Found

Hello?

"Hello?" Sophie was sitting in the car outside her house when the phone rang. Although she generally didn't answer unknown or withheld numbers, she'd come off the plane to 5 missed calls all from the same number and now they were calling again. Time to find out what was going on.

"Who is this? What do you want?" She asked firmly but politely. There was a pause and an intake of breath.

"Sophie?" The voice was male and vaguely familiar. She frowned as she tried to place it. "Are you the Sophie that went to Comicon?"

"Yeeesss" she answered slowly. "Look, it's late, I've had a busy weekend and I'm tired. Can you get to the point, please? I'm really not up to playing games." she rubbed her face with her hand. This was just silly. She needed to get in and get to bed.

"I'm so sorry. I don't mean to upset you. I only got your number this afternoon. I've been trying to call you ever since."

"That's nice for you" she responded snarkily, "but if you don't tell me who you are and what you want in the next thirty seconds I'm hanging up and blocking you."

"No, please don't, please. I was just making sure... I'm just... " he paused and there was something in his voice that made her pause.

The more he spoke, the more he sounded like... she closed her eyes and swallowed. Get a grip, she told herself. It's some poor guy who's screwed up all his courage. Be kind.

"Who ARE you?" She prompted softly, trying to encourage him to get to the point.

"It's me, darling" her world stopped as his voice suddenly registered "it's Tom."

For a moment she sat, immobile just staring out the car into the night. Then she realised he probably expected some kind of reply!

"Hi" she managed to whisper.

"Hi" he breathed back.

"Hi."

"Hi"

They sat for a moment, both realising this was like two teenagers on a first date. Sweet but oh so very awkward.

"I saw you - at the airport - I saw you but it was too late." He said softly, the tinge of regret in his voice.

"I tried to come to you but you were gone." She replied sadly " but now..."

"Yes. Jane is a good friend." Tom's voice sounded like a smile and her heart leapt.

"Yes, I must remember to thank her! I owe her such a lot."

"We both do darling."

The way he said darling made her insides melt and her legs jelly all over again.

"Tom?"

"Yes darling?"

"Wh-where are you right now?"

"I'm in my car, heading to my publicist's house. Why?"

"Oh no, it's ok" she backed off instantly.

"No, go on, you asked for a reason." He encouraged her softly, this was more than he'd hoped for.

"I was just going to suggest face timing?"

"Oh that would have been wonderful. I can't wait to see your beautiful eyes again. "

"Oh Tom!" Her eyes filled with tears at his romantic outburst. Sniffing them back she added, "I can't wait to feel your arms around me."

"Me too darling, me too. Look I'm going to have to go for now but can I phone you tomorrow again?"

"Anytime Tom, anytime."

"Goodnight love"

"Goodnight Tom"

"Night"

"Night"

They laughed, this was descending into teenager territory again.

"Speak to you tomorrow Tom, now hang up you daftie!"

"Night Sophie" he hung up and sat back letting a huge breath out. Well, that went so much better than he had ever hoped it would. The next bit would be the hard bit. How could he explain to her that yes, he wanted to be with her but she'd have to wait weeks while he swanned off and did his thing?

He got out of the car and walked up to Luke's house. He knocked on the door and walked in, as he had done a thousand times before. This time though, when Luke shouted through to come into the kitchen and turned to offer him some tea, the face that greeted him was one he'd not expected.

When Tom had called so late, telling him he had to speak to him urgently, he'd told him just to come on over. Now Tom stood in his kitchen, face flushed, eyes shining.

"I spoke to her! Luke, man, I actually spoke to her!" Tom dashed across the kitchen and man hugged him to within an inch of his life. "And she spoke to me and she wanted to see me!" His face was the picture of happiness. Luke felt awful.

As Tom recounted almost word for word what they'd said, Luke made the tea with an increasing sense of dread. This was quite possibly the worst timing in the entire universe.

"That's great Tom, really.. just.. great!" He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes and despite his euphoria, Tom noticed.

"What is it?" He sat down at the table as Luke handed him a mug. "I thought you'd be pleased? You're off the hook!" He smiled and took a swallow of tea. As he did, Luke sat down with a sigh.

"Aww shit Tom, I'm over the moon, truly." He paused and put his mug down.

"Why do I feel a 'but' coming?" Tom said quietly, a sense of foreboding creeping over him, stifling his newfound joy.

"Ah well, the thing is, I got a call today. The filming has been postponed. The studio just doesn't have the funding. So, in the meantime, I thought I was doing the right thing when I called Angela in New York." He paused and Tom narrowed his eyes.

"You called Angela? Why would you do that?"

"Well, Claire, you remember her, the new girl you spoke with from your management team? Well, she was in touch last week. They're transferring that Pinter play you did to New York and would you be interested? Obviously, at the time, I said no, because of the filming. You couldn't do both, they overlapped. Now filming is on a hiatus, you had time to ..." he trailed off as he looked at Tom.

"Go to New York." Tom finished his hand over his eyes. "Why Luke? Why me?"

"Because you're a good actor?" Was the rueful response.

"Don't be a smart-arse" Tom sighed "you know what I mean." He drained his mug and stood up. " So when do I go?"

"Monday. Rehearsals start Monday. You'll be there for almost 6 months give or take." He stood up and put a hand on Tom's arm. "It'll be ok Tom. You'll work this out, I know you will."

As Tom drove home, he felt bad for snapping at Luke. It wasn't his fault, he was only doing what he thought was best. It was still a disaster. He'd be going thousands of miles away. How could he begin to tell her? How could he begin to ask her to put up with that?

The rain that started to fall echoed his mood.

"Oh Sophie, what are we going to do?" The answer to that question would be answered soon enough.