The Three-Month Rule

Chapter 2 - The Mystery Woman

      Allegra and Lucy shuffled into the small basement underneath the corner shop on Acacia Road that Lucy called their 'headquarters'. It was damp, dimly lit and cold, but Lucy insisted that they did all of their work in this little space because it was 'edgy' and brought them closer together in their friendship. She had made numerous failed attempts over the last three months to add some 'flair' to the place and put their own 'stamp' on it, for example when she bought fairy lights to hang around the room but had forgotten that all of the plug sockets had surrendered to the damp in the walls and were therefore not safe to use. A lovely, but impractical, idea.

      "I just can't believe how dreamy he was!" Lucy gushed as she placed her shopping bag on her desk.

      "You're telling me," Allegra agreed softly, walking to hers.

      "Do you think he liked me?" Lucy asked after a moment, echoes of worry in her voice.

      "Oh, yes," Allegra answered without looking up from sorting her desk out, getting ready to begin typing up her transcript.

      "You don't think I was weird or overexcited?" Lucy bit her lip, unassured. Allegra looked up from her task and smiled calmly.

      "I think you're being paranoid," she told her friend. A big sigh escaped Lucy's mouth and she looked up at the stone ceiling.

      "Well, that's that. We're never going to see him again."

      "Don't be so melodramatic," Allegra smirked, rolling her eyes, "I'm going to get started on the transcript."

      "Ok. I'm just going to the toilet and then I'll crack on with the website," Lucy said before climbing the concrete stairs out of the basement.

      Allegra opened the lid to her laptop, the screen lighting up immediately in response to the request, and she checked the battery. 44%. She wondered if that was enough to get the transcript finished before the laptop went to sleep.

      Suddenly, Allegra's phone rang, stealing her from her thoughts. Her eyes automatically pulled themselves to the screen to see who was calling her, and Tom's agent's number was visible on the calling screen. In a moment of panic, Allegra tidied up her hair, cleared her throat and sat up straighter before answering.

      "Good afternoon, Allegra speaking," she called in her poshest voice.

      "Hello, Allegra. It's Tom Hiddleston here," the gentle, polite voice responded. All of Allegra's attempts to appear professional disappeared in an instant as she froze.

      "Oh, hi. Sorry, I wasn't expecting your call," she whispered. She cleared her throat and tried to gain even an ounce of professionalism back, "how may I help you?"

      "I just wanted to say thank you for today," Tom said, a smile in his voice.

      "Oh, did you wish to speak to Lucy?" Allegra asked him, disappointment making an appearance.

      "No, that's ok," he chuckled.

      "Well, thank you for meeting us. It was awfully kind of you," Allegra attempted through the previous disappointment.

      "I'm always happy to help," the smile said through the phone.

      "Thank you," Allegra repeated as she stood up, not being able to understand why they seemed to be the only words she could say right now. Lucy walked in the room and tiptoed to her desk when she saw that her friend was on the phone. "Lucy has just returned if you'd like to speak to her," Allegra told her caller, secretly hoping he would still say no. Another gentle chuckle came through the phone and poured itself mercilessly into Allegra's ear.