paint the grass green | tom holland

Chapter Five

"Super exciting news." Kenzie exclaims as she sits down across from you in the coffee shop. She's got a wide smile on her face and the corners of your mouth lift up on their own. It always makes you happy when she's happy.

You push the coffee that you had ordered for her in her direction while leaning closer. "Let's hear it!"

"My boss just informed me..." She stops for a dramatic pause and you roll your eyes and motion for her to go on. "...that I'm one of the few employees who'll accompany her to that big convention in the states!"

"That's amazing Kenzie! Congrats!" You get out of your chair and give her a tight hug. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you." She finally takes a sip from her coffee as you sit back down. "Rumour has it whoever goes to those conventions with her will get a promotion soon." She wiggles her eyebrows.

"I wouldn't be surprised. You've worked your butt off. You deserve it." She really has been working a lot. And as a result, you haven't seen each other during the last few weeks. "Hey, why don't you come to my mum's for dinner tonight? Theo misses you."

Kenzie pushes her lower lip forward in a pout. "I wish I could. But I promised my grandma I'd help her with cleaning the house."

"Oh, bummer. We need to get together before you leave though. When does your work trip start?"

"In a couple of weeks. We'll make something happen before then. I miss my little man, too." She pauses to take another sip. "How is everything? With him and Tom?"

"It's going great. They really like each other and Theo has opened up to him a lot. I almost feel like it's going too well, though."

Kenzie furrows her eyebrows "What do you mean?"

"Tom is amazing with Theo, he seems to always know the right thing to say. Theo trusts him. You should've seen the way he held onto Tom when we went to see Tom's family." You stop and watch the people in the coffee shop, trying to find the right words. "I'm afraid it'll all be ripped away from us at some point. Like I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. It feels like it's too easy. I mean, yes, Tom and I definitely need to have a talk about what happened four years ago, sort a lot of stuff out. But other than that...It's just-" You look at her again. "It almost feels like we're a family and I... I don't know what to think." Kenzie takes your hand and gives it a squeeze.

"What if, for once in your life, something is that easy. And you, Tom and Theo are a family. Maybe not quite a traditional one, but you are. And you always will be." She eyes you for a moment and then softly asks, "Are you still in love with him?" You feel like she already knows the answer. You haven't really talked about Tom and your feelings for him since the day you decided to stop reaching out to him. And since then you've tried to push your feelings as far away as possible, or forget about them altogether. And for a while it worked. But now that he's back in your life you can't deny them anymore. You are still in love with him. Despite everything that happened.

You nod glumly.

"Oh, darling." She squeezes your hand once more. "Who knows maybe he is still in love with you, too." She shrugs her shoulders and you roll your eyes.

"Come on, Kenzie. No way. Not after what happened four years ago, and definitely not after I kept Theo from him. And let's be honest here. If he'd have actually loved me back then, he would've given me another chance, don't you think?"

The corners of Kenzie's mouth turn downward. "Maybe."

***

"And then she said 'I want him to know that he has family he can count on.' Well, afterwards she said she didn't mean it that way but... I don't know. I can't shake the feeling that she thinks we're not good enough." You shrug your shoulders. Your mum is scrubbing away at a pot while you're drying the dishes. Theo is in the living room flipping through his picture books and pretending to read them to Mr. Hopper. His small voice filled your mum's flat and it helps you feel at ease even though you were still trying to digest Nikki's words.