Unspoken Thoughts

The rain beat down on the paving stones as lightning crashed and thunder rolled in the dark sky, while the wind howled loudly. Lily Evans hugged her light summer jacket around herself tightly, but it did little to keep out the cold rain that was pouring from the heavens in massive sheets. This was the first real thunderstorm that Lily had seen in at least a month. The drought was apparently breaking, then.
Shivering, Lily scanned the far road, hoping for someone who would pick her up and give her a ride at least part of the way home. Her reddish hair was matted to her face, and the cold was unbearable. The middle of July really shouldn't be this freezing, especially when it had been in the high 90s all week.
Lily had called Melanie for a ride at least an hour ago, but it was obvious that none would be coming for her for quite some time yet. Suddenly, the headlights of a car shone through the rain. It was coming toward her! Lily got up off the wet wooden bench and rubbed her arms as the car pulled closer. It stopped and she walked calmly toward it, then opened the door and paused to look inside at who Melanie had sent to pick her up. It was Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and James Potter, who, by the way, was driving the car.

"Do you have a towel or something that I could sit on?" Lily asked. "I'm rather wet, if you hadn't noticed."
Sirius grinned widely from the back seat and pulled out a large beach towel, then laid it on the passenger seat next to James, where Lily would soon be sitting.
"We were planning on going to the lake to have a nice dip," Sirius said, as though he were amused. "But then we decided not to do the dipping part. Looks like you've had a nice swim, though!" Sirius chortled at his own joke as Lily arranged the towel and sat down.
"Hello, Sirius," she said, as though he had not spoken. "Hi, Remus. I see it took you long enough to find me, James."
"Hello to you too, Lily," James replied and smiled as he started the car. "I promised Melanie I'd call her from the pay phone when we got to the lake, so I did, right after it started raining. She told me you had just called her from the pay phone here and said that you needed a ride home. So we took about 45 minutes to get here, then we missed the street and had to turn around."
"Yeah," Remus said.
James was Melanie's boyfriend, and Melanie sent him to do everything for her.
"By the way, O formerly distressed damsel, how did you find yourself seeking the aid of such handsome and dashing young men in the first place?" Sirius inquired.
Lily laughed, then told them her story.

The large castle on the outskirts of London that Lily had always wanted to visit had started holding discounted matinee tours, with a bus that would stop in London and drive the tourists to the castle. Lily had been saving her money for quite some time, and she had finally decided to go. The castle had been amazing, and the tour was very interesting, but when it came time to leave, Lily found that she had left her book bag and brochure in the foyer of the castle, and had to go and retrieve them. She searched for quite some time, then found them, safely tucked away in a corner of the room. When Lily retrieved her things and went back outside to catch the bus, she found that it had already left and that she was stranded, since the castle was locked from the inside, and the tours wouldn't start again until early next morning. Lily had called Melanie from a pay phone outside of the castle, and had explained to her that she needed someone to come and give her a ride. That's when the rain started. There really wasn't any place to take shelter, hence her wetness. Lily was content to blame it on the fact that it was Friday the 13th, although she certainly wasn't superstitious.
"What a wonderful day you've had!" Remus chuckled as the car sped through the darkness.
"Well, it was!" Lily protested. "Up until the part where I missed the bus."
"Anyways," James said. "There's going to be a picnic on the lake next week, Tuesday that Melanie's holding, if the weather agrees. She was going to send out invitations tomorrow, I think, but I guess you'd find out sooner or later."
"I'll plan on coming," Lily said. "Should I bring my bathing suit?"
"Sure," Remus said. "We're planning on going swimming."
"Is Bekki going to be back from her holiday in Germany in time for the picnic?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, she's coming back on Sunday," Lily replied. "Why do you ask?"
Bekki was Lily's best friend, along with Melanie, although Melanie was sort of the tag-a-long in the group, since their first year at Hogwarts.
"Just wondering," Sirius replied, much too casually.
James and Remus exchanged silent glances that could have sufficed for a hundred words about what they thought according to Bekki's relationship with Sirius.
"Why don't you just ask her out?" James asked. "She'll be good for you."
"Who said anything about asking anyone out?" Sirius replied as though he had no clue as to what James was talking about. "Besides, I like being a free man."
Lily snorted and wondered, is this what guys always talk about?
"In case you've failed to notice, Lily, Sirius has had this major crush on Bekki since the second year," Remus said.
"I have not!" Sirius protested innocently. "And anyways, if you're going to blurt things out that are going to embarrass me, you can at least get the facts right. It was since the first year. I just have to work up the courage to ask her out, that's all."
James laughed. "You've been working up the courage for going on seven years!"
"Turn here," Lily said, and James swung the car onto a narrow street and stopped in front of a red brick house.
Lily got out of the car, then poked her head back inside. "Bye, Sirius, bye Remus. James?" She looked at James, taking in everything about him, then hesitated before glancing back at the two young men in the backseat and added, "Thanks for the ride."
That was not what she had been going to say at all. If only Remus and Sirius weren't right there. She felt her cheeks redden as she shut the car door and ran through the rain to her own front door, then wiped her feet and went inside.

James watched Lily's retreating form and sighed to himself as he started the car. Those brilliant green eyes stayed lodged in his mind, though. Why had she hesitated before thanking him for the ride? Had she been about to say something else? No, that was foolish. What would she ever want to say to him? He was letting his imagination run away with his wits. Besides, if she had wanted to say something to him, why hadn't she just come right out and said it?
The answer came to him when he was jerked back to earth as Remus cleared his throat and said softy to Sirius, "Speaking of childhood crushes..."
"Hey," James said. "I heard that. And anyway, Melanie's certainly good enough."
"Yes," said Sirius. "But is she good enough for you? Perhaps you have someone else in mind."
As to that, James had no answer, so he sighed heavily again. He knew that there was no way around saying that he had a crush on Lily. His two friends just knew him much too well for his liking sometimes.
"Maybe I'm just not good enough for the person I have in mind," he said carefully. "And even if I am, she certainly shows no interest in me at all."
James saw Sirius raise an eyebrow at him from the rearview mirror. "You'd be surprised," he told James, as a smile quirked on his lips. "You just won't let yourself notice any of the signs she gives, because you've convinced yourself that she doesn't like you the way you like her."
"And what am I supposed to do with Melanie?" James asked.
"Dump her?" Remus suggested.
"Oh, sure!" James said, shaking his head. "And what happens when she finds out that I dumped her for one of her best friends?"
"Who cares?" Sirius said casually, grinning out the window. "James, star athlete on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, finally gets the girl he wants, even though he breaks up his new girl's friendship with his ex. Sounds like a perfect romance drama to me."
"Whatever you say, Sirius," James said quietly, smiling as he drove the car through the rain.
"What we need is someone to get Mel's mind off the idea of her ex going out with one of her best friends," Remus said, much too easily.
James and Sirius caught on right away.
"For the love of Mike, Remus!" Sirius exclaimed. "Don't tell me you've got a crush on Melanie!"
"Who's Mike?" Remus asked innocently, but it was obvious that he was trying to change the subject.
"That has nothing to do with anything!" James said. "How long have you kept this a secret?"
"Well..." Remus trailed off, looking at his hands.
"Come on, you know we'll pry it out of you sooner or later," Sirius said.
"Since first year," Remus blurted out. "I wasn't gonna ask her out then, 'cause I didn't even think about it because nobody starts dating until like the third year or something, then she started going out with James, and, well, I just decided to keep my mouth shut."
"You know Remus, you're really good at keeping secrets," James breathed.
"Yeah," said Sirius, grinning from ear to ear. "But we're even better at finding out what they are!"
"Let's keep it between us, okay? Don't tell Peter," Remus muttered.
"Okay," James and Sirius said in unison.
"We're not just gonna sit and be losers, are we?" James asked after a pause. "We need to straighten it all out, right?"
"I guess so," Remus said. "But what about...?"
"She doesn't need to know about that," Sirius said, picking up where Remus had trailed off. "Not until you're together and all."
"You guys wanna talk about this over an ice cream or something?" James asked.
"Sure!" Sirius and Remus said.

Lily stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel. She stood in front of the mirror and took out her hair drier and began to dry her hair. She hummed softly to herself as she stood there, thinking about James Potter.
He really was a sweetheart, more so than most other guys, but Mel was his girlfriend and she most certainly didn't want them to break up just so she could go out with James. Besides, Mel would have a fit if James dumped her and started going out with one of her best friends. And they were such a cute couple. Of course, James would make a cute couple out of himself and just about any girl, unless she was perfectly revolting. He was rather good looking. He was also very mischievous. But what was wrong with a little mischief every now and then? He had such dazzling blue eyes, too. And the way his hair curled around his ears...
Lily was brought back to her senses when she heard her younger sister call up the stairs, "Lily! Get down here! It's time for dinner!"
She sighed heavily before turning off the hair drier and pulling on clean, dry clothes, then went downstairs and sat down at the table.
They said grace and began to eat.
"How was your day, sweetie?" Lily's mother asked her.
"A bit odd, but I can live with it," Lily replied while buttering herself a roll.
Lily's father smiled from the head of the table. "Maybe Friday the 13th really is unlucky," he said thoughtfully. "Then again, it's just a superstition."
"Daddy, I'm going over to Vernon's house for dinner tomorrow night," Petunia said loudly.
"Isn't he that plump young man who lives down the street?" Lily's mother inquired through a mouthful of cooked carrots.
"He most certainly isn't plump, mother!" Petunia protested hotly. Lily tried to hide her amusement by burying her face in her cup of milk.
"Of course not, dear," Lily's mom replied absently.
Petunia's cheeks reddened over her fork, but Lily hardly noticed. She was thinking about James again. She realized what she was doing, and hurriedly pushed James to the back of her mind. That blasted boy was going to be the death of her yet!
"Next week, Tuesday I'm going down to the lake with some friends," Lily said abruptly. "We're going to have a picnic and go swimming."
"Wonderful!" Lily's mother said jovially. "You can wear your new green suit and I'll bake you a pie to take along and share with everyone."
"Thanks, mum," Lily said, smiling cheerfully. Petunia's expression could have soured a gallon of milk.