And all I'm thinking about, is not thinking about you. (Song prompt.)

James Potter was head over heels.

Everyone said it.

His parents, the teachers, the students.

His eyes followed her everywhere.

Lily.

They were friends, sure; close friends, even. They knew each other like siblings, but secretly...

Well, secretly, James didn't feel anything like brotherly love for Lily Evans.

Everyone knew it.

Apart from Lily, of course, because that's how the world works.

The Earth turns, and people love, and other people are unaware of it.

Looking back on it, James was pretty sure that if he'd just done something, said something, Lily would have told him her true feelings too, and they would have all lived happily ever after, etcetera, etcetera.

But that also isn't how the world works.

The world is cruel, and that fateful day when James Potter asked Sirius Black for love advice it was especially cruel.

The words themselves- James Potter asked Sirius Black for love advice- didn't sound too bad.

Until Sirius gave his advice, of course.

'Mate,' Sirius said, chewing on a crisp. They were sitting on James' bedroom floor, half playing video games, half talking, and eating. 'What you need to do is make her jealous.'

James frowned. 'Padfoot, have you met Lily? She's bloody brilliant. She'd see through that in an instant.'

'No, she won't,' Sirius said, abandoning his video game controller on the floor and waving a pretzel at James. 'That's the beauty of it, you see?'

'No,' said James. 'I don't see.'

'Girls,' Sirius said, like that explained everything. 'When they're in love, they go mad. And Lily's in love with you. She wouldn't see through it if you waved a sign in her face saying this relationship is fake.'

James groaned. 'I hate this plan already. It sounds mean.'

'No,' Sirius corrected. 'It sounds perfect.'

****

Of course, there James was, less than a week later, staring at the wall and contemplating his life choices.

Guess I came here looking for distraction.

Needless to say, the plan hadn't gone well. Lily had got jealous, then mad, then sad, and then went back to mad.

Then she got furious, and dumped her pasta all over James' head in the canteen.

That experience hadn't been the highlight of his week.

'You're a fucking jerk,' she'd yelled. 'And I hate you!'

'It didn't work, did it?' James said to Sirius, picking a piece of pasta out of his hair.

Sirius had the grace to look embarrassed. 'To be fair, I thought it would work.'

'I should bloody well hope so,' James muttered. 'Otherwise I'd question why you're my friend at all.'

Now James was getting drunk. It was fun, or at least more fun than dwelling on his multiple screw ups concerning Lily Evans.

All I'm thinking about, is not thinking about you.

****

Lily Evans was dancing on a table.

I'm wasted and I'm dancing dizzily...

Why not? She thought.

Why the fuck not? She didn't have any reason not to, right?

After all, she'd already been publicly humiliated and played for a fool by James fucking Potter.

She didn't have anything to lose.

In some far corner of her mind Lily knew that she was drunk. She also knew she would regret everything she'd done already that night the next morning, but hey...

It wasn't the next morning yet, and Lily was having fun.

She hopped down from the table and grinned at a random stranger, who winked.

Trying to keep my body busy so my mind will forget...

The stranger was cute, but he was no James. Lily sighed, and wondered if any girls would kiss her.

At least they wouldn't remind her of James, right? Unless he had a secret lesbian sister locked away somewhere.

Get drunk, Lily thought to herself. Get drunk as fuck.

****

James quickly realised that drunk James was not a nice James.

Drunk James made out with random people.

Drunk James tried to kiss Peter.

Drunk James hugged Sirius and almost cried on his shoulder before Remus threw a bottle of water over him.

I don't know how emptiness can be this heavy.

'Prongs, mate,' Remus said softly, as water dripped down into James' eyes. Peter stood as far away from James as he could get, like he was afraid James might try and kiss him again. 'Maybe we should go.'

Been chasing temporary highs and strangers...

'I'm fine,' James insisted, fully aware that his words were slurring. 'Don't worry.'

Remus shared a glance with Peter. Peter shrugged, mouthing I'm worrying.

James rolled his eyes at them. 'Look, I'm drunk, not blind.'

Remus nodded. 'Well, why don't we go home?'

'Nope.' James shook his head, and his glasses fell off. Remus sighed.

'Yes, James.'

'You're such a party pooper,' James mumbled as Remus heaved him to his feet. 'I want to stay!'

'Yeah, no you don't,' Remus breathed, glaring at Peter. 'Come on, Peter, get Sirius. We're leaving.'

'No!' James complained.

If only I could lose my mind, then maybe I could find a way out.

*****

Lily tried to kiss a stranger, but the stranger apparently wasn't interested.

'I don't kiss drunk girls,' he told her.

Lily found that a bit rude. She wasn't that drunk.

She tripped over something and wished she could find Marlene or Alice. Hell, she would take anyone right now.

Her head was pounding, and her eyes felt raw, like someone had rubbed them with acid. 'Alice?' Lily mumbled. 'Marlene? Frank?'

Actually, Lily couldn't remember if she'd even brought any of them with her to the party.

Maybe she hadn't. That would suck.

Lily sighed and sat down on a random chair, then closed her eyes.

I'm fighting not to feel, but nothing works.

****

They got back to James' house soon enough. Peter left quite quickly, all the while staying away from James and glaring at him accusingly.

James knew he would regret trying to kiss Peter in the morning. Hell, he regretted it now (what had he been thinking?) but Jamss figured he'd make things worse if he tried to apologise drunk.

James figured he would make things worse with Lily no matter what he did.

He couldn't help it.

He went crazy around her. She was his entire world, she was...

She was perfect.

And beautiful, and smart, and kind, and sweet, with just the right amount of anger hidden inside her.

She was perfect, and he'd fucked up.

Word count- 1075

So this is the second to last one! I'm going to my grandparents later, and they never turn the wifi on, so hopefully I'll be able to get the last one up with no problems.

If I don't, you'll get it on Boxing Day when I get back. Whoops.

See you tomorrow (hopefully!)