Runaway - Tom Hiddleston Fanfiction

Chapter 9

It is a couple of days after the restaurant fiasco and things are still a little awkward. Tom has been apologising a great deal even though Jessica has tried to persuade him that the situation was fine. This aside, at the moment Jessie is sitting in her chair opposite her brother who has come to visit. They have spoken of the past, the present and indeed the future; if she wants to be an athlete then she needs to get training now. At first she thought that she wanted that but now she isn’t so sure, it is like losing seven years of her life has changed her dramatically. She wants to be able to walk and most likely run but she cannot even think of doing that competitively anymore. “Jess?” Her brother shakes her out of her never ending thoughts. She hums to show that she is still listening even though in truth she is not processing anything being said. Leo leans forward in his seat looking at the ground but flicking his eyes up to his sister’s every so often. “What is it that you want?” He asks softly.

“I don’t know.” She mumbles as she twiddles a lock of her dark hair between her fingertips.

“Okay…” He groans and rubs his eyes with the palms of his hands. “Do you want to get a prosthetic?” She nods slowly like she is still considering it. “Do you want to compete?”

“No.” She sternly replies.

“Are you sure?” He questions slightly baffled. Seven years ago his sister would have bitten his head off if he had even suggested her not competing in some kind of championships and now…is she really that broken?

“Yes.” She hisses.

“Okay.” He smiles a warm smile which makes her feel slightly calmer, “Do you want to stay here with Tom?” This question stumps her. A couple of days ago before the restaurant incident she would have immediately said yes but now she cannot help but feel a strong awkwardness between herself and Tom. She thinks that it will surpass but she is still unsure. “Jess?”

“Yes I do.” She speaks up in an uneven tone. “He is really helping.”

“Okay.” It is only now that Jessica notices the amount of times her brother says the word ‘okay’ and she begins to wonder if he realises that he is doing it. Leo sits back up straight and hits his thighs with his hands before standing up. She nods and takes a good look at her brother, his hair is short and curly sitting on the top of his head. Must be something to do with his father’s side, she ponders, no one in her family has curly hair. “I had better be going, I’ve got a client to be dealing with. Oh the joys of law.” He reels off and straightens his tie which had somehow become crooked during their conversation. He picks up his black, leather bag which screams business and tidies his hair with the tips of his fingers on his other hand. “Oh!” He exclaims, “Before I forget…” He places the bag on the chair and unhooks the straps which were binding it shut. “Delivery from mum, she will be visiting at some point soon hopefully.” He grimaces and Jessica thinks about how unlikely that her mum would travel to visit her. She is too lazy and has never really cared. Leo reaches in the bag and pulls out a couple of journals all different colours: purple, black and a vibrant blue. “Your old diaries, she thought maybe you would want to have read?” He questions.

“Thank you.” She smiles and peers at the books that are now in her hands. “Talk soon Leo.”

“Yeah sure thing.” He returns the smile and turns to leave, “Where is Tom?” He asks like he should be there all the time. This frustrates Jessica.

“He is at some sort of meeting with Luke.” She crankily replies as she is sick of being babysat. “I will be fine.”

“I know you will.” He taps her shoulder twice and she reaches up to touch his hand. When she was kidnapped all those years ago, she thought she was going to die. She thought that she would never be able to see her brother again and touching his hand reminds her of this. Leo’s phone beeps alerting him that he has a notification.

“You late?” Jessica asks while feeling slightly guilty that she has kept him here this long.

“No, no.” He assures as he views the screen, “It is just Luke.”

“Luke?”

“Yeah Luke.” He repeats with a raised eyebrow.

“As in Luke Windsor, Tom’s publicist, Luke?” She continues to question with a look of confusion etched onto her face.

“Yes.” He taps on the keyboard before replacing the mobile back into his pocket. He looks back at Jessie who now has her eyebrow raised. “We are just friends.” He smiles and walks away. “Bye Jess.” He states as he shuts the door leaving her alone. She – again – looks down at the pile of diaries in her lap and tries to remember which one she wrote in first without flicking through the pages. She remembers receiving the purple one first when she was still at primary school, when she was about eight. She had trouble formulating sentences so her teachers thought it would have been good practice. She occasionally wrote in but it was not a major part of her life. Then she remembers when she was eleven she was talking to her Grandfather and he had mentioned the diary so they looked through it together by a log fire in his very old house. Jessica runs her fingers along the spine of the purple journal and notices that it is definitely the most worn, this is most likely due to her not having much care for such objects at that young age. She discards it onto the coffee table and picks up the next journal. The black one. She can already feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she remembers being given this one by her Great Aunt; her Grandfather’s sister.

She obtained this journal at her Grandfather’s funeral only a month after their conversation by the fire. Apparently he bought this soon after and he was going to give it to her when he next saw her but he never saw her after that. They lived too far away from each other. From that day Jessie wrote in this diary every day until in the middle of her first term at secondary school. She was seen writing in the diary and some girl described as the bully tormented her about it. That is when she stopped.

As for the vibrant blue one. This one she bought when she started to train professionally to be an athlete, it is practically bare this journal. She started writing in it from just before her fifteen birthday and the last entry is around when she one the Under 16s championships. She smiles at the memory and decides that she is going to have lots of fun reading through these. The handle of the front door turns and Jessica can hear the jangling of keys in the lock. Tom is home. He is walks through the door with a heavy coat on and a bundle of paper in his hands. Most likely scripts. “Hey Tom.” Jessie beams causing Tom to stop in his tracks.

“Hi Jessie.” He grins, “Did you have fun today?”

“Yeah I did. And Leo brought these?” She replies as she lifts up the journals to show Tom he continues to smile but looks slightly confused wondering what they were. “They are my old journals.” She clarifies with a giggle.

“Ah I see.” He dumps the papers on the side and shrugs off his coat before flinging himself on the sofa next to Jessica. He looks at face and feels relieved that she is happy and that there is no longer that strong stench of awkwardness between them. She opens the blue diary and turns the pages to find the last entry.

“Oh my god.” She murmurs as she skim reads the entry.

“What is it?” Tom asks as he leans over to where her finger is pointing:

‘I am so glad I won seeing I trained so hard! But that is not the main topic of this entry today. The main topic has to be the good-looking, hilarious commentator. Tom his name was (I asked my trainer) and he was just so dreamy…’