Thomas ended up spending the weekend over at Newt's house so they could go over their new plan, while also attempting to get some homework done. Although, it was Thomas' idea to continue this little scheme of theirs, and he was the one making most of the plans, he still didn't feel one hundred percent on board with it. He just had a weird feeling about the whole thing.
"You okay Tommy?" Newt spoke as he looked up from his Chemistry notes.
"Yeah, just… trying to concentrate on math." he mumbled as he erased yet another equation.
"You sure? You've been really quiet this whole time."
"I'm fine, it's just that…" Thomas stopped mid sentence when he looked up at Newt.
The two sat across from each other in Newt's kitchen, so the two were making eye contact. Newt had a concerned look on his face and Thomas wanted nothing more than to see his bright smile again. Some of Newt's hair had grown out a bit, so now his bangs lightly covered his bright, warm brown eyes. Thomas tried to resist the urge to reach over and sweep the hair out of his eyes.
Thomas didn't know what was happening to him. He suddenly felt really warm, his hands becoming slightly sweaty. He wanted to look away from those intense brown eyes, but he couldn't find himself to do it. He was completely mesmerized by his best friend.
"Tommy?"
And just like that, Thomas came back to reality.
"Huh? Oh, sorry, I-ugh, forgot what I was going to say." Thomas blushed.
Newt stared at Thomas for a moment or two before shrugging it off and returning back to his notes.
What is happening to me?
Page Break
"A whole month huh?" Teresa asked, arms folded, and a stern look plastered on her face.
"What is this, an interrogation?" Thomas asked, slightly uncomfortable with the current conversation.
"Well, it's just that I'm your best friend and you've never shown any interest in Newt whatsoever."
Thomas stood awkwardly in the middle of Teresa's room. He had simply come over for some homework help when she began bombarding him with questions. She stood a few feet away from Thomas, shifting her weight back and forth on her feet. She seemed to be struggling with whether to keep her arms crossed, or firmly planted on her hips.
Both looks were quite menacing.
"I just...hid it well." Thomas stuttered.
Teresa rolled her eyes. "You're not gay Thomas."
"And how do you know?"
"I don't know, because you just aren't!" Teresa answered, baffled. "I mean, what do you even like about him?"
"Um...his hair?"
"Is that a question?"
"Erm, no. I mean, there's lots of things to like about Newt. What's not to like?"
"That was so unbelievably cliche." Teresa scoffed. "At least try Thomas."
Thomas sighed. He knew there was no way they could could possibly pull this off. Sure, Teresa was a close friend of theirs, but she's also unbelievably smart. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that what's going on between the two of them is fake.
"Okay…" Thomas trailed off.
"Okay, what?"
"Okay, you got me! You got us." Thomas huffed. "We aren't together."
"Then what the hell are you two up to?" Teresa questioned, sounding slightly angered.
Thomas sighed. Would Newt want her to know? But he didn't have much of a choice. The look on Teresa's face alone said it all. Thomas stared down at the ground as he took a deep breath.
"Minho, a while back, cheated on Newt, and now he's with Alby. Newt wants revenge. Me, being his best friend, of course went along with it."
Teresa was silent as she processed the information.
"Now we've been dating a little over 3 weeks, and we have no idea if we've made any progress on the matter whatsoever." Thomas concluded.
"Why didn't you two just come to me?" she questioned.
Thomas snapped his gaze up from the floor to Teresa. "Wait, what?"
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on Thomas! You know I'm a pro when it comes to this sort of stuff."
Thomas laughed. "You know, that's exactly what I told Newt at the beginning of this mess."
Teresa smiled. "Well, if you had come to me first, I can assure you, after day 1 of this whole scheme of yours, Minho would have been down on his knees begging for Newt back."
"I don't doubt you for a second." Thomas admitted. "But until the Spring Fling, we don't know what else to do to get to Minho. We thought about going on a date-"
"That's perfect!" Teresa squealed. "You two go out somewhere, I get Alby and Minho to go out. Bam! Instant jealousy!"
Thomas opened his mouth to protest when nothing came out. "Actually...that's a great idea."
"I don't know how you two thought you could survive without me." Teresa teased.
"Don't bloody push it." Thomas scoffed. "We still need to make this believable if we plan to-"
"Wait!" Teresa interrupted Thomas. "Did-did you just say 'bloody'?"
Thomas paused as he scrunched his eyebrows together. "Huh? No." Thomas replied, shaking his head.
"Yeah...yeah you did." Teresa said, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
Thomas shrugged. "Was an accident I guess."
"Uh huh." Teresa said with a knowing smirk. "Sure."
Thomas rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Let's call Newt and work out this whole 'date' thing."
Page Break
When Teresa planned a "fake date" for them to attend, it sounded like a great idea. Alby and Minho would simply end up at the wrong place at the wrong time, and see the two on a date somewhere at the movies or at dinner. They would maybe walk by and say hi to Newt and Thomas before walking off and doing their own thing.
What they had not planned for was a double date.
"Isn't this fun?" Alby asked from his side of the booth. "We should have planned something like this a long time ago."
Perhaps the situation wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for Newt. He was literally having dinner at a table filled with ex and "current" boyfriends. Neither him nor Minho have said a word this whole entire night, and Alby has just been completely oblivious to the whole situation. Thomas just wanted to survive the night long enough to make it back home.
He never thought doing homework would be more appealing than going out on a date.
"Yeah." Thomas sighed at Alby's comment. "It's a shucking party over here!" he said with fake enthusiasm.
Alby frowned. "What's the matter guys? Barely any of you have touched your food."
"Not hungry." Newt and Minho both grumbled as they pushed food around on their plate.
"Newt's just filled up on popcorn." Thomas tried to cover. "He's usually the one to eat the whole tub when we go to the movies."
Alby laughed. "That would be me."
The two continued on into their movie discussion while Newt just remained sitting awkwardly silent across from Minho. God, why was this so hard? What was in the past, was in the past. The two should be able to have a normal conversation, right? But Minho knew he was wrong and Newt was still definitely holding a grudge. And it's not like he wanted him back. He just wanted to teach him a lesson.
"Isn't that right Newt?"
Newt snapped his head up. "Huh? What? Oh, yeah! Right Tommy." Newt said with a sheepish smile.
Alby gave Newt a sideways glance while Thomas shot Newt a sympathetic smile.
"Can I, huh, talk to you Tommy? Not here?"he whispered the last part.
"Uh, yeah. Excuse us." Thomas said politely as he took Newt's hand and led him out of their booth and around the corner. He led Newt down a narrow hallway and into the the men's bathroom and locked the door behind them.
"What are you doing?!" Thomas hissed. "You are going to blow this whole thing!"
"I'm sorry!" Newt shot back. "I panicked! I am panicking! I'm still panicking!" he rattled off as tears began to streak his blotchy face.
Thomas exhaled deeply, trying to maintain his frustration. "Told you this was a bad idea."
"I'm sorry, okay?!" Newt yelled. "And what about Teresa huh? Great job on her part!"
"Hey, this isn't her fault!" Thomas defended.
"I'm sorry, you're right. It's your fault!"
"What?!" Thomas shook his head in disbelief. "How the hell is this my fault?!"
"You couldn't keep this just between the two of us! You had to go blab your big mouth to Teresa!"
"I told you sooner or later she would figure it out! I'm surprised it took her this long honestly!"
Newt grabbed and pulled at his hair, huffing out balls of air in the process. "I can't deal with you right now."
Thomas scoffed. "You're no walk in the park either princess."
"Let's just go back out there, finish dinner, and go back home." Newt suggested as he began to calm down.
"That is the best idea you've had in weeks."