old friends • tom holland

twenty seven

The airplane jerked to a stop upon reaching the gate. Everyone attempted to stand up and rush out of the plane at once, and unsurprisingly no one did so successfully. Most of the windows were open to display the afternoon sunlight that shone brightly outside, a pleasant surprise for London. It appeared to be an unusually nice day outside.

Tom made his way into the aisle as soon as the opportunity presented itself, and he reached up to grab our bags from the overhead bin. The packing had been fairly light, as neither of us expected to be dressing to impress very often. The risk of losing luggage on an international flight was also a factor that influenced our packing decisions. I made my way into the aisle from the middle seat, thankful for my ability to walk on my own. Tom had bought the tickets for us months in advance of the actual trip, which earned me three extra months of recovery before the vacation. I had just recently graduated from the crutches, and although my parents assured me that we could buy some when I got to London, I was optimistic that my wobbly walking would be sufficient.

Tom turned around, giving me a grin. "You have everything, love?"

I checked the area around our seats, always paranoid about leaving something behind. Nothing stuck out to me, and I realized that I should also let the older man who was in the window seat reach the aisle. "All set, Thomas. Let's go!"

We made our way out of the terminal to the car pickup area where we were expecting my parents shortly. A navy SUV was soon visible in the distance, and I grabbed Tom's hand, pulling him eagerly in the direction of the car. As soon as it was parked my parents rushed out, my mum engulfing me in a hug. Just as soon as my mother started hugging me, she quickly stepped back. "Honey, is your knee okay? Did everything go fine on the flight, was it cramped at all, do you need any medicine?"

"Mum, I'm fine. I'm just really happy to be here." I shook my head, laughing at her concern. I understood her motherly concern, but it was my first time back in England in years and I just wanted to get away from the airport. My parents had visited me a couple of times in the States, so thankfully this wasn't my first time being back with them, but it was good to see them again. After the exchange with my mother ended, my dad quickly wrapped his arms around me. I knew it had been really hard for him when I left, especially because of all the time we spent playing football together when I was a kid. It was really good to be back with them both, and I was thankful to Tom for giving me that opportunity.

The rest of the afternoon was fairly uneventful. We drove around the city and remembered old times in the neighborhoods. My parents even brought up one story that I had forgotten about, when apparently Tom, Harrison, and I had run through the neighborhoods with buckets of water, searching for cats to dump them on. Our stunt had quickly been shut down by a family next door, who really did not appreciate dealing with their startled cat leaving foot prints on their newly paved driveway as it sprinted away from us. I sat in the backseat of the car, stealing glances at Tom while we went through story after story. The ride went by more quickly than I expected, and it only seemed like minutes passed before we arrived at the Holland household for dinner.

We had no sooner walked through the front door when I saw two teenage boys running at me. As soon as they reached me I could only comprehend that there was a multitude of arms surrounding me. Tom was also expressing his concern next to me, saying, "Guys, be careful! She's still injured and if you make it worse I swear I will kill you myself!"

I laughed as the twins released me. They both quickly spun around and looked at Tom.

"Honestly, you were going to get a hug next, but if you can't even trust us to take care of our favorite friend of yours, then you clearly don't deserve one." Sam spoke up while he glanced at Harry. The two boys suddenly advanced on their older brother, grabbing him and wrestling him down onto the nearest couch as their victim protested. Hearing the noise from the other room, Paddy promptly ran into the room and piled on top of the boys. My phone came out as quickly as possible, and I attempted to document the moment, even though my laughter probably resulted in very blurry pictures.

"Hello Noelle, I'm so sorry for the noise from these kids, but I am so happy to see you again." Mrs. Holland reached out to give me a hug, and her husband greeted me from behind her.

"I'm so glad to be back here, thank you for having us." I gestured to my parents who had just entered after parking the car.

Somehow, the chaos eventually dissolved, leaving us all sitting around the table. Nikki had prepared an amazing meal, and we dug in as quickly as possible. The conversation revolved around my time in the United States and how my career had been so far. The Hollands even revealed that they had watched a few of my games after Tom relayed the news that I was playing professionally, and Harry complimented me on officially being undoubtedly better than either Tom or Harrison. I attempted to deflect the conversation to Tom and his filming multiple times, but it seemed as though the family had heard enough of that. When we were nearing the end of supper and I was looking forward to the prospect of not having to come up with another tale from my fairly boring university days, Tom looked over at me before turning to the rest of the table.

"Well, I would just like to say, that if it isn't obvious enough already, Noelle and I are dating. And I really like her a lot, and I am so thankful that we all get to be back here together. On speaking terms." He added at the end, sending a wink my way.

A variety of reactions followed the announcement. My dad said from one end of the table, "I've been waiting for this day for the longest time. Beth told me that it would never come after Noelle left to play football, but I knew the whole time." A proud look was visible on his face, and I smiled at his response. Harry declared that he knew the whole time, while Sam applauded Tom for finally getting the nerve up to ask me out. Nikki beamed at us, and applause and cheering was heard from various parts of the table, including whistling from Tom's dad.

A wide smile was planted firmly on my face for the rest of the night. I helped Tom with the dishes after we finished eating, and proceeded to sit with him while he played games with his brothers. When the boys eventually grew tired of that, the two of us squished onto a small couch while he held ice on my extended leg. I gazed at him as he smiled and joked with our families. This was the way that I liked him best. He was at home, and he fit here perfectly. It was almost impossible for me to look away from him when he looked this happy.

Thirty minutes later I was falling asleep on the couch, struggling to keep my eyes open. I vaguely heard my parents mention that it was time to get going. I nodded, but failed to move from my place. Tom shifted underneath me, and soon after I was being lifted into the air. Still not fully conscious, I buried my head into his chest as he brought me to my parent's car. He set me down carefully in the seat and buckled my seat belt for me. At this point I had become a bit more aware of what was going on, but I was still groggy. After making sure that I was properly secure, he bent down and kissed my cheek softly. "Goodnight, Noelle."

"Goodnight, Tom." I mumbled out to him.