For the Love (a Tom Hiddleston fanfic)

Chapter 4

       Emie sat down next to Lucia, pretty sure she was drunk.  Three glasses of champagne on an empty stomach could do that to you.  She made sure her dress was covering all the important bits, and then tried to center herself.  It wasn’t quite working.
       “Where have you been?” Lucia asked, looked over at Emie.  Emie shrugged.
       “I met Tom.” She whispered loudly.  They were sitting at a large, long rectangular table.  Lucia and Chris sat next to each other in the middle of the table.  Emie and Tom sat to either side of Lucia and Chris. 
       “Oh?” Lucia asked, staring at her sister with a crinkled brow. “Are you drunk?”
       “I thought champagne was non alcoholic.” Emie said with a laugh.  “I can’t believe you invited JOHNNY.” She said this rather loudly, and then hiccupped.
       “Oh dear god. Drink some water.” Lucia pushed a cold glass into Emie’s hand. 
       “You know I told you I wouldn’t give him another chance and then you went and invited him to your party! What the hell?” Emie took a sip of water, feeling the cool liquid slide down her throat.  She felt rather hot again.  After they had come inside, Tom had handed her off to Chris, who had helped her to the table.  Tom’s jacket sat on the back of her chair, but she definitely didn’t need it anymore.
       “I’m sorry, Emie. I just thought—“
       “You thought wrong.” Emie said through gritted teeth, her whisper loud and a bit hoarse.  Lucia looked around, glad that everyone else at the table was otherwise preoccupied.  They didn’t seem to notice her surprisingly drunk, angry sister.
       “I really can’t believe you are drunk right now.  You have to give a maid of honor speech soon!” Lucia whined, her blue eyes concerned.  Emie shook her head, then her shoulders.
       “I’ll be fine.  I’ll give you a maid of honor speech, alright.” She scoffed.  Lucia groaned.
       “Drink more water, please.” She shoved the water glass toward Emie’s face, then turned to Chris and whispered something to him.  Chris leaned forward a second, taking a glance at Emie and then immediately started chuckling. 
       “She’ll be fine.  Look at her, she’s golden.” He said softly to Lucia with a grin.  He kissed her on the forehead.  Emie watched out of the corner of her eye, and couldn’t help but feel the pang in her stomach.  Empty. Alone. Or maybe that was the alcohol.
       “Emie, we’ll do the speeches after appetizers and salad.  You need to get something in your stomach.” Lucia said.  She turned to Chris.  “Please, tell Tom we’re going to wait for a bit.” She asked.  Chris nodded and turned to Tom.  From Emie’s seat she couldn’t really see Tom.  A mixture of Lucia and Chris’s hulking body blocked her view.  It was better that way.
       “Do you know what I said to Tom?” Emie leaned toward her sister, whispering into her ear.  Lucia turned then, her eyes flashing.
       “What did you say?”
       “I told him he was a douchebag and that his fake accent sucked!” Emie exclaimed, then laughed.  “Can you believe that? I thought he was one of the guys you always try to get to pick me up.” She shook her head.  Lucia pressed her hands to her face.
       “Oh god.”
       “Right?!” Emie laughed.
       “Emie, he’s English!” Lucia said, flabbergasted.
       “Well, yeah, I know that now.  He looks totally different than from those movie pictures.” Emie sighed and leaned back in her chair, against his jacket.  “And then he was nice to me and gave me his jacket.” She said, lifting the sleeve of the jacket.  Lucia groaned, but then smiled at her sister.
       “Only you could be drunk, call a guy a douchebag and then get him to give you his jacket.” She said softly.
       “What can I say? I have the Harris charm.” Emie sighed, drinking more water.  She really did need to sober up. She was done making a fool of herself for the night.  The last thing she needed to do was give a terrible, drunken speech in front of 20 people.
       “Well, try to keep the Harris charm in check for a bit, please.” Lucia said under her breath, as salads were placed in front of them.
       Emie stayed quiet for the salad course, and the majority of the appetizers.  She ate bits of everything, and drank as much water as possible.  Thankfully, no one really tried to talk to her.  The guy sitting next to her was content just to stare at her cleavage, and Lucia was preoccupied with fawning over Chris.  By the time appetizers were over, and Lucia was poking her in the side, Emie felt much better.  Tipsy, but not drunk. Fun but not obnoxious.
       “Are you okay?” Lucia whispered. Emie nodded and gave her a big smile.  Emie stood up then, smoothing down the lace on her dress and gently tapped her knife to the side of her glass, making a gentle ringing noise.  The guests at the party quieted down and all looked at her.  She forced a smile, told herself to breathe.  Public speaking wasn’t necessarily her forte.  Give her a pen and paper and she could write an amazing speech.  Ask her to deliver that speech and that was another story.
       “Hello! Good evening everyone.  In case we haven’t met, I’m--” Emie started to introduce herself.  She turned then toward Lucia and Chris.  Standing up, she could see Tom perfectly.  He was turned toward her, his clear blue green eyes focused on her.  God, he was good looking.  “I’m…I’m…” She stuttered as she made eye contact with him.
       “Emie…” Lucia whispered softly, nudging her.  Emie shook her head a bit, looking away from Tom and what she was pretty sure were the best cheekbones she had ever seen.
       “I’m Emie! Lucia’s younger sister.” She said quickly, recovering as elegantly as possible.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tom press a hand over his mouth, suppressing a smile.
       “Brilliant.” Chris said, with a laugh and Emie shot him daggers.
       “I just want to thank everyone for coming tonight.  I know my sister and Chris are so happy to share this special time with you.  And in just two weeks, most of us will be together in Bora Bora for the wedding.” Emie smiled then, feeling herself relax a bit.  She had to remember that this was for her sister, the most important person in the world to her.  “I’ll make this quick, and save most of it for the wedding, but I just wanted to say how lucky I feel to have Lucia as my sister.  Many of you know her as an actress and a model, but to me she is simply my sister.  The girl I grew up with in Arizona, singing and dancing in our basement, dreaming of life when we we’d be grown up.  We always have these expectations of how things will be.  We often have rules on how things should go.  For Lucia, she went above and beyond those expectations.  Not only is she an amazing actress, but she has remained an amazing, loving, hilarious and genuinely awesome older sister.  I could not be happier for her that she has found such a truly once in a lifetime love with Chris.  So, to Lucia and Chris…I wish you all the love in this world.” She said this through happy tears, and raised her water glass to her sister and Chris.  They both grinned up at her.  Lucia stood quickly, enveloping her in a hug.
       “Thank you, you are the greatest.” She whispered in her ear, kissing Emie on the cheek.  Emie laughed, quickly wiping at her eyes as Lucia did the same.  Everyone at the table cheered and clinked glasses.  Emie sat down, suddenly feeling both happy and content and totally drained.
       “Ah, ehm, that is quite a speech to follow.” Tom said, smiling as he stood up to take his turn.  The table laughed quietly.  Emie let herself stare at him, take him in.  He was so tall.  Long arms, long torso, long legs.  He had rolled the sleeves of his dress shirt up, revealing toned arms.  He was wearing a dark watch with a thick, dark brown almost black band. 
       “You can handle it, mate.” Chris said, patting Tom on the back.
       “Yeah. Thanks.” Tom laughed.  He held a high ball glass in one hand, filled with amber liquid.  He cleared his throat and looked around, his eyes landing for a moment on Emie.  She held his gaze for as long as she could before she felt heat starting to rise from her chest and throat to her face.  “I would like to say thank you to Chris and Lucia for allowing me to be a part of such an occasion.  I’ve known Chris for about 4 years now.  We met while we were working together.  And I have to say, I’ve never met a person who is quite like him.  He’s got this quality about him that is truly, truly genuine.  He says what he means and means what he says.  I often say that falling in love should be a whole body experience.  It starts in your head, it changes the way you think, it changes the way you see.  If you find that special person, than nothing else really matters.  And when Chris and Lucia started dating, I saw that change in Chris.  It was remarkable.  Lucia, you are something special.  I’m sure you know the profound effect you’ve had on his life, his world.” Tom smiled at Lucia then, a big, heart stopping grin.  Emie swallowed, barely breathing in that moment.
       “And so, I hope you will all raise your glasses with me.” Tom lifted his glass. “I’ll leave you with a quote from the French writer, Madame de Stael, ‘L’amour est l’emblème de l’éternité : il confond toute la notion de temps : efface toute la mémoire d’un commencement, toute la crainte d’une extrémité.’.” He said this without hesitation and Emie’s jaw nearly dropped.  The man knew French? And quite fluently it seemed.   She watched him, without blinking or moving.
       “Which is, for anyone who doesn’t know, ‘Love is the emblem of eternity; it confounds all notion of time; effaces all memory of a beginning, all fear of an end.’ So, to my best mate, Chris, and his lovely bride, Lucia.” Tom grinned again, the small wrinkles at the corners of his eyes moving.  He raised his glass.  Emie remembered to raise her glass as well, and tapped a few other people’s glasses that were thrust toward her, but she didn’t take her eyes off of Tom.   Everyone else at the table talked loudly, celebrating and drinking as plates began to appear from the many waiters stationed near the table.
       Just as he was about to sit down, Tom turned slightly, locking eyes with Emie again.  He stood then, walked the few feet toward her.  She braced herself, not sure what he was doing.
       “Not bad, maid of honor.  That was a proper speech you gave.” He leaned down, whispering this into her ear.  Emie fought the urge to press her face into the side of his neck.  He smelled amazing.  She smiled as he pulled away.
       “Yours wasn’t too shabby either.” She licked her lips.  Tom put a hand on the back of her chair and nodded, then leaned closer again.
       “You would have liked it better with a Jersey accent though, wouldn’t you?” He said softly, a wicked grin on his face.  Emie laughed out loud and shook her head as Tom grinned and made his way back to his seat. 
       The rest of the meal continued without much occurrence.  Tom stayed on his side of the table, and Emie stayed on hers.  She hoped he had forgiven her for how rude she’d been earlier, but she had a feeling he wasn’t the sort to hold a grudge.  She had to keep herself several times from leaning far forward or back in her seat to get a glimpse of him.  All she could do was hear him laughing every now and again.  The man seemed to laugh a lot.
       “Tonight was really great, Emie.  Thank you for pulling it together.” Lucia said as the dessert course started to wrap up. 
       “I’m glad you had a good time.” Emie smiled. 
       “I saw Tom come over and say something to you after his speech.  What did he say?” Lucia asked softly, leaning toward her sister.  Emie sighed.  Lucia just couldn’t help herself.  Ever the matchmaker.
       “Nothing, Luce.  It was nothing.” Emie stood up, needing to stretch her legs.  “I think I’m going to head out if that’s okay.  I have a meeting with Scotty early tomorrow morning.  She’s hounding me for new edits.” Emie said, picking up her clutch.  Lucia nodded, standing as well.  Most of the people at the table were either chatting, or making their way toward the small bar. 
       “I’ll call you tomorrow.” Lucia promised and Emie knew she would.  They never went a single day without talking.
       “Okay.  I love you.” Emie pulled Lucia to her, hugging her sister tightly.  Lucia hugged her back. 
       “Lucia! Come take a shot!” A voice from the bar called over.
       “Your turn to get drunk.” Emie said with a laugh.  Most of her buzz from earlier had faded under all the food she’d eaten.  She honestly couldn’t wait to get home and peel herself out of the lace dress.  Unless it had already become one with her.
       “Ok.  Talk to you tomorrow!” Lucia grinned, making her way toward the bar.  Emie was about to leave the restaurant, when she remembered Tom’s coat on the back of her chair.  She grabbed it, and found him talking to Chris and a small group of guys to the side of the table.
       “Tom.” She said softly, standing just behind him.  Tom turned around quickly, his face lighting up when he saw her.
       “Hello, Emeline, Lucia’s sister.” He said, his accent making his pronunciation of “Lucia” sound a bit like “Luci-er”. 
       “Hi.” Emie smiled.  “Thank you for the jacket.” She handed it to him, and he looked at it for a second, but didn’t take it from her.
       “Are you leaving? Don’t tell me you’re leaving.” He said, tilting his head.  Emie nodded.
       “Early morning tomorrow.” She said. 
       “Well, that’s rubbish.  Okay, well, take my jacket with you.  You’ll need it for the ride home.” He offered, still not taking the jacket that she held out in front of her.  Emie swallowed.  Damn it, he was charming.
       “I…can’t.” She said lamely.  For a writer, she definitely was having trouble with her vocabulary that night.
       “No?” He asked, leaning down a bit to look at her.
       “Ok. Thanks. I’ll get it back to you.” She said suddenly, slipping her arms through the sleeves.  He smiled.
       “It was nice to meet you, Emeline.”
       “Emie, please.  Everyone calls me Emie.” She said.  He nodded, but didn’t say anything.  He just looked at her for a second. Emie nodded then, suddenly feeling rather awkward.
       “Right. Nice to meet you, Tom.” She held out her hand for a shake, as if they were at some business meeting.  Tom looked at her, his lips pressed together for a second as if he were to laugh.  He didn’t though.  His face suddenly got serious and he took her hand in his.
       “Nice to meet you as well, Emie.” He shook her hand for the second time that night, and Emie found herself feeling it all the way through her body.  She let go quickly, gave him a nod and then turned and walked away.  She had to get herself out of there.  She had acted like a complete idiot the entire night.  Right now, all she needed was a cold shower and her bed.  Her empty, lonely, large bed.
       Emie walked quickly from the restaurant, out into the even darker, cooler night.  She was glad Tom had insisted she take his jacket.  This dress was hardly insulating.  She went to the valet and no one was there.   They were probably picking up another car.  Wrapping her arms around herself, she sat down on a bench, waiting for the valet to come back.  She didn’t live too far, about twenty minutes without traffic.  She suddenly felt more like 92 rather than 29. 
       “Emie!” A voice called out from behind her.  She turned around in time to see Tom sprinting from the building, looking rather dashing.  She stood up and swallowed, suddenly finding her mouth rather dry.
       “Hi.” She said as he came to a quick stop in front of her. He was grinned, his smile was rather infectious.  He had straight, white teeth and his smile seemed to take up his whole face.
       “Hi, glad I caught you.” He said, catching his breath for a second.  He reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone. “I was wondering if I could have your number—“ He started.  Emie immediately felt a panic rise in her chest.  No, no actors.  It was a strict rule she had.  Especially after Jersey Johnny.
       “Tom, I’m…sorry.  I’m flattered really.  I’m really sorry about what happened earlier, and you seem perfectly nice and really charming, and obviously you’re very handsome.” She said this all quickly, letting it spill out of her mouth.  Tom paused, his mouth slightly open as he let her ramble.  “But, I don’t date actors.  I think you’re great though, really.” She finished. 
       Tom shifted his weight, then bit lightly on his bottom lip.  Oh, he was handsome alright.  Damn her rules.
       “Emie, I was…” He paused, looking as if he was a bit embarrassed and torn between two decisions. “I was wondering if I could have your number so we could get together so I could talk to you about an idea I have for an outing before Chris and Lucia’s wedding.  While we are in Bora Bora.” He said then, and gave her a terribly sheepish smile.  Emie felt the embarrassment come crushing down on her. How much more could she handle that night?  He wasn’t asking her out! He simply needed to contact her for the wedding.  They were the entire wedding party, after all.
       “Oh…right…of course.” She managed, turning away from his slightly.  The valet pulled up with a car and she barely managed to keep herself from stepping in front of the moving vehicle.
       “Please, I’m terribly sorry…you’re--” Tom started, but Emie held up a hand.
       “No, don’t apologize for my…I was just…you can…”She started, backing away from him and toward the valet.  Maybe if she just climbed into a car and sped off, he would totally forget this conversation.
       “Steady…” He said, taking a step toward her. 
       “I’ve got to go…my car—“ She motioned toward the valet.  She quickly opened her purse, looking for her ticket.  It wasn’t there.  She rifled through the small bag, and there weren’t many places the ticket could hide.  Tom stood, watching her patiently.  Oh god…
       “Is everything okay?” He asked.  She looked up, mustering what was left of her dignity.
       “I took a cab here. So yeah.” She said and then groaned loudly. Tom nodded, but she gave him credit because he didn’t laugh. Not yet, at least.  He pulled out his phone and made a quick call. 
       “Hello. I need a car at the Chateau Marmont. Thank you.” He said quickly and then hung up.  “Three minutes.” He said softly.  She nodded in thanks, feeling her cheeks burn.
       “Listen, I should just give you your jacket back now, because I’m pretty certain you never want to see, hear or think of me again.” She said, shrugging off the jacket.  Tom did laugh then, and he did so loudly.
       “Hardly.  Please, you’re hilarious. You’re exquisite.” He said, holding his hands up.  Emie paused.  Only a British man could get away with calling some “exquisite” and not have it sound cheesy or ridiculous.  To her ears, it simply sounded…perfect, really.
       “My number is 323-555-0209.” She said quickly.  Tom grinned, looked down at his phone and entered the number quickly.
       “Thank you.” He said then.  Just as he did, a black car pulled up to the curb. “This is you.” He motioned toward it.  It wasn’t a normal cab.
       “Thank you.” She said softly, feeling rather deflated.  She made her way to the car, letting Tom open the back door for her. 
       “I’ll speak with you soon, Emie.” He said gently as she folded herself into the car.  He leaned down, so he was more eye level with her, one long arm thrown over the top of the car door. 
       “Yes, thank you again.” She said.  He just smiled, quietly.  “And Tom,” she said, before he closed the door.  “I’m glad we met. I’m sorry about how I put my foot in my mouth about thirty times tonight. But, I am glad we met.” She said, forcing herself to look at him.  He didn’t smile then, but just looked at her, his light eyes searching her face.  He leaned forward, took her hand in his and pressed a kiss to the back of it.
       “Have a good night, Em.” He said then, releasing her hand and quickly closing the door.