Chapter 4
Regulus was always good at staying silent and keeping things hidden. (Something that his fool of a brother could never get.) Even with the longing to know, which would usually complicate things. So even if he was amused (and weirdly flattered) by James’ little Regulus-related-writing-prompt, he still couldn’t go further than typing that phone number in his contacts. He didn’t even put a proper name on it. He just wrote “Prick” and went on with it. (With that, he needed to actually name Barty “Barty”, because between the two, James turned out to be a bigger prick, even if Regulus would never tell Barty that.)
He thought about texting James. Really. The problem was with the content of the message. What would he say? That he liked the gesture? That’s far too embarrassing. To tell James that he’s annoying? Well that’s just childish. (Or is it?) It was far too complicated for Regulus to decide, so he just went along with the good old silence. And really, who does James think he is? Does he think he can just storm in there, laugh at Regulus, then leave and solve all of that by typing a few letters in a computer? No. No no no. Regulus is not about to be so foolish. He will just have to forget this ever happened and only write about it in his diary or something… again. Regulus hates to admit it, but he knows that Dorcas is very much aware of this diary, but also actively pretends to be clueless, not only for Regulus’ dignity, but also for her own safety. In a way Regulus feels grateful, because if Evan and Barty knew, they would not let him hear the end of it.
And so after a few heated diary vs. Regulus writing sessions, and a few more weeks, during which the memories of the encounter seemed to start fading, he finds himself in a bar with his friends. Dorcas is sitting with her one leg up, like she always does, her hair flowing down her shoulders on Pandora, who is lying on her lap, twisting her own hair strand around her finger. She always does that when relaxed and unfocused. Evan and Barty are… well… Evan and Barty. Regulus always seems to wonder how two people can be so clueless, but yet here they are. Those two are always tangled-up, arms all over each other, intertwined like tree branches. Barty is always playing with Evan’s curls, and Evan never misses the chance to draw on Barty’s arms with that little pen he always seems to carry around. Sometimes Regulus wishes they would just fall onto each other and kiss, just so everyone can stop pretending they aren’t totally head-over-heels for each other. Hell, he has even thought of just pushing one onto the other at some point, but Pandora didn’t let him, saying that they needed to figure this out on their own. (Which was true, but Regulus would have still rather been entertained by that rather amusing imaginary situation.)
“So did you ever text him?” asked Pandora, suddenly rising from Dorcas’ lap.
“Of course he didn’t. He was too scared to do so,” Dorcas replied. Which earned Regulus' signature eye roll, even though that statement was partially true.
“He didn’t text him, because our little Reggie is in love,” - sang Barty.
“Shut up, Bartemius.”
”Oh no, Barty, he’s on full name terms,” gasped Evan, raising his eyes at Barty, who was grinning with all of his teeth like a kid who just got free candy.
“I’m quivering in my seat, Reggie, I really am,” replied Barty, while making various overly dramatic scared expressions.
Regulus was really about to make that imaginary situation of pushing them into one another very real, but then he saw Dorcas just raise her eyebrows in is it worth it?, and Regulus couldn’t do anything but roll his eyes and give up. At least for now.
“So did you, Regulus?” Pandora continued curiously, placing her hands on the table in front of him. She always made an effort to use his full name, despite the others actively giving him those silly nicknames. At first he tried to fight them, but later on he just had to give up. Dorcas is sometimes even funny with it, but Evan and Barty are always just insufferable. Regulus sometimes wonders how the hell they all ended up together and never finds an answer.
“Well, no I didn’t,” he finally answered. “I decided that he was just a huge prick.”
“A prick that you love,” sang Barty again.
“Can someone please hit him?” hissed Regulus.
“With pleasure,” an answer came from Dorcas, and in a few moments Barty was faced with the problem of a pillow flying right into his face.
“But seriously though, why didn’t you?” now asks Dorcas, glaring at Evan, who was now proudly covering Barty’s mouth with the palm of his hand.
“Well, he was just an arrogant prick, so there isn’t really much to say to that,” Regulus replied, which… was partially true anyway.
“Are you this mean to all attractive men?” someone asked behind him, and much to his disappointment he knew exactly who that voice belonged to. He only knew of one person, who always sounded like they were smiling, no matter if you see them or not. And James Bloody Potter was the head of that department. This was a surprise, that’s for sure, but Regulus wasn’t about to get all distracted and foolish over this little unexpected plot-twist of the night. He was focused, steady and totally indifferent.
“I don’t know. Am I?” He turned to face James and- Okay. Maybe he was less focused and not as steady but still totally indifferent. James was even more attractive than he was the first time. Regulus didn’t know if it was the lights or the drinks he had, but James was glowing. Well the hair was still all over the place, and his eyes, weirdly, even bigger than last time, but he was there, in flesh and blood, and all of his foolishly charming glory.
James’ lips suddenly parted, revealing a shiny mischievous smile. “Are you saying I’m attractive?”
“No, I’m saying I’m mean.”
“Well, I’ll be sure to take that as a compliment.”
Regulus couldn’t help but roll his eyes again. This appearance definitely surprised him, however Regulus wasn’t about to get all soft.
“Does this pointless flirting ever work for you?” asked Regulus mockingly.
“I don’t know, is it working?” asks James, sheepishly smiling down at Regulus.
“Shut up.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, James, really?” exclaimed a voice. It belonged to a woman quickly walking to the table. She had fiery red hair and, at least currently, a very judgmental pair of eyebrows.
“James, what are you-“ she turned her piercing hazel eyes to Regulus, “Oh.”
There was a pause, filled with Barty’s mischievous laughter of course, where everyone was just eyeing each other.
“You know, he really is gorgeous,” she whispered loudly to James.
“Yeah, well what did I tell you,” he replied, looking down as if embarrassed.
Regulus was very confused to say the least. James appears, then some girl comes out of nowhere and now they are talking about how he looks? In front of him? Well, at least the audacity definitely amuses him.
“Pardon?” Regulus raised his eyebrows in annoyance.
“Well, James was just- he was, um…,” the redhead stuttered.
“Yeah, what was James doing, exactly?” - asks Dorcas behind Regulus. He could hear the smirk that wrapped around her words. She knew exactly what James was doing and who James was because no matter how secretive Regulus was, he was also a huge sucker for drama, no matter if he told it himself or listened to it. And sometimes that results in your friends knowing who this mysterious yet arrogant prick, who randomly appeared in the bookstore, was.
The redhead blinked slowly, looking right at Dorcas, and after a moment of them just staring at each other, she turned to the crazy-haired guy on her left.
“James?” she asked slowly.
He raised his head to look around, just to see all six pairs of eyes staring at him.
“Well, I was just seeing,” he tried to awkwardly lean on the wall to his left, “how Regulus here was doing,” he finished with a wink.
Regulus raised his eyebrows and definitely fought the corners of his mouth rising as well. If he could roll his eyes at himself now, he would.
“You’re drunk,” stated the fiery haired girl.
“He’s drunk,” she said, scrunching her nose, as if apologizing to all of them.
“You’re drunk,” she repeated, pointing her finger at James, who now looked a little scared and reminded Regulus too much of a deer in the headlights.
“Come on, James, let’s go,” she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him further away from the table. Then she turned her head to face them all through James’ shoulder.
“I’m Lily, by the way,” she smiled.
“Hi, Lily!” Evan, Barty and Pandora greeted in unison. Dorcas, on the contrary, just waved, with her eyebrows still up. They heard Lily laugh somewhere in the crowd and then they were gone.
There was a pause.
Quite a long one.
Probably too long, even for Regulus’ liking.
“Well he really was attractive, Regulus,” first spoke Pandora with that genuine curiosity that her voice always seems to carry.
“He was so attractive that Regulus is now in love-,”
“Shut up, Barty,” cut all of them.
Barty pretended to be mad for a minute, but he got bored of it quickly, however Regulus was glad to be able to replay this conversation in his head once more.
The tension is eased by Evan.
“Who’s up for a smoke?”
All of them immediately rise.