Discoveries | TMR | Three

0:2

''Nick! Are you forgetting something?"

Almost. He almost made it out of the meeting.

His left foot is only just beginning to curve over the metal rim that separates the hall from the Harbour, and he almost makes it... until Lily calls him back.

Truthfully, he knew that Lily needed to speak with them all, but he had hoped that his lack of presence would go unnoticed. The softened sound of the older woman requesting that he remain in the room trickles through the air around him, and for a very brief moment, Nick would like nothing more than to say 'fuck off'.

But he doesn't have the balls to be so cruel to her.

So rather than biting to the simple request, he swallows back the frustration of possibly losing another hour of his life to silly squabbles and foul-mouthed tirades, he spins his body around and plasters on a smile. "Of course" he beams sarcastically, making his way back to the table in the centre of the room. "But I thought you went over everything in the meeting?"

"I did" Lily responds. "But were you listening?"

"Obviously I was!"

His chipper tone and bright smile clearly doesn't fool her, for she crosses her arms neatly over her chest and gives him an expectant look. "Okay, then can you explain to the others - who were clearly not listening as well as you were - what we were discussing?"

Shit.

He shouldn't have lied, but honestly, what did Lily expect? The meeting had gone as well as it could, and almost everything had played out exactly how he expected.

Terribly.

Matt and Thomas individually attempted to take full control over the whole thing, which led to the pair of them bickering about it for twenty minutes before Oscar finally stepped in to hush them. Remind them how to 'read the room'. Matt claimed that he should be in charge because he knows more about the Scorch and how to handle it, whereas Thomas argued that his knowledge of Wicked and how to handle them far supersedes that.

Nick had Lily on one side, gasping and clutching his arm at every foul word thrown, and Chuck on the other side giggling at the two boys whilst whispering in his ear about the argument as though he was not stood staring at the exact same thing.

He had heard the names 'Tommy' and 'Matt' followed by 'stop it' so many times that they had become distorted. Nothing more than strange sounds etched on his brain. 

The entire thing, so often is the case, was just pure chaos, so why would he listen?

"That's what I thought" the woman pipes up again, and it is only now does Nick realise he had lost himself in a daydream. He looks to her, and in response she clicks her fingers and points to the chair in front of him. "Sit down please."

"Alright, fair enough" he mutters, deciding not to argue. He drags the chair from the table and plonks himself down, letting out a sigh along the way. "What's going on with him then?"

"Well, unfortunately there is not an awful lot to update you on-"

Then why am I here?

"-however, I realise that it has been a number of weeks since our last discussion, so I thought it best to broach the topic now before your next venture out. Your friend has-"

Regretfully, Nick begins to zone out once more, but he feels it is for good reason. The chair next to him creaks, and a glimmer of fiery red hair glistens in his peripheral. He glances to see Adeline shifting onto the stool next to him. A refreshing sight to see, and strange - if he is completely honest - for it is a rare occurrence to see her at these meetings. Especially when the Gladers are present.