ART | thomas brodie-sangster [✓]

F O R T Y - S I X

FORTY-SIX
S U R P R I S E 

"Hi," was the first thing she said to him.

It wasn't exactly very creative or witty or clever - totally unlike her. But really, could you be able to react normally to seeing your crush standing in front of you and flashing their most mesmerizing smile at you? Well, Artemis couldn't.

"Hey," he said. 

Dammit, his voice sounded really soft in real life.

An extremely loud and painful DING! interrupted their non-existent conversation. It was Artemis's phone, this time. After nearly thirteen hours, Artemis got . . . a text. It was now her turn to ignore them all.

"Oh, look, everyone finally remembered I exist." And petty, apparently.

Thomas scratched the back of his head, making a grimace at her. "Yeah, sorry about that. I wanted this to be a surprise and I was afraid someone would accidentally say something. Or, knowing Dylan, on purpose."

Artemis huffed. "Right. Because it's so much better to leave me thinking you all died than just tell me you can't talk to me."

"That is . . . a fair point, actually."

"Of course. It's mine."

Then the awkward silence ensued because, quite unfortunately, both of them were so excited to meet the other that they didn't really know what to say. See, Artemis wanted to kiss Thomas on the spot and there was no way for her to know that he, too, wanted the same thing. That's why they stood there, trying to find the words to say while, really, there were no words needed for them to express what they wanted to. 

But honestly, that's not how you react the first time you meet someone in real life. And thankfully they were both adults and they held onto their cool.

"So, what's next?" Artemis asked.

Thomas seemed to be in a very uncomfortable situation. 

"Lacey said I was supposed to look forward to something and, not to be rude or something, this isn't really something I'd look forward to. I mean, standing silently in front of one another is just as not texting each other, which is what we've been doing for a while now, so . . ."

Or perhaps they were still a bit petty. Oh, they were still in their twenties, let them live!

"I'm going home," Artemis said (she was bluffing). 

She turned around, already beginning to walk in direction opposite of him and she counted. One, nothing. Two, nothing. Three, nothing. Four, noth- is he gonna do it? Five, nothin-

"Art, wait." 

She turned back to him and tried really hard not to smile. "What?"

Thomas walked over to her, smiling at her - he was just a little taller than her and, to be honest, it did annoy her a little bit. It made her feel small and insignificant and kinda scared and all those feelings came in package with a certain feeling she tried really hard to push away for the sake of her career.

"I want to take you somewhere," Thomas said.

God, she could feel his breath against her skin - why was he standing so close? Why did she keep looking at her lips? Well, they are some pretty nice lips - kissable, too, probably. If she could only -

No.

"Right," she said, once she recollected herself. Really, she was acting most definitely not like an adult. "Where?"

"Surprise." Thomas smiled at her.

Artemis frowned. "I hate surprises." 

But when he took hold of her hand, she didn't hate them so much anymore. Maybe just a little. 

[dudes...there's only three chapters left.]

[edit: i don't know how to count, apparently. four more.]