Smile

"I have a question," Tom asked as he dragged Laura down the beach, despite her protests. Almost as soon as they had arrived, she had insisted that he take her home. Tom was too stubborn to give in, though. "And answer honestly." He flashed a smile, and when he saw her pretty blue eyes roll up towards the stars, he knew that he had her.

"No, Mr. Policeman, I didn't shoot the sheriff," Laura scoffed. She looked beautiful in the moonlight, but Tom couldn't let her catch him staring.

"That's not it." He could already hear Johnny's obnoxious laugh, and Ronnie's 'yo momma' jokes from all the way at the car. "I was just wondering... "

"Wondering tends to get people in trouble. You knew that, right?" Laura smiled at him, laughing quietly. "What?"

"Stop interrupting me," Tom pouted. "Why do you hate me?" They walked hand-in-hand towards the others, and he hoped that Laura wasn't paying much attention. He knew her well enough to know that if she was, she'd shove her hands in her pockets and avoid him for the rest of the night.

"Whoever said I hated you?" She whispered, looking at him. Tom sighed, and pushed his soft brown hair out of his eyes. "Besides, the anger I feel towards you stems from the fact that you used to snap my bra straps." She shrugged, and Tom laughed quietly.

"But seriously, Laura," he said.

"Why does it matter? I agreed to come to this thing," she was getting agitated. He could tell. Laura snatched her hand away. "So stop pushing all my buttons. I don't want to feel like I wasted my time."

"Fine." Tom sighed again, and when they reached the others, he really wasn't in the mood anymore. Reaching into the cooler, he grabbed a beer and cracked it open. Laura had situated herself into a lawn chair next to the fire, watching it thoughtfully. So maybe she didn't hate him, but she sure as hell acted like it. He wasn't going to blame her. She had legitimate reasons.

"Thomas!" Someone called from behind him. Tom was tackled, and with a grunt, he regained his balance, and the rambunctious teenager turned Tom 180 degrees. Ronnie Wang was the only Asian student in Asheville. In fact, his family was the only Asian family in the whole town.

"What do you want, Mulan?" Tom sighed, taking a swig from his beer. He glanced towards Laura, but found that she had moved elsewhere.

"We're taking bets on who can do the best chicken dance drunk: Johnny or Ray?"

Tom stared at Ronnie, almost agitated. "What? Really?" He sighed, and pushed his hair out of his eyes. He took another look for Laura, and spotted her over by the water. He contemplated going over there and talking to her, but then again, she probably wanted him to leave her alone. "Johnny," Tom said, throwing five dollars at Ronnie. "He's a pro."

Ronnie pocketed the money, and nodded, heading over to someone else to collect their bet. Ronnie was probably the most spastic person that Tom knew. He was a nice kid, but really annoying. Tom couldn't stand more than an hour or so with him, because he would go crazy with the exuberance.

The night dragged on unbelievably long, and Tom was tempted on multiple occasions to find Laura and get the hell out of there. But this whole thing was his idea, anyway, wasn't it? He couldn't just leave his own party. Oh, to hell with it, he thought, finishing off his beer and heading over to Laura. She was staring absentmindedly into the water, almost like she was in a trance. "Hey," he said softly.

She gazed at him, the icy blue of her eyes standing out in the fire's light. "Hi." Laura turned back to the water, and kicked it with her bare toes, splashing him a little bit. "I've always loved the water. There's something so calming about it."

Tom shrugged, but then remembered that she wasn't looking at him. "I suppose. When it's not, you know, killing thousands of people in the form of a tsunami." Laura looked at him bitterly. He'd said too much. Sighing, he reached for her elbow. "Come on. Let's go somewhere else. It's boring here."

She sighed, and nodded. "Yeah, ok." He watched Laura pull her phone out of her pocket. "I should probably get home anyway. It's like, eleven." She looked up at him for approval, he was assuming. Tom shrugged.

"Sure."

They walked back to the car quietly, leaving Johnny, Valerie, Ray and Ronnie behind to get drunk and do whatever else they did. It took forever to get home, and Laura was dead silent for the whole ride. He pulled the car into his driveway, and looked at her. If this was going to get anywhere, he had to get moving.

"So," he said, "I hope you weren't as bored as I was."

Laura shrugged. "It was alright. Not what I expected." Her voice was raspy. It wasn't something he was used to hearing.

"Is that a good thing?" Tom unbuckled his seat belt.

"I don't know, Tom." She sighed, and moved her hand to push the door open.

"Wait." He grabbed her other hand, praying she'd say yes. "Listen, I know I didn't really ask you to go to this as like, a date, but would you want to go to a movie or something with me? An actual date?"

She stared at him, and frowned. "I don't know. I'll think about it." And without another word, she got out of the car and walked across the street to her house. Tom sat in his car, absorbing what had just happened. What?! He slumped against the driver's seat, and closed his eyes. Tom was thoroughly exhausted and wanted nothing more than to crawl into his bed.

He had to win this bet with Johnny. For as long as Tom could remember, Johnny has always put him down for not being able to get exactly what he wanted. The two of them had always been like brothers, but the competition was almost a little much. Johnny did not take no for an answer. Tom supposed that was their biggest difference when it came to women. Johnny didn't have to worry about that, though, because he had Valerie. Everyone who knew the couple knew that they would stay together for a really long time, even if they did fight a lot.

Tom heaved a sigh, and got out of the car. It seemed to take forever to get inside, and as soon as he closed the front door he could hear his sister and mom fighting. Over something stupid, probably. "God, Mom, maybe if you home once in a while you'd realize how messed up our 'family' is!" Tabatha screeched, stomping out into the living room, where Tom stood innocently. "What are you looking at, you fat lard?"

Tom stared at her, unmoved by the insult. "Tabatha," his mom called from the kitchen, "don't raise your voice with me, young woman." She looked at Tom, and smiled. "Hello, Thomas. How was your day?"

"Don't even act like you care, Mom," Tabatha snapped. "It's not worth and we can see through your sh --"

"Shut up, Tab," Tom sighed, pushing past the two women to his bedroom. "Just stop fighting so I can get some fucking sleep!" Tom slammed his bedroom door, letting it shake the walls. He let out an aggravated groan and collapsed onto his bed. Just one night, he begged. One night of silence.