James Winston Potter (prongsy_potter) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-11-17 18:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, james potter, lily evans |
Who: James Potter and Lily Evans
What: Random run in and chatting
Where: Walking to a sandwich shop
When: Backdated: First week of November
Rating: Family Friendly
Status: Complete
The only thing James disliked about having two jobs was the fact that he was usually working while his friends weren’t and he tended to miss things a lot. Luckily he’d managed to get most of the previous weekend off so he could enjoy Halloween and help Sirius and Remus’ friend Lily move into her new place. He’d heard a lot about Lily from his two friends and it was still hard to believe that they had never met until now. Of course Lily had been away for the last year, but still.
Upon meeting her, he could see why Sirius and Remus were friends with her. She was fun, smart and pretty. Very pretty in fact. A few times during the night, James had almost wished that Remus and Sirius weren’t there so he could try and get to know Lily a little better, but at the same time he hadn’t wanted to get too invasive since they had only just met and he had a feeling that that would not be the last time they saw each other. Especially if Lily was now on Valarnet.
He’d had an early shift at the restaurant that afternoon and had just gotten off and decided to walk home since his and Sirius’ place really wasn’t that far and it’d save him on cab fare.
While going to Athens had been a highlight of her life Lily couldn’t help but feel guilty about ditching her friends. It had been only a few days since she had gotten back and she was doing her best to spend as much time as she could with Remus and Sirius. It was the perfect weekend to come home because not only was there Halloween but also Sirius’ birthday, so it was just basically two weeks of partying. It was also great because she had finally met the infamous James Potter that both boys had told her about, but had never crossed paths with before leaving on her trip.
He was a lot of fun and very similar to the other boys, so she could see why the three of them had become a bit like the Musketeers, but she was able to easily fit into their group once again. It was incredibly helpful to have another able person help her move into her apartment and she was currently out exploring the various neighborhoods around here. Her study abroad had been at an odd time in the year and she was finished with classes until the next semester thanks to it, so right now she had a lot of free time on her hands.
It was with that free time that she was currently wandering and trying to find a sandwich shop that she had read about on Yelp when she spotted a familiar person on the other side of the street. With a quick glance to both sides of her to make sure no traffic was coming, she decided to dart across the street and approach him. “Oi, James Potter is allowed to walk alone? I would have thought Remus or Sirius was attached to your hip,” she drawled with a playful smile.
A the sound of his name being called, James turned, a smile upon his lips when he saw who it was, “Evans! Wasn’t expecting to see you so soon.” Not that he was complaining at all, “And that is a very often mistaken assumption actually. We do actually split up on occasion to do our own thing.” If James was going to be joint at the hip with one of his friends, it likely would have been Sirius since they lived together, “And what brings you out on this fine day?”
“I know that you do, but since I see Sirius more often in the evening, I half expected you two to be conjoined during the day. Result of some ancient friendship curse or whatnot,” Lily commented with a chuckle. Sirius tended to talk about James a lot and she knew that the boys had a deep friendship, which was great, “And I’m out exploring. Trying to find a sandwich shop actually. It had high reviews on Yelp and should be around here somewhere. What about you?”
“Well, not all of us can spend the day on the beach like him. Some of us have to work.” James probably didn’t actually need two jobs and could have spent more time hanging out with Sirius on the beach, but he couldn’t figure out which of his jobs he wanted to pursue in the long run yet, so for the time being he spent most of his time working, “Which shop is it? I might be able to help you find it.” Plus he’d get to spend more time with her in the process.
“Wouldn’t that be lovely? I’m too pale for that, but at least he seems to enjoy it. I just hide at school and stick my nose in a book,” Lily explained before grabbing her phone to look up the name of the restaurant again. She pursed her lips for a moment as she fumbled around, but she eventually found it, “I’m looking for Paninoteca Maggio, it’s an Italian place. It’s on the corner of Main and 3rd from what I’m seeing on this map.” Her green eyes glanced back up at him to see if he was following along before pocketing her phone.
“The only problem I have with it, is that I find sand randomly around the apartment when he comes home.” James said, running a hand through his dark, often messy hair. He tried as best he could to tame it while he was working at the restaurant since it was a rather swanky place, but at the bar, he tended to just let it do whatever it wanted, “Oh, I know where that is. Come on. It’s not that far.”
The sand comment made her laugh more than it probably should have, but she could picture him discovering sand in random parts of the apartment. “Oh my goodness, I could just imagine that. What a pain in the ass,” Lily watched him with his hair and almost felt the urge to reach out and try to help him tame it, but it seemed rather impossible, “And perfect! Thank you for showing me the way.”
“Oh, you have no idea,” James laughed, shaking his head a little before gesturing in the direction of the sandwich shop, “It’s down this way.” He made she she was going to follow before he started walking, “So, how do you like being back? Or do you wish you’d stayed in Athens?” He could only imagine what it was like living in Greece. Is it like it is in all the movies? It always seems like people are randomly jumping off cliffs into the water. Did you ever do that?” He’d seen at least two or three movies that took place in Greece where the characters would be out then randomly decide to cliff dive and he wondered if that happened often.
“It’s nice to be back in a place that’s familiar and see my friends again, but it also a lot of fun to just go on an adventure. I don’t think I’d want to stay in Athens forever unless there was something to keep me there - Greece as a whole is a little unsettled still,” Lily did enjoy living in America, but if she had to choose another place to live it would probably be somewhere in the countryside of England since she enjoyed visiting there when she was little, “And jumping off cliffs? Yeah, I did it a couple times. You could probably find some good cliffs here to do that.”
“It’s impressive that you got to go and work there at such a young age. Maybe if I choose to continue my career in a restaurant, someday I’ll end up working at some swanky one in Paris or something.” James smirked at Lily as they continued walking, “And you’re probably right, but the water here doesn’t look as nice as the water there.”
“Well, it’s part of my schooling, so it has it’s own downsides. Lots and lots of research papers and barely making any money. My school loans are going to be ridiculous,” Lily answered with a laugh. That was the only downside to going there, it certainly seemed a bit more glamorous than it actually was, “Oh gosh no, the water there was amazing. I would go again just to swim probably.”
“Oh yeah, that is the downside, huh? Hopefully it’s not too overwhelming that it’ll bankrupt you.” When James decided to go back to school money wouldn’t be an issue, but he knew it was for a lot of people and he hoped that Lily’s loans wouldn’t be too expensive to pay back as a result of her trip, “But I’m sure once you get your degree you’ll be able to use it to make enough to pay off your loans in no time.”
“Fingers crossed on that one. I’m trying to get my stuff wrapped up as soon as possible so I’m in school for a smaller period of time. And hopefully I’ll be able to find a good paying job. It’ll probably take a while though,” Lily wasn’t quite sure her degree would honestly help her get a high paying job, but as long as she could make ends meet then that was all that mattered, “What about you?”
“Well now I know why you and Remus are such good friends. You’re both all about the school thing,” James didn’t mind school, but he wanted to make sure that when he went back, he made the right decision so that he wouldn’t have to go back years from now for a career change, “Workwise? Just trying to figure out exactly what to do. It’s either restaurant business or nightclub business. Just haven’t decided which one yet.”
“Yeah, that’s basically it. We became friends to survive the horror of undergrad and history classes. I met Sirius through him not too long ago. And are you just working in those businesses or do you want to run one?” It was a fair question since Lily didn’t know too much about James. However, she did spot a sign in the distance and made a noise as she pointed a finger, “Oh! There’s the shop, just ahead.”
“I’m working in them right now. Waiter at a restaurant in Irvine during the week and bartend on the weekends at a club. I like different aspects of both and keep thinking that it’d be pretty cool to own my own club someday, but it’d also be cool to own a restaurant.” James had so many things to think about, “I’m kind of leaning towards the club part though.” He looked up when he saw her pointing and smiled, “Told you it wasn’t too far.”
“Ahhh, well, that certainly keeps you busy. I can’t handle stupid people very well, so my hat goes off to you to put up with them. And as for potentially running a club or a restaurant, they both come with their own special issues, so it comes down to what you enjoy the most. I’m sure you could potentially get Sirius to help you out as well since he can’t be a lifeguard forever,” Lily pointed out and then smiled at the idea of a club, “I would certainly come to your club. And I know you said we weren’t far, but I’m awful at directions.”
James laughed at the thought of Sirius working with him, “I’m not sure if that would mean we’d never get any work done or if we’d have the best time working together.” Both were possibilities when it came to James and Sirius. “Well, I would hope so. You’d be on the permanent guest list.” He smirked at her as they reached the sandwich shop, “And here we are. Hopefully it’s as good as the Yelp reviews say it is so you’re not disappointed.”
“You never know until it happens. You can always think about it. You’ve got some time before you start making your own place,” Lily laughed. The two of them would probably have a great time owning a place together, but she wasn’t quite sure how either of their work ethics were, so the meshing part was up in the air, “But thanks, I’m flattered to be on the permanent guest list. At least I know I’ll have a place to hang out. And would you like to come in with me or are you on your way somewhere?”
It was definitely something to think about cause it would be kind of cool to work with Sirius, depending on what his best friend would want to do. When Lily asked if he wanted to come in, he smiled and nodded, “Nope, no plans. I could go for a sandwich.” And maybe he could learn a little more about Lily in the process.