𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 (𝐢𝐢𝐢) | ✔

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 𝒙𝒊𝒊. 𝐥𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞
━━ 𝒍𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉

     Edmund and Reagan sat in the latter's sitting room, trying to finish the presentation they were to deliver in a couple of days. They had seen each other virtually every day since the beginning of the school year and they had decided to pair with each other, because they knew that they worked well as a team.

     Instead of working, however, Reagan caught herself concentrated on the boy's writing, analysing how round his letters were and how straight he was able to write without any guideline.

     He had already written three pages, getting every single comma right and knowing exactly how to say. She could not remember for the life of her how fate and free will were treated in the novel. Thomas looked at her from the couch, his eyebrows furrowed. She had been like that for some days now, ever since she came from the sleepover, but he could not figure out why, she had not told him.

     Reagan rubbed her eyes, tired, and excused herself. She got up from the table under the attentive eyes of the two boys, who looked at each other. Thomas shook his head, telling Edmund that he had no idea what happened to the girl. Edmund, however, got up and followed her, worried about the girl he had known for so long.

     "Hey, what is wrong?" Edmund whispered, closing the door behind him. Reagan was leaning on the counter of the kitchen, a glass of water in front of her, "and don't even try to tell me that you are okay because I know you are not."

     "I'm just tired, I have been having some hard days, that's all," she smiled, not showing her teeth. Edmund, nonetheless, looked at her with a raised brow.

     "I know you well enough to know that, if you don't show your teeth while you smile, you're not really smiling."

    Reagan broke down there and then. The boy, worried that he had said something wrong, rushed to apologise and hug the girl, who hugged him back. She gripped his tan shirt, not even caring about wrinkling it. Neither did Edmund, to be honest.

     He stroke her back, letting his hand travel up and down, trying to calm her. After some minutes, she broke the hug and looked at him. Edmund's eyes travelled to her swollen lips, due to her biting them over and over again, something she did quite often when she was nervous. He let his thumb caress her lower lip, making Reagan's breath twitch. She could have sworn that she was about to choke.

     "Reagan..." Edmund whispered, not taking his eyes from her lips. Her eyes glistened because of the tears and her cheeks were wet. Her hands began to sweat as she looked at his lips, at how they moved while he pronounced her name.

     "Ed, I..." she whispered back, "no."

     The spell broke and everything went back to normal. They were back in the kitchen with a presentation to finish. And Reagan had a boyfriend worrying about her. If she could, however, she would have stayed like that for hours on end, but she could not.

     Edmund quickly removed his hand from her lips and put it in her leg, trying to discern whether she was mad or not. Little did he know that Reagan had a thousand feelings at once, but anger was not one of them, not in the slightest. She put her hand on top of his and gave him a soft smile, telling him that everything was alright, that she was sorry. 

     "Come on, let's finish that presentation," the boy whispered, knowing full well that he did not want to move from where he was. Reagan nodded but it took her some seconds to remove her hand from where it was.