Forget-Me-Not (A Tom Hiddleston Fanfiction)

(46) Chocolate

Nina woke up a few days later, feeling somewhat different. Was she drunk last night? No. Was she still at Tom's? Yes. Was there anyone watching her? Not that she was aware of... Then it hit her. It was officially December! Now Nina could finally enjoy festivities without wanting to destroy every piece of tinsel within a mile radius.

A moment after she'd woken up and gotten her bearings, she wandered through to the living room in just her pyjamas and fluffy dressing gown, half expecting Tom to still be asleep, but she expected wrong. He was sat in his grey top and his plaid pyjama bottoms, with his long leg crossed in front of the tree, and she could hear the faint sound of tearing cardboard.

"You've not opened a present already, have you?" Nina broke the silence quote suddenly and Tom jumped out of his skin, pushing himself round to face her, his legs still crossed.

"No." He held out a long rectangle to her, another one in his other hand, smiling childishly. "Advent calendars!"

Nina noticed a slight smudge of chocolate in the corner of his mouth, and that the card of his calendar seemed like it had been opened a little more than it should have been, but she said nothing, only smiling to herself as she sat and pulled open the first box, revealing an adorable little Santa head sitting in the hole.

"It's so cute, I almost don't want to eat it." Nina sighed, picking it up and holding it between two fingers.

"No problem." Tom's eyes glinted mischievously as he leant forward quickly, the stubble on his chin scratching slightly on Nina's palm as he ate the chocolate right from her fingers. She stayed exactly where she was, her hand in exactly the same place, frozen as she blinked slowly at her hand, then turned to look at Tom.

"I said almost! Tom, that was my chocolate." Nina pouted childishly, and Tom seemed to quickly rethink his actions. He opened up a random box on his calendar and took out the chocolate, offering Nina a present-shaped chocolate from the palm of his hand, and she jokingly rolled her eyes. "It's not the eighteenth of December."

"Well, I can't put it back in now, can I?"

"That's what she said." Nina snorted, putting down her advent calendar. Tom cracked a small grin then nearly swallowed the small chocolate whole.

"So how do you fancy an it's-finally-December lunch? You, me-"

"The paparazzi." Nina interrupted, but wishing she hadn't as she saw Tom's expression fall slightly. There hadn't been too much publicity on Nina, apart from the jogging photos a little while back and a few other bits here and there. Tom's current publicist Luke was doing a good job keeping on top of everything.

"Actually, I was going to say we could invite your sister and her new girlfriend...? Or is that a bad idea?" Tom licked the chocolate off of one of his fingers in what he must have viewed as perfectly innocent but to Nina...well, it was quite suggestive.

Is what a bad idea? Nina thought. Going out for dinner with my sister and her girlfriend who I know nothing about, or the fact that you're practically making me want to lick your finger too? She shook her head. God, she was driving herself crazy.

"I'll call Molly." Nina suggested quickly, desperate to move into a different room before she went even crazier. Chances are Molly would on her way to work so Nina hoped she could catch her before she started for the morning. The phone rung through to voicemail - you know what to do after the beep! - and Nina left her sister a quick message.

'Hey, Molly, just calling to see if you and your girlfriend were free at lunch today to meet up someplace nice with Tom and I. Call me when you get this, okay? Love you lots. Ps; it's not a double date.'

It was less than an hour later that Nina got a response in the form of a text from the youngest Ferguson child. "Molly's up for lunchtime in Garfunkels around the corner from her office!" Nina rang Tom, who had gone on a jog for something to do, whereas Nina was perfectly happy lounging around at home and enjoying her break from work until she joined back in with rehearsals in a couple of days.

Maybe now she'd be able to face the tinsel.

"That's brilliant, love. I'll be back in about twenty minutes, call me back when you get a time from Molly, okay?"

"Will do. See you in a bit, Tommy boy." Nina ended the call and closed her eyes. She needed to do something, even if it was just a bit of tidying up. After all, she couldn't spend all of her life lounging around doing nothing...could she?

*****

Nina gnawed anxiously on her lip in the cab on the way to the restaurant. Tom watched her with a puzzled look on his face. "It's your sister, love, not your long-lost aunt. You'll be fine."

"Yeah, but what if she doesn't show up? What if her girlfriend doesn't show up? What if her girlfriend doesn't like me?"

"Nina, you have to stop worrying, darling..." Tom reached out and in a tender gesture, brushed a strand of Nina's chocolatey-brown hair behind her ear. His hand hovered by her neck for a moment, and Nina's skin was buzzing at his close proximity. But she snapped herself out of whatever trance she was in, sitting back slowly, however she wasn't able to control the slight blush creeping across her cheeks.

Before either of them had any time to react any further, the cab arrived at the restaurant and they both got out rather quickly after splitting the journeys fee between them.

"Table for Ferguson..." Nina said to the young waitress - the young, pretty waitress who seemed to be eyeing up her handsome British friend - who then led them to a quiet table in the corner, where Molly sat facing them, and another woman was sat with her back to them, her vibrant red hair catching the light.

Vibrant red hair.

Nina's mother's words echoed in her head. Ann, or something like that.

Realisation hit Nina like a figurative brick to the face, and she wondered if Tom had caught on yet. Molly looked up and cracked a huge smile, before the woman in front of her turned too, and Tom looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"Oh. My. Goodness."

[A/N] all i can say is guess who's back again? (just for the record, no, molly is not dating slim shady.) drop a vote for adorable festive chocolate tom?
yours truly :) x