TARGET [Tom Hiddleston Fanfiction]

Chapter 4 : An Important Date

Even though it was only the early afternoon, Tina had remained curled up in the centre of the wooden hallway floor for several hours. She didn't want to move or do anything; the shock of Gareth leaving her had reduced her to nothing. She knew she'd gone too far, but she didn't expect him, her own bodyguard, to walk out on her. He'd looked after her for years, he couldn't do that! But he did, and it was all her fault. She cursed herself again and again and again. He was just trying to do his job. If she hadn't have been so nosey, none of this would have happened. Everything was just moving too quickly for her to comprehend. But none of that mattered now, she thought. She'd gotten what she deserved.

Wiping the dried, salted tears out of her eyes, she dragged herself through to the kitchen, and gave a sigh of defeat. It was mid afternoon now, and she was starving. She hadn't eaten anything, and the cup of coffee Gareth had made her ours ago seemed to have evaporated completely out of her. Once glance at the coffee machine just made her pain inside ache even more. She had no idea how to use the stupid contraption with all it's buttons and knobs. Gareth made the best cups of coffee using it, something she guessed she'd never have the privilege of tasting ever again. Speaking of coffee, how on earth do you make a coffee?

Pushing blindly at the buttons, the machine hissed at her, just blasting out a jet of boiling hot steam at her before becoming inanimate again. Now Tina really did feel lost and helpless. She didn't actually realise how much she actually had depended on Gareth, and now that he wasn't here, she was left to try and carry on. Biting her lip in frustration, she grabbed the kettle beside the machine and filled it with water, slamming it down onto the base unit. She didn't want to admit it, but she missed him. After making herself probably the worst cup of coffee in existence, she starred into the depths of the fridge. It was full of food, but even then, Tina didn't want to have any of it. Sifting through a few of the shelves, she found some leftover sausage rolls, and ate one of them. She didn't want to try and cook anything, mostly as she didn't feel like it, but also she feared that she'd end up burning the house down, again. One of the things she never learnt was how to cook properly.

Ding dong

Tina's heart leapt in her chest at the sudden doorbell. She didn't expect it, but was glad that it have her something different to think about apart from the prospect of attempting to cook. Putting her cup down, she raced to the door, hoping, praying it was Gareth coming back. She was sorely disappointed however when she did open the door to find a beefed up man dressed in a black suit wearing shades, an earpiece in his ear, holding a package in his hands. "Miss Highlands?", he enquired in a dreary voice, raising an eyebrow as he looked at her messed appearance. "Erm, yeah. What is it?", Tina asked through her sinking heart and embarrassment. She hadn't even bothered to tidy herself up from last night, the dried blood still on her top. She's gotten her hopes up; there was no way Gareth was just going to come walking back. "Parcel for you. The contents has been checked. It's all safe. The car will be here at 7 to collect you", the man replied just as bored as if he'd said the same sentence a million times, handing the box to her. "Wait, what car?", she asked cautiously as she took the package off him, standing in the doorway. "The one your father has instructed to come and pick you up", he sighed, bored as he dismissed himself, walking away from a still confused Tina.

Standing there still dumbfounded, Tina closed the door and looked at the box she'd been given. It just looked like a normal box, where the brown paper it had been wrapped in was ripped on one side, obviously where they must have opened it to 'check' it. Things hasn't been like this when Gareth had been here, but then he'd left, so she guessed quite a lot of things were going to change. Taking it through to the kitchen, Tina pulled off the wrapping and placed the box down on the table to open it. She had to hold back a gasp at the beautiful dress inside it. A deep blue velvet dress, with small white butterflies dotted across it, with a laced back and underskirt. Along with it, was a simple, silver single diamond necklace and a pair of small black heels. "Oh my god", she muttered to herself as she held the dress in her hands, feeling the material and looking at the detail in each of the butterflies, lined with silver thread. Pulling it out of the box, she held it up against herself, and couldn't help but swish it from side to side. It came past her knees, and was just perfect. Noticing a note in the bottom of the box, she hung the dress over the back of the chair and grabbed it.