Tom Daley: Mr. Perfect

Chapter 7: JUST KISS ALREADY

I explained to my two best friends everything that had happened since Lexi started texting me.

After I finished it was silent.

"So..." I said to break the silence.

Finally Rachel loudly exclaimed, "YOU KNOW WHAT!?! LEXI IS A JERK."

"We've established that." Tom said.

"WELL LET'S CALL HER AND GIVE HER A PIECE OF OUR MIND!"

"Let's not..." I said.

"WHAT'S HER PHONE NUMBER, ZOEY?"

"No," I muttered. "She won't react well to this."

Tom stood up and clapped his hands loudly. "I'M WITH RACHEL!"

"Dude," Rachel said, looking straight at me. "We'll do all the talking. You don't have to speak to IT."

"Yeah," Tom added. "I want to stand up for you, I really do. She can't keep doing this to you."

I looked into his dark brown eyes.

Slowly I unlocked my phone.

Rachel glanced at it. "They've sent you all those texts?"

I nodded and didn't even read the texts from Lexi and her friends, filled with insults, overflowing my phone. But Rachel did. She gasped. "Oh my gosh..." Her face was a mixture of concerned, sad, angry, and scared. She was feeling all that for me... "Zoey... I can't believe..."

I looked back up at her, and saw that her eyes were filling with tears. She was usually a happy person, but now I made her sad. So I looked back down, not bearing to see her so sad for any longer.

I found the blocked number that belonged to Lexi and dialed it, then put my phone on speaker and handed it to Rachel.

"Hey ugly!" Lexi answered with her favorite name to call me.

"HEY JERKFACE!!" Rachel yelled.

Lexi paused for a minute, "Uh, who is this?"

Tom grabbed the phone and said, "It doesn't matter! But you can't keep treating Zoey like this."

Lexi was quiet. Rachel reached for the phone and continued to scream at her about how Lexi was a prick and a jerk and a poo head and a {insert all your favorite words here.} She even used the English major side of her, calling Lexi a two faced, idiotic, decomposing, soulless, disrespectful, puny, reeking, goatlike, yeasty, fool-born, maggot pie.

Tom got to the more serious side. "How do you like it now that people are insulting you?"

Lexi was still silent. Finally she said, "Wait, are you Tom Daley?" .. Not the response I was expecting.

"Yes I am." He answered. "And Zoey is my girlfriend. She is perfect. I love her. And I love her for exactly who she is."

He looked at me the whole time he was talking. "She doesn't try to act like other girls. She is just herself. She doesn't fit in with your type..." The way he said 'your type' made my laugh because of how disgusted he looked. "But she stands out. And it's beautiful. You can see it in her. Just being around her she's different. Just seeing her for a few seconds at the hospital I immediately fell in love,"

Now he was talking more to me than to Lexi. He continued. "And I've fallen even deeper in love now that I know her personality. I love who she is. Zoey is the best person I've ever met. I'm so glad she's in my life."

"Tom!" I said quietly. "You..." My voice cracked. Then I couldn't help but start crying again. That was just what I needed to hear to heal my broken heart. To take me out of the dark place I was in that day. It was the best thing anyone had ever said to me. But all I said to Tom was, "You big cheese." I managed to smile through the tears and even giggle a little. "I love you."

"JUST KISS ALREADY!" my noisy roommate (and best friend) yelled.

I laughed, but Tom quickly embraced me and put his lips against mine. Butterflies in my stomach went crazy. I instinctively put my hands on his chest and kissed him back. It only lasted a few seconds but it felt amazing.

".... Uh, good job." Rachel said. Tom and I laughed. Then all at the same time we realized that the phone was still on.

"You still there Lexi?" I asked. And she didn't answer, she immediately hung up.

"Thanks for cheering me up guys," I said, "And thanks for standing up to Lexi for me. You guys are the best friends I could ever ask for."

Rachel hugged me.

"If anyone ever treats you like this again, just tell me, okay?" Rachel whispered.

"Thanks. Really I owe you so much." I whispered back.

"YA HEAR THAT TOM?" Rachel shouted. "YOU BREAK HER HEART, YOU'RE GONNA GET IT."

"Yeah, and she'll insult you too." I added.

"You sure you didn't use all your insulting words on Lexi?" He asked, smiling.

"Oh, I got plenty more for both of ya beetle-brained, dog fed, greasy, cave dwelling, spleens."

We all laughed. Rachel decided to go study, and Tom decided to leave.

"Hey Tom," I had to talk to him just a little more before he left.

"Yeah?"

I explained how depressed I was feeling today. How much I hated myself. And just all the horrible things I was feeling while locked up in my room and the bathroom. And I told him how much his speech made me feel better. It was hard to express how much gratitude I really felt, because it was the best thing anyone had ever said to me.

Tom just hugged me and kissed my cheek. He said one last, "I love you." Before walking out the door.