Seven
Seven
The morning went by without any other problems. I didn’t see Thomas again, and the tension with Alex dissipated. After spending most of the afternoon in the library to get ahead on my studying, I head to the gym for Travis’s practice.
Before entering Dixon, I stop at the vending machine to get a bottle of water. The hallway is a little creepy at this time of evening. There’s always an eerie silence. The walls are yellow ochre, the neon lights give off an annoying hum, and it’s always cold. Shivering, I push a series of coins into the machine and type in the code, but just before the bottle drops, it gets stuck. The usual bad luck!
I try to shake the machine, but it’s too heavy. I bang on the glass and the sides, but to no avail. I look around, hoping to find someone who can help me, and mercifully, I hear male voices heading in my direction.
Speaking of bad luck, mine seems to keep on haunting me. Up come Matthew, Finn, and Thomas, phones in hand, just like this morning at the coffee shop.
“Vanessa, what are you doing here?” asks Matt. “I would hug you, but I’m dripping with sweat.”
I smile at him. “It’s okay, let’s just say you did.”
“Are you coming back in with us? Travis has been looking for you all day. He says you disappeared.”
Damn it, he’s right. After greeting him at the entrance, I hadn’t given my phone another glance.
“I got a little busy, but I was on my way. I stopped to get some water, but the bottle got stuck.” My eyes land on Thomas. It’s odd that he hasn’t yet directed any of his sarcastic jokes at me. He’s not even looking at me, focused as he is on his screen.
As if he’d read my mind, Thomas looks up at me. In the fluorescent light, his green eyes sparkle hypnotically. I feel an unusual tingle in my belly.
He takes a step toward me and I instinctively shrink back, but he was headed for the vending machine, not me. With a swing of his arm that doesn’t cost him the slightest effort, he gets the bottle to drop down. He sets it on the adjacent table and gets a soda for himself.
“Oh, thanks a lot, very nice of you,” I stammer, trying to smile. He has no reaction. He pulls a red pack of cigarettes out of his warm-up jacket and lifts one to his mouth. Before walking away, he shoots me a look that leaves me dumbstruck.
“What’s with him?” I ask, confused.
Asking Travis’s friends for information about Thomas isn’t exactly the best move, but one of my biggest flaws is my curiosity. I can never keep it at bay.
“Who, Thomas?” Finn replies, nodding in the direction where he had headed.
“Yeah. He seems mad or something,” I say hesitantly.
“He’s pissed at his sister. He’ll get over it. They’ve been on the phone arguing all morning,” Matt replies.
I wonder what happened…
“Listen, Matt,” I say after glancing at the clock. “Do me a favor. Tell Travis I really wanted to stay, but it’s getting late, and I have to get home.”
Bullshit, more and more bullshit.
“You won’t come and watch? We finish in an hour, then he’ll take you home.”
“No, I’d rather walk.” I take my jacket out of my bag and slip it on.
“Okay, your call. See you later.” They head off with unconvincing smiles.
I say goodbye and head for the exit. I take my phone and find the texts Travis had sent throughout the day.
To placate him, I write him that I’m heading home and that I’ll see him tomorrow. I put the phone away and scan the deserted area. Or almost deserted. Thomas is sitting on the lawn a little ways away from the main entrance to the gym, shrouded in a cloud of smoke. An instinct I can’t control pushes me to go over there, hoping to figure out what is going on with him.
As I approach, I realize that I have no idea what to ask him. I begin to think that it was a bad idea to come out here. But I push my concerns aside. I’m going to be a mature person and just go up and ask how he’s doing.
“You’ll catch a cold sitting out here, you know?” Oh God. Of all the things I could say, how did I come up with something so ridiculous? Jeez, Vanessa, it’s not like you’re his mother.
“You just can’t stay away from me, can you?” he asks me sarcastically, without even looking up.
“I had to pass by here on my way home, unfortunately,” I lie.
“Then go home.” He takes a drag from his cigarette and dismisses me, saying, “I don’t want you bugging me.”
I was ready to engage with Thomas’s usual arrogant self, but the gruffness of his response catches me by surprise. I turn to face him, drop my bag on the ground, and bark at him, “All right, why are you being such an asshole to me? I haven’t done anything to deserve it.”
“I thought you were used to dealing with assholes. Or is your boyfriend the only one you can handle?” he asks with a presumptuous look that gets on my nerves.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
His head bowed, he runs a hand through his hair in a slow, tortured gesture. “Nothing. Weren’t you leaving? What are you still doing here?”
He’s right, what was I doing there? Did I expect we would be laughing and joking around like old pals? He’s nice, then he’s a jerk. And I’m just an idiot.
I shrug and without saying anything else I walk off briskly, leaving him and his bluster behind.
But before I turn the corner, I hear him call my name. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard him say it. He says it again, louder, surprising me. My pride tells me not to turn around, but another part of me wants to give him the benefit of the doubt and see if he’s sorry for the way he’s treated me.
I turn around and go back to where he’s sitting on the lawn. “I expect an apology,” I say, standing there with my arms folded over my chest.
He scoffs. “That’s not gonna happen.”
“Then why the hell did you call me back here?”
“Because you’re so out of it you forgot your bag.” He picks it up off the ground and throws it at my feet. I grab it and can no longer hold back the wave of anger crashing over me.
“You’ve been a total jerk! You’ve been tormenting me for days, and now I’m trying to…to…” The words stick in my throat. The truth is that I don’t know what I was trying to do. Nor what I was trying to achieve. “Ugh. You know what? Just go to hell!” I blurt out.
His only response is a snarky grimace. I know I should leave. I should for my dignity, at least. Yet I don’t. I stay standing there, the soles of my shoes glued to the ground. There is something there…something in his dark, haunted eyes that makes me think he doesn’t really want me to leave. But maybe it’s only a foolish delusion.
“You like it, don’t you, mocking me, teasing me all the time?” I ask.
Thomas rubs out his cigarette on the concrete, blowing the last mouthful of smoke upward. “You’re an easy target.”
“You know who likes easy targets? Bullies. Is that what you are?”
He lets out a long sigh and rubs his face with a weary gesture. “Are you done with your bullshit?”
“Are you done being insufferable?” I mirror his effrontery but I get no response. We simply challenge each other with our gazes, our eyes lingering on each other’s for an interminable moment. And then Thomas breaks into a wry grin. “Now what have you got to smile about?” I ask, confused. Keeping up with his sudden mood swings is exhausting.
“You’re funny when you try to act tough. You look like an angry kitten,” he taunts. I shoot him a sideways look.
“Well, the angry kitten is leaving.”
I do turn to go, but this time Thomas doesn’t wait before saying “Stop.” His deep voice echoes in the empty space around us, making me shiver.
“What?” I stammer, dazed. “Didn’t you just say…” I break off, because the expression on his face suggests that he doesn’t want to hear any more questions. I force myself to put aside my pettiness and search his face. I try to figure out if he’s still messing with me, but I can’t. This guy is unreadable. “Do you want me to stay?”
Thomas looks down and shrugs one shoulder indifferently.
“Say so, or I’m leaving. Seriously.”
At that point he looks at me, completely somber, with an intensity that burns me like fire.
“Stay,” he says with a sigh.