The Waitress

The friends you make

CHRIS Hemsworth found, if not a totally different man, at least one a little more at ease with himself and his surroundings when he swung by to pick Tom up on the Sunday night on his way up the Coast. The man he had left on Friday had been broken and lost. This man was still a little of both, but he was more himself, more the person he'd known now for multiple years.

Sure, he wasn't back to the old Tom, Chris doubted he ever would be. But there was a new one forming, the dye had been cast and there was something in Tom's eye that hadn't been there on Friday.

A little bit of hope maybe? A little more self-belief?

Chris wasn't sure what it was and he sure as hell wasn't going to go prying into Tom's life but spending time with his new friend had obviously had a restorative power over him.

Seeing them saying goodbye on her front lawn, as an outsider, they look like a couple, they should BE a couple, the other should never have happened it was some sort of strange blip on the radar. Sure he had seemed smitten but there had always seemed to be something just a tad off.

But not here and now.

No, not now.

He'd heard Tom talk about Melody with a fondness that he hadn't remembered hearing him have with any of his other potential paramours and now he'd seen if for himself, seen them together, he wondered why they weren't a couple. Why couldn't he see what was obvious? But then Tom wasn't well. Chris knew that. And it hadn't been sudden. No Chris had been watching his friend spiral, it getting more and more obvious every time he had seen him over the past few years.

Yes, he had noticed, he was getting cockier and yet more withdrawn. Like he was having trouble adjusting, being grounded in the unreal world that they lived in. Chris was lucky, he had a partner, children – a life that wasn't about what he did or what the public thought he was.

Tom had none of that.

However watching him joke around with Melody, watching his friend hug this new girl, kiss her on the cheek, hug her again. He wonders if Tom might not found part of the solution his problems. A big part of the solution.

Tom says little of significance on his way north, as usual, he is playing things close to his chest. But he isn't as sullen as he was heading south on Friday. He asks about Chris' weekend and is forthcoming about his own – though he stops short of explaining the hickey on his neck.

Maybe they're a couple?

Chris isn't sure and though he wants to ask, he knows Tom well enough not to push it, so they talk about work, about filming. The subject of Melody, and what has gone down in the past few weeks, becomes the elephant in the car.

However, in the days that follow Chris and the rest of the crew see more of the old Tom emerging. He is slightly less uptight on set but still not the confident/over confident man he had become and was just a few weeks ago.

This Tom was humbler.

Still self-absorbed, but more part of the group again. Uncertain still but more alive. Goofing around again, but more wary, more worldly.

Chris knew that any improvement in his demeanour was down to Mel and her group, knew he was back to getting dinner from the café to dropping in quickly and often in the morning and to once even managing a lunch, though he was still a man under-siege and had been papped. But he was starting to feel more part of the region again. Chris had remarked about Tom's change in attitude to their director Taika Waititi who had raised a mercurial eyebrow and said.............well nothing. But he'd taken it on board – Chris knew it. And so, it was no surprise to Chris when Taika invited himself (and Chris) to a late lunch at the Blue Wave on the Friday afternoon.