do you feel it like i do?
There's things I wanna say to you, but I'll just let you live
Like if you hold me without hurting me
You'll be the first who ever did
(CINNAMON GIRL - LANA DEL REY)
The wooden door of Flourish and Blotts opened, barely missing the pile of books placed near it to alert the current salesman of customers. The bell above the door had stopped working four months prior, and Madam Pince had yet to get it fixed, so this was the temporary solution Regulus had come up with.
It was far too easy for him to slip into a rhythm of shelving books and nodding along to the songs on the speakers and forget the outside world, including customers, existed.
A pair of heavy brown boots shook the dust on the creaky wooden floor awake. The newest customer of Flourish and Blotts Bookshoppe had yet to be noticed by Regulus, who was sitting behind the decaying counter on a stool that was leaning far too left to be stable.
Regulus was tapping his pen to his bottom lip in time with the beat of Cinnamon Girl, chewing on the cap, as he annotated his copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland . His emerald green jumper sleeve fell over his hands, earning a frown and a glare.
The heavy footsteps of the stranger as they browsed the crowded bookshelves gained Regulus' notice. However, he paid little attention to them, instead choosing to return to his book as Lana Del Rey’s soft, melodic voice played through the store.
The sound of the music and the occasional rustle of a page, from both Regulus and the stranger, were the only sounds to be heard.
Sometime later, after a multitude of minutes, or maybe seconds or hours, had passed, Regulus closed his book shut with a snap, startling himself.
A gust came from the front door as it slammed back and forth, open and close, at the command of the wind, and a creepy, eerie feeling settled over the bookshoppe. It was only then that Regulus got a good look at the stranger, the only customer in Flourish and Blotts on this lonely, windy, Tuesday afternoon.
They had light brown hair, wavy at some parts, curly like Regulus’, too. It fell over their eyes as they settled comfortably into one of the incredibly old, overstuffed armchairs in the distant corner of the shoppe.
Regulus couldn’t tell their eye colour from across the room, but their skin was a fair shade of white, though some parts were darker as if the strangers had recently been sitting in the sun for too long.
The part of the stranger, the feature that captivated Regulus the most, though, were their lips. Pink in colour, not bright, not pale, but a perfect shade like roses just bloomed. The bottom one was plumper in size, just the perfect size for– THUMP .
Regulus was shaken out of his daydream and hurled into a nightmare, as the stranger he was just thinking about was standing on the other side of the counter, staring at Regulus as the book they wanted to purchase sat on the divide between them.
Regulus stared back in shock, hoping his expression hadn’t been anything embarrassing when his brain was evidently taking a vacation. He was appeased by the fact he could now see the stranger's eyes.
They were blue, but they weren’t just blue. They were ocean strong, swimming with warm sun-lit currents. They were the blue of every dancing sky, infinite hues illuminated by newborn light, they were– “Ahem,”
The stranger cleared their throat, shocking Regulus once again, out of his imagination. They had clearly seen Regulus staring at them if the smug smirk on their face was any indication.
Ah, the smirk. Regulus was captivated, he had never seen something as beautiful as that mouth, those lips.
And those hands that had browsed the bookshelves minutes before, lightly tapping the covers before selecting one, those fingers that had held the delicate pages, turning them leisurely, those hands that were gesturing to the book sitting between them pointedly.
Yes, the book, the reason the stranger had come into the shoppe.
“Ah, right, sorry,” Regulus mumbled sheepishly as he picked up a new copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the same novel Regulus had been reading just moments prior.
“Just not really…” Regulus trailed off, gesturing to the space between them anxiously. He didn’t know why he felt the need to explain, or what he was explaining, really, so he didn’t continue.
The stranger laughed lightly, a beautiful sound Regulus wanted to hear again, a sound he wanted to bottle up, that he couldn’t listen to when he was sad. He wanted to listen to it forever, the delightful melody. Regulus shrunk under the stranger's gaze, he could feel their eyes on him as they paid.
Regulus looked up only to hand them their purchase, and for a second he hoped their fingers would brush, they might touch, like a summertime romance in one of the books Pandora always had lying around her flat.
Obviously, no such thing happened, but as the stranger took the bag holding Alice's Adventures in Wonderland from Regulus, a smile formed on their face, a lovely sight to behold. Regulus felt himself smiling back nervously, this stranger’s presence was alluring, comforting.
He had known this person for a total of 54 minutes, yes, he kept count, and even though most of which was spent not noticing the other, he couldn’t explain why he suddenly felt drawn to this stranger.
Regulus didn’t have much more time to explore his feelings, as the silence between the pair grew awkward, and the stranger broke their long eye contact. They opened their mouth, but no sound came out, no words were formed, and their lips snapped shut just as quickly as they had opened.
The stranger walked backwards, towards the door, and the eye contact resumed, though it was just as awkward as the first time. Regulus felt his curls slip into his eyes, and at the same moment the stranger's gaze drifted down to his chest.
Regulus felt nervous, self-conscious, and he deeply, desperately regretted wearing his Transgender pin next to his nametag which read, ‘Regulus, He/they’.
His fears dissipated quickly, though, as the stranger smiled a second time, bringing Regulus’ heart to a stop, it was a sight to behold, the stranger's smile.
It was a small grin, barely noticeable unless you were looking for it, but Regulus was looking, and he saw it.
That was the last Regulus thought he would see of the stranger, and as the door slammed shut, and the stranger walked out into the sticky summer air, Regulus couldn’t help feeling a sense of cold wash over him, like all the warmth from the room was sucked away in the blink of an eye.