For a brief moment Thomas saw it: the emotional eruption exploding out of the commonly so buoyant blonde. Tears, reddened skin, impetuous breathing, possible hyperventilation, panic, and a collapse. He literally saw it flashing in his eyes: Tatum reaching out to scoop up the remains of Beth’s positivity, and possibly dignity too, on to her arms and rushing to comfort her friend through the endlessly long night. And there went his possibility of sharing few words with the.. uh.. very nice.. lawyer Tatum.<br/>Later on there would be a ruckus, there’d be talk, nasty rumours all around. There’d be all kinds of unnecessary attention, and most of all, there would be Mrs. Carol. And ol’ Carol would be all over Thomas’ neck, just like all the rest of the wackos, tightening around him like an oiled rope of the church-bell.<br/>“<i>He</i>”, Thomas heard wicked words over the beating heart of his. “<i>Is a doubter. A troublemaker! Just like he’s always been. Lurking in the woods with that old friend of his. The old man must have brainwashed our Thomas, he must!</i>”<br/><br/>Thomas frowned. These thoughts he just had didn’t pop out from thin air, did they? Could things really go that bad? Well, things were already bad, but..<i>that </i>bad?<br/>Bad things lurking around them took a quick step backwards as Beth’s possible tantrum was “Tatumized”, and the sinking blonde found her natural buoyancy once more. The day, or the night, seemed to be saved.<br/>A slow, deep sigh of relief was exhaled from Thomas’ nose as Beth’s house slowly took its form. Darkness slowly broke it’s counter-mirage-like grip from the building. Undissipating, the house’s frame sharpened with each step they took. It formed windows, the deck, the yard, and with each step he was closer to steal few minutes for.. talk.<br/><br/>“Good night, Beth.”, and finally the door opened and went shut. Thomas took a quick pause to appreciate it all: to have survived the day, the convent, from Wullie, and now from causing a local hurricane by upsetting Beth. During his quick moment of appreciation he stuffed his hands deep into the depths of his warm pockets. Old habits died hard, and numb fingers searched for a pack and a lighter that hadn’t been there for a year now. The small smile that had formed across his face was diminished by a pinch.<br/><br/>“Shall we?”, was the quickest rekindling of a dying smile.<br/>“Sure.”<br/>They took their first steps towards a mutually common address, they had never walked together into. For Thomas, it felt.. better. That one simple step was like the first step on even ground he had taken after two years of more or less rough uphill scaling. It felt lighter.<br/>He quickly gained on Tatum’s side. Nervous fingers searched for a missing pack again, and his eyes scoured on the sidewalk.<br/><br/>“Oh, yeah, I’ll totally wait for that..”, he blurt out a quick chuckle on Beth’s dancing and singing clubs. He waited for that as much as he did wait out starvation. Singing and dancing was nice, but the goodwilling people like Beth - made surely with good intent, heart and will - usually succeeded only in creating twisted nightmares for adults. Which it really did sound like for Thomas.<br/>A quick nudge on his side took his thoughts out from a “out of this life”-scale of awkwardness onto Tatum’s eyes.<br/>She was quite close.<br/><br/>While taking a good four seconds while thinking what to answer Tatum, he took a risk and looped his arm around her arm.<br/>Beth had done it with him, casually, so this was just that. A casual looping of arms. Which just made his stomach flutter a bit, and forced him force down all the reflexes making him smile like an idiot.<br/>He took a breath. “Well. I think that it’s Carol who’s acting inappropriate.”, and he said it with his slow, confident manner. One innocent arm-looping word after another, forming out a banned sentence. A taboo. “And I’ll see you home despite if Carol thinks from it or not.”, he added within the rush of boldness he was drunk on.<br/>Another loud breath was taken and Thomas waved his head gently from side to side like trying to shake out the right words from the cramped flanks of his brain.<br/><br/>“It’s not a big deal, trust me. Walking you home.”<br/>The sentence had two meanings.<br/>It wasn’t a big deal to walk you home, with the meaning of Thomas actually wanting to see Tatum home and right now perhaps beyond it, too.<br/>And it shouldn’t be considered as a big deal to walk you home, or to not walk you home. The sudden sharpness in his eyes told her the latter, where all the other signs on him had hinted the first one. He meant the both. With his tone and his gesture.