“I know, Jessie’s lucky I was only a little hungry,” she told him and he looked at her concerned. “I’m fine,” she added quickly and he walked over to her, standing in front of her. All her nerves suddenly came rushing back.
“I know. You’re strong and I have no doubt that you’ll come out of this still standing,” he said, surprising her. She gave him a little shrug with a brief smile, suddenly aware of how close he was to her. “But we’ll worry about that all tomorrow. Tonight is our night,” he added and Lily swallowed, nervous again. “Lily, I know under normal circumstances you wouldn’t be here and we wouldn’t be about to… you know,” he started.
Leaning against the counter, her stomach a mass of knots and her mouth dry, she simply nodded. She opened her mouth to speak, but he started to talk again. “I know all of this, but I just don’t want to…” he paused with though on his expression then continued. “I don’t want it to be just about that. Lily. I’d like to spend some time together,” he explained.
“You mean like a date,” she asked, more than a little surprised and he nodded.
“Yeah, sort of. You’ve already put things in order in case the worst happens. I would like to do something similar. Tonight let’s put the past behind us. Forget your worries, fears, and all the reasons you have to keep me away. Just let yourself live for one night what it could be like together. In the worst case, the bond won’t work Silvano will have won and what happens tonight won’t matter and if the bond does then I promise we’ll go back to like we are now, just two friends,” he said then fell silent waiting for her to say something.
Lily stuck her hands in her front pockets, her face was creased in thought. His offer was tempting and might make things seem less awkward but if it worked then things could become really awkward later. That alone almost had her telling him no, but she stopped. James was compromising a lot to help her, giving him one date really wasn’t that much to ask in return. With that Lily looked up at James with a nod. “Alright James, we can do that,” she told him.
James smiled, looking much like a child in a candy shop. “Great, it’s not going to be anything spectacular. Just you and me here but again that’s really the point isn’t it. Showing you what we could be,” he said then pulled out her hand of her jeans pocket and took it in his. Her stomach flipped, and she started to wonder if this was such a good idea.
“I would have cooked us something but since you can’t eat,” James said with a small shrug still not believing she had agreed to this. He led her back into the living room. “I thought we could watch some movies and stuff like that,” he explained.
Lily laughed softly and sat down on the couch. “Alright, I can do that. What movie?” She asked and instead of sitting next to her, James sat on the floor by her legs.
“Well I thought going back to the good ole days would be the best,” James replied holding up a copy of the princess bride. Lily’s eyes lit up as she took the case from him.
“Oh my god, I haven’t seen this in years! It was my favorite growing up. Lacy and I would watch it over and over,” she said excited and much to his relief Lily said her best friend/sister’s name with happiness, not the typical sadness.
“Well then we just have to start with this then,” he said, having the movie already ready to be played. Lily grinned and shifted in her seat, eyes bright with childlike eagerness.
James only watched the movie with partial attention. The other half of his attention was on Lily. He could almost see her walls fall as she got absorbed in the movie. The movie was great but watching Lily relaxed and at ease was worth dying for.
“What other movies do you have?” She asked when it was over.
“A Bunch more,” he boasted with a smug grin.
“Oh yeah? Show me,” she demanded and he laughed and revealed his secret. “Netflix? That’s so cheating,” she accused him and he simply grinned with a shrug. “How about you go get some popcorn and I’ll pick out our next movie.”
“Popcorn? But you can’t eat,” he asked, surprised.
“Yeah well movies need popcorn and I can always live vicariously through you,” she answered and with a laugh James got up and went to fix some popcorn. When he returned, he was surprised to see that she had chosen the Gooneys.
“I thought you would have picked a chick flick or something,” he said, sitting down on the couch next to him. She leaned over and inhaled the scent of the popcorn.
“Lucky bastard,” she muttered, looking at the popcorn wistfully then smirked at him. “Oh how little you know me, James Lacrosse,” she added then playfully shushed him. James shushed her back, settling in his spot, noticing that he was sitting right next to her and she either didn’t notice or didn’t mind. Either way it was a win-win.
They watched a couple more movies, from Big to Tango and Cash… though James suspected that she picked that movie for the shower scene alone. Every woman watched the movie just for that. All through the movies they teased and picked on each other over silly things like movie trivia or quotes. The silly banter was relaxing and more fun than he’d ever thought possible. “That was fun,” Lily said, mirroring his thoughts as she stretched and stood up.
He stretched as well and said, “You have a wide taste in movies.” Lily sat back down next to him with a shrug.
“I suppose, but I tend to prefer the lighter stuff. It’s why more times than not Lacy and I would watch Disney despite I usually hated the whole fairy tale romance crap,” she explained and he couldn’t help a smile.
“What’s so wrong with fairy tale romances?” He asked then gave her a look of mock horror with his hand over his heart. “Don’t tell me you don’t believe in true love,” he demanded with a good dose of melodrama. Lily rolled her eyes and gave him a little shove.
“I suppose I believe in it. I think my parents have it, the Roberts not my biological ones. I just don’t believe it as Mr. Disney sells it,” she replied with yet another shrug. “What about you James? Are you a hopeless romantic?” James playfully scrunched up his nose in disgust then grinned.