Assumption // Regulus Black

30

Thalia

I wouldn't have been mad if I had kissed him.

But he kissed me.

And then when he pulled away, he looked as though he had wanted to punch a wall.

That made me angry. If he didn't want to kiss me, fine, don't kiss me then. But he did. And it was fucking with my emotions. 

After Regulus had left me standing against the wall in the common room, I wanted to punch a wall.

I didn't. 

I'd probably break my hand to be honest. 

Instead, I bottled it up and walked upstairs, doing my best to forget about it. But I couldn't forget about it. I couldn't forget the look on his face when he pulled away. I couldn't forget the fact that he couldn't even bring himself to look at me. How he just acted like it didn't happen.

This was what I was afraid of: he didn't care. 

Regulus

I made the tough decision to phase Thalia Lark out of my life. It would be best for the both of us.Even if I was keeping her safe, it came at the expense of her being mad at me. For good reason, but that's beside the point. It would be better to just stay out of each other's lives altogether. 

It would hurt, but it was necessary. 

Step one of separating our lives would start by acting like everything was ok. That meant showing up to class and  being able to stay in the same room as one another. Step one started at breakfast the next day. I arrived to the scene early and sat down next to Severus. I tried not to appear anxious or curious as to whether or not Thalia would show.

She did.

She walked in with Anna. We locked eyes for a brief moment, though I averted my gaze instantly. She didn't.

It was as though I could feel her piercing stare rip through my body. Of course she was angry. I'm not sure why I expected anything less from her. I ignored it to the best of my ability, making small talk with Snape and eating my breakfast. 

I wanted to glance over at her. Offer a measly apology. But what would I possibly say? 

Hey Lark, sorry I kissed you in the common room. Unfortunately I don't think we can ever speak to each other again because there's a good chance it could result in one (or both) of our deaths. Nice knowing you. 

Something tells me that wouldn't work too well. 

Thalia

The stupid fucking jerk couldn't even bring himself to look at me. And the worst part was he was still so damn attractive. 

I stabbed my waffles aggressively, the metal on ceramic making a clang.

"What's wrong?" Anna raised her eyebrows.

"Nothing," I huffed, stabbing my breakfast again.

"Those poor waffles beg to differ," she smirked.

"I'm fucking exhausted," I lied, "That paper Slughorn had us do took forever."

Anna still looked somewhat skeptical, but every ounce of emotion left her face when Liam entered the Great Hall with Augie.

Her cheeks flushed, and she turned to her food.

"What's wrong?" I directed the question back to her with a slight smirk and a mocking tone.

"Shut up," she muttered. 

"Morning," Augie yawned, sitting down across from us.

"Morning," Anna said nonchalantly. She was currently very fascinated with her eggs. Liam also seemed to be focused on the food in front of him. He didn't crack a joke, and merely began serving himself, hesitantly glancing at Anna every so often. Both of them had pink cheeks and were so awkward about the situation that it made me want to laugh.  

"How'd you sleep?" I asked Augie who smirked. The two of us kept looking at our two blushing friends.

"Excellent, and you?" Augie asked. 

"Great," I smirked. My expression fell when I actually recalled my night, however. 

Augie and I continued to joke around while Liam and Anna awkwardly joined in at various points in the conversation. But both of them were pretty quiet for the most part. 

We set off towards potions after breakfast. When I wasn't smirking at Anna and Liam, I was sending glares in Regulus's direction. I doubted he cared, but at least it made me feel slightly better.

Hazel and I sat down next to one another. I glared at the back of Regulus's head. I wanted him to feel bad. 

Slughorn began today's lesson. I tuned him out. It was in times like these where I wished I could communicate with people telepathically. Send Regulus a few nice "Fuck you's." Alas, our magic doesn't expand quite that far. 

I observed him take notes. Watched him act unbothered.

He certainly hadn't been unbothered last night.

The kiss had been good. As in very good. Like without a doubt the best kiss I'd ever had. That was quite possibly the worst part. Because I liked kissing him. I really liked kissing him. And I suppose what confused me was that he seemed to like it to. The way he had acted last night- I knew he had liked it too. 

But yet here Regulus was, sitting only a few seats away from me with his back turned.

So fucking confusing. 

"Tals," Hazel's voice brought my back o reality. 

I looked down at my notes to see a nice hole formed in the parchment from digging my quill into it. There was a pool of ink ruining yesterday's notes.

"Shit," I muttered and sopped up the ink to the best of my ability. Hazel had a curious look on her face, but didn't push.

Regulus

The night was the hardest part.

The day was fine. But the night I was alone with my thoughts.

I didn't used to be alone. I missed my nights with Thalia. Fuck, I even missed her assumptions, or at least I would endure them if it meant spending time with her.

And I felt...bad. I felt bad. I felt awful, actually. Because when I was alone with my thoughts, I thought about Thalia. How she must have felt. She had to have felt so used. That made me feel awful.

I groaned and forced my eyes closed. 

C'mon Regulus, just forget about it.

But I couldn't forget about it. I couldn't fight the pain in my gut. I knew what I did was wrong. And my phasing out plan didn't seem to help it either. No matter how much I tried to force myself to fall asleep, I couldn't. 

This was what I was afraid of: I cared.

A/N: Another short one for ya