Tom’s POV:
‘Well you fucking blew it this time Daley’ I think, dangerously weaving in and out of traffic as I speed to the aquatic center. I had been up all night trying to figure out what to say to Laci today before her competition trying to make sure everything would be perfect, but now it was nearly 1:30 her competition already in progress and probably nearing the final few dives: she is literally going to kill me. Thomas Robert Daley, King of Screw Ups that’s what they should call me instead of this Britain’s Golden Boy.
*
“Where have you been? You’ve had everyone worried!” My mother asks grabbing my arm, yanking me backwards as I try to run past her in the aquatic center’s lobby.
“Mum, I can’t talk now” I try to wriggle my wrist out of her grasp, but it was no use: she was not going to let me go without talking to me first.
“Thomas Robert Daley!” She says sternly. The use of my full name, the tone in her voice and the cold look she was giving me with her brown eyes all point towards one thing: she wasn’t going to put up with my usual bullshit- she meant business.
“I have to go find Laci” I say without meeting her glaring eyes. My mind and eyes calculating and following a path to the closest pool level entrance.
“You can wait a few minutes, just talk to me” She seems highly worried and alarmed by my erractic behavior. I completely understood why: even though I was for the most part always completely out of my mind I was never this frantic.
“I can’t!” I say in a tone I know better than to use with my mother, with a quick breath in and out I begin to explain while trying to stay as calm as possible. “I’ve ruined everything with her once; I can’t ruin it again, even though I’m pretty sure I already have.” Her grip begins to loosen on my arm but still remaining enough of a grip to not allow me to leave without dragging her behind me as I make a dash for the entrance. “Mom, I have to: I’ve already lost Dad around this time last year, I can’t lose her. I love her. I- I just can’t keep losing everyone I love” I can feel tears welling up behind my eyes, but I wasn’t going to dare let them fall with all the press that constantly flocked the aquatic center and me.
Every piece of my being ached at thought that my father wasn’t here to witness trails and the Olympics, and now adding on top of that the fear that I was going to lose Lace if I didn’t run right now and try to explain to her. I’ve already lost her once due to my own idiotic actions, I’m not about to do that again.
“Go” she says completely letting go. I just stare at her in an almost dumbfounded state, but she just nods her head at me. “Go and find her Thomas”
Without any further prompting, I take off into a dash weaving in and out of people in the lobby just as I had done earlier with the cars driving on the road. “Oh my god Tom Daley” I could hear young girls shrieking in their high pitched voices as I run past; it wasn’t like me to completely blow off and ignore fans but just like a few days ago when they swarmed Laci and I in the hotel’s lobby my main priority was only her and no one else. She was all I wanted and needed to see right now.
“Tonia!” I call out as I skid across the tiles and through the door into lower pool level of the center. Her blonde hair was already saturated and her makeup already virtually gone as she quickly wipes her face with her red and blue tie-dye shammy.
“Daley?” She asks in almost a state of confusion. “What are you doing down here?”
“Where’s Lace?” I ask slightly out of breath, from running around like a crazy person, and completely ignoring the question she posed.
