When Thea had told Warren they should spend less time with each other, she had expected her free time to be spent with Kitty. But Kitty and Peter had become an official couple on Christmas Day, and so they were acting like anyone would in an early relationship – they spent twenty-four hours a day together. It was rather sickening but damn cute at the same time. Although Thea was happy for Kitty, at a selfish level she was a bit jealous because she was losing part of her friend to a boy. Granted Peter was a great boy, but he was a boy nonetheless. And Kitty's blossoming relationship left no time for Thea, who spent her free time reading the fantasy books Warren had given her. It was only New Year's Eve morning and Thea had already finished four books.
Warren had been spending time with Jube, much to Thea's chagrin. They would do little things together like hanging out in front of the television or having lunch. The more Thea thought about it, a relationship between Warren and Jubilee would probably work out well. They were both very kind people who were quite flirtatious and confident. Both were very intelligent, so conversation would be easy and engaging. And Jubilee's happy nature would be good when addressing Warren's insecurities about his father.
Thea easily remembered the time when she did not want Jubilee anywhere near Warren because if they were to get together, it would have made her feel awkward. It was a very selfish reason, but that time was over. Although she was still uncertain about where she stood in his life, she knew, without a doubt, that she was important to him. So now, she wouldn't jump for joy if Warren and Jubilee became a couple, but she wouldn't be too upset. Warren deserved the most happiness possible, and if Jubilee was the one to give it to him, then that was that.
Yet Thea couldn't help but feel a pang of remorse at the thought of Warren happy with Jubilee. If Thea did not have so many secrets, and if she was not so difficult to get along with, and if she could just trust Warren with every aspect of herself, couldn't she be the one to make Warren happy? It was an unfair question to ask herself, Thea knew that. It was like asking, "If you were a completely different person, wouldn't you be the right person for Warren?" Stupid, stupid question and stupid, stupid thoughts.
But still…he made her so damn happy. Thea couldn't remember being as happy as when she was with Warren, and that included the time before coming to the mansion. It was a revealing and frightening thought that she pushed aside as she drowned herself in a fantasy novel.
Eventually, however, she left her room and went to the kitchen to make lunch.
"Hey, Thea," Bobby said with a charming smile as he put some food in the microwave.
"Hi, Bobby," Thea replied, opening up the refrigerator to grab materials to make a sandwich.
"How's your New Year's Eve shaping up?" Bobby asked.
"Oh, nothing much. Probably will stay in and read."
Bobby made a face. "How about coming to a club tonight to celebrate?" he asked.
Ah, clubbing. Thea hadn't gone to a club since her first quarter at Stanford, and even then, it was only once. But the loud music, energetic atmosphere, and hip-hop dancing made it a great experience.
"I don't know, Bobby," Thea said.
"Hey guys," Kitty greeted.
Thea turned around to see Kitty and Peter coming into the kitchen for lunch.
"Wow, look who's emerged from the abyss of fledgling relationships," Thea teased.
Kitty blushed and Peter's arm moved to rest comfortably over her shoulders. Thea remembered Warren doing a similar thing with her.
"I was just telling Thea about the club," Bobby said.
"You're totally coming tonight," Kitty said adamantly.
"You're going clubbing?" Thea asked.
Kitty looked really excited. "Yeah, it'll be my first time! Peter and Marie and Warren are coming."
"I don't know, Kitty," Thea said. "It sounds like couples and then Warren and me thrown into the mix."
"That's the point," Kitty said with a mischievous smile.
Bobby snickered noticeably.
"You're in on this too?" Thea asked him.
Bobby raised his hands in surrender but had difficulty suppressing his laughter.
"Thea, why else would I buy you those tops for Christmas?" Kitty said, alluding to how far in advanced they all must have planned this.
Kitty had bought Thea some…revealing tops. They were composed of slinky material, thin straps, and plunging necklines. Quite frankly, they were perfect clubbing shirts but not something Thea would willingly wear.
"This is a conspiracy," Thea mumbled.
"C'mon, Warren would love it, I'm sure," Kitty teased.
"Kit, I'm no going to wear a skanky shirt and prance around for Warren's benefit!" Thea said loudly.
"You aren't?" Warren asked, coming into the kitchen with Jubilee, probably to grab lunch as well.
Thea could feel her cheeks redden and placed a hand on her forehead to cover up her embarrassment.
"Fucking conspiracy," Thea mumbled.
"So why isn't Thea going to wear a skanky shirt for me?" Warren asked the group with a knowing smile.
"She's not sure if she wants to go clubbing tonight," Bobby explained.
"At this rate, there's no way in hell I'm going," Thea said.
"Clubbing? Sounds fun," Jubilee said.
"You should come too," Warren said with a smile.
Part of Thea was happy that Warren suggested Jubilee coming because that meant that she didn't have to go through all the effort of wearing a revealing top and spend the night watching Warren pick up other girls. But the majority of her was upset that Warren had invited Jubilee along when this event was so transparently a couple's thing. Was Warren that dense? Or was this a way Warren was saying that he never would entertain the idea of him and Thea being a couple? Or was this the way he was saying he wanted to be a couple with Jubilee? Ah shit, Thea actually cared about what this all meant. This was not a good sign.
"You know what? That's perfect. Jubilee can take my spot," Thea said.
Warren frowned and was about to respond when Kitty jumped in.
"You can't be serious," Kitty said, her eyes wide and urgent.
Thea could tell exactly what Kitty was thinking without any kind of telepathy. You can't let Jubilee have the opportunity to win Warren was what Kitty meant. Well, why not? Thea wasn't planning on making a move anytime soon, so why not give Jubilee the opportunity to make Warren happy?
"Yeah, I think it's a great idea. I'll stay here, hold down the fort. You guys have fun, okay?" Thea said before brushing past Kitty and Warren and Jubilee. Her heart was racing with a mixture of emotions by the time she reached her room, and she was still hungry.
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Dinner that evening had been an awkward experience, though Thea had no idea why. She had been exceptionally cheerful, at least by her standards, in the presence of Marie, Bobby, Peter, Kitty, Warren and Jubilee. Yet Kitty and Bobby, especially, seemed to be scrutinizing her at all times.
A couple hours later, Thea was settled onto her bed for another night of epic reading when there was a knock on her door.
"Hey," Warren greeted.
"Hi," Thea said, putting down her book.
"Why aren't you getting ready?" Warren asked.
Thea didn't bother feigning ignorance over what Warren was talking about. "I'm not going."
"It'll be fun," Warren said.
"I'm sure it will be," Thea replied.
"Kitty's really upset that you said you aren't going," Warren said, trying a different approach to cajole Thea into going.
"Well, Kit's got all these plans. And when things don't go according to her plans, she gets upset," Thea replied vaguely.
"Why don't you want to go?" Warren asked.
Thea really didn't want to tell him. Didn't he see how their friends had been setting them up together until Warren had suggested Jubilee go? In truth, Thea had entertained the idea of going with Warren to the club, dancing with him, flirting, and all that date-like stuff, until reality got the better of her.
"I just don't," Thea replied.
Warren sat down on the side of the bed, the feathers of his wings brushing gently against Thea's legs. Thea shifted over so that she could no longer feel the softness of the feathers, it was distracting.
"I want you to come," Warren said.
"You'll have a great time with Jubilee," Thea said, a little too abruptly.
Warren looked at Thea critically. "Is that what this is about?" he asked, leaning at bit towards her.
Thea got off the bed to put a wide space between her and Warren.
"I want you to come," Warren repeated, getting off the bed to stand in front of her.
"Well, not happening," Thea said stubbornly.
An all too familiar piece of paper was waved across her face. "Yep, it is," he said simply, handing the paper over to her. It read, "This voucher is valid for one activity of the recipient's choosing that the giver must do, barring all dirty thoughts in the recipient's dirty mind".
"You sure you want to use this on a night of clubbing?" Thea asked skeptically.
"Quite certain," Warren said. "We're leaving in an hour. Kitty'll be in to help you get change."
Thea narrowed her eyes in realization. "You were in on this too. Why is everyone so adamant about making me go clubbing?" she asked.
Warren shrugged. "I didn't know about any of this until Kitty told me you didn't want to go. When I asked Jube to come, that didn't mean I didn't want you to come. I'll see you soon," he said. "And please wear one of those shirts Kitty bought," he added with a smile.
"The voucher says no dirty thoughts," Thea warned.
Warren smiled innocently. "What dirty thoughts?" he said, walking out the door.
Not a minute later Kitty ran through Thea's wall with a happy expression on her face.
"What are you doing?" Thea asked exasperatedly.
"Helping you get ready," Kitty said as though it were obvious.
"No, I mean about this whole clubbing thing. Why couldn't you just let me stay here and have Warren go with Jubilee?"
Kitty frowned. "And let her win your guy? No way."
"Okay, first of all, you really need to understand that Warren is not my guy. This delusion you are under was mildly entertaining, but now it's just annoying," Thea snapped.
Kitty stood up straighter, ready for the verbal sparring. "I'm the delusional one? For heaven's sake, Thea, Warren's crazy about you! Why else would he go through all that freakin' trouble with your Christmas present? You are the delusional one. And you know what? Warren is too. He probably doesn't even realize how much he likes you. But the fact is that you guys are totally in love with each other and I'm not going to let Jubilee cut in and try and seduce Warren away from you. She's a great girl, but she's not for him. You are," Kitty said passionately.
Thea's head was spinning from what Kitty had said. When did all of this become so complicated? Love? Who said anything about love? And Warren already liking her? She hadn't even entertained that thought.
"But if Warren responds to any kind of advances Jubilee makes, doesn't that mean he likes her?" Thea asked.
Kitty let out an exasperated sigh. "No! It means he's horny and he's given up on you before he's even tried to make a move."
"Well, then maybe it's not meant to work out between us anyway."
"Well, you're not giving him any signals that you want something to work out between you two."
"Well, if he knew me well enough, he would know that I wouldn't make a first move."
"Well, he has every reason to think you would make the first move when you said if you wanted to, you'd just jump him!"
"Well, I haven't jumped him, have I? So clearly I don't want to."
"Thea! Stop! God, you're just making excuses. Just answer this question, okay?" Kitty said frustratingly.
"Okay."
"Yes or No: Do you like Warren in a romantic way?" Kitty asked calmly.
Thea's head swarmed with the consequences of answering that question. Her past, her parents, her friendship with Warren, her honesty with herself, her future, her emotions…they would all be affected by the answer to that question.
But Kitty wasn't asking about what would be affected by the answer, she was asking what the answer was. It was a very complicated situation, but a very easy answer.
"Yes."
Hearing herself say that simple, stupid word was amazing. She had toyed with the idea of liking Warren, her parents had talked to her as though she liked Warren, Kitty had assumed she like Warren, but she never had admitted it out loud. It was all more concrete now. She was excited and scared out of her mind from that one word.
"That's settled then," Kitty said airily. She walked over to Thea's closet to pick out an outfit.
"What? Nothing's settled. It just makes everything all the more complicated," Thea said.
"No. You like the guy. He likes you. He'll make you happy. You'll make him happy. If you two just freakin' TRY!" Kitty replied, thoroughly annoyed.
Thea didn't know what to say. Everything was so clear to Kitty while her own mind was filled with haze.
"So, tonight is the night to try," Kitty said simply.
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Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate all your kind words about my story! You guys talking about you check for updates neurotically just makes me want to update faster because I know exactly how you feel! I just never expected to be one of the writers people waited so eagerly for, so it's very flattering. This chapter is shorter, but that's because the next one is going to be very, very interesting and pretty long. In regards to the last chapter, I'm glad that some of you thought the beginning was choppy because that was exactly what it was supposed to be. The narration of each chapter is based on either Warren or Thea's POV, which is why I've tried to make the narration's style a bit different for each of the characters. In the last chapter from Warren's POV, he was upset and feeling very insecure in the beginning, so I was trying to get the narration to reflect that sentiment. When he reaches the mansion and is with Thea, the narration smoothes out because Warren has calmed down more. Warren's narration is more frank and self-deprecating. Thea's narration is usually more intense in terms of thinking through things because Thea loves to think. I'll try to work on that more if it's not obvious. Anyway, please review and let me know what you think! Thanks!
