Together (Book 1)

Chapter 14

Roman's POV

"We were a bad friend; we should own up to that," Virgil said.

"We were not a bad friend; stop saying that," I countered.

"We were!  I even tried to fix it, but you wouldn't let me..."

I shouted back, "It was complicated. Thomas's romantic future was at stake!"

This was the first fight Virgil and I had had since we started seeing each other a week prior.  It was seriously driving a wedge into the 'Honeymoon Phase' of our relationship.

"I'm just confused as to what to do," Thomas admitted.

"I'm sure Joan was confused, too, when we never showed up to their reading," Virgil grumbled from where he sat on the couch.

"Oh, shut it!" I shouted before I could stop myself.

Virgil's eyes widened.

Ow, my heart.  Don't look at me with those doe eyes.  "I'm sorry," I apologized.  "It's just that fighting doesn't really ever get us anywhere."

"On the contrary," Logan spoke, rising up from Thomas's mind to sit cross-legged on the floor in front of us.  "It tends to do quite the opposite.  Even so, I do agree that fighting amongst ourselves is not efficient."

"Hi, Logan," Patton greeted happily, waving.

"Hi, Patt."

While Patton giggled, I looked over at Virgil to see him glaring at the moral persona.

Logan continued, "Shall we recap last night's events to receive a better understanding of what occurred?"  No one offered another solution, so he began: "Last night, Thomas was having another wasted evening when he was offered to spend time with a man he found physically and emotionally appealing."

Virgil interrupted, "However, he forgot that he had previously promised Joan, his best friend, that he would attend a staged reading of a play that had worked so hard on."

"We forgot..." Patton said sadly.

"I mean..." Thomas mumbled, fiddling with his hands in his lap.

Patton said cheerfully, "Well, we should have no trouble explaining the innocent fact that we got caught up in something and forgot!"

Virgil wasn't done.  "That would be nice, but, halfway through hanging out with that guy, Thomas suddenly remembered where he was supposed to be.  I mean, we could have shown up after the first half during the intermission!"

This was why we had been fighting so much.  I argued, "This guy was freaking cute, and, after all of that, we couldn't even enjoy our time with him because you had to keep freaking Thomas out!"

"Would Joan have wanted us there for only the second half?" Logan asked.

Virgil answered him, "Just the act of being there would have made everything better."

"They only sent me one text this morning," Thomas whispered.

"'Where were you last night? *f-word face*,'" Virgil quoted.

Patton gasped.

"I want to tell them the truth," Thomas admitted, "but the truth is so bad."

Logan coked his head in confusion.  "The only logical alternative would a fabrication in order to ease their concerns."  His eyes widened when he realized.  "Oh, that's what you're implying we do..."

I opened my mouth to encourage the idea, but Virgil spoke first.  "Lying will only get us both hurt, not to mention the anxiety over trying to come up with and remembering a lie for weeks, or months, or even your entire life.  It will bring us more trouble than it's worth."

"Acting is lying," I announced in contradiction.  "We could just be 'acting' as though something came up, rather than 'lying' about it."

"It's Joan, though!"  Thomas put his head in his hands.  "I think I could ever bring myself to lie to them."

Virgil's POV

"I don't think I could ever bring myself to lie to them."

I heard a snap and turned to see where Roman had sat on the couch.  However, in his place was Joan.  I quickly jumped back before I realized what had happened.

Of course, my panic led to that of Thomas.  "Joan," he screamed when he saw them, "I am so sorry!"

"It's still Roman," I grumbled.  "I don't see how this helps."

"He can practice on me.  This will allow him to lie to Joan without messing up.  I mean, practice makes perfect!"

Thomas shook his head.  "I can't lie to Joan over and over again!"

"Not to mention," 'Patton' added, "the fact that lying is wrong in general.  People should never lie."

"There goes the acting career," Roman grumbled as he changed back into himself.

"Roman might have a point, too," 'Patton' continued.  "If we never lied, we could lose friends for being blunt."

"Didn't you just saying lying was wrong?" I asked.

He sighed.  "If it means we get to keep Joan as a friend, maybe lying isn't so wrong in this sense," he admitted.

Roman looked over at me with sad eyes.  "Virge might be right.  If we lie to Joan, we could lose them just the same."

I smiled gently.

Logan stated, "Roman draws attention to a valid point."

'Patton's' face contorted into an emotion I couldn't identify as he looked at me, and I scooted back slightly.

"Virgil, I know you aren't too keen on the idea of lying, but I can't imagine the stress of having to tell the truth to Joan with the fear that they'll be mad or even reject us."

I sighed.  "Sure, I don't like social confrontation, but lying is just as stressful, if not more.  If you don't understand that, then maybe you should just leave me alone," I spat at him in an attempt to see confident, even as I wanted to curl into a ball in my bed.

"Virgil, it's me..."

Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.  I rolled my eyes.

"Aren't we friends?"

"No way in hell."

"Thomas," he said, turning to our Host, "I know what I said before, but I really think that, in this case, lying is the best option."

"Patton, no," he replied.

"Yes!"

"You're wrong on this one, buddy.  I have to be honest with Joan if I want the two of us to have a good friendship that will continue for many more years."

'Patton' glared at all of us.  "I'm so proud of you," he mocked.  "Really, you've matured so much."

"What's happening here?" Thomas asked.

Deceit...