You quickly rush out the door, trying to get out of there as quick as possible. You couldn't take one more second. Not one more second in that stuffy studio with those sweaty boys and Kaya. Stupid. Freaking. Kaya.
"Ugh!" You groan as you shove open the exit door. Eight O' clock and your FINALLY free.
Kayas words sing in your head. "You and Thomas seem to have been getting along well." "You'll never be with Thomas. You two are too different. He's someone and you're no one. Might as well go ahead and face it."
You wished you could punch her in the face. You are storming off to your car when you finally break. You choke out a sob. She's so right. No one ever has been more right than her. There is no way Thomas likes you. It's not that he doesn't like you that way that bothers you - it's that Kaya wants him. It's that Kaya will eventually have him. After this you'll continue to be an extra and they'll both be big famous actors.
You lean against the brick wall outside. You shoulders shudder. You're glad you came out the back way. You wrap your sweater around you firmly, feeling the biting night air. And you shamelessly cry.
You accept that you will never get Tom out of your head. You don't accept that you'll see him continue to live life without you.
Suddenly off to your left you hear the back door open, "Hey, Iris! We never got to finish-"
Tom stops in his tracks. He's seen you crying. No. You quickly turn and walk at top speed towards your Volkswagen.
"Iris, wait!" You hear him call. You try your best to walk even faster without tripping but then you hear Thomas start jogging and you know he'll catch up to you eventually. You start to pass an ally way.
That's when someone knocks into you. And it's not Thomas.
Your purse WAS tightly wrapped on your shoulder, but now it's in your hand and a masked mans hand. And he's trying to yank it away from you but somehow you manage to magically hold onto it.
All your anger, all your rage comes out in one thrash. You punch the man as hard as possible in the face. And hit him squarely in the nose.
CRACK. *groan* Blood. Screaming.
And then the man runs away and Thomas stands there stunned.
We're both breathing heavily. You don't even understand what happened in the last twenty-four hours. You just know that you've had enough and you are tired and you want to understand somethingsomething you feel for once.
You don't even realize how it happened but suddenly you're on your knees and your face is in your hands and you can't see the stars anymore you just see cracks of light from inbetween your fingers. Your face feels wet and hot and you feel warm strong arms around you.
"Shhhh. It's okay sweetheart. It's fine. You're okay. I'm here and I'm going to take care of you."
You let yourself melt into him. You cry until there are no more tears left to cry. You feel dry inside. Your heart feels dry your brain feels dry, your throat feels dry.
Finally you stop crying. And he hasn't let you go for one second. And you appreciate your friend more than ever right now. You sniffle and your muscles relax and he takes that as a sign that he can pull away.
One of his hands is placed on your shoulder, the other on your cheek so that his thumb wipes away the last few tears.
You take a shakey breath, "Tom...." Your voice sounds scratchy.
"Hey," he looks you in the eyes, "What happened?"
You shake your head and chuckle darkly, "Life." You say it simply. Nothing could be more clear. Life happened all the time when things got good.. Life gave and took dreams away because it could.
Thomas shakes his head, his eyes are caring and concerned and....dare you say it? Loving.
"Just a bad day. Stressful."
He frowns and his eyebrows furrow and you smile softly because you can't help but think how adarable he is when he looks confused, "You seemed fine this morning when you and I were playing the game. And at lunch and you only started acting weird after you talked to Kaya and...."
He noticed that you looked away when he said her name. You stare at the ground and don't look up until he tucks a finger under your chin and whispers, "Kaya?"
You sigh and nod once.
"What'd she do?" He asks sounding angry.
"I don't want to talk about it, Thomas. Please."
You look him in the eyes, pleading.
It's like a staring competition. The anger starts to fade out of his eyes until he finally closes his eyes and sighs, tilting his head back.
"Are those your car keys?" He asks pointing to the ground.
"Yeah."
He grabs them up, "Wait here."
He stands up and walks back into the building, you lean against the wall of the building. You close your eyes. The dark is refreshing. It calms you down a bit.
The door opens and Thomas walks out.
"Okay. Come with me."
He takes your hand and pulls you up. You follow him to a black mustang,"Get in." He orders.
"Where are we going? What about my car?"
" Don't worry about it." He says.
You make no more arguments. You get in.
- - - -
The car ride is mostly quiet. Except for one thing. You've noticed it over the past few days. Thomas likes to hum to himself. It's usually the same farmilliar tune, that you know you've heard somewhere but the name and lyrics of the tune completely escape you.
You silently wonder where on earth Thomas could be taking you. And as you wonder you listen to him. He hums the song over and over again until youy become relaxed and almost at ease. He keeps his eyes on the road at all times.
Finally he pulls into a gas station. It's not busy. There is one old man pumping gas and only one other car parked outside aside from that.
Thomas turns of the car and looks over at you.
"What are we doing here?" You ask him.
He sighs and gives you a small smile, "Getting a drink."
He opens his door and you start to reach for your before he says, "Nope! Stop! I'm sorry, but that's not how this car works. A lady in the passenger seat is physically unable to open the door. It's been tried before. Many times. It's just not possible. Hang on."
Under normal circumstances you would have made a sarcastic comment and tried to open the door anyway, but you don't feel like it tonight. You let him jog around the front of the car and open your door.
"There we go. Good girl. So bloody obedient." He smiles at you as he helps you out of the car, "Come along then."
The two of you walk into the gas station together. An tan older man sits at the counter, a toothpick in his mouth a tabloid in his hand. The man doesn't even look up.
You walk to the very back, straight to the refrigerator.
"What do you want?" Thomas asks looking at you.
You shrug and he opens the beer section, "You want a beer?" He asks.
"If the word root is in front of it." You say raising your eyebrows.
He chuckles and grabs himself a beer and you a root beer.
You walk over to the cash register and start rooting around in your purse for money.
Unfortunately, Tom has no intentions of you paying, "Nope. I'm sorry. That doesn't work either. Again, physically impossible. Been tried before kind of deal. Sorry. Looks like I'll have to pay for you."
You smile and mutter, "This place is very sexist."
He hands the money to the bored looking man, "Yes, well, what can you do about those bloody sexists?"
"Have a good evening." The cashier says.
You walk back outside, but instead of heading towards his car, Thomas walks to the right. You're confused but you follow him anyway. He walks a few feet before he plops down on the cirb.
"Soooo," Tom drawls, Taking a sip from his beer.
You start to feel your fangirl coming back out as you realize you and Tom are alone, drinking, at night, and it doesn't help that he looks awesome in the button down blue shirt. The socially acceptable part of your brain screams at you to calm down while the fangirl side screams for you to ask for his freaking autograph.
You force yourself back into the present.
"We never did get to finish our question game." Thomas says glance at you.
"No, we didn't." You agree.
"Shall we do that now?" He asks looking over at you.
Fourteen year old you trys to break through and start screaming but you quickly say, "Sure."
"Mkay, I'll go first." He studies you.
"Where are you from?"
You take a sip from your root beer, " I grew up In Utah."
He looks at you surprised, "Really?"
You nod.
"Are you....Mormon?"
"Used to be."
He sits quietly for a minute, "Why'd you leave?"
You gesture around you, "Life. More specifically, this life."
He stares at you for a minute, saying nothing.
Finally, he leans over and whispers, "I think there's more to you than meets the eye. Eh, Iris?"
You look over at him. The second staring contest of the evening. You don't say anything at all, you just stare. Your heart beats a million times an hour yet you still feel relaxed looking at him. How is that even possible?
Finally he leans back and quietly says, "Your turn."
- - - -
You feel the world rushing by but you can't see it. Probably because your eyes are firmly shut.
"Are you asleep?" Thomas whispers.
"Mmmm-hmmmm." You mutter.
"Where do you live? I'll put your address in my GPS."
"482, Maple Road, apartment 6." You say shifting around in the passengers seat.
The two of you have just been driving. Neither of you want to admit it but you don't want to leave each other. So you've just been driving around the city, talking and joking and eventually you fell asleep to Thomas' humming voice.
It's not very long before you feel the car stop and you hear Toms car door shut and yours open. Tom picks you up like a small child, with almost no effort. He carries you to your apartment door, but you keep your eyes shut and lean into him and enjoy his scent and his warmth. He pulls out your keys and opens your door.
His footsteps echo against the wooden floor in your apartment. He lays you down somewhere soft. You assume it's the couch.
A blanket goes on top of you.
Then all is quiet for a good few minutes. Just soft footsteps.
The footsteps approach you and you feel something stroke your hair.
"Goodnight flower." You hear Tom say.
"Night, Tommy" you whisper groggily.
You hear the front door shut.
You smile as you drift off to sleep.
Author:
Soooo....what do you think!?!?
I need some input folks. He he too goofy? Is he moving too fast?
COMMENT PLEASE!
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- MK