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THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE

act one ━ chapter ten

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━ JAMES & BRONWYN ━
september 1977

     "OH JESUS CHRIST."

     Bronwyn already had her head in her hands, but James Potter wasn't going to let anything discourage him. He was already embarrassed that he has subjected himself to needing The Girlfriend Experience, so he was determined to not let anything make it worse. "Before you say anything-"

     She stared at him, bored, "I already have."

     James was going to ignore anything that came out of her mouth unless it was the words: yes, James, I would be delighted to help you, with zero judgment. Seeing as hers weren't those words, he kept going, avoiding all eye contact. "Just know this is my last resort," he said slowly, feeling unconscious with the number of people glaring in his direction.

     Bronwyn looked over at Andromeda, who had followed James in here. As the two of them shared practically everything, they had mastered the skill of communicating via only their eyes.

     Did you let him in here?

     Andromeda gave a sheepish shrug, Possible clientele?

     No. God no. Anyone but him.

     Andromeda gave an unbothered look and exited the conversation by perching on the armchair beside the bay window and opening a book.

     At a loss, Bronwyn returned her attention to James, who was waiting for her to speak.

     Bronwyn knows ─ from years of personal experience ─ that whenever James Potter asks for your help, you say no. You will be wasting your time because he no doubt, set out to waste yours. "Whatever it is," she said to him, "the answer is no." She snapped her book shut, got up from her seat and headed for the dorm rooms. And for a reason she doesn't quite know, she thought that James wouldn't follow her.

     James considered leaving her alone for a short moment, wondering if he really needed what she could provide or not. It was an easy decision.

     Before she could open the door that leads to the dorm corridor, James tugged her into the tight aisle between two tall bookcases in the common room's personal library, located in the corner of the main room. He didn't let go of her arm until they stood by the window at the far end of the walkway. He angled his head down as she scowled up at him, hardly impressed, with an ache now settling in her arm. "I know about," James spoke cautiously, and he inched closer before he said, "your business."

There was very little light this far into the Slytherin common room. Dust specks were illuminated by the dim glow of the overhead lights, and the Black Lake was a murky backdrop beside them. The general hushed chatter of the lounge had become more muted this concealed and became a suppressed background noise. A few Slytherins poked their heads through the gap to get a look at the Gryffindor imposter, but James made sure they had all made their exit before he let Bronwyn speak.

     "Why are you whispering?"

     James jolted back slightly, his head tilted in confusion, "I thought that . . ." He didn't know what he thought.

     Bronwyn's forehead was creased. She finished his sentence for him, "That it's a secret service?" she questioned. He shrugged bashfully. "James, it's not illegal."

     "Okay, sorry," he said, surrendering his hands as best he could with the little room he had to move. "I'll start again." Bronwyn didn't want him to do that. And neither did James apparently because his neck flushed bright red. "I want to," he motioned something with his hands but it was near impossible to make out what he was trying to communicate. He hesitated, completely silent, eyes wide before he finally spoke, " . . . do your thing."

     Bronwyn couldn't contain her laughter. It burst out of her, drawing the attention back onto the secretive pair, tucked between bookcases. James seemed baffled by her laugher, brows furrowing. When she managed to calm herself, she spoke, "Look, I'm flattered, but . . ."

     It took longer than James cared to admit to understand. "Not like that!" he almost yelled. "Gross."

     She sighed, rolling her eyes. "I know what you want."

     A relieved smile broke out on his face. "Great."

     "And the answer is no."

     James' face practically plummeted to the ground. "Wait, what?"

     "Let me rephrase," Bronwyn said, before holding out her arm to the side, gesturing to the lounge full of students, "leave."

     James' mouth hung open, but he didn't look as though he was going to make any kind of move to leave the Slytherin common room just yet. "But I thought this is what you do," he said, genuinely puzzled by the lack of her immediate and enthusiastic compliance.

     Bronwyn shrugged unbothered. "It is," she said. "Just not for you."

     He tried to ignore her sarcastic grin, temporarily pushing down any feelings of overblown anger. "Why?"

     She ignored his question because, in Bronwyn's opinion, the reason behind not fake-dating James Potter for a whole week was sort of self-explanatory ─ she despises the kid. "I thought you had the dating thing down anyway?" she questioned, now beginning her routine of absently pulling out random books from the shelf behind her, flipping them over so she could inspect and read them from all angles, before shoving them back not where they came from. "What with all of the girls swooning over you."

This was not true. No girls were swooning over James at the current moment. And Bronwyn knew it. That's what irked him so much.

     His previous irritated scowl as he watched her be completely distracted by something unimportant, faded into a solemn sigh. "It's not exactly going to plan."

     She briefly looked up from the random book she was surveying to look him in the eyes. "Bummer." Bronwyn slammed the book back onto the shelf haphazardly, before walking away.

     James plunged at the girl before she could even get halfway, digging his nails into her wrist to stop her from walking further away. "Wait, please." Bronwyn spun around to lour at him some more, rubbing her arm where it hurts with hopes to ease the pain. "Let me plead my case," James requested.

     Quick silence fell over them, as James waited somewhat patiently for Bronwyn to give her answer and as Bronwyn debated on what to say. Does he deserve to plead his case? Might make for some amusement. Might just be boring and further prove why she shouldn't take him on. James is a nuisance. A nuisance she is not fond of. He doesn't deserve her time even if he pays for it. He'd be the worst student imaginable.

     Bronwyn gave in and waved her hand in the air urging him to proceed.

     James proceeded with caution. Uttering these words out loud was bad enough. But uttering them in front of the girl that has teased him since birth? Much more painful. "My friends called me a lost cause," he said, following her eyes and examining her reaction.

     "They've got that much right."

     "And you called me desperate."

     She resisted the urge to laugh at him again. "That's a lovely sob story James, but I'm afraid that's something you're going to have to work out on your own."

     "So you're not going to help me?" James asked gingerly, hoping he was mistaken and that there was still hope for him.

     Bronwyn found nothing wrong with saying no. She never does say no when it comes to a case, but James Potter is . . . different. She doesn't feel obliged to give him what he wants. Even if he is giving her puppy eyes at this moment in time. "It's still a no."

     "No?"

     "No."

     James exhaled sharply, "Why no?"

     It was examples like this ─ James Potter being a stubborn prick ─ that inclined Bronwyn to deny James what he wants. And right now, she was getting rather fed up. "I have a right to decline business." Bronwyn folded her arms across her chest.

     James wasn't going to drop this. She had to provide him with a solid, very valid reason as to why she wasn't going to supply him with the services she is supposedly so skilled at for him to walk away from the situation. "But why would you decline said business?" he asked.

     Bronwyn has never declined business before now because she has no reason to. Now she does have a reason to decline business because she has a right to decline whatever she wants from James Potter.

     But if she simply told him the truth ─ I dislike you massively and I don't think I have the strength to put up with you for a whole week ─ he would throw a tantrum and never accept such words. Instead, Bronwyn shrugged, "I'm booked this week."

     James replied instantly, "No, you're not."

     This boy boiled her blood. Why on planet Earth would she take him on for The Girlfriend Experience? "And you know that because?"

     "Because it's your birthday."

     Bronwyn had to make herself get past the fact that James Potter remembered her birthday faster than she would have liked. She played it off as casually as she could. "Exactly. I'm booked," she said.

     "Why wouldn't you take business on your birthday?"

     James was one thing away from pissing her off to the point she kicked him into the Black Lake. "Why would I take business on my birthday?" she asked.

Her birthday falling mid-week the following week wouldn't normally be a roadblock in her business plans because she was never that fond of her birthday. It always fell during the first couple of weeks back at school and she was always so caught up with homework and business organisation that it came and went like any normal day. But now that James Potter had got involved, her birthday was suddenly the most important day of the year.

     He didn't appreciate her dumbfound look. "Money?" he warily suggested, his shoulders caving inwards. Bronwyn scoffed, disbelieving how long she had already put up with him. James hastily added, "I dunno how this works!"

     Bronwyn took a step closer. "Then let me tell you," she said. She had finally caved in. There was no point lying to his face anymore. He just wasn't getting it. "I don't like you enough to walk to class with you let alone date you for a week."

     "But you're not actually dating me."

     "I know that," she blurted out. Bronwyn brought her hands together in a clasp in front of her with the intent of calming herself down. "Obviously. But that's the entire point? It's like I'm dating you."

     Bronwyn was run over with fear when the signs of a smirk cracked onto his face. "I think that makes you a pretty lucky lady." And rightly so.

     Ah, he boiled her blood like no other. "Oh my G-"

     "Kidding! I'm sorry!" The only pleasing outcome of this entire conversation was making James Potter look scared shitless. That's the way it's supposed to be after all.

     "Look Bronwyn, please." The puppy dog eyes had returned. "For me?"

     Her mouth tipped up in an amused grin, "You say for me as if that's going to make me want to agree to this anymore."

     Hope flashed across his eyes. He froze. "Does it?"

     "No."

     Worth the try.

     James took a step closer and risked placing his hands on her arms. He was beginning to get hopeless and Bronwyn did not like the fact that that made him touchy. "What's it going to take?"

     Now, this she had to think about. What would it take for her to date James Potter for a week? He seems rather willing to do quite a bit if it means she offers him her services. How far can we take him?

     She took a tight breath in, and his hope seemed to have returned. Rolling her eyes, she started with a list. "It must be kept a secret." James didn't seem too disconcerted by this request ─ she refused to be seen with him more than once a week and that was only when it was completely necessary. "You're not allowed to mention Quidditch when you're around me, like at all." This was going to be a little harder. "And," Bronwyn held up a finger to his face, "you shut up about my so-called "cheating" and-"

     "So you admit you were cheating then?"

     He was so close, she could kill him. "No." She felt like a mother telling her son off.

     James' hands fell to his sides, and he cocked his head questioningly. "Why else would you want me to shut up about it unless you felt threatened by that fact that I could use it over you if I wanted?"

     Why did he speak so fast? What goes on in that head of his? "You're just irritating, that is all. And you're currently further proving as to why I shouldn't take you on."

She didn't so much as make it to the end of the aisle before James pleaded out to her once more. "Bronwyn, please."

Sucking in a tight breath, gathering as much strength as she had left, Bronwyn spun on the spot. "Look James, I have a system."

"A system?"

"A way of doing things."

"I know what a system is."

"So you understand why I can't take you on." Her smile was as genuine as she could make it. She wasn't being rude right? By saying no?

James shook his head, "No, I don't."

"You're just not the kind of clientele that I," she wracked her brain for the right word to describe how she helps all of her past customers. She settled on, ". . . tackle. Sorry." Bronwyn winced and James could see the patronizing tone to it immediately.

"I'll pay extra." James didn't even consider what he was saying until it was out in the open and mulling in Bronwyn's brain.

She considered it for a moment. The prospects. The benefits. But she still wasn't loving the idea of satisfying James Potter. "Oh yeah, and what would your parents think about that?"

"They'll be delighted I'm supporting a local business." Bronwyn clearly didn't appreciate his widening smirk. His expression dropped in a quick second, and he said flatly: "I'll tell them it's for tutoring." Technically not a lie.

Bronwyn's sighing wasn't giving James the signs he needed. Was he successfully convincing her? Had he already convinced her? Was she always going to say no? He was clueless.

James must be forgiven for what he is about to do. Just know ─ he had no choice. And nothing made his stomach churn more than actually begging the girl he once shared baths with. But it was his pis aller. "Please, Bronwyn. If I leave it any longer, the nicknames will just get worse. I'm hopeless on my own."

James couldn't quite believe what he had amounted to. Begging Bronwyn Ward for help? Admitting that he is defeated at getting a date with Lily Evans without another approach? One that he didn't mastermind? What is going on? But for the sake of his future love life, it had to be done.

Maybe this was a good thing? James Potter ─ confessing his vanquish, finally maturing at seventeen.

Bronwyn chewed at her gum. "Well, at least you're self-aware."

Bronwyn isn't an indecisive person. In fact, she thinks she is very logical. But this, this is a tough decision.

James Potter is a royal pain in her ass. That fact has been proven on many occasions in the seventeen years that they have known each other. And now he needs her help, which opens up a cavern of opportunities for James to be even more annoying. Not to mention ─ she would be seen with him, in public, holding hands. And yes, sure, most of the student body is aware of The Girlfriend Experience so they'd know it's not true, but still. Has Bronwyn Ward stooped that low? James may have a few friends ─ it's actually more than a few, but she's not going to admit to his strange popularity ─ but she can't have her friends thinking she's had a change of heart. She'll have to warn them in advance.

But. But this is her business, her calling to the world if you will. If people find out she turned down a "valid" customer, it would be bad for business. This is what she does, and maybe James deserves the same opportunities as everyone else. He is a paying customer, and he needs all the help he can get. It's only for a single week. She can even limit how much physical stuff happens. She'll just teach him what he needs to know. The essentials. The bare minimum.

Then, of course, there's the very unfortunate fact that James Potter is a stubborn bitch ─ he will never ever give up.

Bronwyn's chest rose and fell with the large gulp of air she took. Their eyes locked, and (for James at least), the room went quiet. Was this going to be it? The end of it all. The wait seemed to drag on for an eternity, as Bronwyn pondered her decision, her eyes swimming in his. Finally, she said, and very disgruntled at that: "Fine."

James' face lit up, and with it, the small gap between the two bookcases sparked with life as well. But before she let him jump for joy or do anything even more embarrassing, she added: "But there are so many conditions."

He didn't mind that her finger was pointed angrily in his face, reminding him of whenever his mother would tell him off for accidentally setting the living room curtains on fire. He didn't mind that it took some serious effort to get her to agree because she said yes. Okay, she said fine and seemed very fed up too (it was most likely his constant hassling that did the trick in the end ─ still a success in his books), but no matter, because she actually agreed. And that meant he was going to get the girl.

The conditions that she was talking about could most definitely be limiting and possibly exaggerated, and maybe not applied to all of her customers, but James didn't care. Without hesitation, he replied, "Hit me."

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