Shouldn't Have [TomTord]

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Tom, this is insane!"

The room is dimmed and dark. Clouds have taken over the sky outside and now the world is turning grey and preparing to rain for the rest of the day. Without the protruding sun, there is no line of light that creeps in through Tom's shitty curtains, and this means that he is finally allowed to have his room to fit the mood of his daily emotions; usually negative.

Isn't it strange how darkness is associated with negativity?

Matt stands in front of the Tom, wearing bright and colorful colors. He usually has on a smile and his freckles usually sparkle and his hair usually radiates sunlight. However, now, in the dimly lit space in this closed off room, Matt looks darken and no longer bright. He isn't smiling like how he usually would be, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's sad, right? Supposedly. He could be sad and just not showing it, but that's the thing with color and emotions; they're a trick of the eye. Whoever said that color and lighting determines the mood and feeling of people in environments? Why can't you walk into a darkened room and feel calm? Why can't you stand around the edges of brightly colored crowd, feeling sadness and embarrassment? Who ever let Tom think this much about colors and emotions? He needs to stop and focus in on the conversation.

Tom had just described his plan on wooing Tord by using Matt as a wingman, spreading good words and telling the Norwegian things that are close to being lies. Of course, Tom left out to the part about his ending goal to be Tord getting kicked out. No, Matt still believes Tom is helplessly in love with the douchebag. What an idiot. But suppose that's a good thing that Matt isn't bright enough to understand that Tom will never hold anything closer to romantic feelings towards Tord.

"You aren't serious when you tell me to lie to him, right?" Matt asks after it's apparent that Tom wouldn't be responding to the first question.

"Don't put it that way, my dear friend! It isn't lying, but just mere expanding of the truth!" Tom's smile is wide and terrifying under the dim glow of his bedroom. Something seems off and it's clear that Matt is concerned (if his pitying look is anything to go by).

Tom hates the look Matt is giving him.

It looks exactly like Edd's.

They must have been hanging around each other too much because that face looks almost identical to Edd's. What the hell?

"Tom, is something going on?" Matt asks and that face is going to haunt Tom's nightmares.

"What do you mean?"

"You seem stressed."

Tom almost laughs.

"Of course I'm stressed, Matt! I need Tord to fall in love with me before it's too late! I'll die!" Tom gives a large smile that frays a genuine look, even though it's practiced and not real. But, if he were to be completely honest, the fear of death at this point is sort of genuine. Only sort of.

Matt seems to calm down at this and visibly relaxes his shoulders, slumping forward. Tom saw from the corner of his eye the movement of Matt's hand coming up to place itself on his shoulder, so it didn't come as a surprise when Tom felt a hand on him. Even with that, he still flinched slightly from the contact, but he nonetheless stayed still.

Tom can feel his finger tips fill up with a fuzzy feeling. Maybe he is going insane.

Who told him he was going insane?

Was it Matt? Was it Tord? Was it Ms. Minty?

Or was it himself?

He doesn't remember, but what he does know is how this feeling at the tips of his fingers is causing him to itch and irritate the skin in a way that's really starting to hurt. The moment Matt leaves, Tom is going to search up something that'll help him resolve this issue. After all, the internet, as of recently, has become his best friend.