upset, it's just that I get interested in peoples' lives and then dig too deep and try to solve troubles that aren't even mine." Lily began rambling in a tone that Sirius couldn't pinpoint, not quite apologetic, but also not entirely rude. Clearly this girl had a lot of confidence.
"It's alright, I get it. I do that too, kind of." Sirius reassured her after her rambling fit, giving her a gentle smile.
Lily grinned back at him, "Glad you understand."
They both scarfed down the rest of their dinner and met everyone else back in the band room, where their director planned for them to march down into the stadium with drums beating and heads held high.
Sirius felt his heart pounding as they approached-- stadium lights shining over the stadium, sharp movements and loud exclamations of school pride with Lily leading them strongly to the field.
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