CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
• safe in my arms •

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THOMAS HADNT SPOKEN one-on-one with Evony in four days. Instead, his daily conversations included talking to the youngest boy in the glade-Chuck. Now, Thomas loved having company, but after four whole days of being with the same person he kind of wanted someone...older...to talk to. Nonetheless he didn't say anything-or let those feelings show for that matter-because he was happy to have someone to keep his spirits up.

Since Evony hadn't been running the past few days he had been pairing up with Minho and Ben. The two took it upon themselves to grill him with embarrassing questions that would make him flush bright red. It wasn't the most pleasant time if Thomas was going to be honest; he would much rather be with his normal partner.

She made the job easy, mostly because she was so easy to talk to. He felt as if they told eachother everything-which probably wasn't that far off. He knew he at least told her every single thing that came to his mind.

Now, since Chuck was the only person he had really talked to, he was the one who got the receiving side of the brunet's endless ranting. Thomas could tell that the kid was a tad agitated at times-at times where all he would talk about was her. Perhaps the two were annoyed at each other, if so, then they needed Evony; she had always sort of been the mediator between the three of them. She helped to calm the boys down when they bickered about playful arguments.

As for the two boys, they were eating dinner while waiting for the rest of their "group" to finish their jobs. Frypan had made his famous tomato soup, so Chuck was guzzling that down. Thomas on the other hand, well, was having trouble eating from the paranoia that had built up inside him.

He spun his wooden spoon around inside the bowl; when it fell in completely he gave up and pushed the meal away. "Do you think Evony's mad at me?"

Chuck perked up from his seat, glancing over to the older boy while the spoon was halfway from meeting his mouth. "No?" he said with confusion, "Why would she be mad at you?"

"I don't know," Thomas expressed, "That's what I've been trying to figure out."

Chuck leaned closer to him from across the table. He stroked a hand across his chin to show he was thinking. "Do you think you've done something?"

The brunet shook his head, "I'd say no, but, I don't know."

"Did you say something wrong?"

He denied again, "I don't know."

Chuck relaxed back in his seat, his eyes boring into Thomas' as he presumably thought of an answer to the older kids' circumstance. "Well, that's a lot of 'I don't know' so I don't know either."

The brunet gently wacked his hand against his head, cursing himself for not being able to figure out what was wrong. If it was anyone else he probably wouldn't have thought about it this much, as they could just be hanging out with other people. However, Evony was like his person, the one who he was always with. It never seemed like she had a problem hanging out with him, so why would she suddenly go out of her way to not even be in his eyesight.

Something was off, and he knew it.

With a nod of the head a smile rose to Chuck's face. "I have a brilliant idea. Why don't you just go talk to her?"

Thomas held a blank expression, not seeing where the kid's point was going. Of course he had already thought of that, but he felt it was rude to bug her if she had been so adamant on staying away. "What if she doesn't want to see me?"

"I still think you should check on her," Chuck claimed. He took another sip of his soup, "Isn't that what you do when you're dating?"

He was lucky he hadn't been eating anything, because Thomas had already managed to choke on his own spit. The noise drew attention to himself, and soon several gladers were looking over their shoulders to hear where the gagging was coming from. Even Chuck started to pretend like he had no clue what was going on; just letting the brunet clear his throat before he began speaking again.

"We're, uh," Thomas coughed, getting flustered at the boy's accusation, "We're not dating."

Chuck didn't say anything after that, only continuing to stare at his friend with suspicious eyes. The older boy could feel his face growing more red by the second at the intense eye contact. Now it felt like he was being judged.

"Sure," the curly haired boy brushed off, "You should still go look for her, though." He twirled his spoon in his bowl, letting it ring around the edges.

Thomas let out a sigh, running his hands through his hair as he laid his elbows on the table. "I don't know-"

Then suddenly Chuck spoke up, cutting him off and offering a piece of knowledge. "You make her happy," he informed, "she always smiles when you're around."

A grin of his own crept onto his lips. That's all he ever wanted to do-make her happy-he was astonished to know that whatever he did was working.

"I do?"

"Yea," Chuck reassured, then pointed to his bowl of soup, "You going to eat that?"

Thomas glanced quickly down to his full meal, "Oh, no," he pushed it towards the younger boy, "You have it, I'm not hungry."

Chuck gladly took the food and began to scoff it down without a second thought. The brunet went back to sitting in silence, still unsure if he should go try to find her or not.

It wasn't long before he decided to screw it, or "shuck it" in Glader terms. Thomas pushed himself off from the bench, standing up and grabbing an apple that was sitting in between the two of them. Chuck seemed to already know what he was doing, so the boy only waved him goodbye and wished him luck on finding their friend.

Thomas had a pretty good idea of where Evony would be. It was a place that he realized only she ever really went to. He guessed it was because of the long trek it took to get up high enough on the hill so you could see above the maze walls.

It was on the other side of the Glade, but he didn't care about the extra steps; he just wanted to find her and make sure things were okay.

"Evony!" he called once he got into the forest, "Evs!"

There was no response, so he continued to walk farther into the woods and over to where the hill was. He was halfway up the hill when he heard the faintest of cries come from the top. His legs began moving fast, racing to get to her as quickly as possible.

"Evs, you here?"

"Thomas?"

It was faint, but it was there. He saw her, sitting with her knees pulled to her chest with her hair loose and wrapped around her body.

She wiped away a tear at the sight of him, afraid he'd think she was weak for crying. Obviously Thomas didn't care, his first action was just to comfort her. He came quickly and sat down beside her, wrapping both his arms around her frame and giving a tight hug.

He felt her head nuzzle into his shoulder, and he reciprocated by placing his own on top of hers. Small sniffles were still coming from the girl next to him, and every time one happened he squeezed her tighter-reminding her he was there.

The two never actually broke apart, only repositioned so that they could hold each other properly. Thomas was now holding her by the waist, bringing her closer to his side while she attempted to calm her crying. He didn't know what was causing the emotion, but he was still willing to show her compassion.

"It's my fault.." she mumbled, so low that he almost thought it was never said.

All he did was rub his hand over her arm, linking one of their hands to try to provide more comfort. "I'm sure it's not."

He could feel her shaking her head. "The deaths. I should've known."

"Deaths?" Thomas repeated; he had only heard of the one Glader that had committed suicide. He wasn't aware that there was (s), as in plural.

Evony pulled her head out of his shirt. She wasn't crying anymore but the after effects were still there. Her eyes were red and her face was covered in stained tears.

He felt his heart break.

"Yeah," she explained, "Jake, Will, Eddie. They're all dead."

"That's not your fault," Thomas tried to reason. He subconsciously ran his hand through the ends of her hair. Evony leaned into his touch, doing her best to stop herself from believing the past four days were her fault.

The pair stayed silent, once again shifting positions so that Evony could lay her head in Thomas' lap. In any other condition he would be bursting with excitement at having the girl so close to him, but right now all he could think about was making her happy again.

He ran his fingers through the waves on her head; her eyes closed at his gentle touch. "I missed you," Thomas professed, his eyes looking down at her lovingly.

At his words her own eyes opened, and a blush coated her cheeks when seeing how intently he was gazing at her. She ducked her face to the left, that way she could hide the giddy smile that was clearly visible on her lips. "I missed you too, pretty boy."

A ghost of a laugh left Thomas' lips; he twirled a strand of her hair in between his fingers, the softness of it sending him into a content state. For a moment the couple sat in complete silence, the only noise being the ones coming from back in the Homestead. He was pretty sure he could hear some cheering and possibly some ring-fighting going on between the other boys.

"WICKED," she suddenly spoke up. The word echoed in the air like an alarm. For a mere second Thomas swore a part of his brain itched with a resurfacing memory; however, it disappeared instantly.

"What's that mean?"

"I'm not sure," she confessed, "I was hoping you knew."

He nodded, frowning at the fact that he wasn't able to help. A sudden chill ran through the air and he felt Evony shake. Judging from the fact she was only wearing shorts and a tank-top, she was obviously cold.

Instinctively Thomas pulled off the sweatshirt he was wearing-leaving him in his blue long sleeve shirt-and planned to give the item of clothing to the girl. "Take this," he offered, holding it out over her for her to grab. Evony did so, taking it from his grasp and sitting up to slip it on before she went back to her previous spot.

He tried not to make his staring creepy, but at the moment he swore that he could look at her forever and never once get tired of the view. In his eyes she was perfect; he wished only the best for her.

Maybe it was a certain attachment to her. Maybe it was the fondness he clearly expressed in her presence. Or perhaps it was even more than that. Call it crazy, but In that moment she fell asleep in his lap he realized he had never been more sure of anything in that moment.

He was in love.

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MAE's FUN NOTES
surprise!!!!! I wrote this all in
a day be proud

everyone clap for Thomas 👏👏

okay now two things:
1) I have friend coming into town
so I probably won't update this
book for like two weeks

2) im planning on writing a
Steve Harrington fanfic so I
would really appreciate if you
guys went and checked that
out once it's posted. Im hoping
to have it up before Saturday
but I might not

LOVE YOU GUYS

(I'm aware she emotional little
shit don't come at her)