Chapter 3

Another afternoon spent in his dorm.
Thomas sighed as he lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to study, but couldn't find the energy. He wanted to do nothing and sleep, but he had too much energy. Something menial with minimal mental strain would be perfect, but Thomas couldn't think of anything.

Perhaps a jog. He definitely needed one after the unhealthy week he's had. He glanced up through the window, taking note of the miserable weather outside. Well, not miserable, but unpleasant. The wind was blowing, causing the already cool day to become colder due to wind chill. Not optimal running weather. He sighed and glanced at his phone. Maybe he should video chat with his father, perhaps ask how his sister was doing, he hadn't heard from her in a while. Thomas promptly thought better of it and put his phone down.

Edward had left a couple of hours ago, busy with afternoon classes and Thomas had the room to himself. He'd taken full advantage of the quiet and tried to relax. It didn't work out so well.

With a frustrated groan, Thomas got off the bed and threw on his jacket. He'd be proactive and take a walk. Maybe grab a coffee down at United. He left the building, immediately buffeted by the wind. He cursed to himself as he walked, regretting his decision to do so in the first place.

Only a few monsters were out today, probably also staying indoors to escape the cold wind. Thomas tightened his jacket around himself and trekked through the park, silently wishing he had a hat to protect his ears.

He finally reached the café, deciding to sit at the bar instead of a booth. Angie got him his coffee.

"I like your hairdo." She laughed, causing Thomas to prod at the fur atop his head. The wind had blown it up, causing it to stick up in random directions.

"Thanks. I decided to try something new today." He put on a dumb smile, coaxing a laugh from Angie. She left him to stare at his coffee. The warmth of the café and the coffee before him was enough to relax the red monster. He closed his eyes and rested his head on his hand, releasing a tired sigh. The café was silent, almost empty sans one or two regulars on the far side. He preferred it this way.

He wondered if he should have brought a book to study. No, that was a foolish idea. It wasn't like he'd take any of it in. He hadn't been to Randall's study group since the first attempt. Thomas just couldn't work up the enthusiasm to deal with that weirdo and that asshole again. Randall felt seemed genuinely excited about the session when he'd approached Thomas regarding it, causing Thomas to feel slightly bad that he barely concealed any discomfort or boredom during it. But like he'd thought of before- he had nothing to lose. And he hadn't lost anything. And if he did, at worst it would be Randall's acquaintanceship. They weren't friends, not even close. He hoped Randall saw it that way as well.

Then, speaking of the devil, the café door opened and a familiar voice spoke somewhere further down the bar.

"Two regular coffees please."

Angie replied in the affirmative and went off to fulfill the order. Thomas shrunk slightly lower in his seat.
'Please don't look this way' became a mantra in his head, repeating over and over again in desperate hope. Of course that wasn't how things worked and the lizard must have caught sight of Thomas at some point because, "Hey, Thomas. Funny finding you here."

Thomas' ears perked up and he opened his eyes to look over at Randall. He attempted to put a surprised smile on his face but it came across more as an awkward smirk.

"Hey, Randall. Hah, yeah, seems we bump into each other a lot here."

If Randall noticed the horrible concealment he didn't mention it.

"You look like you should be in bed." The lizard chuckled, doing so further when he saw Thomas' hair.

Thomas self consciously tried to pat it down.
"Yeah, yeah. The wind is bad. What about you? Two coffees? You studying with Mike again?"

The lizard raised an eyebrow.
"So you did hear me come in."

Oh crap. Caught. Thomas gave a nervous laugh. He'd have to play this off well or outright admit he hasn't been looking forward to seeing Randall again. He chose the former.

"Wasn't sure if it was you or not," he pointed to his ears, "these thing pick up a lot of sound but aren't so great at differentiating."
Then he wiggled then around in emphasis his point.

The imploring look on Randall's face disappeared when he saw the red monsters ears move that way. Thomas felt his unsure grin become a genuine dumb smile as he watched Randall break down in a fit of poorly held back giggles. He snorted once or twice as well, causing Thomas to begin laughing as well. He really was a dork.

The laughing subsided when Angie came over with Randall's order.

"Well, yeah. Better get back to Mike with this. Final exam isn't too far away so…"

Thomas wondered how agro the green sphere had become with studying now. In class he was a machine of answers for professor Knight, who'd obviously grown impressed by his progress. It made Wazowski more of a pretentious ass since he'd almost always appear unfathomably smug after getting praise from Knight. Thomas could deal with that though, especially since is was mostly directed at Sullivan, who didn't receive as much positive reinforcement from the professor.

It felt strange. Thomas despised Sullivan. But why?
It wasn't like Sullivan had purposefully gone out his way to make life difficult for him. It could have been first impressions, since Sullivan had been a rather overconfident, self righteous monster from the beginning. Maybe it was jealously. Although Thomas would like to think it wasn't so, the possibility was there. Sullivan was drowning in girls and support from his fraternity. And here Thomas was, nearly falling asleep in cafés and attending fewer and fewer parties as the weeks rolled on. He wished he had the life of a stereotypical university student. The kind of life Sullivan had, albeit with better grades.

Thomas sighed. If he was jealous, that made things a little more complicated. He didn't have enough energy to think this through now.

"Thomas?"

"Yeah?"

"You… you zoned out for a second."

The red monster sheepishly scratched at his ear. An awkward buildup of tension was growing inside of him. Maybe he really was tired. He should go and have a nap.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just tired."

"Oh. Hah. You'd better go rest then. Our first lecture is going to be early tomorrow."

"Yeah," Thomas sighed, "damn, it blows."

Randall nodded for a second, bit his lip and turned.

"I'll see you later, Thomas." He said over his shoulder.

"Yeah." Thomas' entire persona felt like it was chipped away. He felt so out of it and confused. He must have creeped Randall out. Thomas didn't like that idea.

He merely watched as Randall left the café, the short duration the door was opened allowed the howl of the wind to be heard. It almost seemed to be getting worse. Randall steadied himself and the coffees against the gust, taking a moment to find good footing before walking. He had to be a lot lighter than Thomas, a fact that made his souring mood dampen even further. He should of offered some help.

Then, as Randall looked down, bracing himself against a particularly strong gust of wind, a familiar crab like figure rounded the corner. Both weren't looking where they were going. Thomas foresaw the bump and knew there was nothing he could do about it. He merely watched as Randall bumped into Chet, spilling most of the contents of a coffee onto the ROR member.

Both monsters stepped away, confused by the altercation. Then Chet's eye narrowed and he stormed up to Randall, a claw already up and pointed at the lizard in a threatening manner. Thomas couldn't hear what was being said but he could tell from the body language that it wasn't pleasant.

He watched as Chet gave the nervous lizard a shove, shouting at him now. The other coffee had already fallen to the ground, forgotten by Randall as he cowered beneath the other monsters gaze.

Thomas knew nothing good would come from watching this. Instead he turned around in his seat and forgot about the altercation behind him altogether. He would sip at the remainder of the coffee and wait a while for everything to get sorted outside before leaving. When he got home, he'd have a long nap, maybe just sleep through the entire night and wake up refreshed and rejuvenated. Then he'd go to class and forget Randall even existed. He'd gotten the gist of what his expressions meant. He was also beginning to feel uncomfortable around Thomas. He'd be doing them both a favor by just pretending like it all never happened. It would be best.

But instead of doing this, Thomas found himself striding through the door purposefully, barely feeling the wind as he marched up to the crab busy harassing Randall, who was truly cowering in fear now. Another ROR member stood behind Chet. Thomas didn't know the insect-like monster's name, but he knew he'd been a ROR for a while. He was nudging Chet with the back of his hand, seemingly trying to talk the furious crab down. He was doing a horrible job of it.

As Thomas reached them, he grabbed the large pincer that threatened Randall and shoved it away, temporarily taking Chet off balance. Both ROR members stared at Thomas in stunned silence. Thomas glared at them both hotly, ears flattened against his head and fur bristling slightly.

The red monster then looked down at Randall, finding the lizards eyes wide with fear and confusion. He turned back again to the duo, who had retrieved their senses.

"What the hell!" Chet exclaimed angrily, "this has nothing to do with you!" His lispy voice garbled his words slightly.

Thomas didn't answer, merely standing with his hands clenched tightly. He wanted nothing more than to punch the crab in his face, but that would come with sever consequences Thomas wasn't sure he could handle. He was coherent enough to see the folly in that. So instead, he stood quietly, trying to convey the message that this was over. The cockroach got it, and bumped Chet with his hand again, this time with finality.

"Leave it, Chet."

The crab seemed to want to object, but with a seething expression he turned and followed the other monster, who had given Thomas an inquisitive look, like he was being studied. Thomas didn't like it at all. The duo stepped into the café, leaving Randall and Thomas out in the wind. Randall did nothing but stare at the ground, as did Thomas.

Only now did the consequences of what he'd done hit him. ROR was a big deal among the MU students, especially scaring majors. He had no doubt that his actions would be advertised to the whole campus and he'd get lingering looks wherever he went. It could ruin his chances with a fraternity, or even better them. Regardless, it would definitely do something to his reputation. Was that what mattered though?

Thomas braved a look at Randall, who had begun getting up, brushing his underside off. The situation with Chet couldn't have been that bad, it wasn't like the crab was going to hurt Randall or anything. ROR wasn't known for violence. Yes, they were perhaps mean spirited, but who wasn't in this school? The other guy had been trying to get Chet to calm down. Albeit it wasn't done with much haste or effort, but he'd tried. The situation could of been a lot worse. All that was lost were two cups of coffee, a little bit of pride and their cool. Everyone would survive.

But the look on the lizards face told otherwise. The distraught expression made Thomas' gut twist uncomfortably. Randall eyes were glazed over, slick with tears that threatened to form and his hands were visibly shaking. Thomas lip curled in a grimace. Watching the lizard in such a state made him uncomfortable. He looked away, surveying the park and spotting no monsters about. The less that saw this the better.

"Randall," Thomas' voice croaked. The lizard looked up at the red monster, who was surprised to realize that he had never seen him this small before, "let's go."

He nodded, dragging a hand over his nostrils and sniffing. Thomas hadn't bothered asking if he was okay. It was obvious that he wasn't.

Thomas acted as a windbreaker for the shaky lizard as he escorted him to the dorm building. They didn't speak a word until the reached the lobby, by then Randall had calmed significantly.

"Thanks."

"You should watch where you're going." Thomas responded monotonously. The purple monster rubbed at his eyes.

"Yeah… probably won't help now though. Johnny'll find out."

"Why does that matter?"

"It doesn't… not anymore," Randall shrugged, "I just wanted to make a good impression, and then I go and empty a cup of coffee on the vice president." He released a hollow laugh.

Thomas frowned.
"You wanted to join ROR?"

"Any fraternity would be good at this point. I've been contemplating joining Oozma Kappa, probably the only guys that'll accept me."

Thomas' dour mood broke upon hearing that. He let out a small chuckle.
"You can't possibly mean that?"

Randall shrugged again.
"Who cares… I can't believe I froze like that."

Sympathy sparked in Thomas. He tried to hide his pained expression.
"I can't believe I nearly punched him."

"You nearly punched him?"

Thomas' ears flattened again and he looked away. Shame? Embarrassment? He wasn't sure.
"Yeah, well, I didn't. That's all that matters."

They stopped outside Randall's room.

"Thanks… again…" Randall rubbed at his hands nervously, "I'm sorry you left your coffee behind."

Thomas had forgotten about his coffee.
"Mm," he hummed, "wasn't good anyway. Angie is great at talking but not so great at making coffee."

Randall hummed as well.
"Is… Is it-"

Thomas watched the lizard annunciate his words.
"Yeah?"

"Is it too much to ask if you wanna hang out again?"

"Do I have to beat up any other fraternity members next time?"

Randall let out a laugh, very similar to the one in the park the first night they spoke.

"Hopefully I stay out of trouble long enough," he gave a mischievous smile before pulling a hand through his fronds, "I get it if you don't. I've been trying to force friendship on you since I met you and haven't done a very good job."

"I'll admit, you're not great friend material…" Thomas chuckled, "but I'm worse so if you can deal with that, then I think we'll get along well."

"I- yeah. Tomorrow?"

"After class."

Randall made to talk again, but quickly shut his mouth and stepped through the door.

"See you, buddy." Thomas waved as he walked down the hallway to his own room.

Unlike the other few times they spoke, this time they both walked away with smiles on their faces.

Trying to keep the length of chapters constant. Average for each will be around 2500 words to 3500, maybe a few that are a bit longer in between.

Kinda want the story to be a long - short sort of thing if that makes sense. Probably doesn't.