The Fight Club

Night owls.

The place was deserted, Teresa was glad, she had been waiting for night to fall. Thomas had spent a lot of time with Newt making decisions to ensure her safety. Minho stayed in the room with her, Thomas coming in and out every 10 minutes to make sure they were both OK. 

"Can we go now?" Teresa whispered as Newt opened the door, they had come up with a plan to take her out at night and get her back in for the morning. Thomas nodded as they slowly made their way down the stairs. Minho scouted ahead for people awake for food or just a walk. Newt stood behind for people sneaking behind them and Thomas? Teresa has never had someone stand so close to her before. Every time the pattern in Minho's footsteps change he jumps slightly. Teresa has never seen a grown man so anxious before.

"It's OK Thomas." Teresa whispered, she feels Thomas slightly relax. Thomas created a curfew so nobody should be up. The dining area was deserted, almost like a ghost town. Teresa watched as Thomas walked through the tables, running his hands along the wood. She thought about the lack of attention he gave to her friends. If he didn't know me. Would he even try learn my name?

Teresa watched as Thomas turned around and smiled at her, his eyes sparkling under the dim lights. She could see it. He did love her, his eyes were brighter and his lips curled upwards as he tried not to smile. Teresa almost felt pressured, to live up to the standards of her past self, the version of her Thomas fell in love with. Teresa looked around, Minho was standing at the beginning of the training centre opposite the bottom of the stairs. Newt was in the training centre. 

"Hey Thomas." Teresa whispered, walking up to him and sitting on the table where he was standing, he looked confused. 

"Uh huh?" He mumbles rubbing the back of his neck. Teresa looks down at her hands as she nervously cracks her knuckles. 

"I don't think it's a good idea for you know, us?" She made it a question as she really didn't know what they were. Friends? Allies? Lovers? 

"Wh-what are you talking about?" He says calmly, crossing his arms.

"I'm not the same girl I was back then, I'm not the 11 year old you fell in love with anymore." she whispered. Looking up she saw a confused expression. Thomas rubbed his temples. 

"I thought you understood." He replied with a small smile. Teresa looks up and shakes her head.

"You being the girl you are now made me realise I could fall in love again. Let's just say we didn't have the happiest of goodbyes." Thomas whispers, looking up at the high roof. 

"We fell out didn't we?" Teresa asked, Thomas nodded. Just a small nod, Teresa could see it hurt him to talk about it, Teresa understood then what Thomas meant by he could fall in love again, that he was so hurt at her leaving he didn't want that to happen again, he didn't want someone he loved to leave so he shut everyone out.

"What were the girls to you then?" Teresa asked kindly, not wanting to pressure him.

"Girls?" He asked with a small smile and a raise of the eyebrows. 

"I kinda get this feeling you have been with a lot of them." She replies, Thomas shakes his head, ashamed. 

"You make it seem like there were hundreds of them, and all at the same time. No, I was with 12 girls at different times." He said laughing, emphasising the fact he was with them at different times.

"They were a distraction." He adds in shame. Teresa shakes her head.

"So you used girls because you couldn't get over a childhood crush?" Teresa says in a raised voice. Thomas' eyes go wide.

"No! What? Of course not!" He answers in defence. Teresa holds her hair back and breathes out. 

"Aris was right." She answers in frustration. How could he lead girls on like that? Thomas narrowed his eyes.

"Aris?" He shouts. Minho runs in and stands between them. 

"Guys remember what time it is." He hisses. Thomas stares at him. 

"Minho, we are kinda trying to have a conversation." He sighs. Teresa looks at Thomas and instead sees a boy who doesn't know what to do with his emotions. Minho leaves.

"I'm sorry but I just don't understand why boys get over girls by finding more girls." She stutters, Thomas walks forward.

"I know, you've always been very opinionated on women's right just please understand that everyone does stupid things when they aren't in the right place." He whispers before taking her hand and running to the training rooms. Thomas insisted on teaching her all the skills he knew so she could at least defend herself if he wasn't there. Teresa couldn't  understand how Thomas could just stop an argument so easily so she pushed her thoughts of Thomas using girls as distractions and pushed them to the back of her mind.

"I can take care of myself." She said constantly during their short walk to a large glass room, Thomas had never shown her the equivalent of this in his institute. In front of her was a large gym, there was everything. 

Treadmills,

Weight racks and benches,

Rowing machines and cycling,

exercise accessories like mats, steps and bands. There were other machines Teresa hadn't heard of, there were tables lit up with the glow of screens. Thomas approached the glass doors and brought his card out and with a swift movement, wiped it across the door, the glass turned green before Thomas opened it with a short kick. The room smelt of rubber. 

"I'm sure you can blue eyes; but I guess you never stop learning." Thomas says winking. Teresa scowls but feels a heat rise in her cheeks at Thomas calling her blue eyes. They walk over to a frame. Lying in the middle is a sort of flat dentist chair with a pole slightly above it, Teresa's eyes follow the pole to weights on each side. Thomas motioned for her to lie down on it. Reluctantly and awkwardly, Teresa lay down underneath the bar. 

"Lift your arms up." Thomas ordered, Teresa obeyed as Thomas clutched her upper arm tightly.

"Damn girl you got muscle all right!" Thomas exclaimed surprised lying her arms back down as he walks over to the racks of weights. 

"Of course I do, I'm a superhero." Teresa laughs as Thomas effortlessly picks up a 30kg disc and slots it on the end of the pole with one hand and then does the same with the other side. Teresa watches as he walks behind her and places his hands inches under the pole. 

"You wanna give it a try?" He asks looking down at her. Teresa's eyes light up at the chance to try something physically demanding, she had been waiting for this time to come since the morning.  She nodded enthusiastically. Thomas laughed. 

Teresa felt it instantly in her forearms, she pushed it up, straightening her tense elbows. Thomas hands followed underneath. She continued for what felt like hours but seemed to only have been 5 minutes. 

"It think we should stop now." Teresa said breathlessly. Thomas put the pole back on the hooks as Teresa sat up. 

"Hey Thomas!" A boy shouted from the door. Teresa studied him quickly. He was attractive, she noticed that the second he smiled. He had a five o'clock shadow and fluffy dark brown hair covering most of his forehead. His ears were small and he had long eyebrows. His eyes were brown like Thomas' and wide. He spots Teresa and his eyes get even wider. 

"Hi... I'm Chris. Chris King." He stutters as he shakes her hand viciously. Teresa nods.

"Teresa." She replies shyly. Thomas pretends to cough whilst subtly kicking Chris in the shin. Another boy walks in, his hair is dirty blonde and his eyes a bright blue, Teresa notices his defined cheekbones and his clean shave, he had a natural moody face. There was something about him though that made Teresa feel uneasy, maybe it was his eyes, so similar to hers, maybe it was the shape of his face, sculpted to the point where Teresa wasn't sure if he was real. He walked into the room silently, his footsteps tapping against the floor like heavy rain on a car roof, his back was perfectly straight and his chin up in pride, he brought out his steady hand for her to shake. 

"My name is Jasper MacAulay and I am here to make sure you don't die."