boyfriend | t.h.

part thirteen - kids we used to know (finale)

It had been three months since you last saw Tom or he saw you. While he was practicing for the division series coming up, you found a temp job and decided to stay in town for another year, taking a gap year to decide what you wanted to do. But, your minds had been cloudy, to say the least.

The memories of the fight faded, of course, but neither of you forgot it happened. Many times in between, you both were tempted to call the other, but would only talk yourselves out of it after thinking it was a dumb idea. You were glad your parents or family didn't know about you and Tom, assuming you'd go crazy if they ever asked. The only person who asked about Tom's relationship with you was his mom, wondering if he would ever contact you again, but every time it may have been brought up, he shut the idea down pretty quickly.

Before the season started, Tom got an opportunity to come home for the weekend so his family and friends could see him. He was homesick and waiting for one of Hazel's hugs, but there was that small fear in him that he wasn't sure he would bump into you or not. He tried not to give into it, but maybe, it would be nice to make some kind of amends.

When you entered your apartment, you were relieved to be able to kick your four-inch heels off by the door. Not only were the bottoms of your feet feeling numb, but your back and shoulders ached from sitting at a desk all day, trying to keep your posture upright.

You walked over to your couch, plopping on it and setting your feet up on the arm of it. You let out a quiet groan, satisfied to lay in complete silence until your stomach started growling when you started thinking about the leftovers in the fridge from last night.

After you get up and heat up your food, you turned on the TV and planned to lay around the rest of the night until your phone interrupted your contemplations of ordering more food or not.

"Hello?" You asked, putting your phone between your ear and shoulder while taking out your plate from the microwave.

"You need to come out tonight." Haley didn't hesitate to cut to the chase.

You chuckled, "Hi to you too."

"I'm serious, Y/N! You need to come and hang out with me and Annabella. We're going downtown to the bars and we'd love to see you.."

You shrugged, "I'm kind of tired. I don't know."

"It'll be fun! Some drinks and darts, catching up a little. I miss you so much, I feel like we've barely seen each other since we graduated." Haley pouted a bit, Annabella leaning on her shoulder.

"I um- Sure, yeah. Yeah." You nodded, thinking that it wouldn't kill you to go.

"Great! Oh, it'll be like a little reunion." She squealed as Annabella kissed her neck.

"I can't wait." You hummed, obviously not as enthusiastic as you'd like to be.

You laid down for a few minutes, staring at the ceiling and enjoying the silence until you got back on your aching feet. After slipping out of your dress and tights, you put on a knitted, oversized sweater and paired it with black jeans and hoping your slip-on sneakers would be more comfortable than the heels. You spent a long time, looking in the mirror as well, playing with your hair and wondering if you'd meet a guy tonight and it what you presented yourself as was okay.

You took your hair down from a ponytail again, putting it back with a clip to have your hair away from your eyes. Once you snagged your purse and keys, you slowly walked downstairs and to your car in the parking garage behind your apartment building. The town gave you a weird feeling tonight, not as crowded as usual on a Friday and the peacefulness was almost creepy, almost waiting for something explosive and loud to happen.