· · ────── ·𖥸· ────── · ·
𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎

Worn out yet curious, I watch them once again. They weren't supposed to meet up today. It's not like usually.

It's officially the first day of summer. Their map is spread across the table like often—they must be going on vacation together or something.

"Hey," a male voice shakes me out of my thoughts, different from Fry's.

Blinking, I catch the brunette in front of me. It's just the bar between us. His eyes meet mine, brown and twinkling. "Hi," I respond, startled.

His colorful lips twitch into a smile. His eyebrows scrunch along. "You work here, right?"

I look down at my apron and name tag, then up at him, one eyebrow raising.

He shrugs. "Had to find a starter sentence."

"Yeah, understandable." With a slight chuckle, I nod. "What do you need?"

"Your name."

"Eh." Again, I look down at my name tag. No way he hadn't noticed it before.

"Girl, I'm just trying to start a conversation and you are making me want to bury myself alive," he sighs out.

"Oh, sorry. My name's Quinn. What's yours?"

He shakes his hand. "Thomas. Nice to meet you, Quinn."

I hesitantly draw back. "Can I get you anything?"

Thomas laughs. "No. I mean, wouldn't let free cookies slip, but all I wanted to do was introduce myself."

Trying not to frown too much, I nod again.

"I'm not hitting on you," he adds fast. "Fry told me you're nice, and you do indeed seem nice. Do you live close by?"

I lean against bar, as if no one else can hear my reply. I don't even feel that safe telling Thomas. "Just a few streets away," I say, then quickly change the subject: "What's with the map?"

Thomas turns away to look at it, like he hasn't seen it before. "Oh, that. They're going on a road trip this summer."

"Are you coming with them?"

"Probably. If my parents allow me to. But I'm not sure if they will, since I have no money and am a minor. Minho over there will turn twenty in January, though. He'll parent... sort of."

"Where are you going?" I wonder, praying this conversation will lead to some kind of friendship.

"Most of us think a trip around the US will be fine, maybe Canada. But Minho thinks we all have the money to fly to freaking Europe. What about you? Planning to go somewhere?"

I shake my head. "I have work. And even if I didn't, I don't have the money."

"Seems nice to work here, though." Thomas spins around as he admires the cafe.

"It is. Do you work?"

"I will have to. I just finished high school. Don't really know what I'll do yet. Anyway, how long until your shift's over?"

My face heats up for no reason. "On Fridays I only have to work 'till five. Just..." I glance at the clock. "Half an hour more."

He nods. "You feel like joining Newt, Fry, and I to the movies? I'm sure they won't mind."

My mouth nearly drops open. "You just met me," I stammer. "Maybe I'm an idiotic brat."

Jeez. I'm ruining my chances.

He laughs again. "Seems like a nice opportunity to see if that's true. So, what do you think?"

My face turns even redder. "Well, uh- I... I don't really have the money. Thanks for the—"

"I can pay," he cuts me off.

I lift an eyebrow. "You said you didn't have a job."

"Indeed, I don't. But Minho has. He won't mind if I borrow some money."

"Borrow in what sense?"

"You know, just taking it."

"So... stealing," I state, scrunching my nose.

"Borrowing," he corrects. "He'll get it back in less then a decade, I promise."

I snicker. "Whatever you say."

"Awesome." He removes his hands off the bar and takes a step back. "Your boss is giving me death stares. Imma go... right back."

· · ────── ·𖥸· ────── · ·

I have tossed all my clothes out of the closet to find something decent for the movies. You'd think the house is even messier now, but it really isn't. I own very few clothes.

Three sweaters, two jeans, one pair of shorts, and four T-shirts.

Even though I sold a lot of clothes, I never really had a lot. Why do you need so many clothes? There's no one you have to impress, his words ring through my mind.

And I'm too poor to afford anything else. The bills, shampoo, toothpaste, period products... it's very expensive in the end. Washing my clothes in the sink now and then is just fine.

Eventually, I end up wearing a green, quite fuzzy sweater, with black jeans. Skinny jeans. There is nothing wrong with them, but sometimes I wish I had the money to buy more... interesting ones. Something different. A little design, or a bootcut, something like that.

Old, dirty sneakers cover my feet. A ponytail in my hair and brushed teeth. I allow myself to put exactly three dollars in my pocket. Then I'm ready to go.

The cinema isn't far away from my house. After all, I live in the middle of the town, close to all the shops. The streets are busy tonight—plenty people of my age are going out.

For once, I am, too. It's still unbelievable.

Soon, I arrive. The cinema has big, glass windows. I can see a cash register and a bar inside. Behind that, a big screen that shows all the new movies off.

My phone lets me know the others have still ten minutes to get here. It's an old, rusty thing, but it works. I can send messages, download a few apps, and call people. All I need.

"Hey." The familiar accent makes my head snap up. Immediately, I'm face-to-face with the blonde boy.

He smiles brightly at me. He's slim and tall, wearing grey pants and a white shirt.

"Name's Newt. You're Quinn, right?"

I nod nervously. Though meeting new people is not my favorite thing, Newt seems lively enough to fix the awkwardness.

He leans against the glass window. "I'm pretty sure Tommy will be late. Fry's gonna be right on time."

A genuine laugh leaves me. "I'll believe you on that."

After a minute of silence, he tilts his head. "Since Tommy invited you over, you're practically already part of our group. I suggest we share phone numbers, if you're okay with that?"

I shrug, trying to play it cool. "Yeah, sure."

"Awesome."

I share my number. Three seconds later, he sends a test message. "I'm in like a million group chats, because our friend group is quite big, which means some are closer than others and make private chats," Newt explains. "Want me to add you to the one with Thomas and Fry? We have it on SnapChat."

I'm stunned by how fast and casual everything goes with Newt. Same goes for Thomas.

"Uh, I don't know. Won't it... ruin your group chat? You don't really know me, and—"

"Ah, come on." Newt shakes his head. "Tommy likes you, you've met Fry, and I seem to like you, too. It won't be a problem."

"Alright, then." I mutter, smiling to myself.

The Better Trio

*Newt sent a Snap*
- Where the hell are you two?

Moviekiddd826
I'm on my way, dude!

TheAmazingFry
Oh, hey Quinn!!

* Newt changed the group name to " The Better Quartet " *

NotRelatedToPeterParker
Heyy
You two coming?

*Moviekiddd826 sent a video*

Newt
Why are you climbing out of a bloody window?

Moviekiddd826
It's just Minho's window, calm down

NotRelatedToPeterParker
The money?

Moviekiddd826
Borrowing it, yk.
Newt, I can see you
I'm there.
Oh, wait that wasn't Newt.
Fuck the man's mad at me
I didn't even do anything

Newt
Stop lying
What did you do?

Moviekiddd826
I called him a salamander
Thought it was you
Anyway. I'm there.

Newt
You're not.

Moviekiddd826
Oh wait
Oh lord
Help
Omg
Newt
Newt
Newt
No
Bleach my eyes
Rn
Wtf
Kms

Newt
Stop being dramatic about nothing and come here

I look up from my phone, having to hold back a laugh at Newt's irritated expression.

"There's always something going on with Tommy," he grumbles. "But hey, he's here."

I turn around, and indeed, Thomas is there. He comes running at us, eyes wide. "I did not like that. Next time, I'm gonna let Minho give me a ride, because this what happened? Not cool."

"What happened?" Frypan joins in, too. As always, he has a warm smile on his face. "And good to see you, Quinn."

I smile at him before turning to Thomas, curious as well.

"I kind of... ran into the wrong... building. Whatever." He scratches the back of his head. His cheeks are pink from either running or shame.

"And what happened?"

"I saw something I didn't specifically want to see," he murmurs. "Can we just go?"

"What did y—"

"I was in a freakin' strip club, okay?" He's close to yelling now. "Can we please just go inside? Please, holy shuckin' crap."

I press my lips together to avoid another laugh. Frypan snorts. Even Newt's eyes start to twinkle.

"I'm never letting you forget about this." Frypan grins mischievously.

"How can you confuse a cinema with a strip club? How did you even get inside?"

"Speaking of inside, let's go. Now." Before we can continue laughing, Thomas pulls us into the cinema, into the line to get tickets.

"I don't understand. Minho lives in the suburbs and his window is bloody high. How did you..." Newt eventually gives up asking.

"Which one are we watching?" I whisper. There are three movies available tonight. Romance, horror, or action.

"Horror."

"Action."

"Romance."

I stare at the three boys. They have such different personalities and yet they are so close. "Alright. You three go figure it out. I don't really care which one we watch."

Newt is desperately trying for the romance, while Fry wants horror, and Thomas action. They don't have good arguments on why they want to watch that specific genre.

"Alright." Thomas turns around. Tucks his blue shirt in his pants. "We decided it will be the action one."

"You decided that." Newt crosses his arms, furrowing his eyebrows deeply.

"So what? It will be nice! I don't want to see any more inappropriate stuff in that romance, and horror will not be it."

"Fine, we'll do the action one."

"Yes!" He jumps up.

We buy the tickets. Thomas smirks deeply as he hands the cashier 'his' money. Fry begs for popcorn, so Newt pays for all four baskets. Then we finally get to sit down in the middle of the dark room, the screen right in front of us.

About ten minutes later, the movie has started and all four of us are ready to be mesmerized by the plot, until Thomas's phone rings. 

His ringtone is Wannabe by Spice Girls.

I have to hold back a giggle—I'm laughing a lot around these boys. Very bothered, Newt turns to the loud boy next to him. I sit on the other side of him, and Fry sits next to me. This position makes me able to perfectly hear Thomas's conversation.

"Yo, Minho..." whispered. "What's up? I was just about to go to sleep... don't wanna wake my parents up. Why are y—"

"Where's my money?"

Thomas's face drops. "What... money?" He asks innocently.

"The money I made, not you."

"I'll—I'll pay you back in less than a decade!" He promises. "You're rich anyways."

"I'm not rich. Give me my money, or I'll personally get you out of that cinema, Thomas."

"What the hell are you lying for? You are rich."

"You are gay and a stray. Now return my money."

"Too late for that. And how did you know I'm in the cinema—"

"Try turning your location off next time. And get your own job. I need to invest in better stuff, not movies." He sounds quite pissed. Surely that's not because of the fact he lost money, but because Thomas did it secretly.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll pay you back after the vacation."

"Good that."

Thomas quickly hangs up. He blinks a few times. "Well, crap."

"I'll help you pay," I say weakly. "You paid for my ticket, after all."

"Thanks."

"Hey!" An old lady turns around. "Quiet, please!"

My cheeks catch a blush. Politely, I nod.

Thomas blows out a breath mixed with a wince.
"Didn't know your grandma likes action movies, Newt."