It had been three months since Lily Evans arrived.

For those three months, James had thought of little else. His basketball was getting worse because he couldn't focus during practise. He wasn't talking to Sirius as much. His grades were starting to slip.

Lily.

She was brilliant.

Maybe it was because she was different. Different from the people he'd grown up with, who he was so used to that he could almost predict the exact conversations he would have with them, word for word, before he'd even seen them.

Maybe it was because she was just Lily. Maybe he would have liked her so much anyway, because Lily was Lily and he was James and maybe they were just supposed to end up friends.

(Although, secretly, James liked her as more than a friend. Secretly.)

They spent every second with each other, to the extent that Sirius was starting to complain.

James didn't care.

He was walking her home at the end of the school day, her wheeling her baby blue bike along the gravel path, and him walking alongside her, his bag swinging from his shoulder.

'So what are your plans when you leave?' Lily asked. Her red hair was piled in a bun on top of her head, and every time James looked at her he was amazed at how it hadn't fallen down yet. 'Assuming, of course, that you want to leave.'

'Want to leave?' James snorted and kicked a few leaves around. It was autumn, and the leaves were slowly drifting down from the trees above them, red and gold and brown. 'Are you kidding? I've wanted to leave since I knew what leaving meant.'

'So what are you going to do?' Lily pressed, moving her bike to the side a little so she could let a person pass by them. (Mr. White, who ran the newspaper shop. He'd looked after James when he was a baby, and liked to remind him of the time when he'd changed James' nappy.)

'Go to university. A good one. Oxford, maybe, if I can get in. Or Cambridge. If I can't get into those, I guess I'll just look down the list of Top Ten Universities In The UK and go down until I find one that'll let me in.' James sighed. 'Bonus points if they're at least a county away from here.'

'You could go to the big one in London,' Lily suggested. 'I can't remember the name. You know the one? The big fancy Science one.'

James glanced sideways. There was an element of longing in her voice. 'Do you want to go there?'

She nodded and blushed a little. 'If I get accepted... yeah. I would. If not, I'd do what you're going to do. Go down the list until I get accepted by one.'

'Better start writing your applications,' James said playfully. 'Maybe we'll go to the same one and get drunk together.'

'Oh, God, no.' Lily laughed. 'Drunk Lily is not a Lily I trust.'

'Sounds exciting. Tell me more.'

Lily laughed and backed away from him as much as she could on the narrow path. 'I think not. But hey, if we go to the same university, I'll get drunk with you. Hell, if we go to the same one, we could even be roommates.'

'I like your thinking,' James said slowly. 'Yes. Let's do it. If we ever get out of the goddamn town and into a good university, we're becoming damn roommates.'

'Damn right,' Lily teased, and James grinned.

****

'We barely spend any time together anymore,' Sirius complained that lunchtime as he and James sat on the field. 'You're always with Lily.'

'I didn't take you for the jealous type,' James remarked, chewing on an apple.

'I'm not jealous as long as we don't have two months to go until we graduate. I know full well that when we do, you'll be out of here like a shot. I want to spend as much time with you as possible when I can, James.' Sirius shrugged at James, and Remus and Peter nodded along.

'We'll stay friends after we graduate,' James told them confidently. 'I mean, you know too much shit about me for me to just ditch you.'

They all laughed, and then Sirius spoke up again.

'What's the deal about this Lily girl, anyway? You like her or something?'

James felt himself start to blush, even though he didn't want to. 'No,' he lied.

'You're blushing,' Remus pointed out. 'We won't tell anyone if you do, mate.'

Sirius coughed.

'Shut up, Padfoot,' Peter hissed.

'She's nice,' James hedged, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. 'You know. A nice person.'

'If you do like her, you better make a move before we graduate,' Peter said carefully. 'Or you might never see her again.'

****

Graduation was approaching way faster than James would have liked.

Despite spending his entire life counting down the days to that very moment, now that it was approaching he found himself treasuring every moment before it happened and he had to leave.

He'd never noticed how nice all his teachers were, or how much he loved Sirius, Remus and Peter. The trees looked beautiful in the sunlight, and even the same old houses he'd hated for the past eighteen years seemed better now he was about to leave.

And Lily... Lily was radiant.

More and more, James found himself thinking of what Peter had said. If you do like her, you better make a move before we graduate, or you might never see her again.

What if he did never see Lily again? What would he do?

They hadn't gotten into the same university. Lily was off to Cambridge, and him to London.

Suddenly, the possibility of them being separated seemed very, very real.

****

Graduation dawned bright and sunny, and James managed to summon up a bit of enthusiasm for his elderly grandparents, all of whom were incredibly excited to see their 'little James' growing up.

When they saw Lily, they got even more excited. 'A girlfriend!' His grandad whispered. 'How exciting, James.'

'She's not my-' James began, but his grandma butted in.

'Well, Frank Longbottom's mother says that you've been spending all your time with her,' she whispered incredibly loudly just as Lily walked over.

'Hi, James,' she smiled, and his grandparents cooed in unison.

'This is Lily,' James said, refusing to be embarrassed by them.

Greetings were exchanged, but James had Peter's words stuck in his head. You might never see her again.

'Lily,' he said quietly. 'Can I talk to you for a second?'

She nodded, looking confused, and they backed away to behind a nearby car.

'Lily-' he began, but the words were stuck in his throat. He coughed and started again. 'Lily, I- I- I really like you, okay? And maybe it's not fair to tell you that now, when we're about to graduate and we'll be God knows how far away from each other, so if so, I'm sorry, but-'

He took a deep breath and tried to gauge to emotion in her deep green eyes.

'I really like you. As more than a friend. So-'

She kissed him, leaning forwards and standing on her tiptoes. It was just a brush of her lips against his, but he was left shocked anyway.

'We can make it work,' she whispered, still incredibly incredibly close to him.

He could barely think, the feel of her lips against his cheek distracting him from everything else.

'We can.'

He leant down, and kissed her properly, his heart racing and his brain flying with it.

We can make it work.

Wtf was this

Plz don't judge I am but a humble trash can.

Word count- 1288