Dreaming Dead

Chapter 25

Thomas's hand left my sides the moment he heard her. He jerked back and I moved away from him, so that there was enough space between us. I was out of breath and so was he, but he was so surprised seeing Liz -more than I was- that he just awkwardly stood in front of her, his body tensed as if he might run past her any moment.

And with these circumstances, you can't quite blame him.

"Liz, look I can_" Thomas started, moving a hand through his hair, taking a step forward towards her.

The horror on Liz's face was obvious and mechanically, she took a step back and hissed. "Save it for somebody who actually cares, Thomas!"

"Liz look, it wasn't anything like you think_" Thomas pleaded again, his hand lingering forward, trying to reach her.

Oh really?

"Oh really?" Liz stared daggers at him hard and voiced my thoughts, taking another step back. "You were just kissing Amy for the fun of it?!" She spit out my name as if it was poison, her voice somewhat rising.

At that time Rachel was out of her seat, standing up and putting the phone receiver down.

"Excuse me, please this is not the right_" She started consciously getting up from behind her desk.

"Oh shut up!" Liz bellowed at her, so suddenly that Rachel and I flinched. I stared at Liz, my eyes wide and my mouth slightly hanging open.

"Liz, please try to understand. This is not the right place to do this!" Thomas said reaching forward towards her.

"'Right place to do this?' This is also not the right place to kiss someone else when you already have a freaking girlfriend!" Liz cried out.

The door at the other end opened and Miss Honey and my mom came out –a bundle of papers in her hand- very bewildered looking. Rachel diverted her attention towards them, squeaking a little and I also stood up. But Liz and Thomas were staring at each other, too hard to notice, while Liz kept shouting things at him.

If this wasn't happening in front of my eyes, I would have never believed it.

My mom hurried towards my side, her eyes not leaving the drama ahead of her. She protectively placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it, while Miss Honey walked over to the couple.

How much more stupid can I be? If only I hadn't kissed him, nothing like this would be happening.

"Elizabeth, Thomas? What is going on here?" Miss Honey asked her voice loud enough to be heard over the cries of the argument.

Liz stopped in midway and looked at Miss Honey, stunned, her hand still raised in the air, finger pointing at Thomas accusingly. Thomas looked at me, his eyes pleading for some help, but I looked away down at my sneakers.

"I... I," Liz started, her eyes darting between Thomas and Miss Honey, but then she finally rested her eyes on me, as if noticing me for the first time.

She paused long enough and mouthed something at me so that I could understand. Her eyes lingered on me a few seconds as a shudder ran through me and then she ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her. For a short moment, nobody dared to move and then Thomas ran outside after her.

A sigh escaped my mom's mouth, and behind me her body relaxed. Rachel slumped back in her seat, exhausted. A phone rang on her table and she picked it up, and without bothering to even lift it up towards her ear she slammed it down again, fed up. Miss Honey turned her gaze towards me, her mouth set up in a grim line across her face, her eyes a hard ocean, unfazed.