Ugly Secrets, Pretty Lies

Twenty-four

Thomas stops his car in front of the woods. I look curiously at him as I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car.

"The woods?" I said.

Thomas flashes me a quick smile. "You'll see. Come on."

He grabs the picnic picket from the back seat and locks his car. As he started walking into the forest, I followed behind him. Twigs litter the ground and the leafy trees towered above us. It wasn't dark yet, so slivers of light peek through spaces between the trees. I stumbled over a log and Thomas grabbed my arm,

"Whoa! You alright?"

I smiled slightly. "Fine."

 I straightened myself up, brushing dirt off my jeans. I continued following Thomas, who led us into a large grassy clearing. Light flashed down on the grass, causing it to glimmer. It's actually quite beautiful. Trees surround the clearing, like a guard. 

"Wow..." I murmur, looking around.

Thomas grinned. "You like it?"

"Hell yes!"

I watched as Thomas took a blanket out of the basket and spread it in the middle of the clearing. He smoothed the edges out and lay the basket on top. He knelt on his knees and waved me over.  

"Come over."

I walked over and sat down on the blanket. Thomas opened the lid of the basket and takes out a container of fruit salad, 2 bottles of water, 4 sandwich baggies, and 2 more containers with aluminum foil surrounding the inside so I couldn't see what was inside.

"There's chicken-and-cheese sandwich, egg salad sandwich, turkey-and-egg sandwich, and tuna melt sandwich. Have your pick," Thomas told me.

I held up one of the 2 containers. "What are these?"

"That's a surprise," Thomas says, smirking.

I arched an eyebrow. "A surprise?"

"Yep. You won't know what it is until until we finish our food."

"Well, I'll try to weasel it out of you," I murmur.

"You can try, but you can't."

I smiled sweetly at Thomas. "Watch me."

He laughed as he picked up the egg salad sandwich and took a bite. I chose the tuna melt one and bit into it, savoring the creamy tuna and crunchy onion bits. 

"This is so good!" I moaned, taking another bite. "Did you make this?" I fish out a piece of onion that was about to fall and pop it in my mouth. "If this is your masterpiece, then you're the absolute best cook ever! Literally!"

Thomas smiles at me. He puts his sandwich down and spreads his arms as if showing off something. "Yep, my masterpiece. I call it the Secret Daire Melt Masterpiece."

I paused eating for a while and gave Thomas puppy dog eyes. "Tell me the recipe please?"

He only winks. "Sorry, babe. A secret won't be a secret anymore if told."

I pouted. "What a shame. But really, this is too good." I continued eating again, letting out another moan at the yumminess. 

"Quiet down now, Quinn," Thomas coos, smirking.

Heat flushed my cheeks as I glared at him. "There's no one around to hear me so shut up!"

Thomas suddenly got on his knees, letting his sandwich fall to the blanket, and leaned close to me so our faces were just inches apart. "Ah, but people will hear you from miles away when you scream my name."