old friends • tom holland

twenty eight

I trotted up the front steps to Tom's front door, eagerly ringing the doorbell. I had spent the better part of a week with my parents who had decided to drag me around visiting all of the old neighbors. It had been fun overall, although it was slightly boring telling the same old stories over and over. However, my parents had finally decided that show and tell was finished, so I was back at the Holland residence. 

The door opened, revealing a bleary eyed Tom standing in his pajama pants and no shirt. "Really, Thomas? What if I was the old lady from next door, you think that she needs to see that sorry sight at ten in the morning?"

"Well, I knew that it was you, and I know that you simply can't resist this," Tom paused to flex for me, "so I figured that I would allow you to have a nice start to your day." He smirked at me as I rolled my eyes. 

"Keep dreaming, kid." I shoved past him into the house, struggling to contain my laughter. I wandered around the living room aimlessly for a few minutes as I waited for Tom to get dressed. Paddy had already left for school, and the rest of the family was either out and about or still sleeping, in the case of the twins. The photos on the mantle showed bunches of smiling boys, and I laughed at one that showed the twins wrestling and Paddy attempting to hold a much larger Tom down. A pair of arms wrapped around my waist just as I leaned in for a closer look, and I turned my head right into Tom's, smacking both of our foreheads together.

"Owww, Noelle, that's going to leave a mark." Tom exclaimed, rubbing his head.

"Hey, you didn't have to startle me like that! It's self defense." I groaned, massaging my own temple. 

"I was just trying to be romantic for once, my sincerest apologies." He quipped back sarcastically. 

"Might want to leave it at a low level of romance, seemed to be working just fine for us." 

Even with slightly sore heads, we managed to forgive each other and moved on to a cut-throat board game tournament. Monopoly, Battleship, checkers, chess, and a variety of card games were all played, although Tom refused to play Scrabble, my personal favorite. The games were fairly evenly split, but the day was still filled with the sound of Tom cursing whenever he made a poor play. The afternoon turned into evening, and all of the boys eventually gathered in front of the television to play round after round of Mario Kart. I chose to mostly cheer for Tom, because it turned out that my driving skills were not great in real life or virtual life. Finally, Dom called us into the kitchen and we ate, enjoying each other and the food. 

Tom leaned over to me as we were cleaning up the dishes and whispered in my ear, "Want to head into the backyard when this is all set?"

"Sure." I nodded, and when everyone was all cleaned up I followed him through the sliding doors and into the cool darkness. 

He tossed me one of his sweatshirts and gestured to the gymnastics mat that I had watched him practice so many flips on. "Care to have a seat?"

I looked at him confusedly but did as he suggested, relaxing down next to him on the cool plastic. He laid onto his back and put his arm out, gesturing for me to get closer. I rested my head on his shoulder and felt his arm around my back, holding onto me securely. We lay in silence for a few minutes, our chests moving up and down as we gazed up at the sky. Tom then moved his head slightly to get a better look at me. 

"Do you still love the stars?" He asked.

"Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I actually went for it. A career in astronomy pr something like that. I mean, I am so thankful for what I have now, and it would have been a completely different life, but I still find everything up there fascinating." I let out quietly, taking in all of the sights above me. "But at the same time, it's a great hobby to have and I wouldn't trade it for football."

"Well, I'm glad that you didn't. Who knows if you would have found some astrophysicist to marry and I never would have gotten to see you again. I mean, that might have been a win for you, but it would have definitely have been a loss for me."

I nudged him in the ribs playfully. "Shut it, you know I'm happy to be here too."

Tom looked back at me, stroking my hair lightly. "Well, that's a relief." He paused for a second, biting his lip. "I probably should have done this a long time ago, but now seems as good of a time as ever. Noelle, will you be my girlfriend? Formally that is, the whole world already expects it anyway."

He looked almost nervous to ask, not that he needed to be. I snuggled closer to him, wrapping my arms around his torso. 

"Of course, Tom. As long as you'll be my boyfriend that is." He laughed at that, and we settled back into silence, gazing up at the vastness above us.