Limerence |James Potter|

Seventeen

"Please tell me I'm your one and only; or lie and say at least tonight."

ϟϟϟ

Selene was pleasantly surprised when she found James waiting outside her door after she came back from her Prefect patrol. He was sitting on the floor, one leg stretched and the other uptight. His hair looked like it had a mind of its own and his eyes held stories of heartbreak. There was a faint red tint of a hand mark on his cheek, invisible to the untrained eye.

She approached him with caution, unsure of what he wants. There was a tension between them that was growing with every rumour of her relationship status that sparked. Every time somebody called her a name, James would build another layer on top of the wall that separated them. She saw no reason for him to stay up past curfew on a Friday night for her.

James looked up at her with a peculiar glint in his eye and asked, "Was your patrol good?"

Selene shifted her weight between her feet, suddenly feeling uncomfortable in her shoes. "Peeves did not act up tonight, if that's what you are wondering."

James did not respond, but his discontempt expression spoke enough. He made no movement to get up from the floor or move away from her door.

"Do you want to come in?" Selene asked the rhetorical question.

He nodded and reached a hand up to open the door. James used it for leverage to push himself up while twisting the knob. He walked in and plunked down on her bed like it was his own home.

Selene closed the door and locked it, in case any of her former roommates got curious about her life.

She took off her robe slowly, watching James curiously. He was directly at her, showing no intentions of turning away to give her privacy as she got undressed.

The whole concept seemed... dirty. James wanted to just be friends, why should she attempt to cross the line?

Selene grabbed a set of clean pyjamas from her dresser and made a beeline for her bathroom. She almost made it, when James' voice stopped her.

"What are you doing?" He asked from his spot watching her leisurely on her bed.

"I want to get changed," Selene told him over her shoulder, continuing her walk to the bathroom but slower. She could not make herself walk faster, it was like her limbs wanted her to stay by James.

There was the sound of the bed rising and she felt a hand gently touch her shoulder. "I was thinking we could help each other with getting changed."

Selene looked at the boy next to her. His expression seemed genuine enough, but last time she thought so it turned out he was drunk out of his mind. "I don't think that's a good idea, James."

"Why?" James asked, moving his hand to pull lightly at her dress shirt's buttons. "It's not like we haven't seen each other bare before."

"James..."

A kiss was planted on her lips before Selene could protest further. His hands were still undoing her buttons and Selene did not have the heart to push him off. Instead, she decided there was only one way to determine if he truly was drunk.

She kissed back slowly, dragging her tongue out of her mouth to lick his lips. His parted for her, and she let herself taste him.

All she could taste was the sting of his favourite cinnamon mint toothpaste. There was no Firewhiskey that plagued his tongue, no taste of regret that infiltrated his thoughts.

Selene pulled away abruptly. He was sober. Her mind became an ocean of questions she wanted to ask but could not find the words to.

James tilted his head at her. "I did say that there would be another time, didn't I?"