✔️ Midnight Sparks『 T.H. 』✧･ﾟ:*

Chapter 37: This time, this place

Just one chance, just one breath

Just in case there's just one left

- Nickelback

- - -

After grabbing our drinks at the bar, Tom leaned in and asked, "To the roof?"

Back to where it all began.

I nodded and followed his lead.

When I stepped out onto the rooftop lounge for the second time tonight, I felt a small shiver.

Tom noticed and asked, "Hey, are you cold? You can have my coat."

"No, I'm fine," I assured him. "It's just – I never expected to be here again. With you. It feels kind of unreal."

"In a bad way? If being at Nuovo with me is dredging up bad memories for you, we can just leave –"

"Not at all," I assured him. "No bad memories tonight. The past needs to be left behind at some point, right?"

"Right," Tom agreed.

"Yeah so I'm just thinking about the first time we met. Right at this very spot. It seems like a different lifetime ago... Yet it's familiar and comforting."

"Ditto," was Tom's reply, which made me smile.

No matter what happens, we will always have "ditto" at least. A small thing, but it's ours.

We continued walking side by side until we reached the edge of the viewing deck.

"The view still amazes me even after all this time," Tom mused. He drank his glass of whisky neat and fixed his eyes on the city lights that winked at us from a distance.

"Well, don't let me interrupt your moment again," I joked, recalling our first encounter when my sudden appearance had stolen his alone time on the roof.

Tom chuckled. "You're always welcome to interrupt, Ali. Any time."

"Good to know," I replied before taking a sip of my blackberry mulled wine – a Nuovo specialty for the season.

"How do you like the drink?"

"Umm it's nice..."

"But?"

"I kind of still prefer a gin and tonic," I confessed. "Creature of habit."

Tom glanced at my hair. "Some things are new with you though," he said smilingly.

"The pink? It was such an act of impulse," I disclosed with a roll of my eyes. "The result of one painfully boring Sunday afternoon while Jayna was hanging out at my place."

"I think a boring Sunday was also how my friend Tuwaine and I ended up giving Harrison a Mohawk. That was about five years ago," Tom revealed, bursting into laughter.

I laughed along. "I hope you guys took pics."

"I'll have to write up my will before I show the pictures – because Harrison would most definitely kill me," Tom surmised.

"I like what Jayna did to my hair, so she's safe. It's nice to change things up once in a while – live a little more."

Tom smiled. "I agree."

I smiled back, tightening the hold on my warm cocktail mug as a chilly wind kicked up. "And what's new with you?"

"Work's been great. A couple of upcoming projects that I'm really excited about, including a possible opportunity to co-direct something."

"That's incredible. I'm excited for you too."

"Yeah. And I also picked up the guitar. I'm horrible at it so far and I get annoyed by the calluses on my fingers... But yeah. I'll keep going."

"Oh that sounds fun." I paused and wondered if I should continue speaking.

"Go on."

"Hmm?"

Tom grinned. "Ali, you have this huge question mark on your face. So go ahead and ask."

I licked my lips. "Well, there was this video you posted on Instagram. Of a song you wrote. You were playing the guitar and singing..."

"Ah." Tom's face showed recognition.

"On second thought, let's maybe talk about something else..." I detoured rapidly. I couldn't exactly ask him if the song was about me, could I?

"It was about you. The song," Tom stated, providing the answer to my unasked question.

"Oh."

"I didn't tell you before... in case it puts too much pressure on you. You said you needed space, and I respected that."

"Thanks. I really appreciate that," I said in a soft tone.

Inside, I continued thinking, Thanks for giving me the time to step away and work through my all of my pain... And to eventually find my way back to you again, all on my own.

A comfortable silence fell between us. It was strange how sometimes words were not needed for something to feel profound.

It was just me and him, and the lit up world that laid before us.

And this was all I needed.

In that instant, I wondered if my heart actually had successfully gotten over Tom Holland.

And if not, will it ever?