Where We Lay (newtmas au)

Chapter 3

[chapter three] ; you waste all this time trying to get to me
*

Thomas enters the cafe he had came into with Minho and Teresa the week before. But he was alone this time, seeing as the cafe was relatively quiet when he first came so he thought it would be a good place to work on his studies.

He sits down at the seat closest to the back, wanting his privacy, and opens his laptop. Brenda, his friend and favorite waitress (mainly because she gives him free snacks) doesn't see Thomas for a couple minutes but then spots her lonely friend and makes her way to his seat. "Hey Sugar,"she smiles warmly at him, retrieving a butterscotch from her apron and tossing it at him when he looks up at her.

Thomas smiles back cutely and unwraps the candy, "Thanks bae." She groans and flops into the booth across from him, "Last time I checked Tommy, we're not living in instagram." "Don't call me that," He singsongs, typing the topic sentence of his essay. "Well, what am I supposed to call you?" she huffs, taking a butterscotch for herself. "My name will do just fine." Thomas retorts," Now go to the kitchen and get me cookies, slave."

She stands but then stops, "Was that sexist?"

"I was insulting you as a person, not your gender."

She mumbles something under her breath that contains Thomas' name and several colorful words but heads towards the counter where the cookies are held anyway. She hands the chocolate chip cookie to Thomas and heads to the kitchen to check up on how the rest of the pastries are coming along.

Brenda is met with the sight of a very stricken looking Newt, sitting on the ground of the kitchen with his hands in his hair. 'Despite looking like a downright mess, he still manages to pull it off,' she thinks, thanking her lucky stars to have such attractive friends. She crouches next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I fucked up."

Brenda frowns when she she hears that, "What do you mean?" He takes his hands from his hair and stares at her blankly, "I. Fucked. Up." She finally sits down next him and raises an eyebrow as if to say 'elaborate.' Newt sighs and hesitates but gets out "Um, you know how the sugar bags and the salt bags are both brown and sometimes they look alike? Well.." He trails off, knowing she'd catch on. Her eyes widen and she gasps, "You didn't." "Hate to say this but I did." Newt winces at his own words.

She bursts out laughing, letting out little snorts of humor. Newt pouts and crosses his arms but begins to chuckle at her ridiculous snorting. Soon, they're both laughing messes, not even sure what they're laughing at anymore.

Meanwhile, Thomas sits at his table and takes a huge bite out of the cookie Brenda had brought out for him. His face instantly scrunches up in disgust and he spits the cookie out on the table, not caring about the looks he's getting.

"Fan-fucking-tastic," he mumbles, using his napkin to wipe up the mess. As he gets up to throw away the napkin in the trash bin next to the back doors, he hears laughing. He'd recognize Brenda's snorting from anywhere but there's a boy laughing with her.

A very cute laugh if he may add. Thomas faintly hears, "What are we even laughing about?" And it's British. Or Australian. He can never tell the difference. Whatever accent it is, it sounds handsome and strong and Thomas is extremely attracted right now.

He knocks softly on the kitchen door, the laughter ending abruptly. Brenda peeks her head out from behind the double doors, sighing in relief once she sees Thomas. "I thought you might've been my boss," she breathes out, still giggling.

"Who's in there?" Thomas says, trying to see into the small plastic windows. Brenda comes out from the doors fully and places herself in front of him ," Sorry, employees only." He pouts at her but she doesn't budge.

He rolls his eyes," Fine." She smiles then lights up as if she had an idea," Oh! Did you happen to get a really bitter cookie?" Thomas squints suspiciously at her, "Maybe."

"Sorry Tommy boy, that was Newt's doing." "Don't call me that," He sighs again. "Who is Newt? Sounds like a lizard..," He mumbles the last sentence, quirking an eyebrow when Brenda laughs. "He's the one I was laughing with. Super cute and funny. Totally your type," she smiles at him mischievously," Maybe I can hook you guys up?"

Thomas shakes his vehemently, "Hell to the no." She looks at him," why not? He's cute, nice, funny and probably a great lay," She wiggles her eyebrows at him and shimmies her shoulders a bit. "Yeah, that's what you said about Dean." "How was I supposed to know he would bring his mother to your date?"

"I suppose you couldn't have known that.." She smiles sarcastically at him and beelines for the counter. "Hey um did anyone else buy any cookies?" Brenda asks her co-worker, Wes, behind the cash register. He shakes his head and she internally screams in joy as she takes the sample cookies and throws them in the trash bin.

She goes to talk to Thomas but sees he went back to studying and decides to leave him alone.

She digs a cookie from the trash and heads to the kitchen where Newt is making a new batch of sweet tarts, salt bags no where to be seen thank the lord. She slips the cookie in his apron which is discarded on the stool near the oven.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't place salty treats in my clean apron," Newt says to her, not glancing up from the dough he's currently kneading. She purses her lips and grabs his wrist to check the time. "My shift ended five minutes ago and my appointment is in ten," Brenda says in realization, hurrying up to get her apron off and hang it on her hook.

Newt laughs and waves goodbye as she packs her things. "Bye Newtie patootie!" She calls to him, giggling when he grunts back.

She heads out of the kitchen, stuffing a sweet tart she managed to knick in her purse. "See ya tomorrow Tomboy," He gives a two finger salute as she says her goodbyes to familiar customers and heads out the door of the cafe