"I don't have a lot of friends that are girls, and this town isn't the place to find a girlfriend."
Thomas told his family. In a sense it seemed that he was belittling Mac and she felt a bit hurt, she wasn't from the town but he made it seem like she was. He immediately realized what he sounded like and quickly backtracked
"Mac isn't from here though, I was simply explaining why I don't bring girls home,"
He said shyly,
Bertha brushed it off and went back to cooking, she told Mac to make herself at home. Thomas and her walked to the living room, where the twins later joined them and started watching some sort of trashy reality tv.
"sorry about how awkward everything is," he told Mac smiling shyly
"I don't think it is awkward at all, in fact I find it nice. it reminds me of my family" she said smiling at him.
He returned the smile and they sat quietly watching tv.
"Dinner is ready, children" Bertha yelled from the kitchen.
Thomas was about to tell Mac to come eat, when he noticed that she had fallen asleep. They had been sitting on opposite sides of the couch and though he kept looking at her, he completely missed when she fell asleep. She looked looked angelic as she slept, exhausted from what he imagined was a long day.
From the moment he met her she told him how she loved doing things alone and going on trips by herself. she was unlike any other person he had ever met, unlike any girl he had met actually. Specially from the small town he was from. Everyone knew everyone and there was so much history between everyone he didn't want to date anyone from here. looking at her he remembered the day he saw her online, she came up in his timeline on his social media, she had tagged his town in a picture she had taken with some friends. it was during the summer almost a year ago, the first thing he noticed was her smile. She had captivated him. and he did something he never had before he messaged her. He never expected a reply but she did. Everything started from there. Texting, video calling, and sharing long conversations on the phone that sometimes turned into seeing the sunrise together.
He had been to the city many times before but, for some reason when they were talking he could never make it to the city to visit her, it was just always the wrong time. Slowly they stopped talking and he thought it was maybe for the best, so he stopped talking to her. Looking at her now asleep on his couch it almost felt like this was how it was meant to happen. He didn't know what would happen tomorrow, but at least he could say he met the person that was constantly in his head for months on end. He took off her boots and lifted her feet so she was laying down instead of sitting. putting a blanket on her he walked away, feeling a weird sense of hope for something more. something different.
Thomas walked into the kitchen and everyone was waiting for Mac to walk behind him but she never did.
"She fell asleep" he said smiling and shaking his head.
his mother stood up and whispered in her sons ear.
"oh well, maybe tomorrow she can have breakfast with us and we can get to know her more." Bertha said to him sweetly.
"You know she's not my girlfriend, right? I'm not lying about that" Thomas said, almost disappointed he had to admit that.
"Thomas I am your mother, I can tell you like her.-"
"mom can you just not?" he said a bit embarrassed
"Fine, let's just have some dinner" she sat back down and they enjoyed the meal they had so lovingly cooked.
...
Mac woke up, at first startled at the strange place she had woken up too, but her brain quickly caught up with the events of the day. The living room was dark, except for a dim light she couldn't make out where it was coming from. She felt like such a bad guest for falling asleep before dinner was ready, but she hadn't realized how truly exhausted she was. She looked around her and noticed a thick blanket over her, and someone had taken the time to take her shoes off and fix the way she was sleeping. She was so comfortable in that couch and warm but she wanted to make something more of this random circumstance.
She was so thankful that Thomas had answered her phone call after the way things had ended she never thought he'd talked to her again. He was the one that ended things abruptly maybe because of how she was acting, and the never meeting. But she was so good at self sabotage, always leaving before she was left or pushing people away so that it didn't hurt when they did leave.
She couldn't sleep her mind was going on a loop and trying to figure how to go about this situation. She reached in her sweater pocket and found her phone the brightness of it hurt her eyes but she was glad it wasn't dead.
it was 3:00 am.
She tried to close her eyes and fall back asleep but she couldn't, she opened her phone and dialed Thomas' number.
"hi-" he said answering the phone on the first ring.
Mac smiled.
"I didn't think you were awake"
"I can't sleep" he said and then he hung up, Mac didn't have time to process what happened when he was already standing next to her. she still was surprised by how tall he was.
"want to watch tv in my room?" he asked.
Mac looked up at him with a suspicious grin.
"No, no, I respect you more than that. I'm not going to try any of that" he said putting his hands up with a defeated grin.
"Your lack of a shirt and wearing only boxers says otherwise, Thomas" she said sarcastically
He quickly noticed and started Covering himself with a pillow, turning a little red in the face, he said.
"I'll put some clothes on, I forgot I wasn't properly dressed."
"fine" she said laughing at him. "I'm game".
