Never Say Never

Chapter Six- April

I finished waiting tables and clocked out, going to a table and eating my pasta while scrolling through Instagram. It's been two days since my call with Tom, and even though I thought that at the time by apologizing, it'd take all the weirdness away whenever I saw a post of us, yeah well I was so incredibly wrong.
    My eyes wandered from my feed to messages, which appeared to have an unread one from Jordan. I opened it and was shocked with what I found. In my face was a full-on zoom-in of Tom and I kissing while a bunch of hateful accusations flooded the comments.
     My mouth dropped open in surprise. "What the...." I stopped mid-sentence in shock of what I was looking at. Hundreds of thousands of comments about Tom and I supposedly 'dating' clogged my vision.
     I was thoroughly appalled at what they were saying about us and how they thought I insinuated the kiss. My anger rose higher and higher, showing no signs of coming down. I would never, and I mean NEVER do that. As I was about to report it like all the other ones I see, I decided to take matters into my own hands and shut this all down for good.
     I left a comment saying, "To all you people who think I kissed Tom, you're wrong. He kissed me, ask him yourself, @tomholland2013. Tell him April sent you."
     I felt very confident about myself until it dawned on me that about 13,000 fangirls are going to send Tom horrid messages filled with millions of questions. I quickly picked my phone back up from the table to find the post. I scrolled and scrolled until I found my comment, noticing that 5,000 people had already liked it!
    "Holy crap!" I exclaimed, my eyes bugging out at the numbers that were becoming higher and higher every time I refreshed the page.
     It was too late. Regret and shame instantly filled my body as I deleted the comment to prevent any more people from seeing it, even though it's probably being copied and pasted all over the internet now. He had to have known by now, after all it has been a full two minutes, crazy how people are so obsessed with social media.
      I took a deep breath and exited out of the app, clicking on the one I wanted. I pressed the 'new message' button and started typing wildly while hoping that there was some chance that I could get to him before everyone else did. But as I was typing, I started to learn that people don't take unveiling true identities well.
     My phone started beeping every 0.2 seconds with tweets and posts tagging me, dm's, and replies to comments as I tried to block them out and finish the third message that had the same thing written as the last two, "I'm sorry".
     I immediately got a response and fearfully checked to see what it said, afraid that Tom was gonna hate me now, which surprised me because I wouldn't have cared at all if he did before.
     I guess because we were both on good terms with each other now after what happened that I felt more remorse for my actions. He said that it's okay and that he already has instagram on silent so it won't bother him as much if he doesn't go on there.
    I apologized again and told him that I had a moment of stupid pride and decided to take matters into my own hands, which I obviously shouldn't have done. He gave me grace once again and told me that everything was ok and that it probably was for the best if we parted ways for good. I agreed and shut off my phone, exhausted from the past five minutes.
                          ~ ~ ~
        By the end of my shift, I began to get exhausted and didn't really notice when a young man came up to the counter to order. It's been around a week since the whole Tom fiasco ended, or should I say 'mildly set aside'.
       People were finally going back to their normal lives and have stopped pressuring us about ours, which helped me to resume living mine. I still see pictures of us pop up, but thankfully, people have settled down a tad, which gives me a break from this newfound stardom that I was not in any way fond of.
       As my mind came back to reality, I quickly cleared my throat and asked what the person wanted to order, my eyes on the machine in front of me, typing in what he said. My brain was flying a million miles per hour because, even though the press has quieted down, does not mean my mind has about the subject.
      Why did Jordan have to bring up dating Tom?! I was perfectly fine without having that picture replay in my mind against my will 24 hours a day. I've even caught myself fantasizing a few times! Naturally, I reprimanded myself every time, even though I knew I was still only human, I did not need to be thinking about that human in that way.
      I was too preoccupied to hear anything except what the man said, or even the way he said it. He ordered his meal and handed me a $20 bill. His hand lingered near mine and I was about to tell the creep to get lost when I looked up into a pair of unfortunately familiar brown eyes. I sighed, rolling my eyes while grabbing his extended bill, averting my attention back to the register.
   "You never give up do you?" I asked, putting the cash in the machine and calculating his change.
     Tom let out one of his signature smiles that girls somehow swoon over. "What can I say, you're quite unforgettable." he grinned and just like usual, I let out my signature eye roll that girls currently growl over.
    "I thought we'd agree to stay away from each other," I told him blunty in an annoyed tone, not looking up from the register.
     He let out a sad sigh before responding, telling me that he really was distraught, even though I didn't want to realize that.
    "I can't," he replied in a desperate tone as I glanced up from the machine to give him a ticked-off glare.
    "Really now? Thought you were the one who said it," I stated, pulling out his change from the drawer.
   "Yes but I can't stay away, I've tried to get you off my mind and I can't. I'm constantly seeing you in pictures of us and I can't take it." he sighingly told you, causing me to groan and unfortunately have enough decency to reason with him instead of sending him out the front door.
     "We can't talk here," I told him in a low tone, looking past him at the girls who happened to be around that were starting to put two-and-two together about what was going on.
       Some were waiting for their orders and glancing at us, whispering to each other and pointing while others were doing the same in booths and tables. I nodded my head towards an 'employees only' door behind the counter that led to the back of the building, signaling him to throw the girls off their scent by appearing to leave. He nodded back and walked away as I shut down the machine and headed towards the door.
     "Madalyn! Cover me at the register for a second?" I asked her, opening the back door as clocked out on the nearby wall.
     "Yeah sure." she replied, walking towards the front.
       I walked out the door and into the chilly autumn air, turning the corner to see Tom run up as I folded my arms to gain heat.
  "Glad we came out here because I think those girls were starting to get suspicious," he laughed nervously, causing me to let out an annoyed sigh.
   "So as I was saying before, I just can't forget you April, you're too...different," he smiled, making me roll my eyes.
   "Different? Wow, really know how to charm 'em don't you?" I huffed, letting out an angered sigh.
   "No it's true!! I can't get you out of my head, you aren't like the other girls, you don't flock around me, blowing off screams like you are purposely trying to make me deaf," he told you, stuffing his hands back in the pockets of his hoodie and shrugging his shoulders.
      I frustratingly ran my fingers through my hair, rolling my eyes like there was no tomorrow. "Cut the crap Tom, why are you really here?" I asked in an extremely annoyed tone, folding my arms.
   "Okay I'll just say it; April, I really like you, and I want you to like me too, even though I am extremely sorry for what I did, it was too soon, but I thought since we were good now that-" he started to say, but was cut off by my enraged groan.
   "Tom, you don't seem to get that we are never going to be 'fine'. We are okay, not fine. But just because we're on semi-decent terms with one another does not mean that we are 'buddy buddy'. We agreed to stay away from each other so we need to, especially since you're the one who said it last and yet you're not sticking to it," I said in an annoyed sing-song voice as I rolled my eyes.
       "You just don't know when to quit do you?" I asked, letting out an unbelieving laugh as I leaned back against the dumpster.
       "What can I say?" he told you in an 'innocent' tone, giving off a cutesy shrug.
          I ran my hand down the back of my head in frustration as I let out yet another sigh that was mixed with a groan. "Since you're obviously not giving up anytime soon or we just both have impeccable timing, what would it take for you to permanently stay away?" I asked, folding my arms, ready to strike up any deal that'll get him to go away permanently.
        "One date, tomorrow." he answered, throwing up his hands defensively while a small smirk swept across his lips.
         I did a double take at those three words while I shook my head in disbelief. "Excuse me?" I asked, my eyes wide with confusion.
      "You, me, date. If it goes well we'll try it again, if you don't have a good time then we'll stay away from each other. Deal?" he asked, folding his arms as well.
      "That's literally exactly the opposite of what I'm saying here." I groaned, slapping the palm of my hand against my forehead.
       "I just don't want you to miss out on something that you could end up enjoying," he laughed, as if he was doing this for 'my own good'.
        Even though it absolutely pained me to say what I was about to say, if that's what it took to get him to stay away even though we both knew that this shouldn't happen, I had to do it.
      "Fine, but ONLY if it'll get you to stay away," I told him in a serious tone, pointing my finger straight at his face.
      "Like I said, if you don't like it, I'll leave your life, but if you end up liking it, I'll leave the decision of what you want to do up to you," he said, folding his arms, giving off a smug smile that made me groan.
      "Ok, but I have a few conditions that have to be followed or said agreement will be revoked, you got me?" I asked while letting out a sigh, rubbing my forehead frustratingly.
     "Give me any you got." he shrugged, still sporting a small smile because he just 'won'.
     "Ok, we can't go anywhere public, it has to be private because I'm not dealing with the press ever again, and it won't be like a regular date where we feel we have to impress each other. We'll just talk and get to know each other casually, like old friends, not people on a date. Those are my standards, take it or leave it." I told him, unable to believe that I was doing this.
     "Take it," he smiled and before I knew it, he jumped forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek, causing me to gag.
     "Agh I had enough of that to last me lifetimes at Comic Con," I groaned as he walked backwards, his smiling face looking straight at me.
    "We'll see who's complaining on that date," he grinned, causing me to catch on to what he was smirking at.
    "HEY! What's that supposed to mean?!" I yelled as he neared the other side of the building.
     "You'll see! I'll send you the location of the date when I get in the car!" he shouted back, giving me a little salute as he turned the corner, making me groan.
    "WHATEVER!" I bellowed in annoyance, rolling my eyes as I lifted my back from the dumpster and proceeded to open the door back into the little, mom-and-pop diner.
        I caught myself smiling at Tom's slyness and quickly put on a straight face, inwardly scolding myself. I let out a sigh, clocking back in and returning to my register. As I continued taking orders, my mind never drifted from him. It was all against my will of course, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get his ambition and stubbornness towards me out of my head. Oh Tom, why can't I just hate you?