A few days passed seemingly in a haze. They mostly just kept driving in the scorching heat and Thomas was starting to feel like he was beginning to melt. Teresa had joined him and Newt in the back and they were trying to play charades, but when the boys failed to guess 'a killer clown' for fifteen minutes, she finally gave up. Everyone was acting a little snappy from the heat and Jorge had started threatening Minho if he didn't find a cool place for them to stop by.
To everyone's relief, he did manage to find something. Thomas guessed it was supposed to be somewhat of a small country town when he crawled out of the car and began praising the shadow underneath some trees. He thought he might have caught a glimpse of Brenda kissing the ground, but it could have been a mirage caused by the heat and his exhausted mind.
"Alright, who's up for some exploring?" Minho excitedly asked his friends, who were all hurdled under the trees to catch some shade.
"I wouldn't mind finding a shop where I could buy a gallon of icy drinks and maybe a few barrels of ice-cream. Perhaps some ice-packs too." Newt said as he took a few steps and put his hand above his eyes to get a better look around the town.
"Could you please stop saying 'ice' so many times?" Thomas let out a little whine. "It's having the opposite effect on me."
"Ice-cold." the other boy grinned and before Thomas could reach out to punch him in the arm, he took off into the town and the brunet followed in tow.
"We'll meet up at the car in two hours, so don't be late!" Teresa shouted at them.
"Okay!" Thomas tried to give her a thumbs-up, but at that moment he stumbled over a rock protruding from the ground and landed flat on his stomach. Groaning, he steadied himself on his arms and saw that Newt had come back to him and was crouching a little with his hands on his knees.
"Need some help?" the boy smiled cheekily and extended his hand. Thomas took it and got firmly dragged back to a standing position. A little surprised he staggered a few steps forward, not having expected the other to be this strong.
"So do you still want to find that shop?" he asked, trying to brush off what had just happened.
"I sure do."
The two boys walked around the small town; it seemed that technology had mostly avoided it and all of the houses and buildings looked pretty old. After finally finding a lone person hurrying down the street and managing to ask him where the nearest shop was, Thomas and Newt found themselves standing in front of a small building, with the words 'Chow down' hanging above the entrance.
"Was that their best choice for a name?" Thomas raised an eyebrow.
"It could be called 'Doors to hell' for all I care," Newt said as he pushed the door and a quiet 'cling' resounded through the room. "I just want a bloody cold drink and some ice-cream."
It was a lot cooler inside and Thomas was beginning to consider staying here for the rest of the day or even summer, but before he could gravitate towards the air-conditioner, Newt grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him to the freezers.
"Come on, you'll help me decide which flavour to get. I would say flavours, but I know that the minute we step outside the other ones would melt instantly, so I'll try to choose only a single packet."
"How smart of you." Thomas said, a little snarky.
"I know. What would you do without me?" Newt answered without missing a beat or turning around. The boy then leaned down to inspect the variety of ice-cream and beckoned the other to do the same. "So what do you think - 'Sex on the beach' or 'Creamy white delight'?"
"Do you mean which one sounds less suggestive?" the shorter boy looked at him questioningly. "Then I would say the second choice."
"Sure, Tommy, whatever floats your boat." Newt let out a small laugh. "Okay, I'll take the sex one and you can have the creamy white." He opened the freezer and took out the ice-cream. "You don't mind, right?"
"I don't know how to answer that question without either sounding too stupid or too sexual, so I'll just take what you give." Thomas grabbed the packet.
"And yet you still managed." The blond smirked at him and Thomas felt his ears heating up.
"Well you're one to talk with your choice of place." He tried retorting as they headed towards the drinks. "The beach? Really? You know how uncomfortable that would be, getting sand everywhere and no comfy place to lie down."
"Alright, I'll note down that you prefer a soft bed like a princess instead of being adventurous."
"A date wouldn't be too bad, but I'm just thinking practically. Also think about the crabs and all those other critters. Besides, there are more possibilities of getting caught in an open place like that." Thomas hummed, now only taking everything as a joke, though he thought that Newt almost dropping the drink he was reaching for at that moment seemed a little out of character.
"Well you're no fun." the taller boy stuck out his tongue like a little kid as he put down their things on the counter to pay for them. "But I'll remember that you're a romantic. Do you have a dating site profile? I can just imagine 'The name's Thomas, I'm nineteen years old, just finished school. I love sunsets and long walks on the beach, but no sex there, cuz that's just uncivilized'. So, did I nail it?"
"You got me." Thomas put up his arms feigning defeat. "But you cited it so perfectly I'm beginning to suspect you've seen it and studied it well."
"Busted. Now my years of stalking have gone to waste." Newt said dejectedly as he opened the doors back outside.
"But you're next to your target of admiration now, that must count for something." the shorter boy gave a wide smile while unwrapping his ice-cream.
"You're right!" Newt exclaimed happily, swung his left arm over the other's shoulders and pressed the cold bottle he was holding to his cheek. "I think this calls for a date." he wiggled his eyebrows.
Thomas felt his stomach leap momentarily before mentally slapping himself. That's just a joke. "Yeah, a picnic consisting of only cold beverages and foods and two guys sitting underneath a tree in a park. Sounds like a dream date." Well, actually it doesn't sound too bad.
"Oh don't be grumpy, we'll go on a beach date when we get there." Newt flopped down on the grass underneath a willow tree, which had more shade beneath it than the other ones at the small park.
The atmosphere here seemed lazy, but Thomas didn't mind relaxing for a bit while trying to eat his already dripping ice-cream. He glanced at Newt to see that the other boy was also struggling with his melting one, though it seemed that he was having more trouble, since his ice-cream was on a stick while Thomas' was in a cone. The blond kept trying to catch all the melting drops with his tongue so that they wouldn't fall on his hand, but a few still managed to land on it. Newt let out a sigh and seemed to give up on the action as he stopped twirling his tongue and just put the ice-cream in his mouth. An image popped into Thomas' mind of him helping the other boy with his hands by dragging his own tongue over them, but before his brain could come up with anything else he abruptly stood up, feeling his whole face heat up.
"I-I-I…" He stammered quickly looking around the area to find something to excuse himself to while Newt stared at him questioningly. "I'm going to rent us some bikes!" He almost screamed as he saw a bike rent in the distance. "We need to stretch our legs a little, we've been sitting for too long already." He imitated jogging in one place as Newt looked more and more confused. "I'll be right back!" The boy took off before the other could say anything.
Way to make yourself look like a complete nut-job.
It wasn't my fault he was eating his ice-cream so seductively. That could give ideas to anyone. He started arguing with himself as he jogged towards the bike-rent.
No, it wouldn't.
Yes, it would!
Fine, then imagine Minho eating ice-cream like that.
That's just gross.
See?
The brunet only shook his head as he shoved his remaining ice-cream into his mouth and immediately regretted doing that as he felt cold pain seeping through his teeth. He stopped in his tracks, coughed a few times before collecting himself and trying to walk normally towards the person who seemed like they were in charge of the stand.
"Um, yes, hello." He said lamely as the girl, who seemed like she was about fifteen, turned to him with a bored look. "How much for an hour?"
The girl just pointed at a board, where in big letters it was written '1 hour – 10' and continued chewing her gum. Thomas took out his wallet and opened it only to see that he didn't have enough for two bikes. "Could you perhaps make a discount?" He asked hopefully, but the girl only shook her head.
"I'm guessing you're not used to hearing 'no' with that pretty face, but no discounts, sorry."
"Pretty face..?" Thomas murmured under his breath and was about to turn back when he noticed a bike that had a back seat and a pretty big basket in front and an idea came to him. "Okay then, I'll take that one." He pointed towards it and the girl raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you didn't have enough for a bike."
"I do." He gave her a smile. "But I don't have enough for two. I guess my friend will have to make-do with what we've got."
The vendor just nodded and took the money he gave. "Come back in an hour and try not to damage the bike."
"Oh right, maybe you also have some tissues?" He asked taking the bike. The girl rummaged through her bag and gave him a few without saying a word and before he could give his thanks she was already putting on earphones and turning away from him. He only shrugged and sat on the bike to get back to Newt and hopefully not have to explain himself too much.
As he got back, he saw the other boy still sitting in the same place and finishing off his ice-cream. He noticed the brunet and bit into the remains, chewing them without any change of expression and Thomas winced a little at that. He stopped the bike, got off and extended the tissues. "I got these for you."
"Aw, how sweet of you," Newt took them and started wiping his hands. "So I guess these are in place of a bike?"
"Yeaaah… Sorry about that, but I only had enough for one." Thomas scratched his cheek with his index finger. "But we can still have fun with this."
"Really now," The blond stood up and walked closer to inspect the bike. "And how?"
"You can sit in the back or in front." The shorter boy chirped happily. "I think the basket's big enough for you."
"You have got to be bloody kidding me." Newt gave him an incredulous look, but when Thomas didn't say anything and just kept grinning, he let out a defeated groan. "You're not kidding."
"Nope! Now come on, get on. We've only got an hour." Thomas said gleefully.
"You know you'll have to make it up to me for this, right?" The taller boy said as he tried to steady himself on the basket. "If you drop me I'll never buy you ice-cream again."
"I won't make any promises." Thomas cooed and tried pedaling, but Newt was obstructing his whole view and a sudden thought came to him that this might not have been the best idea. "Uhh, Newt?" He asked feeling a bit nervous.
"Yeah?"
"Can you tell me where I'm going?"
"What?" The other boy tried to look back at him, but that shifted the balance of the bike and Thomas felt himself losing control of the handlebars.
"No no no! Don't do THAT!" He screamed from the top of his lungs. "I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING!"
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN?!" Newt also started screaming as Thomas felt them starting to go down a slope. "OH DEAR GOD, I'M GONNA DIE, TOMMY, AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! WHY DID I EVEN AGREE TO THIS?!"
"WHY DID YOU EVEN SIT IN FRONT?! THERE WAS A BACK-SEAT TOO!" Thomas tried to steer, but Newt was already fidgeting too much and whatever they were driving on became rocky all of a sudden.
"BECAUSE IT SEEMED MORE INTERESTING!" The blond still kept shrieking in his ear. "OUT OF ALL OF YOUR SHUCKING IDEAS THIS ONE'S THE WORST!"
"WELL YOU AGREED TO IT!" Thomas yelled before clutching on the breaks and making the bike halt with its tires screeching. Newt tumbled over from the basket and landed with a loud thump on the ground. Thomas quickly climbed off from the bike and got next to him. "Are you hurt?"
Newt just groaned in response without moving. "I'm perfectly fine, just dandy, thanks for asking."
"Look, I'm sorry." Thomas put up his hands in a pleading manner. "I'll make it up to you."
At that the blond slowly stood up and turned to the other boy. "Will you do anything?"
"Yeah, I'll do anything you tell me to, just please don't be mad." The shorter boy tried to give his best apologetic look and it seemed to be working as Newt looked like he was trying to stay angry, but the corners of his mouth started quivering and eventually he smiled.
"Alright, but you'll have to keep your word."
Thomas felt some cold sweat forming at those words, but didn't say anything and just nodded intensively.
"Okay, but there's no way I'll be sitting in the front again." Newt said as he made himself comfortable at the back seat.
"I didn't force you to sit there, though." The brunet mumbled. "Anyway, do you have a destination in mind?"
"Sure, I've been here a thousand times, I know every nook and cranny in this town." Newt replied from the back as Thomas started pedaling. He felt the other's hands wrapping slightly on his waist but tried to ignore it.
"Really?" Thomas turned a little, quite surprised at this information.
"Of course not." The other boy said flatly. "I have no idea what the name of this town is. But I do know what I'd want to find."
"What is it?" Thomas asked as they passed a pile of cats sprawled on top if each other, sunbathing in the park.
"A thrift shop."
"A thrift shop?"
"A thrift shop." He heard his friend snicker. "It'll be fun if we can manage to find one. You'll get your punishment there."
"And now I'm kind of scared." The shorter boy gulped.
"Don't be, it won't be too bad. I promise you won't be needing too much medical help." Newt tickled him a bit on the ribs and Thomas lost his steering a little.
"Hey! Do you want to fall again?" He said trying to sound angry and failing miserably as a laugh escaped his mouth.
"I'd prefer not to answer." The blond breathed out near his ear before resting his head against Thomas' back.
"That doesn't sound too convincing." Thomas tried to joke a bit as the other became quiet.
"I guess... Well, anyway, keep on the lookout for the shop. I don't want us to miss it." Newt hummed out.
"Alright." The shorter boy agreed without any other retorts, since it didn't seem that the other was in the mood for them now.
A few more minutes passed in silence, though it wasn't really uncomfortable. Thomas enjoyed the feeling of another person leaning against him and it seemed that Newt also liked it. After they exited the park and went into the town, Newt finally perked up.
"Did you notice that there are basically no people around?" He asked, looking around a bit.
"Now that you mentioned it, this place really does have that ghost town feel."
"Maybe they're all asleep?"
"Why do you think so?" Thomas asked curiously.
"Since it's the middle of the day and it's really hot outside. They could be having some kind of a siesta. Though it seems that the shops are still open."
As Newt kept talking in the background about the weather, a slightly out of place shop caught Thomas' attention. It had big windows and colourful clothing displayed through them. He slowly stopped the bike and Newt seemed to notice the same shop too.
"I think I found what we were looking for." Thomas looked at his friend with a proud smile.
"Seems like you did." Newt ruffled his hair as he looked over the other's shoulder. "How much time do we have left?"
"About half an hour for the bike and hour for the meeting." The shorter boy answered after checking his phone.
"Alright, then let's go through the park a few times, return the bike and then head back here."
"You don't mind just sitting and watching the scenery pass?" Thomas asked as he returned to pedaling, mentally marking where he saw the shop and how to get back to it.
"Not really, it's nice just talking to you." Newt answered softly.
Thomas kept silent after that, thinking about those words, but after a few more moments he started talking again. Though he didn't mention it, he also enjoyed their chats. Mostly he just enjoyed being near the other boy, but that was something he really didn't feel like telling him. At least for now.
As time ran out for the bike, the boys returned back to the place where Thomas had rented it. The girl was still lazily sitting on her chair, reading a book and chewing gum. She noticed the two and her expression changed just a slight bit to curiosity. "Do the good looking ones always travel in groups?" She asked with a small smile. Before either one of the boys could answer she just took the bike and put it back by the others. "I'll ignore the small dent at the front. It was nice doing business with you."
Thomas only waved at her awkwardly as he and Newt turned back to walk to the shop.
"She's a little bit unusual." The blond spoke up when they were out of hearing range. "But not in a bad way."
"So you like them younger?" Thomas nudged him in the arm playfully.
"Just slightly." The other winked at him with a warm smile.
It didn't take long for them to trail back to the shop and Thomas was starting to feel more scared as Newt's smile kept growing bigger. The bell chimed as they entered the colourful place, filled with all kinds of clothing; some of them even seemed like they were from other periods of time.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Thomas asked as Newt was already picking up something.
"I dunno, but here, try this on and wait till I find something else." The other answered as he gave him a tacky bright yellow shirt and turned around to go through the clothing racks. Thomas just sighed and headed towards the changing rooms. He felt like this might take a while.
Newt kept choosing the most ridiculous clothing he could find and taking pictures of Thomas as the shorter boy felt more and more exhausted. He had already tried on every variation of the neon shirt and flared pants combination and Newt had also found some bandanas to add to the mix. After those came the horrid combinations of whatever looked the most eye catching. He was forced to wear a crop-top with 'SWAG' written on it in bold letters, a bright pink and baby blue tutu skirt, cowboy boots and a tiara to top it all. Newt kept taking pictures from every angle he could manage and Thomas only felt dead inside.
Look at your life. Look at your choices.
When Newt finally stopped laughing and declared that he was finished with his 'art section' Thomas almost ripped off the clothing on him, but managed to contain himself. The two boys exited the shop, but before they could head back to the arranged meeting place Newt halted in his tracks, turned back and went into the shop, asking for Thomas to wait for him outside. The brunet stood as he was told, not even caring anymore what would happen to him. After a few minutes the taller boy returned and while smiling put something on his head.
"What is it?" Thomas asked as he tried to take off the thing, but Newt stopped his hand.
"The last part of the punishment and a present from me." He patted down the other's hair and started strolling down the road. "Now come on, we'll be late."
As they reached the car Teresa and Brenda were already there and the two of them were talking about something intensively with a lot of hand gestures, but as they saw the two others they stopped and then just mostly stared at Thomas.
"Um, should I ask why you're wearing that?" Brenda finally spoke up.
Thomas glanced at Newt and when the other nodded he took off the thing on his head and inspected it. It was a silver tiara with some fake glass jewels glued onto it. "Seriously?" was all he could say as he looked back at the blond.
"It fit you."
And then a sudden whim came to Thomas to put back the tiara on his head. He placed it on again and looked at the girls, who still seemed somewhat confused. "It fits me."
Just as those words left his mouth a shout came from behind them. "Yooo! The fashion police called and they wanted you to know that you broke every law in their book." Minho snickered as he and Jorge joined everyone by the car.
"Why does he seem to know what we were doing?" Thomas whispered to Newt so that others would hear.
"I may or may not have snapchatted him a few pictures." The taller boy said while averting his eyes from meeting Thomas' accusing glare.
"And I can bet whatever that's left of my dignity that he saved all of those pictures. You do realize that now he has more than enough material to blackmail me if he ever needs to?"
"I figured he already had enough material on you."
"You're probably right." Thomas gave in and turned back to Minho. "Lay it on me, I'll take whatever you throw."
"Aw, man, don't be that way. I only wanted to compliment you on your beautiful headwear." Minho grinned at him.
"It makes me feel pretty." The shorter boy answered, trying to look as nonchalant as possible.
"Like the prettiest princess around?"
"Like the prettiest princess in the world, to be more exact."
"And here I thought that Minho was the only royalty here." Jorge spoke up leaning against the car. "A royal pain in the ass."
"Seems like the king of douchebaggery has something to say." The Asian barked back and raised an eyebrow. "You wanna go?"
"Mostly I'd just like to go find a nice camping place to stay. We don't want to waste our time arguing about obvious stuff, now do we, hermano?" Jorge smirked at him.
It seemed like Minho was about to jump Jorge, so Thomas steered him towards the front of the car. "Just don't drive off a cliff. It's not worth it." The brunet said as he patted his friend on the back. Minho only turned back to Jorge, pointed at his own eyes and then at the other's in the world-wide known sign of 'I'll be watching you' and sat at the steering wheel. Everyone else also got back in the car and Teresa said that she and Brenda had found a nice place that could be used for camping. Minho followed her instructions and shortly after they were driving up a hill that was near the town. They finally stopped at a cliff that just seemed to end abruptly.
It took some time to set up the tents, but everyone was already starting to learn how to do it better than how they had managed at the beginning. The first night they just gave up after half an hour of trying and just slept in the car, but when everyone woke up complaining about back pains like old geezers it was decided that the tents were a must.
They were beginning to get used to spending the evenings around a campfire and either talking about various things, playing games or making fun out of each other. This time was not that different either, only ghost stories got thrown into the mix too. Jorge and Brenda had the most to tell and both of them just kept speaking one after the other. Thomas noticed that Minho was progressively getting closer to him as the evening stretched on. By the time it was completely dark the Asian boy had managed to somehow get in between him and Newt and was shaking a bit, though when asked he denied everything. Teresa just mostly laughed at the stories and after Brenda had to ask her to stop ruining the mood the girl tried to contain her giggles to a minimum.
When the ghost stories finally drained out everyone dispersed into their tents. They had three of them, which weren't too big, so in the beginning it had been decided that two people would sleep together. Teresa and Brenda had gotten one, since their argument was that they were the only girls and they didn't want to sleep next to a snoring guy. Thomas and Newt had gotten the second one because it seemed the most logical as they were childhood friends and Newt still knew Thomas the best. That had left Minho and Jorge with the last tent and it had sparked some conflict, mostly from Minho's side. Jorge had said that he would cut the other's fingers off if he tried any funny business while he was asleep and Minho threatened of setting him on fire. That seemed pretty reasonable to both of them and in the end they complied.
Thomas fell asleep pretty quickly and didn't even stir, up until the point when a shrill shriek resounded through the air in the middle of the night. The boy jolted from his sleeping bag and saw that Newt had done the same next to him.
"What the bloody hell was that?" The blond looked at him.
"I have no idea, but I think we should check it out." Thomas said as he stood up and got out of the tent. He saw Brenda and Teresa doing the same but Jorge and Minho didn't appear. The four that were outside exchanged glances and then walked towards the third tent. Newt opened the entrance up and what they saw was Jorge laughing like a maniac and Minho was sitting frozen and his eyes wide open, staring into nothing.
"What happened here?" Teresa asked looking at Jorge.
"I have no idea, but he woke me up by screaming like a little baby and then he just kept muttering something to himself like a crazy person." Jorge answered after seemingly managing to calm himself down. "It looked hilarious."
Newt knelt down next to Minho and put a hand on his shoulder. "Would you want to tell us why you were screaming?"
Minho turned up to him with a scared look on his face. "It was the nerds." he whispered.
"The nerds?" Thomas asked having no idea what the other was talking about.
"Yes, Thomas, the nerds." Minho looked him dead in the eye. "They invaded. It was horrible."
"And you completely lost me." Teresa said as she turned around. "Come on, Brenda. Let's go back to sleep. The baby here only dreamt a nightmare."
Brenda only looked at Minho with a mix of disappointment and pity and also left after the other girl, since it was already really cramped in the little tent to even stay there longer.
"You want to talk about it?" Newt asked the dark haired boy, though it looked like he was trying to contain from laughing himself when Jorge burst out in another fit after hearing what the fuss was about.
"You know what? It'll be better if I come to your tent." Minho suddenly stood up with his sleeping bag.
"Uh, why?" Thomas looked at him quizzically.
"I'll feel less judged there." He looked at Jorge accusingly.
"Wait wait-" Newt was cut off as Minho walked passed him and towards their tent, opened it up and entered it.
"What just happened?" Thomas felt like that question was repeated way too much in that short span of time.
"I have no idea." The blond muttered back and then sighed. "Come on, let's get back to sleep. I only hope there will be enough place to lie down comfortably."
The two got back into their own tent and saw that Minho had sprawled in the middle of both of their sleeping bags and was already peacefully snoring.
"Maybe we should carry him back?" Thomas suggested.
"I think he'll start kicking and punching before we manage to walk even half of the distance."
"Then what do we do?"
"I'm not feeling that sleepy now," Newt said looking at the other. "I'll stay up outside for a bit and maybe try to come up what we could do with him."
Thomas realized at those words that he also wasn't that tired anymore, all of his sleep vanishing somewhere. "I'll join you then." He said with a small smile and then walked towards the edge of the cliff and sat down as Newt did the same. The night was pretty warm too, so they didn't feel too cold with only their sleepwear on.
The town below them glowed in a gentle light from the streetlamps and some sporadic window lights and above them the scattered stars did the same. Thomas thought that the view looked really beautiful.
Both of them just sat in silence, looking at the sight in front of them, and after a while Thomas felt his eyelids getting heavier again. He glanced at Newt and was a bit surprised that the other wasn't looking at the sky anymore, but at him. The brunet didn't say anything and only looked at him a little questioningly, but as Newt didn't say anything either he only stood up. "Let's go, we need to get at least some sleep."
The blond nodded and stood up himself.
"You know, the view was really nice. I'm glad that Teresa and Brenda found this place." Thomas said as they neared their tent.
"Yeah, it really was." Newt answered quietly.