Adore

Chapter 20

After my weekend spent mostly with Tom I dove into work at my new job. I had picked up my role pretty easily. I started with some short shifts so I could learn the ropes.

My second week of work had me on long shifts and was trusted to open and close the store on some days. Mary and I had began extra work after the store closed up for the day, readying me for the managing aspect.

Mary has seemed to really impressed with my work so far and was grateful to have some help around the store. I liked being able to chat with people who came in the shop. A handful of times every day I would get asked about the accent and where I was from.

I was really enjoying Home&Co. The perks of working here were the staff discount and great pay rate. The money that I had saved up before my big move was steadily growing again as I added my income to it.

I had discussed the trip to France with Mary and she was happy for me to go and take a few days out from work. I felt really lucky to have such a chill and flexible boss. Tom had emailed me through the times of flights, hotel rooms, itinerary and other details.

We would be leaving in just over two weeks, and arrived early December and we'd be staying in France for four days before Tom left for Japan, and I would return to London. The Japan stint was scheduled for two weeks.

A car would come by my house to pick me up early in the morning and take me to the airport where I'd meet Harrison who was my travel buddy.

Then, we'd fly to France, landing in Paris. We'd be staying at The Shangri-la Hotel, which had the most breathtaking views of the Eiffel Tower. I couldn't wait to be strolling around the city, visiting some of the most popular tourist spots in the world.

It amazed me that I was lucky enough to be going on this trip. I had to pinch myself every now and then to remind myself that it was real. My sister and I had been talking a lot more recently, I guess the distance between us was making us miss each other more.

I told her all about Tom, but I didn't tell her that he was a well known actor. I don't really know why I kept that to myself but for now, she didn't need to know.

Tom and I had been texting back and forth when we could although it seemed like we were always missing each other. I didn't see his messages till hours later and then he would be busy and couldn't reply.

It was kind of frustrating because we had seen so much of each other recently and now it felt like we'd been apart too long.

I had only known him now for a few weeks, but in that time I had begun to feel so comfortable with him. He was an amazing guy that treated me so well from what I had experienced so far. And I was worried that maybe not seeing him for awhile was going to affect whatever was going on between us.

I was so lost in my own train of thought I hadn't realised I was already home. I could hear Archie behind the door, welcoming me back. He seemed to miss me much more during the days now that I had work to go to.

As I opened my front door Archie jumped up at me demanding my attention. I scratched his ears and told him how much I loved him. I tossed my keys on the entry table and shrugged out of my coat.

I kicked off my shoes pulled my hair out of the stupidly tight bun that started to give me a headache.

It was still light when I got home from work and I hadn't taken Archie for a walk in two days and I tried to take him out every day when I could.

I left my handbag on the kitchen counter and went upstairs. From my closet I pulled out a plain white shirt, my navy wind breaker jacket and some lightweight tracksuit pants. I dressed myself quickly heading back to the living room with my shoes.

Archie could tell it was time for a walk and he started excitedly barking and crying out to me.

I got him harnessed up and shoved my keys and phone in my jacket pocket before leaving the house. Instead of taking a left turn the end of the path, I steered is to the right.

Archie was pulling on his lead hard, wanting to run. I picked up my pace and we broke out into a quick jog. We ran along the path, an unfamiliar route to the one we normally took.

The houses in this neighbourhood all had similar features. The only differences between them were coloured shutters, or front doors, and different shades of paint covering the houses.

We'd been running for about fifteen minutes, a light sweat breaking out on my forehead. I slowed us down to a walk. The scenery changed in this part of the suburb. The houses started to get fewer and farther between, more trees and small garden patches popped up in the gaps.

The path turned from concrete to a less smooth surface, to a dirt track. In front of us was a trail leading through a lush section of nature, everything here was incredibly green and so healthy looking.

Archie followed my lead as we walked through the tall grass. When we reached a clearing and I recognised the fields before us that we had visited many times before.

I took off his lead so he could run around the field. I could feel my phone buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it out to see an incoming call from Tom.

I smile broke out on my face and I answered the call.

"Hey, how are you?" I said.

"Hi, I'm good how are you" He asked me.

"Yeah I'm good, whats up?" I spoke into the phone keeping an eye on Archie making sure he wasn't getting into trouble.

"Are you busy at the moment?"

"I'm just in the fields at the park with Arch, how come?"

"I wanted to see you, if thats okay? Can I meet you in like 15 minutes" He said.

"Of course, see you soon" I said.

"Bye, love" The call disconnected and I was giddy with excitement to see him.

I was busy playing with Archie when a voice called my name. I turned around to see Tom stood in the field, Tess by his side. I swear he looked even more attractive than the last time I saw him.

He let Tessa off her lead and she came bounding over to me to say a quick hello before running off to play with Archie. Tom lightly jogged over to me, his face lit with a smile.

Tom pulled me into a hug.

"Hi" he spoke softly into the crook of my neck.

"Hey" I said while giving him a squeeze. Although we talked often, it had been about two weeks since I'd seen him. A feeling of calm settled over me when he was near. It was hard to described the way he made me feel.

Once again, he smelled divine. And I was probably sweaty and gross, just my luck.

"I missed you" He said, as he took my hands in his and intertwined his fingers between mine.

"I missed you too, you're really growing on me" I admitted with a small laugh.

We talked for awhile more before it started to get dark. Tom and Tessa walked with us home and we said goodnight to each other.

After Tom had left I felt the smile leave my face, which seemed to forever be on my lips when he was around. There was no denying that I had a crush on Tom Holland.

A/N I can't believe this story has almost 300 reads! Thats crazy to me, thanks so much. EDIT* We hit over 300 reads! Wow, thats amazing to me.