You Just Make Me Smile

“So, since our movie sucked, why don’t we do something to make up for our wasted time.” Rina suggested as they were leaving the movie theater.

Caisey, to say the least, was flabbergasted. He’d thought that randomly getting to see a movie with a beautiful stranger was all the magic that would happen today. Not that the beautiful stranger would continue to take an interest in him and would even suggest another location. “Uh, what do you have in mind?” He asked.

Rina chuckled, “You say ‘uh’ a lot.”

“Yeah, Case, you do say ‘uh’ a lot. Like, ‘Uh, let me pretend to go home because I don’t wanna third wheel.’ You slick jerk. What I’d like to know is: Uh, where in the hell did this really hot girl come from???” Don asked through gritted teeth and glaring eyes.

Caisey kicked blindly behind him, hoping to catch one of Don’s shins. He missed, but Lisa had him covered. She gave her boyfriend a good jab in the side with her elbow. “She is gorgeous, but you don’t have to say it!” Lisa hissed.

“I like that.” Rina was saying.

Caisey returned his attention to her. “What?”

She was staring up at him, smiling. “‘Case.’ Can I also call you Case?”

Oh—m'god she's so pretty, Caisey thought, his heart skipping so many beats he thought he could really die. Since he was busy choking on air, it was Don who spoke up first.

Rather, he launched himself forward to pull Caisey back by the shoulders, and screamed, “Caaaase! She said Case, man!!! Oh. My— Man, she's so one-hundred-fifty-percent totally freaking into you—”

“Dude," Caisey yelled, rapidly recovered by Don's embarrassing idiocy, "shut. UP!”

When he looked forward at Rina, his cheeks heavily tinted pink, he was relieved to see her looking comfortable, glancing back at him, and laughing along with Lisa.

That was the beginning of an enchanting six months for Caisey. Life with Rina was a life he had never known before, but a life he had always wished for. Every little thing, when done with her, seemed different and so easy.

He studied and crushed his coursework like never before, doing whatever he could to maximize the time he could spend with Rina. He no longer turned down group dates or small get-togethers because he now had Rina with him all the time. Except now, every guy ever, and even some girls, had eyes all over her, and every time without fail, Rina seemed to physically glow brighter.

At times, Caisey imagined if he was seeing things before always writing it off as his own jealousy. I need to get a grip. We’re not even dating! He’d think.

Are we?

Then Rina would turn her gleaming smile on him despite the attention she received from those around her, and Caisey would think that whether they were dating or not didn’t matter. He’d feel his own lips smiling back and, in his mind, he’d think, Oh yeah. It’s Rina and me.

Every little thing, when done with her, seemed special.

A fun day at the park turned into a festival of music, food, games, and lights with Rina around. It had happened more than once. Caisey figured he needed to keep up with the local news or something, to know when special events were coming into town.

Eating sweet treats with Rina turned into chef’s specials, expensive taste testing, and miniature buffets. They always seemed to luck out and catch the best deals of the day or the friendliest chefs in town. Lisa had asked Caisey once if he’d donated one of his organs to a homeless child or something, “Because your luck recently has been unreal! Good karma is at work here.” She said.

Caisey laughed at the ‘good karma’ statement. He knew he wasn’t someone remarkable and hadn’t done anything remarkable either, so that was an instant out. But he couldn’t deny that his life had gotten so much better the moment Rina had stepped in.

He often noticed himself smiling at her but never with anything to say when she asked him why. He honestly didn’t know why. There was never a reason to smile around Rina. He just did.

You just make me smile, would have been his most simple answer if he’d ever dared to say it.

Nights at the karaoke turned into enchanting lullabies of songs that stuck with Caisey all day. Rina seemed to know all of his favorite songs and sang each one with a melodic grace that Caisey thought no human could have. Sometimes, he’d sing with her.

The first time, she was dumbstruck and had told him, “You have the voice of an angel.”

Though Caisey had disagreed, she insisted on singing duets with him often, and Caisey had to admit; the experience was always surreal. He had never gotten used to the way their voices melted together, and how the atmosphere itself seemed to change around them. The times Lisa and Don were with them, they fell asleep on the cold couch in the private karaoke room near the end of the night. It never failed. Afterwards, the songs they sang continued to hum in Caisey's mind until he got home.

Like a lullaby, they would put him right to sleep.

And then the end of the six months came like a meteor, crashing into Caisey’s state of comfort in a split second. He wasn’t sure if he had heard Rina correctly because his ears were ringing. His heart was pounding.

“What do you mean, you’re leaving?” He asked.

They were sitting on his bed in his apartment afforded by the university. The joysticks they had been using to play video games were discarded between them and Rina had Caisey’s hands in her own. She looked deep into his eyes the way she always did, the way that made him feel like she could see his very soul, and said, “I mean just that. I’m leaving.”

Then she smiled. 

She smiled at Caisey like leaving him was no big deal. Like the words, ‘I’m probably never coming back,’ could bounce off him like he was a slab of taffy and he’d be okay.

“That’s not—But why?” Caisey was crushed. He felt the prickle of tears beginning to burn his eyes but with all his might, he blinked them away. Not today, damnit! He thought and waited for Rina’s answer.

“Mmmm,” she hummed in a light tone, “I’m not sure I can say now, but you’ll see!” She said.

Dumbfounded, Caisey pulled one of his hands away to run it through his hair. “I’ll see?”

“Yup!” Rina was clearly so unbothered by all this that Caisey wondered what kind of fool that made him. And what that made the last six months. Meaningless? Were the two of them not close? 

Were they not something... special?

“It’s time for me to go now,” Rina said and stood up before Caisey could process anything more.

“Whoa, what? Right now??” He asked.

“Right now.” Rina confirmed, bouncing up and down on the tips of her feet. Caisey realized that she seemed pretty excited about this.

Despite finding her antics cute, he frowned, and spent a couple of difficult seconds chiding himself, reeling himself in. She must have her reasons. He tried convincing himself. Don't be lame. Be cool about this. Be cool. “I guess this is goodbye?” He said, but it was breathless and came out as almost a whisper. 

He could lie to himself all he wanted, but he knew that his soul was more than crushed. His life was just beginning to feel like something.

“Sure it is. For now, anyway!” Caisey's heart took a chance on the words 'for now.' Rina danced away from him and sang a little about exciting preparations that needed to be made as she reached his bedroom door. Caisey made a move to follow but stopped as she thrust a palm upward. “I can go on my own.”

“Oh, uh, okay…”

Rina opened the bedroom door and twirled against it as she held the doorknob. Then suddenly, she stopped and looked at Caisey with a deadly look in her eyes. “One more thing. The only girl I like is Lisa. Understand?”

Caisey felt something electrifying run through him, and he shivered involuntarily. He didn’t know what that was about, but nevertheless, he replied, “Y-Yeah. Okay. Understood.”

Seemingly satisfied, Rina flashed a brilliant smile, hummed and twirled a little, and was out the door.

For some time after that, Caisey was so confused and bummed out that he simply sat on his bed and replayed the wacky event in his head. As his bedroom started getting so dark that he needed to turn on a light to see, he realized he’d been sitting doing nothing for too long.

He saved the game progress, turned off his game console and TV, and wrapped the chords and returned the controllers to their box. All the while, he had Rina on his mind.

He thought of her cute stature, her blue eyes, and her brilliant smile. He thought of the way she made him feel. How he laughed and relaxed around her. How he tried things outside of his comfort zone and behaved less like a zombie when things got hard. How, overall, he felt better about himself when she was around.

By the time Caisey flopped into bed that night, he felt properly depressed, like his world had sent in its resignation letter and had fiercely ended. Getting comfortable was difficult while falling asleep was impossible.

But then, a duet of his own and Rina’s voices came into his mind, and his body relaxed. The moment was serene, as it always was, and behind his eyelids his “sight” was filled with soft, light and dark orbs of blue and slow, pulsing waves that matched his heartbeat.

In an instant, and he fell into a deep sleep with a smile on his face.