strings // newtmas au

keep yourself warm

   Thomas felt like he was slapped in the face. "I'm sorry you what?"

   "I-I didn't know it would break you up!" Rose was almost hysterical at that point. "I-I thought it would help Thomas! You were so unhappy! Both of you! I hated posting the pictures of you and Teresa on the band instagram because it wasn't real." She wiped her face hard. "Then you were saying all that stuff about still loving him and I felt so guilty. I-I thought he'd come back here and you two could talk and it would be okay again but I did a bad thing, such a bad thing and I'm so so sorry Thomas."

    Thomas was so angry he didn't even know how to feel. "How?" He muttered through gritted teeth. "How did you even get it?"

    "Addison was there. She sent me the video asking if that was you. I've had it ever since."

    Thomas gripped the steering wheel hard enough that his knuckles turned white. "Well good job I guess. You got us together and broke us up."

    Rose was still crying, but she had her hand over her mouth to stifle the noises. "Do you hate me?"

    Thomas closed his eyes and sighed. "No, but I'd really really like it if you got out of my car."

    Rose got out without another word. Thomas felt the tears in his eyes again. He pulled out of the driveway quickly, driving until he got to a quiet side street. He pulled over there, putting the car into park and just staring blankly at the street.

    Deciding to make himself feel worse than he already did he pulled out his phone and plugged it into his aux cord. He typed WICKED into spotify and saw they did in fact post a new cover song. It was The Way It Was by The Killers.

    Thomas tapped on it and turned up the radio, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the seat.

    The guitar started playing through the speakers, the fact that he knew it was Newt playing it made it hurt more. The lyrics started next, it was Teresa singing it no doubt.

    "I drove throught the desert that night, I carried the weight of our last fight, Elvis singing 'don't be cruel' and I wonder if you feel it too, it's like we're going under. Somewhere outside the lonely Esmeralda county line, the question of my heart came to my mind..."

    Thomas was crying at this point. He did a lot of that these days, he guessed heartbreak did that to you.

    "...if I go on with you, by my side, can it be the way it was when we met, did you forget all about those golden nights?"

    Thomas covered his eyes with his hands. He knew exactly why Newt covered this song. It was definitely his idea. The lyrics hit too close to home for it not to be. I didn't forget Thomas thought, I didn't forget about the way it used to be Newt.

    "...maybe a thief stole your heart or maybe we just drifted apart I remember driving in my daddy's car to the airfield blanket on the hood backs against the windshield back then this thing was running on momentum love and trust that paradise is buried in the dust..."

    Thomas itched to text Newt as the chorus played through again. Fuck did he miss him. Newt would have known what to do about Rosie, Newt would hug him and tell him it was okay. Thomas punched the steering wheel hard, making the horn go off.

    "...and all of our plans have fallen through, sometimes a dream, it don't come true."

    Thomas wiped the hot tears from his cheeks. It was too much all of it. Newt, then his sister. At least the song proved that Newt was going through the same thing. Maybe they weren't talking, but it gave him comfort in the sense that he knew that he wasn't the only one feeling this way.