Forever and ever 2. The adventure starts now.

Part 68.

"Are you okay? You seem a little absent. And I'm not just saying that because you didn't listen to my spectacular fish story earlier, but because your gaze keeps darting to your phone. Are you expecting a call from someone?" Wayne wasn't wrong. I was absent. A small part of me was still hoping for just the tiniest message from Tom, but not once did my screen light up with a new message from him.

"I'm sorry." I sighed.
He shrugged, his hands tucked tightly in his pockets as he shook his head and answered. "No! No worries. I'm just curious." Wayne really showed a lot of understanding most people wouldn't have even if I was on the verge of dying. All right, that was an exaggeration. But he really deserved more of an answer than a murmured "mhm" or a nod of the head I had given him all evening.
"I just had sort of a fight with my husband and am somehow waiting for an apology now, which is so stupid because I specifically told him not to contact me." And it was pretty easy for him to comply.

Telling Wayne about my problems felt odd in the pit of my stomach, and yet I didn't feel bad after the truth was out, because Wayne wasn't one to judge me. On the contrary, his cheeks coloured as his eyes cast a quick gleam in my direction. Feeling bad about having raised such a sensitive issue.

Our shoes clacked against the wooden footbridge as we made our way back to the beach, the air slowly becoming fresher.
"Tom, right?" he asked. I nodded.
"Yeah." And then we both nodded as the silence began to build. The sound of the waves, gentle minded rushing through the air.
"I didn't mean to bother y-" you. I wanted to say. He certainly didn't care much about what was going on in my love life. And yet I felt the urge to talk to someone about it, in the hope that I would feel better afterwards.

"No!" He interrupted. "You didn't. It's just- I don't know how you could possibly fight with him, he seems like such a chill person. Or well- he used to. He has grown a beard now, hasn't he?" A retrospective image of Tom without a beard tried to force itself into my mind, but in fact I had become quite used to his facial hair over the last few months. After all, it was only a few hairs that made him look sort of rougher and- more dangerous? Yeah, it was hard to describe because I had never really noticed the transformation, but knowing Tom only from movies, I understood that it was a bit surprising to see pictures of what he looked like now, with a beard and surely a few pounds lighter since the last film. Which made me wonder how Wayne knew Tom was having a beard.
"Yeah." I sighed with a smile on my lips. "No he..." I couldn't find the words to explain why he grew a beard. I felt like one day it was just there. I didn't realise it myself until he was asked about it again and again. Whether from Nikki, Dom or anyone else in his family. I didn't think it was much of a decision either. He just couldn't find the strength to shave it one day and there it was. So you could blame it on the depression he was struggling with, but was I ready to tell Wayne yet? I don't think it was any of my business. "It's probably just a phase... but how do you even know about it?"

Wayne blushed, an embarrassed redness taking on the colours on his cheeks.
"Oh uh." He rubbed his chin, his steps big strides that I could only keep up with because he walked slowly. "There's this account that posts pictures of celebrities. They recently uploaded a paparazzi picture of me eating a bagel in New York, and when I looked through the profile I found this picture of Tom."

That was weird, considering that we hardly had any paparazzi to deal with since we weren't at public events so often anymore. So I was curious where exactly this had happened.
"What's on the picture?" He thought for a moment, as if he didn't remember, but I could tell from the way his mouth twitched that he still knew.
"Well, in that picture he was in some snow-covered park, looking straight into the camera. But there is also another one of him at a petrol station, just paying." Mhm.

Later that evening, I had a look at the account. Or at least any account, because there were tons of paparazzi profiles, each with their own made-up headlines and the exact same pictures.