Tom Daley: Mr. Perfect

Chapter 3: Cookie dough

"So, Tom," my dad said. "Who are you? Tell me about yourself."

"Well. Four years ago I was in the Wellington, New Zealand Olympics. Diving."

"Diving? Wow, I never knew this! How did I not know you Tom, I love the Olympics!" My mom said.

"Probably because you're American," Tom commented. "No offense."

"She is so American, you don't even know. You should see her watching the Olympics!" I said. "It involves a lot of yelling and jumping."

My dad laughed in agreement.

"But how old are you? You can't be much older than Zoey." My mom looked confused.

"I'm 18. I was 14 for my first Olympics."

Everyone simultaneously said "Wow!"

"So you're exactly Zoey's age!" My mom nudged me.

After dinner Tom wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere. So we all made cookies together... And then we ate all the cookie dough and ended up with just three cookies. Because that's just how we roll.

The whole time we were talking. Tom was a really talkative guy. And he knew how to keep a conversation going. I learned that he was in Utah because of a relative in the hospital. And he wanted to see some of the sights while he was at it. Not that Salt Lake has anything really interesting.

When we finished cookie dough, mom still wasn't hurrying to get anywhere, and mom was really enjoying having him with us, so she pulled out our families favorite game, Monopoly!

"I wanna be the dog!!" Olivia called.

"But I wanted to be the dog!" Tom pouted.

Olivia thought for a minute... "Okay. You can be the dog."

"YES!" Tom raised his harms up. "Thank you Olivia!"

"You're welcome." She replied. "We're gonna be friends Tom."

"Oh yeah!" He said and gave her a high five.

Tom was nice to Olivia. And that is a big bonus. If anyone is mean to my sister, I automatically hate them... and sometimes beat them up.

And he helped Olivia too with Monopoly. She has some problems with the math in Monopoly, and reading some big words. He sat next to her and helped her in a way that doesn't make her feel useless.

And guess who won? ME!

"Do you're victory dance, Zoey!" Dad said.

We've been playing monopoly since I was about 7. And every time I win since then I do a victory dance. I blushed because Tom was watching me intently. But I stood up.

"I WIN! I WIN!" I yelled like usual. Then I shook my arms in the air and turned in circles. I jumped up and did a heel click (which I took years to perfect.) Then I shook my hips a few times (very embarrassing in front of Tom.) And did a big dramatic theater bow, flipping my hair as I came up.

Everyone clapped as I went back to me seat. "Thank you Salt Lake City!" I yelled all rock concert like and stuff.

It was 11:40 so Tom decided to leave. We all ended up talking until 12:20 though before we officially said goodbye.

"Thanks for dinner Mr and Mrs Carson. It was very nice." Tom said.

"Any time Tom! We should do this again!" My mom said.

Tom shook dad's hand and gave mom a little hug. Then he turned to Olivia, "Nice to meet you Olivia! You're already an awesome friend." She hugged him.

My turn for a hug. "Zoey, it was great getting to know you too." Another hug and he whispered in my ear, "Will you walk to my car with me?"

"No," I whispered back sarcastically.

"Good," he replied. Somehow I felt like he already knew me.

"Well, hopefully I can see all you amazing people again!" He said. "Bye!"

We went outside on the porch together. Just the two of us. "Don't worry. I talked to your parents about this." He said.

I laughed. "Well good. I was surprised when they didn't freak out that I was leaving the house with you."

He laughed. Then the crickets cued the awkward silence. I realized how chilly it was, "So," Tom said. "Tonight was fun. I love your family, they're awesome. But I was thinking maybe we could get together again sometime... Just you and me."

Yup, he was asking me out. Just what I thought. "Um," I hadn't been asked out for almost a year. I had forgotten what I was supposed to say. "Yeah. Sure. Sounds good."

"So you don't hate me!" Tom exclaimed.

I laughed. And I couldn't think of what to say. "Look at the moon." I said.

It was behind a few thin grey clouds making it look like a werewolf movie. "Wow," Tom said. Then he looked at me again. "I guess I should go, I'm not used to this time zone, I'm really tired."

"Oh yeah," I said. In London I did the math in my head and found out it was about 7:30 am in London! "Okay, bye."

"You have my number, right?"

"Yep!"

"Okay." We walked through the snow in silence toward his car.

And right before he left, he ran his fingers through my hair and said, "You are beautiful."