danger (mcfly)

Chapter 4

I woke up in the morning with a pounding headache and very little memory of the night before. As I began to look around, I realized I wasn’t in my own house. I was in Tom’s room…in Tom’s bed. Had I slept with him? I quickly shook that idea away; I definitely would have remembered that.

Groggily, I climbed out of bed. I was still wearing my clothes from last night, so I dug in Tom’s closet for a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, knowing he wouldn’t mind. I froze for a second as I found his old Back to the Future shirt that I had borrowed the last time I was over at his house, over two years ago. I hesitated slightly before putting it on, wondering if he would remember how much I liked this particular shirt of his. Speaking of Tom…

I set out to find him, which proved rather easy as all I had to do was follow the smell of pancakes to the kitchen.

“Good morning,” he said when he saw me walk in. His eyes lingered on the clothes I had borrowed, but he said nothing.

“Uh, good morning.”

“I’m guessing you don’t remember much of last night. You look a bit confused.”

I nodded. “Yeah, why exactly am I at your house? And why are we at this house? I thought you said you lived near me.”

“I do, but I live there with Nicole…and I didn’t really want to bring you there. You got completely pissed last night and wouldn’t let me take you home to Grace,” Tom chuckled slightly.

My cheeks flushed. “Does Nicole know I’m here?” I tried not to sound bitter as I said her name.

Tom looked uncomfortable at my question. “Not exactly, no. She had to drive out to Manchester last night for a modeling thing over the weekend.”

I gave a slight nod of my head. Tom jumped suddenly, realizing he still had pancakes cooking. As he worked on that, I went to the cupboard to grab a mug for coffee. It felt nice being back here; his house had always felt like home to me, although I had only stayed here a couple of times. I sat down at the table as Tom set a plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of me—my favorite.

“It’ll help with the hangover,” he said with a smirk.

I groaned at how stupid I had acted last night. “Thanks.”

After shoveling down my pancakes, I figured it was time to go home. I was glad I had remembered to text Grace last night to tell her I might stay over at a friend’s from Uni, she probably would have sent the police force out to find me if I had suddenly disappeared. I looked around the table to see if I could find my purse, which contained my phone. No luck.

“Tom? Have you seen my phone anywhere?”  I asked.

He frowned for a second. “Try the upstairs bathroom.”

When had I been in there? “The upstairs bathroom?”

He chuckled again. “You sort of puked…a lot when you got here.”

I buried my face in my hands. Great.

“Don’t worry. I tied your hair up.” Tom said with a wink.

“Ugh. I’m gonna go call a cab,” I told him as I started walking towards the stairs.

“I can drive you home.”

That meant even more alone time with Tom, and being the stupid, masochistic person I am, I agreed. We stepped inside his Mini Cooper, and I gave him the directions to my place. Besides the radio that I was nervously fiddling with, it was silent inside of his car. But it still felt nice to be with him after so long. Honestly, all I wanted to do was recreate that kiss we shared at his concert. I mentally slapped myself at that thought. I needed to keep reminding myself that Tom was in a relationship. But then why did he kiss me?

I found myself staring at him while he drove. His brow was furrowed, a look that occurred when he was deep in thought. Tom glanced over at me, catching me staring at him. Blushing, I looked down into my lap and fiddled with the tie on his sweatpants.

“What were you looking at?” he asked in a slightly mischievous manner.

“Nothing.”

“So, you weren’t staring at me then?” Tom was grinning, and I couldn’t help but smile back as he teased me.

“Nope ,” I said, popping the “p”.

“Riiight…”

I laughed. Since we were finally talking, I figured I might as well take this opportunity to thank him.

“Tom?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for…everything that you did. I got a bit carried away last night, and if you hadn’t stepped in, I definitely would have done something stupid. Well, something more stupid than what I was already doing.”

“Don’t mention it,” he said with a small smile, before his expression darkened. “That guy you were about to shag was seriously creepy though.”

I tried to recall what he looked like. “I don’t really remember him. I’m glad you stopped me.”

“Same.”

We stayed silent after this—both emerged in our own thoughts—until he parked outside of house. Neither of  us made a movement for another minute. I was reluctant to leave; I wasn’t sure when I’d be able to see Tom again after this. He was apparently thinking about the same thing.

“Do you want to get coffee sometime?” Tom said suddenly.

Did I want to go? Yes. But the question was whether or not I should. And I knew that it would be a bad idea. Going out for coffee meant catching up on the last couple of years and realizing just how much I’ve missed Tom.

“I’m not sure if that’s the best idea…how about you give me your number, and I’ll call you if I’m free.”

He frowned slightly, but nodded. I pulled out my phone and entered his number before putting the device back into the pocket of Tom’s sweatpants. I reached for the door handle, but pulled back at the last second.

“Thanks again, Tom,” I gave him a light kiss on his cheek, blushing slightly.

“Anytime, Charlotte.”

***

Was it weird for me to be sleeping in those clothes I had taken from Tom? Because that’s what I had been doing for the past week. I probably needed to return them at some point, but they were too comfortable for me to give up. Grace had yet to notice that I was wearing men’s clothing to bed, thank God. I don’t know how I would explain that one to her.

I had just gotten out of bed and was getting ready to go shopping for a birthday present for Grace. I straightened my hair, throwing on a pair of skinnies and a raglan shirt, before heading out of the house. I decided to stop at Starbucks along the way. The shop was filled with the familiar aroma of coffee and muffins that I loved so much.

I ordered a Frappuccino from the cute barista and was about to leave when I heard someone yell out my name. My eyes grew wide as I saw who was behind me.

A/N: Thanks for everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Also, sorry for the delay! Love you all (: