Tied Fate • ✓

17

Regina liked Thomas, she realised, which nearly shocked her out of her socks. It felt like she'd been punched in the gut with a metal gavel (yes, a gavel). Sometimes, when he smiled, his eyes could go softer than jelly, pale brown and lime-coloured. But she found his smiles only came in short bursts, flooding quickly with warmth, before escaping into the cold air just as fast as it had come. He always fell back to his resting facial expression — a small dent between his eyebrows, almost knitted, mouth small and firm, like he was thinking. It wasn't a happy look.

When he was smiling, he looked beautiful.

"You should smile more."

He swerved to look at her, caught off-guard. The dent between his brows transfigured as his brows furrowed, "What?"

Regina cocked an eyebrow, "Um. Smile?" She made the gesture with her forefinger, drawing up her mouth in a joker-like grin. "You ... I mean, you just don't smile. You know that right?"

"What do you mean, I don't smile?" He demanded. "Of course I smile. I smile when there's something worth smiling about. I don't smile all the time."

"Well, you should."

"No. I-I mean, no one does. That's not possible." His face seemed to fall, almost instantly, like he regretted his words.

Regina thought about what he'd said for a second. She didn't believe him. She'd known plenty of people in her life who smiled "all the time". If they were given the opportunity to smile, they did. It was what made them so pleasant to hang out with.

Then, Regina remembered that it wasn't so pleasant, hanging out with Thomas.

Maybe the no-smile is the problem.

She didn't know what had suddenly made her so confident, but her thoughts breezed out of her mouth, "I think you'd have more friends if you smiled more."

He scoffed, but it turned quickly into a laugh.

"And what makes you think I don't have friends?"

"I didn't say you don't have friends. I just said you don't have a lot."

He raised a brow, staring amusedly at her, "So, all of a sudden you know me, huh?"

Regina paused, thinking.

"Well, no.."

"See? You don't know if I have friends or not, or if I have a lot —"

"Well, do you?"

He paused, somewhat stunned. His high-and-mighty expression melted, replaced with unease, "Well. Not exactly —"

Regina found herself laughing. At the back of her mind she wondered if he thought her mean, or rude.

"Called it," she remarked.

To her pleasant surprise, he laughed with her.