When I Met Tom (A Tom Hiddleston Fan Fiction)

Chapter Nine

The show finished, and as we walked out of the main entrance Tom put his arm around my waist.

‘I’m glad you enjoyed it,’ he beamed, ‘I wasn’t sure if you would find it boring or confusing.’

‘I loved it, and even though I can’t understand their exact words in Italian, I still knew what was going on,’ I laughed.

‘That’s the beauty of it. You don’t need to speak fluent Italian to understand something like that. The acting speaks for itself, without any words.’

We walked around the edge of the Hall and down the stone steps that I had walked up before the performance.

Tom broke the silence as we reached the bottom of the staircase, with the car in sight, ‘If you like, we can go for a couple of drinks. There’s a great little bar not too far from here, and I’d love to get the chance to talk to you more.’

‘I’d like that,’ I smiled back at him.

I still couldn’t get over how handsome he was looking tonight in his suit. Obviously all men didn’t look that delicious in a smart suit like he did, because he was a hundred leagues above the couple of male teachers at my school who wore suits daily.

I could feel myself flushing again, hoping that the dim glow of the surrounding streetlights were enough to hide this. I forced my gaze away from his incredible blue eyes and down to the ground, trying to calm myself down.

We walked towards the car where James was standing, waiting to open the door for us. Tom and I both thanked him as we slid into the back seats and felt the door close behind us.

‘Where to now, Mr. Hiddleston,’ asked James.

‘James, how many more times must I ask you to just call me Tom?’ he chuckled, ‘and to the bar we spoke of earlier on please.’

‘The Babylon, Sir? I called ahead and booked you a table for two.’

‘Thank you, James, that’s much appreciated. You didn’t need to do that.’

‘Well, I haven’t seen you quite as excited and happy about going out like this for a little while now, so I guessed it was down to a certain young lady,’ James said rather obviously as he glanced up into his mirror and looked straight at me, ‘and she certainly is one lovely girl, Sir, so I decided to take this arrangement into my own hands.’

Now I was blushing, and sitting so close to Tom as well. There’s no way that he wouldn’t notice.

‘Oh, James, you’ve made her blush.’ Tom said softly, taking my hand.

Yes, he’d noticed. Brilliant.

‘I thought that was my job to make you blush,’ he said cheekily, looking at me with those dazzling eyes and winking.

The car journey had only lasted around ten minutes, but I was overjoyed to be greeted by the cool evening air that hit my face and cooled my blush. Tom and I walked straight up to the man on the door at the Babylon and confirmed his name would be on the list. Which, of course, it was.

We were then led up some stairs to an open roof terrace that was packed with rather young, well dressed people sipping cocktails and wine. We were seated at a table on the far side, so we could see the whole city view from our table. We even had a little heater next to the table to warm us up on this chilly night, so I removed my jacket. I sat down nearest the balcony edge and Tom, rather than sitting opposite me as I had expected, sat down beside me.

‘Do you mind if I sit here?’ he asked, ‘it’s just that if I sit opposite you I won’t be able to hear you, it’s pretty busy up here. Thank goodness James booked for us.’

‘Of course, it’s fine. We can talk more now.’ I replied.

Tom ordered a bottle of champagne from the waiter who had followed us over to the table. I sat in awe of the view, staring out across the well lit city below me, taking it all in.

‘It’s easy to get lost in this city, isn’t it?,’ Tom interrupted my thoughts.

‘It really is,’ I gasped, feeling his hands on my shoulders, sliding down my arms, ‘I’m not used to such build up, busy places like this.’

‘London is always alive, there’s always something to do and somewhere to go.’

‘I’m sure there is -’ I stopped.

‘Is something wrong?’ I heard the worry in his voice, so I turned to face him.

‘No, nothing. It’s just that I don’t get to see things like this very often and go to places like this, and drink champagne. I come from a place where I get by in this little town, being organised and having routine, I do the same thing pretty much every day. I get up, sometimes I run, I shower and go to work, I mark books and plan lessons, I go home to my little apartment to have dinner alone, I read and plan some more, and then I go to bed. I am so stuck in this way of doing things that all of this,’ I gaze around to see the waiter coming back with the bottle of champagne, ‘it’s awoken something that makes me realise that I’m – well – boring.’

‘Oh, Charlotte, you are anything but boring,’ Tom said, pouring the drink into flutes.

‘I must be. I don’t do anything or go anywhere nearly as wonderful and exciting as this. Ever!’

‘Well, then maybe you’ve had your eyes opened to something new.’

‘I have,’ I stared longingly at him, in this incredible moment where all noise seemed to disappear from the atmosphere around us and there was only us.

Tom leaned in and said quietly in a low voice, ‘I just want to say again how absolutely incredible to look in that red dress.’

‘Thanks, it’s new,’ I giggled like a school girl.

‘You’re welcome. The colour suits you.’

‘I wasn’t sure about it at first. When I was at school I always said I wanted to wear red to my prom.’

‘What colour did you wear then?’

‘I didn’t go.’

‘You didn’t go? Why not?’

I hesitated, not knowing whether to tell him.

‘I –’ I stuttered, ‘It’s complicated.’

‘Was it a boy? Tell me who he is and we can go and show him what he’s missing,’ Tom joked.

‘No, it wasn’t a boy,’ I tried to force a smile onto my face, but too many memories came flooding back.

‘Oh, don’t tell me you were a little rebel at school at wasn’t allowed to attend?’

‘No, no, I was a good girl at school. I kept my head down, always did my homework –’

I stalled the end of my sentence and decided that I was just going to tell him. I was going to just come out with it.

‘The reason I never went to my prom wasn’t about boys, or friends, or behaviour,’ I began, ‘I never got to go to prom because ...’

I took a deep breath and looked into those beautiful eyes that were so full of happiness.

‘... because my parents died that night.’