Miss Matched // Thomas Sangster Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Eight - Weakness

You tiptoe around your room, your phone tucked under your chin as you scatter Halloween decorations around every inch of the room. As you place small pumpkins on your desk, you tell your grandma, "I'm really worried about Thomas. And Ava, of course. Poor Ava is practically a baby still, and she must be so scared. Thomas must be going insane, trying to take care of her and be a steady influence for her."

"You know," your grandma says on the other side of the phone, "after all my years of living, I've learned that everything always works out in the end. Sometimes things don't have a happy ending, but everyone manages to be okay. I'm sure Thomas and Ava are no exception. They'll be just fine."

Her words don't exactly comfort you, but then again, your grandma wasn't exactly the most comforting person anyways. She was always there for you. That was all you could really ask for. In fact, she was there for you and your siblings much more than she was for your cousins. She'd always been the housewife who cared for her family, and when your parents died, she'd scooped that role back up without any complaints. So, she'd kind of earned the right to speak the uncomfortable truths.

All you can say in response is, "I guess."

Grandma clears her throat, and says with a slightly scratchy voice, "I wanted to talk to you about Thanksgiving next month. I've been looking at plane tickets to fly you back to Arizona, and I was thinking..."

She rambles on, talking about all your fun holiday plans, but you can't stay focused on the conversation. You sit on your bed, staring at the wall and zoning off. It's nearly impossible for you to think about anything other than Thomas and Ava right now. It's as if the events with them have put your entire world on a string and you're waiting for the line to be cut.

After a while of saying, "mm-hmmm" and "that would be great, Grandma," you finally have some reprieve.

Ariana bursts into your room after knocking a couple of times. She immediately spots you and says breathlessly, "He's back! I just saw Thomas leave the dining hall!"

"Grandma, I've got to go!" You interrupt her on the other line, "Sorry, I love you, bye!"

You hang up, jumping off your bed and rushing out of the door after Ariana. As you take the steps two at a time, trying to catch up with her, you ask, "Which way was he going?"

"No idea."

Very helpful.

"I'm going to go find him!" You shout to Ariana, running in the direction of the library. You have to run carefully though. Gandy had received its first snow of the new school year. The paths are slick with ice and wet from the slushy snow. You have to be cautious as you run in order to keep from falling flat on your face.

You've not gone very far at all before you spot Dylan, shuffling carefully through the snow towards his dorm room. He looks a little startled as you run up to him.

"In a bit of a hurry, are we?" Dylan asks, looking at your snow covered shoes.

"Do you know where Thomas is?" You ask without hesitating.

Dylan raises an eyebrow, "Sorry, I don't. Last I saw him, he was asleep in bed. Practically passed out. Poor guy - even sleeping he looked absolutely, wretched and unhappy."

You hate hearing that. It makes you absolutely miserable to hear how hard Thomas is taking this.

"Ariana told me she saw him not long ago," you state, still trying to figure out where he could be.

"Try our dorm room," Dylan says with a shrug, "I can't imagine him wanting to be around very many people right now. Wherever he is, I bet he's alone."

When you reach the dorms, you see Thomas outside. He's standing off to the side of the doors, where he won't be disturbed. The snow around him has been trodden on and is mostly melted, slushy and brown. He doesn't notice you at all. Thomas's hands are shoved in the pockets of the gray hoodie he wears. He hasn't got a coat, gloves or a hat. He must be freezing. Although he probably isn't thinking about that at all.