An Unlikely Romance

Chapter nine

"This is really nice," I say, taking a bite out of my sandwich. Tom and I are sitting on A blanket in the middle of the park, having a picnic.

"I'm glad you like it," Tom replies, "Clara hated picnics."

"Well that's her loss because this is amazing," I say.

"I'm glad you like it," Tom says with a smile. He pulls out some strawberries from the picnic basket and I immediately go for them.

"Excited?" Tom asks with an 'ehehe'.

"Sorry, I just love strawberries!" Tom laughs.

"You know what I love?" He asks.

"Oh god."

"You."

I blush and stuff more strawberries in my mouth, not sure what to say. So far this picnic is going perfectly. But it is Tom Hiddleston so what do you expect?

"Shit!" I scream, standing up and smacking my leg. I look down and see ants crawling all over my leg.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry. I didn't know there were ants here," Tom says, picking our stuff up. There weren't ants here before..

Suddenly a bee flies in front of Tom's face. He practically screams like a little girl.

"Oh god! I hate bees oh my gosh. Let's just go over here," He says calmly while swatting frantically at the bee that won't leave him alone. We rush away from the bug chaos and set out stuff down, but we remain standing.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know there were ants out here, and I'm highly allergic to bees. And they scare the shit out of me." Tom explains.

"It's totally fine. You didn't know." I say. I spot another any on me and smack my leg like a maniac again.

We pack all of our stuff up and sit down on a bench. My phone buzzes and I look down to see a text from Gavin.

I have a reservation for a really nice restaurant. Pick you up in five. (There's no bugs here)

I should have known Gavin had something to do with this. I don't know how but I know he's the reason we were suddenly attacked by bugs.

***earlier.

"Gavin, get over here!" Clara hissed. She held the box of ants in her hand. Gavin walked over, holding the box of bees away from his body.

"How are we going to make sure they go to them?" Gavin asks.

"Believe me, they will," Clara replies.

Gavin shrugs. He knows Clara will get the job done. He sees Nicole begin smacking her leg and smiles. Good start. The best part though was seeing Tom flip out over a bee. He doubled over in laughter. Clara comes back, her mouth covered trying not to laugh.

"That was awesome, Clara. Tom and Nicole fucked with the wrong people," Gavin said.

***present.

Tom and I are sitting in his hotel, finishing our food. I wanted to tell him about my text from Gavin but decided not to. As long as I keep ignoring him he'll eventually leave me alone.

There's a knock at the door. Tom gets up and walks over to the door and opens it.

"Oh, hi Gavin," Tom says politely. The tone in his voice says polite but I can tell from his body language that he's blocking Gavin from looking into the room.

"Hi Tom mind if I come in?" Gavin asks. I can't see his face but I can practically hear the smirk on his face. I'm sure he knows I'm in here.

"I have company," Tom says simply, and attempts to close the door in Gavin's face. Gavin blocks it and shoves the door completely open.

"Well hello Nicole, funny seeing you here," Gavin says calmly as he strolls into Tom's room.

"Um, yeah. Tom and I were actually just on a date," I reply. I expect Gavin to look angry but he stands there, emotionless. To my surprise, he begins to smile.

"And how did that go?" he asks.

That one question made me want to punch Gavin in the face. "You know damn well how it went," I say. My voice isn't loud and I'm not yelling, but it's somewhat intimidating.

"What are you talking about, Nicole?" Gavin asks sweetly. Tom has a confused look on his face.

"Oh please, you don't honestly think all of those bugs attacking us was a coincidence. And I thought I heard you laughing... I guess I was right. What did you come back for? to gloat?"

He takes a step closer to me. "I'm just here to take you out to dinner for our reservation."

"Nicole, were you going out with Gavin today?" Tom asks, hurt in his eyes.

"What? No! he made those plans without asking me. I'm not going anywhere with him," I say, looking straight at Gavin.

I see Tom relax a tiny bit, and Gavin starts walking toward me. I stand up from the picnic that Tom and I were having and reach for my phone.

"Gavin leave now or I will call the cops." I say.

Gavin stops. "Fine. I'll go. We will have our make up date tomorrow since you seem otherwise occupied tonight." Gavin says and begins to walk away.

He walks out the door without closing it. Tom gets up and closes it gently.

"I'm really sorry about that. I don't know what's wrong with him... he didn't seem like this when we were dating," I apologize.

"No, it's not your fault," Tom says, smiling.

"Well, I'm still sorry," I say returning the smile. Tom walks over to me.

"You aren't going on that make up date tomorrow are you?" Tom asks.

"Of course not! Why would I-" Tom comes closer and leans in to kiss me.

I stand there awkwardly for a few seconds before I realize what's happening. I reach my hand around to the back of his head and run it through his hair. His arms around my waist send tingles up my spine.

I glance down for a second and bust out laughing. "What did I do?" he asks, catching his breath.

I'm still laughing, holding my stomach. "I forgot how tall you where," I say, "you were nearly on your knees so I could reach you."

Tom doubles over in laughter. "I guess that's what happens when you kiss men that are twice as tall as you are." He says, still laughing.

"I'm not that short." I say defensively.

"Ok sure. You do realize that you interrupted our kiss with your laughter, right?" Tom asks me and tilts his head to the side.

"Oh sorry, I-"

He grabs my hips and pulls me close, our noses touching. "I hate unfinished business," he whispers. Before he has the chance, I crash my lips onto his.

After a few minutes we both pull away, smiling. "Do you want to, uh, go see a movie?" he asks, smoothing out his hair.

"Sure." We go out to the nearest theatre and watch the new xmen movie. When we get back it's late and I'm really tired.

I sit down on Tom's couch and he sits down beside me. "I had a great time," I say. He drapes his arm over my shoulder and turns his head so I'm looking into his beautiful blue eyes.

I try to keep my eyes open but fail. I jerk awake to see Tom staring at me and smiling. He pulls my head into his lap and I fall asleep.