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chiechie97 · 9 months ago

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Fourth Times the Charm

Jilytober prompt 18. Neighbours. from @jilytoberfest (Got a wee bit carried away with this one oops!!)

James eyed the small velvet box warily.

Three.

Three times he had attempted to propose. How is it that every time he tried they were interrupted?

He wanted it to be perfect, cause she was a perfectionist.

He was far from a perfectionist, but a perfect proposal would mean the world to Lily.

James and Lily had been together for about 6 years.

Which was about six years longer than either had anticipated.

That sounded bad. They loved each other, honestly, they did. More than either probably wanted to admit.

But their first encounter had been rather fiery and explosive (and not in a bow chika bow wow kinda way). In fact their whole first year of knowing each other had been one fiery explosion.

They had met first year in residence, his room had been right above hers.

On the first night, his dorm mate Sirius (now long-time best friend) and he decided to have a floor party in their 10 by 11 dorm room.

It was a tad loud.

This resulted in Lily stomping up the stairs at 2 AM in her kitty cat PJ shorts (she still had them), throwing open his door and demanding he turn off "that stupid fucking music".

Despite the fact that she was 5'5 to his 6'0 she was pretty intimidating.

Messy red hair thrown up haphazardly and wild from sleep, her green eyes flashing with anger and annoyance.

James refused to turn off the music because hey, he didn't want to ruin a great party. But he invited her in cause she was cute and those kitty cat shorts were kind of hot.

She responded by ripping the stereo cord out of the wall and threatening to complain to his residence coordinator.

She then stomped back downstairs.

He didn't turn off the music.

And a week later he got a fine for noise violations.

the result? A year of fighting and arguing.

She called him an annoying party brat.

He said she was an uptight bookworm.

Lily just infuriated him. She was just... Just... Too smart and snooty for her own good.

She was in theoretical chemistry, how snooty and uptight could you get?

all Lily did was study, work, and eat.

Worst of all she refused to admit when she was wrong. Which James couldn't stand, because Lily was always right.

She couldn't stand how he constantly partied and thought life was all about fun and no work.

The fact that they ever started talking to each other civilly had been a miracle.

James didn't really remember when the constant fighting and arguing stopped. But he supposed it was the time Lily found him sobbing into his Calculus textbook.

She didn't say I told you, and she didn't chide him for not being a better student, she didn't even tell him it was his fault and that he should have studied more.

She sat down beside him, pulled the tear-stained textbook out from under his head and walked him through the chapter as if it were high school math.

James passed the test with an *A.

He bought her a bouquet of flowers as thanks.

Thus a friendship was formed their second year.

They still argued though it was no longer incoherent screaming but rather light and witty banter.

The first time he properly asked her out, she said no.

Lily didn't do relationships.

She was too busy

He didn't push, he knew girls hated to be annoyed or pressured into a relationship.

But it hurt, being turned down by her.

Though James wouldn't openly admit it (though Sirius constantly tried to get him to) he really, REALLY liked Lily.

More than he had liked any other girl. Sure she was infuriating, but he kind of liked it. She challenged him, she didn't hold anything back. She was smart and she wasn't afraid to show it.

So James let it rest and dealt with the burning heartache he felt every time they sat close together or went somewhere alone.

It didn't help that sometimes during their late-night studying sessions she would fall asleep in his room.

He didn't have the heart to wake her up so he would just let her sleep in his bed and he would take the floor.

Lily always got mad at him for not waking her up. "I'm not a dainty princess James, just wake me up so I can walk back to my room, I don't need to be coddled!"

But he knew that she secretly appreciated it. Because after the first two times it happened she wouldn't say anything. She would just get up and let herself out. Though not before making him a cup of coffee and leaving it on his desk for when he woke up.

In the end, James didn't need to ask her out again.

They had been drinking in his room to celebrate the end of first term. Surprisingly it was her idea.

One minute he was sitting on his bed and she in his desk chair, the next she was on his lap, lips attached to his, her hands tangled in his shaggy black hair.

James had tried to stop it, honestly, he did. He didn't want their relationship to start like that.

But when her lips moved from his mouth to his neck, and her hand slipped under his shirt and started tracing the waistline of his jeans, he decided this was as good a way as any.

He asked her later that night, why she turned him down the first time.

Lily said she wanted to make sure he valued her and their friendship more than a romanticized version of her.

And now here they were six years later.

The night James realized he wanted to marry her, they were lying in bed in their flat.

Lily was in one of his old Rugby club T-shirts and she was sound asleep, curled against his side with one hand resting on his bare chest

They had come home from the wedding of one of their old school friends. It was nice, but the whole time all James could think about was what he would have done differently.

the flowers wouldn't be that big, there wouldn't be as many people, and Lily's dress wouldn't be that puffy and sparkly.

Lily.

He was imagining what his wedding with Lily was going to look like.

So the next morning when he had to shake her out of bed (as usual) he decided.

He was going to marry Lily.

He called her friend Marlene to go ring shopping with him, which in hindsight probably wasn't a good idea.

Marlene was sweet and probably the funniest person he knew, but she wasn't all that... How to put this... Romantic.

Their phone conversation went something like this

"Hey Marlene"

"what's up Potter”

"don't freak out please"

"oh my god did you get Lily pregnant?"

"What? No!"

"ok then what would make me freak out"

"I'm going to propose to her, I need your help choosing a ring."

<i>incoherent screaming</i>

So there they were at the Tiffany's on Old Bond Street.

Marlene pouring over rings while he sat nervously in the white leather chair, waiting for the sales associate

The saleswoman helping them was named Darla

She was old, Scottish, and had a really bad haircut.

"These are stunning" she drawled, pulling out a set of large Silver rings heaped with diamonds and gaudy stones

"I don't think that's the kind of ring that she would like," James said scratching the back of his head "There kind of... I don't know... Too over the top for her"

The sales lady glanced over at Marlene

"Well your fiance looks Like the kind of girl who loves over the top"

with her white chiffon tulle bra top (don't ask how he knows what that is), leather fringed high waist denim shorts, brown leather high heeled boots, John Lennon sunglasses, and mane of curly blonde hair with pastel dyed tips she looked like an eccentric drug-addicted artist.

He burst out laughing "Marlene? Are you crazy? Marlene isn't my fiance, she's my fiance's best friend"

"What are you laughing about you would date me in a second" Marlene grinned, walking over to him and Darla

she assessed the rings and frowned "any way he's right. When it comes to things like this Lily is on the simple side nothing big and no massive bling. Basically think style opposite of me, that's Lily"

She tapped her uneven jagged nails on the counter, her fingers displaying multiple bronze and gold beat-up looking rings as if to prove her point to Darla

The saleswoman nodded and put the rings back, pulling out a second drawer full of simple gold bands with at the most three small stones on them.

The first time he’d knocked over a candle and lit the restaurant table on fire. He figured that probably wasn’t a good time to ask her to marry him. Not after she had just had to use her 9 pound mocktail to put out a fire he started.

The second time he did actually manage to get the words out, but she was running out the door after her on-call pager started buzzing. Door slammed shut before he could finish the ‘marry me’ bit.

“What did you say while I was running out the door? Will you make minced meat?” She frowned when she got back. Hair falling from her ponytail and a shopping bag full of the makings of mince.

He hated mince but he ate the pies anyway because he was too embarrassed to correct her.

The third time, truly, had been the perfect setting. A beautiful walk through southwark park, the sun was out and the air was crisp. He was about to get on one knee when at that very moment one of their old professors from university happened to walk by.

Nothing less romantic than pouring your heart and soul out to the love of you life in front of your chemistry professor.

“You seem frustrated.” Lily observed a few days later, her face pinched with concern. They were in the kitchen. He was making pancakes and she was sat at their kitchen table typing out grant applications for the heart function clinic she worked at. “Is everything alright?”

“No!” He exasperated, mind so muddled he didn’t think before he spoke. “I've tried to propose to you three bloody times, and everytime I bung it up somehow! First I set the table on fire, then somehow I end up eating mince pies? I hate mince pies!”

“James,” Lily said, trying to interject

“No, and then, we’re along in the park. The weather is somehow beautiful despite it being october, there’s no one around, I’m about to get down on one knee and at that EXACT MOMENT Slughorn walks by. What are the fucking odds?”

“James!” Lily finally cried

He froze, suddenly realising what he’d blurted out. He turned to look at her properly, her face lit with both amusement and shock.

“Err… i…”

They both stared at heachother for a moment, not sure what to say next before finally Lily broke the silence.

“Do you have something you want to ask me?” She asked calmly.

Maybe fourth time the charm.

#jily fanfiction #jily fic #jilytober2024 #jilytoberfest2024 #james potter #lily evans

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