A/N: HOLA MI AMIGAS AND AMIGOS! Just kidding I don't speak Spanish. BUT I'm back from my vacation and I'm ready to bring this story back to life! I don't have time to respond to your reviews but I read all of them and I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much for your comments! Gosh they make me so happy! :)
Ok, onto the story!
- it was bad, but it was for him -
~Chuck's POV~
I woke up to the smell of chocolate chip waffles. I was so excited to have a delicious buttery waffle breakfast, but when I went out into the living room I saw that Minho had just heated up some frozen waffles.
I was thoroughly disappointed.
But at least they were still chocolate chip.
"Morning, Minho," I said while smiling brightly, randomly appreciating the fact that I was a morning person.
Minho jumped out of his skin hearing my voice; the waffle in his hand went flying and landed on the other side of the room behind the TV.
Oh right. He didn't know that I was here yet.
Oops.
"Chuck?! You scared the klunk out of me!" He accused, placing a hand over his chest and trying to catch his breath.
I shrugged innocently.
"Sorry dude. I guess Thomas didn't tell you that I was here. I'm staying with you guys for a couple of weeks."
I found my way into the kitchen and started loading a plate with frozen waffles.
Minho frowned.
"Oh. Guess he forgot to tell me." He placed two more frozen waffles in the toaster oven and then started munching on the warm one he already had. "When did you get here?"
"Yesterday morning. When I came back to the dorm last night you were sound asleep on the couch, which was where I was supposed to sleep, so I just slept on your bed. Hope you don't mind."
"Nah that's fine. As long you didn't fart in it."
He looked up at me, eyeing me suspiciously.
I blinked.
"Uuuuum..."
"Just kidding, Chuckie," he started laughing at me and I just rolled my eyes.
Same old Minho. Joking about everything as usual.
After his waffles were ready we relocated to the couch and turned on the TV. Minho started flipping through channels and eating a waffle at the same time.
"So why were you sleeping on the couch last night?" I asked him, chewing hungrily on my frozen waffle.
"Brenda and I were hanging out last night and after she left I kinda just crashed." He shrugged, still flipping through the channels. "You probably don't remember Brenda."
I gave him a look.
"Minho, we all went to the same high school- the same one that I'm still in. And Brenda hung out at our house all the time. I haven't forgotten about her."
He stopped chewing his waffle and slowly pouted his lips. Then he turned to me.
"Oh... ok."
I laughed at him and he threw a pillow at my face.
"Hey, in my defense I haven't seen you in forever so I don't know who you know or knew or whatever the shuck!" he stuffed the rest of the waffle in his mouth and crossed his arms stubbornly.
I grabbed the remote and turned the cable off, then I got on my knees and started setting up a video game to play.
"So what were you and Brenda doing?" I asked, looking through the games that they had.
"Just chilling," I heard him say after a moment's hesitation.
"Sounds fun. How is she, by the way?"
"She's good... hey, did you know she has an uncle named Jorge who apparently works here as a teacher?"
"Yeah. He's a cool dude."
"Wait- you've met him?" He asked, sounding surprised.
I popped a disc into the PS3 and then sat back on the couch, handing him a controller while turning mine on.
"Him and Brenda came over to our house during the summer to hang out. We made homemade ice cream and he told us funny stories of when he was a kid."
Minho fiddled with the controller, pouting his lips.
"Well gee, thanks for the invite."
I eyed him.
"Do you have a thing for middle aged college professors?"
"NO, but he is my favorite professor. And it's fun hanging out with Brenda." Minho shrugged as we started playing Destiny.
I raised my eyebrow suspiciously.
"And you and Thomas too, of course." He added as an afterthought.
"So... do you have like a crush on Brenda or something?"
"WHAT?!"
"Because I can't help noticing you two hang out a lot. And you say you like hanging out with her."
His face turned as red as a cherry.
"Why would that mean I have a crush on her? Psh. Pft. Crush? Seriously dude, what are you? In Pre-K?" He stuttered, avoiding my eyes.
I didn't even try to hide my smile.
"You are such a shank, Minho. It's so obvious you like her. The way that you're blushing while you're trying to deny it just proves that I'm right."
We looked at each other- me wiggling my eyebrows, and him with wide eyes and a sweaty, red face.
"BLEH!" He yelled as he kicked me off the couch and ran to the room, slamming the door behind him.
"OUCH! Minho!" I stumbled up and rubbed my injured arm, glaring at the door.
I heard him lock it and decided to just leave him alone. He can deny his feelings all he wants, what do I care?
When the door opened the first thing that I saw was a beautiful pale face that belonged to Teresa.
"Chuck! Oh my goodness you're here!" She exclaimed, pulling me into a huge hug. I grinned and hugged her back.
I've known Brenda for a while, but I've known Teresa for pretty much my entire life. Her and Thomas were best friends when they were little kids. I always loved hanging out with them and following them and doing whatever it was they did. Sometimes Thomas would get annoyed but Teresa would always stick up for me and convince Thomas to let me join them. She always felt like an older sister to me.
She invited me into her dorm and poured me a cup of hot chocolate (with tiny marshmallows and a little bit of milk and cream, just how I like it). We sat on stools at the counter and drank hot chocolate and caught up.
"How are you doing? How did you get here? When did you get here?" She asked, a million questions at a time.
I smiled at her being so excited. "I got here yesterday; I'm staying for a few weeks while my parents are on vacation."
"Oh, that's wonderful! Where are they vacationing? Are you off from school? How long are you staying?"
I laughed at all the questions and she started laughing too.
"Sorry, Chuck. But I haven't seen you in so long! You look older, by the way. Breaking all the girls hearts, huh?" She patted down my curly hair like she used to do when we were little, and I playfully swatted her hand away.
"Yeah, yeah, I guess." I replied, embarrassed.
She grinned.
"So how about you?" I asked her, wanting to change the subject. "How's college life? I bet you and Thomas are having the greatest time of your lives."
Suddenly her grin faltered. I frowned in concern as she looked away, looking both anxious and sad.
"Chuck... I'm sure Thomas is having a great time, and I am too, but we're not together anymore. In fact... we don't really see each other anymore. At all."
I curled my eyebrows while hearing this news. Did she just say they broke up? And now they don't hang out at all?
Say whaaat?
"What happened?" I asked, very concerned about this. The last time I checked, my brother and Teresa were in LOVE. How could that have changed?
Teresa held tightly to her hot chocolate and stayed quiet, probably trying to think of how to say it. I took a small sip from my cup and waited patiently.
"He and I... we just didn't work out the way we wanted to. Some relationships just don't work out, and that's ok..."
"But why didn't it work? What happened?" I asked gently, sensing the overwhelming sadness that she was feeling.
"...There was a misunderstanding. I did something, something I did for him so that he would be ok, but he found out from another person- their version of the story- and he didn't realize that what I did was for his sake."
Suddenly she looked up at me, her eyes very serious.
"Chuck... sometimes you do things for people because you love them so much, and you would do anything for them. The thing I did for him wasn't exactly a good thing... and when he found out about what I did from that other person, that's when we started fighting, which eventually led us to break up."
"But why didn't you just tell him?" I asked, a little bit confused on what had happened.
She looked down at her mug. "It was complicated. I couldn't tell him. And I still can't. If I do..."
I looked up at her, waiting for her to finish her sentence, but she never did.
We sat there in silence for a few minutes until she got up and started washing her empty mug. She looked up at me while she washed, smiling.
"Chuck, it was so good to see you. I need to get some cleaning done, but we should hang out another time."
I nodded, standing up and handing her my empty mug.
"Yeah, sounds good. It was great to see you too, Teresa."
She smiled at me again and I smiled back before leaving, wondering what in the world she did to cause them to break up.
I don't understand... Teresa said that whatever she did was for Thomas' sake, but it wasn't good... what's that supposed to mean? And to think Thomas doesn't even know!
I walked sadly through campus, heading back to my brothers dorm. She never made me promise not to tell him about what she said, but I still wouldn't. It was a thing of ours- the three of us. If anything was a secret from one another, or even sounded like a secret, we didn't have to ask each other not to tell. We just knew.
This was going to be hard not to tell him, though. How am I gonna keep this a secret?
Thomas bumped into Newt while walking into the library.
"N-newt?" He gasped, taking in the unexpected sight of his best friend. "Where have you been? Are you okay?"
Newt looked up at him, his beautiful blue eyes dead and void of any emotion.
Thomas gently grabbed his elbow and directed him to a deserted area with a wooden bench. He sat him down and then sat next to him, taking note of how willing he was to follow him and sit down.
"Newt..." Thomas began, having a hard time staring into the pained eyes of his friend. "Please tell me what happened. I know that you hurt yourself...please tell me why."
Newt stared straight forward and remained silent for a few seconds before speaking. His voice was quiet and hoarse.
"I cut my wrist with scissors because I'm depressed. I've been depressed for a while now."
Thomas' heart sank.
"Why didn't you tell me or Minho? We're your best friends. We could have helped you."
The blonde boy continued to speak in a monotone.
"I didn't want you guys to know the reason why I'm depressed. And I didn't want any help."
Suddenly Alby's voice filled Thomas' head, telling him about Newt's sister. His dead sister. And how he blamed himself for her death.
Very cautiously and in the softest voice he could muster, Thomas whispered, "Is it your sister? Is that why you're depressed?"
Newt looked up, into the caring eyes of his best friend. He nodded.
"It was me, Tommy. My fault. She's gone... sometimes I wish it had been me instead."
Thomas felt tears starting to form. He couldn't take seeing his closest friend in so much pain. He needed to help him- but how could he convince Newt that it wasn't his fault his sister had died? For all Thomas knew, it might have been.
"Newt... it's going to be ok. We all lose people we love. And I don't think for one second she would blame you for her passing. So neither should you."
Newt's eyes changed. Tears were forming in them, from sadness or maybe from being grateful for his words; Thomas didn't know. But he did see a little bit of life in them. Newt, the old Newt- lively and sarcastic and fun- was still there. Deep down. Hopefully he could still come back.
A burst of wind swept through the air, taking the dead leaves with them and causing the tree branches to rustle. The temperature had dropped a considerable amount, and before Thomas could begin talking again, crystal clear snow flakes formulated in the sky and descended to the ground to form snow.
The two friends gazed up into the sky to observe the winter beauty. Thomas was thinking what a horrible moment for it to start snowing; the cold always made everything worse in his opinion. But after glancing at Newt, staring up into the sky with an observant face, he thought otherwise.
Maybe it was just the thing they needed.
A/N: HOLY CRAP HE FINALLY TALKS TO NEWT WHY DID I TAKE SO LONG TO WRITE THAT?
Ahem... sorry for that. I hope you enjoyed this! I love you all! Merry almost Christmas or happy holidays!
-Lurky
