I Know Places [Thomas The Maze Runner] (ongoing)

[37: The Right Arm]

As it turned out, Bertha was an old SUV with cattle horns on the grills and too few seats for everyone to squeeze into the car. Reluctantly, Elle had perched herself on Thomas's lap as everyone piled into the car because it didn't make sense for anyone else to do it. Everyone was happy to give up the passenger seat to Newt, who was smiling for the first time in days. There was something about rolling the windows down and feeling the wind whip as Jorge drove down the desert road into the mountains that finally brought his mood up.

"Hey, I need to talk to you about something," Thomas said discreetly. He was piled in the back of the SUV with Elle on his lap. Teresa sat beside him in the middle seat, and Frypan was on her other side. Everyone was chatting quietly, so Thomas and Elle had the chance to speak privately.

Uncomfortably, Elle tried to smile. "Is it that you and Teresa know each other and have memories of working together?" she responded, matching his whisper. "Because she already spilt the beans on that one a couple days ago."

"I completely forgot about that," Thomas realised with wide eyes. He looked regretfully at Elle, brown eyes shining. "I'm so sorry I didn't say anything, I must have put you in a really weird spot there."

"It was a little weird, especially hearing about her memories of me when I don't have any memories of her," Elle admitted. "But it was mostly just sad." She cleared her throat and changed the subject, "If it's not that, then what do you mean?"

Now was Thomas's turn to look uncomfortable. He averted his eyes momentarily before gathering the courage to meet her gaze again. "When Marcus let us inside he made us drink something and it made everything kind of fuzzy," he explained. "Everything felt really slow and calm for a second, but I couldn't really wrap my head around it. I think it affected Brenda more than me though. She kept talking about staying there and giving up." Elle's heart swelled empathetically for Brenda. Even though she had no idea what the other girl had gone through, Elle imagined it had to be incredibly difficult; constantly interacting with Cranks and keeping herself alive couldn't have been easy. "I think she was confused, or maybe she misread something because we were both drugged, but she--"

"Thomas," Elle cut him off quickly. "If you're about to say what I think you're about to say then I'd rather talk about it later," she said, swallowing a lump in her throat. Blinking back tears, Elle hastily added, "It's just that there's been a lot going on for me and I don't think I can handle crying here with everyone we know present."

"I pushed her away," Thomas hurriedly explained. "I pushed her away and told her to stop. My mind was hazy and really confused, but I knew that she wasn't you and I kept telling her that until she left me alone. I didn't do anything, I promise you."

Elle nodded. "Okay. We'll talk later, but it's okay."

She squeezed his hand to let him know she wasn't upset with him before turning her attention out the window and watching rusted and broken electric towers fly by as Jorge sped down the road. Even though she believed Thomas and trusted that he hadn't wanted to kiss Brenda, Elle felt like all her insecurities and fears were coming to fruition. After everything Teresa told her, Elle was starting to wonder if Thomas felt the same as Teresa; maybe he was realising that his feelings for Elle weren't real, and getting to know Brenda without WICKED's involvement proved that they were better suited for each other. The thought ate at Elle and made her feel sick to her stomach.

Teresa, who was beside them and had overheard part of the conversation – specifically, where Thomas confessed that Brenda kissed him and he pulled away – was seething with anger. The fact that Thomas had done anything to hurt Elle made her weary of him, and Teresa decided that Brenda was most likely not trustworthy. When Frypan asked if Teresa was all right, she plastered on a smile and assured him that she was fine, even though she felt hurt and betrayed on behalf of her friend.