𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦, thomas (tmr)

Chapter Twenty Six

And so she didn't die. She didn't get Stung. She certainly didn't get to risk death to the gross claws of a Griever in an attempt to play hero and save Thomas.

For the latter, the opposite happened.

Thomas' arms found her waist, and shoved her backwards into the ground and behind the safety of Frypan's food stall. He landed in a heap right beside her, having used all of his body weight to push her out of the path of the Griever, and he was staying perfectly still to avoid luring the Griever towards them.

Slightly dazed from it all, she did the same, waiting with bated breath to hear the Griever retreating away from them and presumably off across the Glade to terrorise some other people. When she was sure they were okay, Clara picked herself up from the floor and dusted herself down. She watched in awe as Thomas did the same, replaying the events that just unfolded.

"You saved my life." She said, breathlessly.

Thomas was panting for breath, shrugging as though the action wasn't a big deal. She felt a surge of emotions then; gratefulness mixed with the hidden feelings she was harbouring towards the boy. And at that moment, it all became too much.

Her heart was thumping in her throat and her eyes flickered down to his lips suggestively. This was an action that didn't go unnoticed by the boy, who felt his chest tightening drastically then.

"Are you gonna kiss me?" He blurted out the question, without really thinking about it.

Taken aback by his forwardness, the girl froze for a moment. But she did want to kiss him. So Clara moved the two feet separating her from Thomas, and tugged him towards her by her hands on his cheeks. 

She kissed him.

And it wasn't a soft, uncertain, tentative kiss. It was a fiery, passionate, 'we could've just died' kiss.

Clara could feel her heart in her throat as her lips pressed against Thomas' for mere seconds. If her hands weren't so tightly on his face, they'd be shaking. And then she became aware of a single fact: he wasn't kissing back.

Thomas's heart was pounding out of his chest, and his hands were shaking. And just as he finally kissed back - only after a few seconds, which felt like much longer to an anxious Clara - he did so very tentatively; so much so that she barely noticed his reaction. 

So she pulled away.

I am so stupid, was a thought shared by them both. Clara's cheeks were burning up then, and she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes.

Thomas didn't say he wanted to kiss me.

"I- I'm so sorry, Thomas." She practically apologised to the ground, and in a single second, she became reminded of everything around them.

They didn't have time to talk about what just happened.

"Clara-"

"-We need to move."

"Clara wait, I-"

"-We need to move, Thomas!"

Clara went first, beginning to race towards the Med-jack hut, and Thomas was forced to forget about the kiss and follow behind her. As they reached the wooden shack, they found Clint and Jeff supporting a slightly drowsy Alby between them.

"What's going on?" Jeff asked, his eyes fearful.

Clara's stomach dropped as she realised her fellow Med-jacks didn't have a clue as to what was going on. She almost didn't want to tell them - because of how awful it was.