Season Two, Episode Ten: I Appreciate You
"Uh...did I miss something? Are you two an item?" the Greenie asked, looking back-and-forth between Tyn and Elizabeth.
"NO!" they said in unison. The newbie took a step back and blinked.
"Sorry," he muttered.
Elizabeth was showing the newest Glader around the glade, with the help of a certain bespectacled boy. The two of them had walked in awkward silence for a time, but Elizabeth eventually grew tired of the rift between them, and all over some silly little incident.
"We didn't do anything, you know," Elizabeth had said.
"Oh, sure. Of course. That's why your shirt was ripped in half," Tyn replied.
"I was wearing a bra! You barely saw anything!"
"Egh, please. Don't remind me."
The argument had no doubt confused Waldo, who was still staring at them a little strangely. He reminded Elizabeth of a cat, with bright hazel eyes and a combed mullet. He moved with a feline-like grace, and wrinkled his nose and sniffed at the state of his hut. Leo was excited to meet his new bunk-mate, so he was there when the party of three got there.
"Hey!" he said, opening the door to let Waldo in. "I'm Leo!"
"Pleasure," Waldo said, still giving the room scrutiny.
"Is something wrong?" Leo frowned. Waldo looked at Tyn.
"This is my home?"
"Well, yes. I-I mean you share it with Leo, but yes," Tyn said. Waldo nodded.
"I understand, but where is the bed I'm going to use?" he asked. Elizabeth and Tyn shared a look.
"You can use that cot there," Leo pointed to the empty cot on the right side of the room. His cot was obviously used, with some food from breakfast still left unfinished in a bowl. Waldo winced.
"You mean...you all actually live like this?" Waldo's eyes were looking more and more like tiny slits. Cat. "Like savages?"
"Excuse me," Elizabeth said, clearing her throat, "we are hardly savages. We have communal meals, keep ourselves hygienic, and don't go around acting like barbarians. No, we don't have feather blankets and downy mattresses, but if we did, I assure you, we'd be using them."
"I didn't mean any offence," Waldo said quickly, turning a bit pink. "I didn't mean savages, I just meant..." he trailed off, unable to think of a better word.
"He meant savages," Tyn whispered in Elizabeth's direction. She straightened and met Waldo's gaze, holding it with severity for several seconds. Waldo grew visibly uneasy under her stare. He looked at Tyn instead, and Tyn suddenly found himself unable to keep a straight face.
"I meant homeless people, of course! The depravity of it all-" Waldo was cut off.
Elizabeth laughed when Tyn did; she nearly tripped over herself, she leaned so far left. Tyn bumped into her and they clutched each other, laughing hysterically.
"What's so funny?" Waldo asked. He had no idea. He had no idea how funny it all was. His cat-eyes, his feline grace, the way he sniffed the air in disapproval, asking them if they were an item, the pure disdain in his voice when he said the word savages...it was ridiculous. Incredibly ridiculous.
But also, really hilarious. Anyone could see that this Greenbean had probably been raised in some sort of wealthy home before the Maze. He might not remember his past, but there was obviously enough of him in there that he couldn't handle the mediocrity of the Glade. Tears fell down Elizabeth's face-she was laughing so hard her collarbone hurt.
"We're homeless, Tyn!" she wheezed, trying to calm herself.
"The depravity of it all!" Tyn actually had to get on his knees in order to stabilize himself.
"I fail to see the humor-"
"He fails! Tyn he fails to see the humor!" Elizabeth was absolutely delighted. It wasn't that she wanted to make fun of Waldo, really. It was just that...everything that came out of his mouth was so cheesy. He sounded like he was right out of a black-and-white movie. No, she didn't know what he sounded like exactly, but it was something along those lines. Nobody she knew ever said things like "extremely distasteful" or, "what a quaint little water-system."
"That's funny," Elizabeth said when she'd finally stopped laughing ever second. "You're funny, Waldo."
"You're welcome?"
"Shall we continue with the tour, sir?" Elizabeth held her arm out for Waldo who, after a brief pause, took it in his own. Just like a perfect, television gentleman would.
"Elizabeth, can we talk after you're done showing the...Greenbean around?" Leo asked. Elizabeth was surprised. She turned to look at Leo and he looked at her. He had the most serious expression on his face she'd ever seen on him.
"Yeah, how about we meet after lunch or something," she suggested.
"Thanks," Leo said, and closed the door after them. Elizabeth hoped it wasn't a love confession. That's usually what it was when any of them drew her aside privately. She'd had enough of that, but she had to get it over with sometime. It was best to talk about it privately, anyway. As long as it wasn't too private.
Waldo chose to help Frypan in the kitchen. Or whatever they were calling the chef's food-hut. It made sense. He hopped in with Frypan for lunch and they made a fantastic salad that more than one man (and Elizabeth) had to get seconds for.
What didn't make sense was the way Leo was clinging to Elizabeth like a lost puppy. Elizabeth sat next to Newt, and Newt made to sit next on her other side as per usual, but Leo beat him to it. Leo. Sure, he was newer to the Glade, but wasn't it an unspoken rule that Newt always sat with Elizabeth? He couldn't remember a time before she was beside him at the table, with her soft shoulders and messy blonde hair.
Instead of making a big deal about it, Newt decided to approach the situation like a mature adult, and sat next to Leo. It technically wasn't that big of a deal, anyway. Gally watched him sit down with raised eyebrows, but didn't offer his seat up. He did, however, make a point of staring down the younger Glader.
Elizabeth, who was completely oblivious and just assumed it was Newt sitting down, leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. Her arm brushed against his suggestively. Leo blushed furiously when her warm breath caressed the skin between his neck and shoulder as she let out a startled gasp and pulled back from him. She leaned back into Gally, who was in the middle of guiding a forkful of salad to his mouth. He dropped the fork when she crashed into him, and it fell into his lap.
"Yo, Elizabeth!" He pushed on her back and helped her sit back up while simultaneously brushing the lettuce off his pants.
"L-Leo!" Elizabeth squeaked. Her face was redder than Leo had ever seen it. Newt's chest burned with annoyance. He tried really hard to control it, but his voice still came out strangled.
"I'm over here, Elizabeth," he said.
"Wh-what? I'm sorry, Leo, I didn't realize you'd sat down!" Elizabeth was also trying to contain her embarrassment over the situation. She was more flustered than she had been when Tyn had walked in on them kissing. Newt rolled his eyes and squeezed the edge of the table. She was so weird. He knew there wasn't a reason to feel jealous, but her touch had been meant for him.
"It's okay, it's okay," Leo said, stuttering as badly as she was. He subconsciously edged closer to Newt, and gave the older boy a sorrowful expression.
"I didn't mean to-"
Newt cut him off, "Nah-whatever, you klunk. I know you didn't mean to."
"Sorry, Gals," Elizabeth apologized to Gally. He made a small huffing noise.
"Don't call me Gals."
"I can call you whatever I want and you know it," Elizabeth stuck her tongue out at him and Gally rolled his eyes, but there was a certain, teasing sparkle in them.
"Whatever," he huffed.
"Um...so, Elizabeth, you said we could talk later?" Leo butted in. Elizabeth gave him a sideways glance and nodded. Newt went on hyper-alert. Elizabeth could feel him tense up even with a body between them.
"Sure. Whenever you're ready."
Something knocked against Leo's foot underneath the table. He pulled them closer to the chair and Elizabeth kicked Newt in the shin. He winced a little, but otherwise made no other indication he'd felt anything.
"Well, uh...I just wanted to tell you that some of the guys...uh, my friends, actually..." Leo trailed off and Elizabeth looked at him. Really looked at him. He was a bit paler than usual. She set down her fork. This wasn't a love confession, this was something else. And for some reason the younger boy felt more comfortable telling her than telling Nick or Alby or Newt. It should have flattered her, but it didn't. She wasn't even close to being a leader-figure, and if it was something really serious, she'd have to tell Nick and Alby anyway. Either way, she couldn't keep anything from Newt so he'd at least hear about it.
"Come on," she said, taking Leo's arm lightly. She stood up and ignored the eyes that followed her.
"Let's talk over there," she said, gesturing to a nearby pine. Leo's shoulders flattened in relief and he nodded. Elizabeth met Newt's eyes and he raised his eyebrows.
Later, she mouthed, and then followed Leo to the tree.
Newt was pissed, Gally could tell that much. Whether it was because Leo had purposely sat next to his girlfriend, or the fact that he got her to follow him away from the table, he didn't know. It was probably both.
"Stop fidgeting, shank," Gally said. Newt shot him an irritated look, and then sighed and shook his head.
"Sorry, I'm just-"
"You know one of the reasons I appreciate Elizabeth so much?" Gally chose his words carefully. He didn't say like, because that might get some of the other Gladers' attentions, and he really didn't want to have to deal with "big brother Gally," again. Newt raised an eyebrow.
"What?" he obliged.
Gally cocked his head as if in thought, "She's an extremely trustworthy person, wouldn't you say?"
Newt frowned, "Yeah. I trust her a lot," he said.
"Do you?" Gally asked. New flinched. "That's funny. I always thought you found it hard to trust people.
"Shut up, Gally, what the klunk are you even talking about right now?" Gally could tell he didn't want to talk about this, but he didn't care because he didn't exactly want to talk about it, either. He was bad at talking. Everybody knew that.
"Think about it, Newt. The way you tried and stopped her from Running. The way you act every time she goes off with another friend, who's a friend. The way you attacked me right after I said I liked her. As a sister." Gally shrugged his shoulders and glared at Newt, "Trust is a funny thing, Newt. It takes two to tango. You can't trust when your heart is full of doubt. Sure, you say you trust her, but then you don't show that you do."
Newt didn't say anything after Gally stopped talking. The Builder went back to eating his salad and couldn't care less whether or not the shank had heard him or not. He'd said what he wanted to say and that was that. He'd nearly forgotten that he'd said anything when Newt sighed in relief and punched him in the shoulder. It wasn't a hard punch, but it took Gally off guard and he dropped a few more pieces of spinach.
"Will everyone PLEASE STOP TOUCHING ME?!" Gally clenched his fists and shrank into himself, clutching the bowl of salad in the protective wing of his arms.
Newt chuckled. Gally glared at him, but it softened after a moment when Newt didn't stop looking at him with his goofy grin. The shank could be so obnoxious, sometimes.
"You know, I should listen to you more often, Gally. Whenever you talk about something you believe in, you're bloody brilliant."
Gally's cheeks warmed, but he held Newt's gaze. After a brief pause, he nodded and offered a crooked smile.
"Good, that," he said.
"That's not really a surprise," Alby's voice was unexpected, but the table had been quiet for a while, now. Gally realized they'd all been listening to his conversation with Newt. His face grew hotter. He wanted to cover himself with mud, but at the same time he kind of wanted to know what Alby meant.
"He's a hard read, but he's no dummy, and I like how hard he works," Alby said. Gally didn't know what to say. He didn't want to respond; this was one of those awkward social conversations guys know about but don't really know about. Like getting all sappy was okay when you were with your girl, but getting all sappy with your bros was…a little unnerving.
"Why, underneath that ugly exterior Gally's just a big teddy-bear!"
Okay, that was a little better.
"What the shuck you call me?" Gally forked the rest of the salad into his mouth and pushed away the bowl, "At least I don't go around telling shanks what to do all the time."
Alby raised an eyebrow, but Gally continued: "Yeah, that's right. You all heard me. Alby's got cool talking skills and…organizational klunk. If I had that kind of power, I'd use it to my advantage, too."
Alby smiled. Gally refused to smile back, but he could feel his lips twitching. The rest of the Gladers were nodding their heads in agreement, and suddenly there were weird, little bouts of almost backhanded appreciation being spouted off all around the table.
"Zart's always sharply dressed; you'd think the slinthead had somewhere romantic to be!"
"Clint has mad bandage-wrapping abilities."
"I guess Louis has nice eyebrows."
"P.F. and Dalton are so loyal; they'd make a good couple! But seriously, I wish I had that kind of friendship."
"I like Tyn's glasses."
Waldo, who was watching the whole thing transpire, felt better about being there, in the Glade. He didn't feel so alone among these strange men, nor did he feel out of place. He may not have wanted to be sent to the Maze, but that didn't mean he didn't belong.
"I think I shall like it here, after all," he concluded with a nod.
No one noticed the absence of Leo and Elizabeth, who had been gone for quite some time. Even Newt, who often felt a physical sort of loneliness whenever she was gone, didn't feel as anxious that she wasn't there with him. Because he loved her. And because he trusted her.