Intermission - Apology.

In the middle of history class, the teacher noticed that Thomas wasn’t paying attention and threw a question at him.

“Thomas, what’s the capital of Brazil?”

“Eh? Ah!” Thomas stood up to answer. “South America!”

As the whole class laughed, Thomas realized he hadn’t been asked ‘Where is Brazil?’ and laughed it off with the rest of the class. He accepted the teacher’s chiding and sat back down.

He couldn’t focus at all. The bell for lunch hour would ring in about 10 minutes. He’d have to go find Oliver then. He couldn’t postpone it any longer.

Thomas told himself during the first recess that 10 minutes wasn’t enough, so he’d wait until lunch time. Truth was he just didn’t feel ready. He was afraid Oliver was still mad. He sounded mad the day before, but Isabelle said he painted him in a good light, so maybe…

Argh, whatever! When the bell rang, Thomas was the first to stand up and leave the classroom. He nearly stomped his way to Oliver’s classroom, only calming down once he was at the door.

Thomas peeked inside. Oliver was at his seat, slowly putting his books away under his desk. Sarah approached him and he looked up at her. They exchanged some words Thomas didn’t hear, but Oliver nodded.

It was Sarah who looked towards the door and caught him. Their eyes met, and for a full moment, it felt like the blonde was glaring at him.

“Think carefully about what you’re about to do.”

Thomas’ heart nearly jumped to his throat at Grace’s voice right next to him. She and Mila were casually walking out of the classroom, and the brunette wasn’t even looking at him. “I’ll be pretty mad if you hurt him,” was the last thing she said to him before walking away with an easy, casual smile.

Mila, though, stuck out her tongue at him before she followed Grace.

Thomas sighed and turned back to where Oliver was. This time he saw him, and Thomas tried to wave as casually as he could, not knowing if that was even a good approach.

When Oliver came up to him, he didn’t say a word, but looked Thomas straight in the eyes, unflinching. It almost made him want to laugh. This really wasn’t the same guy he’d met months ago. He’d grown.

“Think you can stomach talking to me for a while?” Thomas asked, half-joking.

Again, Oliver quietly nodded and the two made their way up the stairs, to the locked door leading to the rooftop. Oliver sat down at the top of the steps… and waited. Thomas had thought of many ways to start his apology, but none of them felt right. Really, even now, being casual with Oliver felt like the right answer.

“Your girlfriends are really protective of you, huh? Scary, too.”

That got a smile out of Oliver. “Yeah.”

Thomas awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “Seriously, no wonder I’m so jealous of you.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I… I didn’t mean anything I said yesterday. I’m really sorry I snapped like that. It’s just that… I have my own insecurities, too, and… No, it’s not an excuse. I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t say anything wrong, exactly.” Oliver said. His expression was mostly neutral, yet his tone was serious. “I know what it looks like, and I know you have a point. But I gave it a lot of thought and I had long talks with everyone involved. I don’t regret what I did, even if you don’t approve. I just… hoped you’d understand.”

Thomas clicked his tongue. “I do understand. I’m not so self-righteous as to believe I can tell others how to live their lives. If everyone else agrees, then that’s that. I only snapped because…” Thomas groaned, “Because, like I said, I’m kinda jealous of you. All the girls want you, while the most fulfilling relationship I had still had big issues and now I’m just frustrated.”

Oliver sighed. “It’s hard to be happy for others when you yourself aren’t satisfied with your life.”

Thomas flinched. Oliver hit the nail in the head, and it sounded like he spoke from experience. Before, when Thomas felt he had mostly everything he wanted, he could be happy for what Oliver had. Now… it was a source of envy.

“It shouldn’t be, though,” Thomas said, scratching the back of his head. “I should be happy for you, not jealous that you have something I want.”

Oliver raised an eyebrow. “You… You don’t like any of my girlfriends, do you?”

“What? No! I meant a relationship, you imbecile!”

The two guys burst out laughing, and God did it feel relieving.

“Good thing you came to apologize, because I wasn’t going to,” Oliver told him bluntly.

“Had a feeling. I don’t know if I should praise you for standing your ground or call you an arrogant prick,” Thomas joked.

“I just didn’t feel like apologizing for something I didn’t do.” Honestly, Thomas agreed. Oliver really had nothing to apologize for here. “Ah, but it was rude of me to leave all of a sudden. I am sorry about that. I was worried I’d be the one to say something I’d later regret if I stayed.”

“Apology accepted, I suppose.”

They both snickered.

Thomas was thankful that he acted quickly enough. This kind of talk, this kind of back and forth… Thomas didn’t want to lose it, much less over something so stupid.

So what if Oliver was dating five girls at the same time? He treated them all well, and the girls liked him. Isabelle had put it well. None of those girls were the type to blindly accept such an outrageous arrangement without giving it proper thought.

It was still enviable, yes, but this time he would admit it to himself instead of trying to suppress it. That wasn’t healthy. Maybe it really was time for Thomas to get serious about finding a girlfriend instead of lamely lamenting his loneliness.

He still had his best friend, though. That was good enough for now.

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