She's the Girl | A Marauders Love story

Chapter 45

Making up

Dinner went by quickly. James and Hailey had come to an unspoken agreement that they would simply be civil to one another. They didn't have to pretend everything was fine, so they didn't. They just treated each other like good acquaintances. Hailey hated it. She just wanted to have James hug her and tell her everything was fine. She wanted him back. But she still had the thought 'You guys couldn't even make it through a stressful exam' running through her head.

When dinner was over, all of the parents sat down in the sitting room.

"Hailey, would you be a dear and grab some games from the closet upstairs?"

"James, Sirius, go help her."

Hailey nodded, not letting her emotions show as she led James up the stairs. They made it to the closet and grabbed a few games before heading back down. All of a sudden, Hailey couldn't move forward. It was like she had hit a wall. She turned to look at James, but he was looking up, his eyes transfixed on something on the ceiling. She looked up.

Mistletoe.

Quickly, they looked at Sirius, who had stayed a few feet behind them. He stood there smirking as Hailey and James were trapped.

"Sirius, would you mind getting my mother? She can undo the spell." Hailey said sweetly. Sirius smirked.

"And why should I? Maybe I should let the two of you snog all the hard feelings away." He said. Hailey and James groaned.

"Sirius! That's not how it works. You can't just kiss and make everything better. There are emotions attached, and snogging doesn't fix them." Hailey said, exasperated. Sirius smirked.

"Then talk your feelings out and then snog. I'll leave you two alone." He picked up the games they had dropped and left them alone, each standing with their mouths open.

"Sirius! Get back here!" James called. There wasn't an answer. James and Hailey sighed. Hailey sat down.

"So, how are you doing?" She asked with a weak laugh. James chuckled.

"Pretty terrible, frankly. You?"

"Absolutely miserable."

James smiled and sat down as well.

"At least we have some common ground." He said, looking down.

"Listen, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean what I said on Sunday night. I was just really stressed, and I spoke without thinking." Hailey said. James looked up.

"I'm sorry too. I didn't mean what I said either. I was just frustrated because everyone else was so stressed, and I didn't exactly put that aside when we were fighting."

"So we're good?" Hailey asked hopefully.

"Yeah. But-" James looked conflicted.

"But you don't think we should get back together." Hailey finished. He nodded.

"I just, I think that if that's how we reacted to the stress of a mock exam, we're not quite ready for everything else. I think we could be, in the future, but for right now, we're just both too stubborn and hot-tempered." He explained. Hailey nodded.

"I know. That's what I was thinking too. I mean, that was our first real fight, and we broke up because of it. We're obviously not ready for a real relationship right now."

James nodded.

"I'm glad we're on the same page."

"But we're still trapped under this stupid mistletoe." Hailey pointed out. James chuckled.

"There's really only one solution." He said, leaning in. Hailey nodded, swallowing and leaning forward as well. Their lips met, and Hailey found herself not wanting to pull away. She could tell James felt the same way, so she put her hand on his neck, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. One of his arms wrapped around her waist, while the other cupped her face. Hailey wrapped her legs around James's waist, bringing them impossibly closer, her free hand resting on his bicep.

"Oh!" Mrs. Lowel's voice sounded from behind them. James and Hailey broke apart quickly and stood up, brushing themselves off. Sirius stood behind Mrs. Lowel, grinning widely.

"So, figured it all out, then?" He asked. Hailey rolled her eyes and went to flip him off before remembering her mother was standing right there. She settled for sticking out her tongue.

"I didn't mean to interrupt anything, Sirius just told me you two were stuck under the mistletoe." Mrs. Lowel said, smiling knowingly. Hailey blushed.

"Well it would have been nice of him to let us know he was doing that." Hailey said pointedly, glaring at Sirius, who shrugged, still grinning.

"I figured you two would just ignore each other until I got back. How was I supposed to know you'd start snogging each others' faces off?"

James and Hailey blushed even deeper. Mrs. Lowel, noticing the tension, clapped her hands.

"Well! You're not trapped, and that's good. Let's go play some games."

Hailey and James nodded, following her down the stairs. Their hands brushed against each others, and Hailey blushed deeply when James grabbed hers. Sirius walked past them, bumping Hailey's shoulder and smirking.

"You're welcome."

Hailey looked at James, who looked a bit alarmed. Sirius clearly thought they had gotten back together, as did Mrs. Lowel. They both sighed. Explaining that they had been snogging, but had decided not to get back together was going to be a terrible experience. But they were both good with each other. They weren't avoiding each other anymore, and they were both fine not being together.

But Hailey did want to be back together with James. She knew it was irresponsible, but she just really loved being with James, and kissing him definitely hadn't made her miss him less. It wasn't a good idea, but she felt like it was.

~~~~~~

"Anyway, I just don't know what to do about it." James finished lamely. Sirius's smile was replaced with confusion.

"So, you guys agreed not to get back together, to give you time to grow or something." He started. James nodded.

"And then, you kissed each other to get out of the mistletoe, but couldn't help but snog for a good, long, while." He added.

"More or less." James said, not wanting to fully admit that part.

"Right, and then you still agreed not to get back together?"

"Well, we didn't really talk about it after that. Mainly because you walked in right then."

"Right. So now you kind of want to get back together, but you've already agreed not to, and you don't know how she feels about it." Sirius concluded. James nodded.

"Well, I have some advice for you, sir, but you're not going to like it."

James groaned.

"I swear, Sirius. If you tell me talk to her, I will actually atta-"

"Talk to her!" Sirius chirped brightly.