A New Road ➢ Thomas Brodie Sangster

Wait And See

"Thomas where are we going?" I whine.

"I'm not telling you. But we have about half an hour before we get there," he laughs, not taking his eyes off the road. He rented a car for our second date. "You can connect your phone with the Bluetooth, you know."

"Okay." I say and I do just that. I hit shuffle on my Spotify playlist and Heart Out by the 1975 plays. He doesn't say anything but just looks at me and smiles when I hum along.

We continue driving for, like he said, half an hour and Thomas parks the car.

"We're going bowling?" I ask as I look at where we are.

His face shows a slight panic. "Do you not like bowling?"

"No. I do. I'm just surprised. That's all. I haven't been bowling in a long time" I say quickly to calm him.

He smiles and steps out of the car, hurrying over to open the door for me. "Thank you." I say, blushing for about the 100th time because of him.

We play and Thomas, of course, is winning the whole time.

"I guess it's just luck?" he says, trying to be polite, but I just look at him and laugh.

When the game is over, we walk across the road to a small picnic table to just talk.

"That was really fun." I say.

"Well I'm glad it was. But remind me never to take you bowling again. It makes me feel bad when I beat you," he laughs.

I laugh with him, "Hey, I may not be good at bowling but I am a hell of a lot better at dancing."

"I know. I remember from the time we had that grill out at Dylan's," he says softly.

"Next time we go on a date, I mean if you want to, I am taking you dancing," I say.

Thomas smiles and it reaches his eyes, "I will take you up on that offer."

I see his phone light up on the table and he picks it up only to groan when he sees it. Thomas holds it up so I can read it. It's from Dylan.

Dylan: How's it going Tom? Did you kiss her yet? Did you ask her out? What's going on? We miss you two!! Ki wants to know why you won't answer him.

I start laughing once I finish.

"We have weird friends." I say once I'm done.

"This has been going on since we left," he says. "I think we need to get Ki and Dylan back with their loved ones."

"Yes we do." I say and we both laugh.

"Well we should better head back. We have to meet everyone for a group dinner," he says grabbing my hand as we walk back to the car. I don't let go.

~~~~~

"How was New Mexico?" Grace asks when I get back home a few days later.

"It was really a lot of fun!" I say, dropping my bags in my room.

"And how was Thomas?" she asks, wriggling her eyebrows.

"He was very sweet. So how was New York?"

She grabs a grow pillow off of the couch and throws it at me. "Don't try and change the subject! Back to Thomas," she says trying not to laugh.

"Fine, fine!" I say, picking up the pillow and clutching it as I plop down on the couch, Grace does the same.

"Well we went on a few dates." She squeals in response. "Are you going to listen or are you going to scream every time I get a sentence out?" I ask laughing at her.

"Continue," she says smiling

"He took me bowling, then another day I took him dancing. He's not that bad actually. Umm.. Lets see. We hung out on their set for a bit, but I can't repeat what I saw for secrecy reasons so no you can't interview me for a sneak peek. We went out for a nice lunch one day and we also went to go see Interstellar. That's about it." I say while looking at my clasped hands.

"Aww Jade! So did he ask you out?" she says holding her hands to her face.

"No, I don't know if he's going to. I mean, the original intent of going on these dates was to get to know each other, one on one, without everyone else there." I say sadly.

"Sweetie, that's what you do when you go on dates and you're interested in a person." Grace says laughing, "You go on dates to get to know someone to see if you want to start a relationship with them."

I didn't know for sure if I wanted him to. If we did start a relationship I'm sure everything would change. But would that be so bad?

"Yeah, I guess. I don't know Grace. I really like my friendship with him and I don't want to lose that. Plus I don't want to get hurt again." I say.

She pulls me into a hug, "Sometimes it's worth the risk. And you never know what's going to happen. Getting in a relationship with Thomas could be the best thing that ever happens to you! Just, with every decision, make sure your heart and mind are in the right place. Don't be hasty and just make sure you're happy. But if he ever hurts you, I'm breaking his face somehow," she says as she pulls away.

"When's the next time you're going to see him?" she asks.

"When he, Dylan, Will, and Ki fly down for the wedding and all of its preparations." I say, pulling a blanket over my legs.

She nods.

"You never told me how New York was." I say. Her eyes light up at this.

"New York was.. full of surprises," she says and hurts to her purse and digs inside.

I twist on the couch to look at her. "How's Blake?"

"He's just grand," she says lovingly, still looking in her purse. "Where is- Oh here!" She turns around holding whatever she grabbed behind her back. Her face had a huge smile and her eyes shone.

"Grace.. What is it?" I ask, curiosity crawling inside.

"Well, Blake and I have been dating for a while and we've gotten pretty serious. One thing led to another when we were out at dinner, he got down on one knee and he proposed!" she screams, holding out the box and opening it to reveal the ring inside.

I run up to her and give we a big hug. "I'm so happy for you!"

"I know. I'm so happy!" she says, tears welling in her eyes.

I let her go and she takes the ring out of the box, slips out on her finger, and holds it out for us both to see.

"This is going to be fun for you. Maid of Honor this year and again next year," she says.

My eyes grow wide, "You want me to be your Maid of Honor?"

"Of course! That's if you want to though.." she says.

"There's no way in hell I'm gonna say no. I can't wait to see my brother and my best friend get married." I say as I squeeze her shoulders.

"Who knows, maybe we'll see you get married," she jokes and pokes my side.

"Um first of all we aren't even in a relationship and-"

"Nope. You're not finishing that sentence. We'll just have to wait and see. Now help me drain this bottle of sparkling juice so we can celebrate," she laughs and we take out two glasses from the cabinet and toast to her engagement.