I have everything, except you - Thomas Brodie Sangster fic

22.

"You need to give him two scoops of the dry food, and some fresh celery or something if you can, oh and fill up the water bottle please," Thomas instructed me through the phone.

I was in his room, kneeling in front of the cage that was set up in the corner. Thomas' pet chinchilla Harley was crouched inside, his cute little tail sweeping the bottom.

"Don't worry Thomas, jeez it's really not that difficult. I got this, trust me," I soothed. We ended the call after saying goodbye, and I stroked the top of Harley's head.

He was named after Harley Davidson motorcycles, of course. And even though he was kind of weird looking, he was really cute. I had to come by after school each day while Thomas was in hospital, and feed him.

I walked through their house, waving to Dan on my way out. I wasn't looking forward to classes the next day without him.

I woke up late, and had to rush through my morning routine, frantically brushing my teeth while I packed my bag. I grabbed some toast, I was eating more unhealthy these days, due to the limited time I had between exam study and now hospital visits to Thomas. It was a change from the green smoothies and salads I usually had.

"Bye mum," I yelled through a mouthful of toast as I walked out the door. She came into the kitchen, smiling, which was a rare occurrence for her.

"Have a good day at school," she said, then quickly crossed the room and gave me a hug. I was surprised, she never usually showed this level of affection towards me. "Thanks, mum," I said. "You have a good day too," I smiled as I left the house.

*

I was restless the whole day. I hadn't realized how Thomas's presence really affected me until I was without it. there was no calm, smooth voice there when I wanted to talk about anything that came into my mind, no subtle, hilarious jokes thrown my way when I was hardly listening to the teacher, no beautiful face to stare at while he wasn't looking..

I picked at the green leaves that sat on my lunch tray. Steph and Pat chatted to me about the usual things, Jordan, make up, boys Patricia could potentially date. I listened and contributed, only barely.

When I was with Thomas we talked about actual interesting things, and I could say anything that was on my mind without being afraid he would judge me. I found myself sensoring the things I wanted to say in my head before saying them now, because I knew I had to keep up a kind of fake image of myself around the girls that were supposed to be my best friends.

Ryan caught my hand as I walked past on the way to class, pulling me so that i turned to face him. "Wanna meet up after school or something?" He asked, while Evan glared furiously at us. Smirking, I agreed.

To rub it in a bit more, I quickly hugged Ryan and smiled back at him while walking out.

*

Truth was, I could only spend an hour or so with Ryan, because I found myself hardly able to wait until I could see Thomas.

We walked around the mall for a while, laughing and pointing out stupid things we would buy each other.

My sense of time of course melted away as it normally did when I was with Ryan, he was so distracting.

I checked the time on my phone to realize that I was late to get to the hospital. Ryan didn't even know about Thomas, though. I guess now was as good a time as any to try and explain the whole thing to him, he was one of my best friends after all.

"Oi Milly, you should get this," he held up a bright pink child's tee shirt with the words, "daddy's little devil" on the front in gold lettering. "Because of your hidden kinky side," he winked and I shoved him, spluttering with laughter and embarrassment.

"I do not have a hidden kinky side you asshole!" I hit him lightly while an elderly couple glared at us as they passed.

He was still laughing when I decided I really needed to tell him. "Hey, I need to be somewhere," I said, playing with my fingers. "Where?" He asked.

"Okay, you know Thomas Sangster?" I asked, but he looked vague as we wandered into the arcade and sat down on the car-racing games.

"He's in our year, blonde, tousled hair, tall and lanky, but great muscles..." I trailed off when I caught Ryan smirking at me.

"How long you been banging this guy? You have that dreamy look in your eye that most girls only get when staring deep into the eyes of their pin-up Zac Efron posters," he said.

I almost fell off the seat. "No! It's not like that! He's a friend, a family friend, but he's in hospital because we were messing around on his bed and- not in that way! Ugh, you and your dirty mind," I pushed his shoulder while he chuckled.

"Okay so long story short he didn't talk to me when we first met and so I went a bit loopy and decided I would try get him to like me, only he's ended up becoming a really good friend," I said in a rush, adding a "so yeah I needa leave," to the end.

We stood up, and I started walking swiftly to where I had parked my car. We both got in, and I hoped he wouldn't ask questions as I drove him to his house to drop him off, but of course he did.

"So you guys are just mind-fucking?" He asked, and I hit the brakes so he went flying forwards. "Sorry, sorry!" He said, rethinking his question as he rubbed his neck where the seatbelt had dug in. I smirked, though I felt my cheeks heating up.

"Okay, have you guys kissed?" I thought for a second, thinking about how I should answer. I decided there was no point hiding the truth.

"We've kissed," I said slowly, keeping my eyes on the road. "Like making out? Tongues? Any touchy-feely action? I want details here," I couldn't keep the smile out of my voice.

"Why, you jealous Ry?" He snorted, playing it off.

"Okay, that sounded kinda gay. I just wanted to know, seeing as you hadn't even mentioned him to me," he crossed his arms.

I sighed. "Okay, I'm sorry, I should've told you. He's just not the typical guy we talk to or know and I didn't know if you would like the whole situation." There was a silence and I looked over at him.

"And sorry to disappoint, but we've only kissed. No action, although I have seen him almost naked."

"WHAT,"