“Dude you’re creeping me out.” Taylor did find Ever weird, but not unsettling. Sure, he screwed up the first few days, but he learned fast. She didn’t feel in danger around him, even when he failed so hard in hiding the stares. “What, is it something on my face?”

  “How do you do that?” He asked. Someone passed by the window outside, pausing to read the menu by the door with their arms crossed, then continued on their way.

  “Do what?”

  “Change your face?”

  “My face?”

  “Your… expression.”

  “Ever, are you on the spectrum?” Her expression softened. “Because it’s OK, I’m not judging, I’ve got a cousin -”

  “There,” he exclaimed, pointing his finger right between her eyes. “You did it again.”

  “Get that shit out of my face,” she said. She opened her jaws wide, baring her teeth, closing it slowly around Ever’s finger. When she realized that he wasn’t retracting his digit, she pulled back.

  “Is everyone as good as you at changing their expressions?”

  “Well,” she said, swishing her hair back over her shoulder. “It takes practice.” A customer came in and Ever snuck in some furtive glances at his colleague as she served a cone of chocolate ice cream to a girl with pigtails.

  “People like it when you smile at them,” Ever said.

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  “In other news, the sky is blue.”

  Ever looked out the window as the late afternoon settled in. Soon, it would be twilight. He thought of pointing this out, but decided not to.

  “Are you happy when you smile?” Seeing Taylor’s exasperated expression, Ever thought for a while. “When you smile, do you become happy?”

  “I mean,” she struggled with her thoughts for a moment. “Maybe? But not always. Here, I smile at customers because of the customers.”

  “I noticed.” Taylor flashed her colleague a dark look. “I mean, why? Why do you smile because of them?”

  “I don’t know? Because I want them to come back? Because it’s impolite? Because it’s good customer service? You know what,” she crossed her arms. “Who are you to ask me? I haven’t seen you smile since you started here last week.” Now it was her turn to point at Ever, jabbing him in the chest. “Why don’t you smile?”

  “Customer.” He took the order, scooped, placed it on counter top, took payment, all while Taylor watched from the corner.

  “You didn’t smile, see?”

  “I don’t have reasons to smile.”

  Taylor looked pained. “Don’t say that, there’s always a reason to smile.” Ever regarded the woman. Was there always a reason to smile? Was there always a reason to be happy? Is this what humans were like?

  “The science says that smiling also makes you feel happy, so, what I want you to do when the next customer comes in is greet them with a smile.”

  “I’m not sure I can do that,” Ever said, slightly uneasy. “I haven’t practiced.”

  “I’m sure you can do it, I believe in you!” Taylor said, with a fist pump. The door swung in a mother with her daughter, older and taller than the pigtailed girl from earlier. “You got this,” Taylor said, stepping aside.

  “Hello, what can I get for you today?” Ever’s bared his teeth upper nose wrinkled in a snarl. The girl looked alarmed, hiding behind her mother.

  “We-We’re just looking, thanks.” Seconds later, they left.

  “Um,” Taylor said. “Let’s work on that.”