Never Stop . . . Never Stop Fighting (A Tom Hiddleston Fanfiction)

Chapter Fourteen

Ann sat on a patio chair with a towel around her shoulders and her head in her hands. "Did you see all of that?" she groaned out.

Sage chuckled as she poured a glass of lemonade and sat it in front of her friend. "What was I supposed to do? Ignore the almost kiss that was about to happen in my pool?"

"Saaage," she moaned out in reply.

"What?" Sage laughed. "By the look of things, I think more clothes would have been tossed around my backyard."

"Sage!" Ann scolded as she jolted up, although a small smile was on her face. She watched as Sage only laughed again and shook her head at her friend.

"What are you yelling at your sweet friend for miss Ann?" Tom asked as he walked up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

Ann looked up to see Tom's gentle smile as he looked down at her. "I'm scolding her for her accusations."

Tom raised an eyebrow as he moved to sit in the chair next to Ann and accepted the glass of lemonade that Sage offered to him. "Accusations?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing to worry about Tom." Sage replied, causing Ann to narrow her eyes at her. "We're just poking fun at each other."

Ann proceeded to stick her tongue out at Sage, which caused Tom to chuckle as he took a sip of lemonade.

"So, how did the photos turn out?" Sage asked. "I saw your laptop on the kitchen table but it had gone into sleep mode."

"Rather good I believe," Tom responded, "I think she could do it full time honestly."

Ann felt herself blush. "Thank you Tom. But I think it went well too, even if this giant dork decided to fall backwards into the pool. It made for some pretty cool shots."

Sage smiled. "That's good to hear, I'm glad that everything went well... really well by the looks of things."

A blush quickly filled Ann's cheeks as she avoided her friend's gaze, but soon felt comforted by Tom's hand on her knee beneath the table. "It's been a fun afternoon, I'll say that much."

"Are you still leaving on Friday?" Sage asked, being curious.

Tom nodded. "I am. I'll be going to Detroit to start on a new film."

"That sounds exciting."

"I'm looking forward to it," Tom replied, "It's a role that I've never done before, which makes it even more exciting."Ann turned her head to listen to Tom as he answered Sage's continuing questions.

"I assume you have the whole script?" Sage continued on.

Tom nodded with a smile. "I do. I got it at the beginning of the week, so I've been running lines in my head at night."

Ann smiled. "So that's why you stay up so late," she verified.

"Yes," he chuckled, "It is. I also run lines in my head when I go running once I've got a decent amount in my head."

Sage smirked. "A runner huh? Ann, you used to run when we first met. You always had to have that morning or evening run every day."

Tom looked over at her with his eyebrows raised. "You never told me that you ran."

"I haven't been on a run in a few years," she replied with a shrug. "I have thought about getting back into it, but I just haven't made the commitment."

The small group became quiet as they all sipped on their drinks. Tom's mind became a whirlwind at the new knowledge he'd just learned and quietly wondered what had caused her to stop running like she used to.