Always, Yours

11 - I Have Always Loved You

warnings: smut

***

"Do you want us to wait?" Harrison asked, hand hesitant over the gear shift after you climbed out of his car.

"I'm fine. My mum can drive us or me home. Whatever happens."

"Remember, you're Y/N and he's Tom. It'll work out."

"I'm holding you to that, Osterfield."

"I'll wait five minutes. And if you end up being mortifyingly wrong... You can come back and kick my ass."

"Deal." You smirked, waving at Keaton and Harrison before you jogged down your driveway toward the path going into the woods.

He had to be here. It was your spot.

The walk from the path to the opening of trees at the train tracks was possibly the longest walk of your life.

But the relief you felt when you saw Tom made the past few hours of worry vanish.

"Tom..."

Tom looked up from his seat on the tracks in mild shock, either surprised it took you so long to find him or surprised that you found him at all.

"I have always loved you."

"What?" You whispered, picking up the pace, wanting to make sure you heard him right, needing to.

"Y/N, I love you," Tom shouted, standing up. "I've loved you since you fought for me on the playground. I've loved you since you first showed me this spot. I've loved you since we got matching tattoos and you let me cry. And I love you even if I'm an idiot and you hate me right now."

"I could never hate you, dummy," you choked down a sob, jumping into his arms as he hugged you tight.

"I just, I was so mad," Tom exhaled shakily as he set you back down on the ground.

"At me?" You implored, not upset, you just wanted to hear what he had to say.

"No, at myself."

"We're both sort of idiots," you admitted, sitting down on the train tracks with Tom.

"I'll say. I just, I got so embarrassed."

"Why? Why would you be embarrassed?" You questioned, gently rubbing your thumb along the ridge of his hand.

"Because," Tom mumbled, dropping his head down as his cheeks turned red.

"Cause why? Tom, there's quite literally nothing that you should be embarrassed about. Especially around me. Remember when I got a nose bleed during my presentation in English class in grade six? And I continued the presentation, stuttering the entire way through until I saw the blood drip onto my shirt?"

"It's not like that."

"Then what's it like, Tom? We've spent years dancing around the truth and not being completely honest with each other. You just have to-,"

"I'm a virgin! Okay!" Tom shouted, pulling his hand away from yours.

"What?"

You heard exactly what he said, you just couldn't quite believe it. Sure, Tom could be shy and you knew he's never had a girlfriend, but you just figured that...

"I'm a virgin. And I just didn't want to not know what to do or embarrass myself in front of you. And that's not an excuse for leaving. Y/N, I'm such a fucking idiot, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," You tried to assure him.

"No, it's not. I was an absolute asshole last night."

"None of that matters now, Tom. Listen." You cupped his cheeks, making him look directly at you. "None of that matters because I can't spend another second being mad at you. I can't spend another moment not being insanely in love with you."