Disclaimer:I still do not own TMRS. Boohoo.
There was one time a couple of months ago when they navigated so far from Paradise that they had to spend a night in the woods. Jorge started a fire while Minho plotted the schedule for when each of them would have to wake up and act as guards. As the night grew deeper, their lead navigator began waking them up in pairs to minimize the risk of a lone guard falling asleep by accident. That time it had been his and Thomas' turn.
Thomas watched from where he sat on top of a fallen log as Minho untangled himself from Sonya's long limbs. The girl mumbled in protest and planted a kiss on his friend's neck before the latter managed to extricate himself from her embrace. He gave Minho a tongue-in-cheek look as he sat next to him.
"What?" the dark-haired boy asked defensively. "As if you're any better with Brenda."
Thomas chuckled and shook his head. "Nope."
They were worse. Despite the both of them having only two arms each they almost always managed to get hopelessly tangled with each other. And if their arms got tangled, then soon their tongues followed. It was an addictive cycle.
"I'm...I dunno," Thomas cleared his throat. "It's...I dunno how to explain it."
Minho rolled his eyes. "You're klunkfaced head-over-heels with her. That's what it is. You can't get enough of her and it shows. Well, I hear you two often enough. Break the bed often?"
"Hey knock it off," Thomas spat, turning an unusual shade of maroon.
"For shuck's sake shank, get used to it. Everybody's doing it now."
Thomas was used to the ex-Glader's catty remarks but he had yet to get used to his bone-piercing candor. The ugliest truths roll out of his mouth so easily that it often got him into trouble.
"What about you?" he asked. "I don't see you bursting to get out of your pants with Sonya, considering her looks."
"Because I'm cool like that," Minho drawled half-heartedly, fighting the urge to sleep. After a long pause, he added, "Sonya's alright. Nah, she's more than alright. I like her." This caused Thomas to snigger.
"You like her." After receiving a very pointed look from the older boy, he added in a low voice, "I know that's supposed to be an understatement but why do I get the feeling that that's all there is to it?"
"Well shuck it. What do you want me to say?"
Thomas shifted his gaze towards the glowing embers in front of them. "I've been getting some of my memories back. And I remember that there was a girl in the Glade before Teresa." He swallowed the lump that rose in his throat at the mention of his late best friend's name. Her memory was one that he was always too hesitant to visit.
In the darkness, he could see Minho's silhouette as he turned to look at him. Thomas continued, "I saw you with her. In the Deadheads." He could feel him bristling at the revelation and he unconsciously shifted away.
Minho fought to keep the impassive look on his face. The only giveaway of the turbulence within him was the way his knuckles whitened over the bandages on his palms. At times he still found it unsettling that Thomas, the boy who saved them all and one of the closest friends he had, was one of the people who had put them through that three-year nightmare. Thomas was on the other side of the screen as he felt himself come apart at the seams and he did nothing to help him with the pieces. He knew it wasn't the boy's fault. He was just as much of a pawn as everybody in those trials were. Still, every now and then he had to remind himself of that fact because of the deep grudge he felt towards WICKED, which in some occasions extended towards Brenda, Jorge, and Thomas.
"It was Alexandria, wasn't it?" Thomas continued, his curiosity getting the best of him.
"Yeah." Minho shrugged nonchalantly. "It's funny because she was so hell-bent on keeping her real identity from everybody else. Went to great lengths to keep it under wraps. Now that everybody's getting their memories back, they will most likely recognize her and figure out who she really was. All that trouble for nothing." He laughed as he bent his head down, hiding his face further from view.
"You loved her." It was more of a statement than a question.
The former Keeper of the Runners nodded slowly. "In the best way I knew how, which isn't really something she could brag about if you ask me."
There was a long and awkward pause. Minho was the one to break it. "Anyways, she's dead now so it doesn't matter."
In the back of Thomas' mind, he could remember himself sobbing in remorse.
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
The tone of Minho's voice told him that the conversation about this topic was finished. Pushing it further would put him at risk of being the brunt of the boy's sour mood. So he thought of another topic that could help them get their mind off those gloomy memories.
"Was she your first?"
The two boys exchanged looks. Even with only the dim glow of the dying embers as his source of light, Minho could tell that all the blood in Thomas' body was in his face again.
"Could you repeat the question?" he teased.
"Didid-Did you do it with her before you did it with her?" Thomas stuttered as he nodded at the sleeping blonde from across the clearing. The words spilled out of his mouth so rapidly it barely sounded coherent.
"Well, what do you remember?"
"Not much. I haven't gone that far yet."
Minho scratched the back of his head. "You gossip worse than those Group B girls. Geesh."
Thomas giggled, not expecting an answer from the other boy.
"Hmm, what was that word again?" Minho wondered. "Virtuous...Virginia...Virginity! Yeah! Sonya took it, my virginity."
Thomas was appalled at the way he was talking about it. It was as if Sonya had just borrowed something as ordinary as a carpentry tool from him. Minho may be a lot of things but modest wasn't one of them.
"...okay."
"And trust me shuckface, if the Glade saw that kind of action it would the first thing you'll remember."
PRESENT
He knew that look. The furrowed eyebrows. The shiny, hazel eyes. The flushed nose. That look spoke of trouble. And he could tell he was going to have a long and difficult night in a few hours.
With a heavy sigh, Minho closed his bedroom door shut. Almost immediately Sonya bolted up from where she sat on his bed and crossed the room in two long strides, abruptly stopping in front of him. The girl was livid.
"Are you gonna hit me?" he asked.
"Should I?" Her voice shook when she spoke. He could tell she wanted to.
He didn't say anything. How could he? He couldn't even look at her in the eyes, too afraid of what she might see in his if he did.
"I'm asking you!"
"Then I'm saying no, don't do it." He reached out to caress her cheek. She leaned against his hand for awhile before slowly pulling away. Tearful eyes looked out of his small window.
"I may never know what it was that happened between the two of you in the Maze but I remember the past well enough."
She looked at him and was greeted with furrowed brows and a confused look.
"Minho, you loved her." It ate at her pride to say that out loud but it was the truth. And she could feel it in her guts that he still did. That part she couldn't say out loud. It was too much.
"Sonya, we were kids," he said incredulously. Not knowing what else to do, he enveloped her in a bearhug, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. 'Alex or no Alex she doesn't deserve this,' he thought. 'She had been so kind to him. She had given him what he had needed in those dark times.'
'She gave you a distraction, Minho,' the sinister voice inside his head murmured. 'That's all it ever was, wasn't it?'
"Listen to me," he tucked at lock of blonde hair behind her ear and cupped her face gently, "Whatever it was that happened before it's done. She doesn't remember it." Then, he looked away. "Neither do I."
'Don't talk when you're angry, shank. We both know it's bound to come back. All of it.'
"So why do I get the feeling that you wanted it back?" She looked up to meet his gaze. Even she was amazed that she had managed to keep it together this long. "Whatever it was, you wanted it badly enough to lose it in front of everybody."
A few minutes ago, she had made a decision. She was leaving him. Sonya was up for competition. She did it all the time with the girls. But she never wanted to compete when it came to Minho because she wasn't supposed to. Now she had a feeling she had to and it seemed as though she was on the losing side.
She wanted out. And she will break him the news.
Anytime now.
Almond eyes locked their gaze on her. He was determined to give her the kind of loyalty that he had given to his friends. Sonya deserved that much.
"That first night we spent together, I gave you my word didn't I? And you may think it's all klunk right now but I intend on keeping it. Regardless of all that's been happening, you have me. Whatever I have right now, it's yours. Has been for quite awhile now," he smiled.
'All of you except the one thing I want,' she thought. And then she wasn't thinking anymore. Minho wasn't a liar.
Sonya hated herself as she buried her face on his chest. She hated the way she flinched with every strong thump of his heart. It was a constant reminder of a part of him that can never be hers. And as she listened to it, she thought she could hear it calling out to its rightful owner.
Alex. Alex. Alex. Alex.
.
"Maybe we feel empty because we leave pieces of ourselves in everything we used to love."
-R.M. Drake
Author's Note: I admit, I didn't expect Sonya to step up her game this much. I expected her to be this one-dimensional character Minho has a good time with but she isn't, is she? And now I'm actually feeling for her because in this situation she's the underdog. Minho doesn't mean it and he doesn't WANT it but...well, he can't lie to himself. Anyhow, how are you guys liking it? I know things are slow at the moment and Alex's return has turned everything into a Feels-fest. But have faith. I'd like to think there's more to it than that. Lemme know what you think alright? Leave your reviews and if I can, I'll try to reply back.
A BIG BIG HUG TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. LOVE YOU!
