THE NIGHT WE MET; thomas x fem!reader

[ 11. i socialise with my species ]

| y/n's pov |

I BOUNCED MY leg up and down anxiously under the table. Minho, Fry, Winston and Newt all sat at a table with some boys not far from me, but I was sat with a group of girls.

"Your Maze was full of boys?" One girl, Abigail, asked me. "Really? Just boys?"

"Yeah." I glanced over at my friends again. Minho told me to "go make new friends" and "socialise with my species" so here I was. "Well, there is another girl, but she only got there a few days before we got out."

"Are those guys them?" Madison, the second girl, pointed towards my friends as Jack, another Glader, sat down with them. "I haven't seen them before."

I nodded. "Yeah. Winston, Jack, Minho, Newt and Frypan." I pointed at the guys and named them. "There used to be more, but... Yeah."

Thomas was still nowhere to be seen and it made me feel almost sick. I was sure Teresa was still with the doctors, but I hadn't seen Thomas since he was taken from the room.

"I'm sorry." Madison frowned. "We lost a few too."

It was quiet between us for a moment as we ate.

"Do you like any of them? Like like? The one in the middle's kinda cute." The third girl, Violet, changed the subject and I made a face at her last comment.

"Ew. Minho? Definitely not him." I shook my head. "He's my best friend, basically my brother. And he's gross."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he's disgusting. He likes the smell of his armpits and wets the bed." I was obviously lying, but they seemed to fall for it. It was pretty funny in my opinion.

I saw all the boys turn around and Minho jump from his seat. I turned to see what they were looking at and saw Thomas standing by the door. A smile made its way onto my lips and my stomach seemed to flutter.

"Oh, so you like him?" Abigail asked.

"Hmm?" I looked away from the boys at the door and back at the girls in front of me. "Who? Thomas?"

"If that's his name, then yes."

He walked past with Minho and met my eyes before he sat down at the table.

"I don't know. Maybe. Probably not." I answered honestly and shrugged. "I'm gonna go sit with my friends. It was nice meeting you guys."

Abigail smiled. "Nice meeting you, Y/N."

Now I knew Thomas was okay, but I was starting to worry about Teresa. I slid into the seat beside Jack and across from Winston with my food.

"I don't know. I guess WICKED still has them." One of the boys they sat with said, probably answering someone's question.

Winston lifted his hand in a wave and murmured a "Hi."

"How long've you guys been here?" Newt asked.

"Not long. Just a day or two." The boy answered then gestured to a boy in a hoodie sitting at a few tables away. "That kid over there has been here the longest. Almost a week."

"His Maze was nothing but girls." The second boy said, which piqued my interest.

"Really?" Minho asked.

"Some guys have all the luck."

I stared at the boy in the hoodie curiously. He was in a Maze with girls, I was in one with boys. It could mean something.

"Good evening, gentlemen. Ladies." Rat Man, Mr. Janson, walked into the room. Winston and the other two boys turned around in their seats. "You all know how this works. If you hear your name called, please rise in an orderly fashion, join my colleagues behind me where they will escort you to the eastern wing. Your new lives are about to begin."

A few kids applauded.

"Connor."

A kid behind me high-fived his friend and stood up.

"Evelyn. Justin. Peter. Allison. Squiggy."

A few kids laughed at his name as the boy jumped up.

"All right. Settle down. Franklin. And Abigail."

I looked over to the table of girls I had been sitting at as Abigail happily got out of her chair and walked up to the front. A few kids groaned or sighed when Janson closed his clipboard.

"Now, now, don't get discouraged. If I could take more, I would. There is always tomorrow. Your time will come." Mr. Janson headed towards the door with the kids. "Go on, eat up."

"Where are they going?" Minho asked one of the boys.

"Far from here. Lucky bastards." He answered.

"Some kind of farm. A safe place." His friend gave more detail. "They can only take in a couple of people at a time."

"Oh, hey, Y/N." Jack smiled, noticing that I was sitting next to him and the other boys looked at me.

"Hey--" My attention was stolen by something else. Walking past the window next to the cafeteria with some doctors was Teresa.

I jumped out of my seat and started following Teresa from the opposite side of the glass. I was worrying about my friend.

"Teresa!" I tried to get her attention, but she couldn't hear me.

Right by the door, I bumped into two guards.

"Um, where are they taking her?" I pointed to Teresa.

"They just have to run a few more tests. Don't worry, they'll be done with her soon."

"Is she okay? Nothing's wrong with her, right?"

"She's fine."

I stared at the guard for a moment before nodding and walking back to the table.

"Y/N? Are you okay?" Thomas asked.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. Just worried."

"I'm sure Teresa will be fine." Newt reassured. "What'd they say?"

"That they're just doing a few more tests on her and that she's fine." I sighed, sitting in between Minho and Thomas this time.

"You don't need to worry about your friend." The first of the guys' new friends said. "These guys are cool. They'll take care of her."

---

AFTER WE ATE we were taken to yet another room. This one had bunk beds lining the walls and a bathroom.

"Ooh, I got top bunk." Frypan immediately went for the ladder of the first bed in sight. Minho skipped the ladder and just climbed up himself.

"Too slow." He exhaled and Fry gave him a blank look.

I flopped onto the bottom bunk of one of the beds and let out a relaxed sigh. "This is good."

"Yeah, I could get used to this." Winston agreed from the bed near mine.

"Yeah, it's not bad." Newt nodded and the door behind us was locked.

I furrowed my eyebrows and stood up. Thomas and Newt stood next to the beds across from mine.

"Hey, what do you guys think they're doing with Teresa?" I asked them. "Like, what do they want?"

"Y/N, don't worry." I felt like I'd been hearing that a lot. "If there's one thing I know about Teresa, it's that she can take care of herself."

Newt turned and climbed the bunk bed's ladder. Thomas slipped his hand in mine and squeezed it.

"We'll be okay." He put on a smile. "I'm sure of it."

"Thanks, Tommy." The nickname slipped out and I quickly walked back to my bed to avoid embarrassment.

I did glance at Thomas as I took off my shoes, though. He was smiling.