Talking to Tom

5

Claire's perspective

I enjoy being next to Tom. When we get home we're starving. And we are both to lazy to cook.

"Why don't we go out?"

I smile. Not a bad idea Claire

"great idea!"

He helps me stand up and we go to his car. He drives us to a very lovely restaurant. We walk inside and we get seated right away.

"So claire when did you move here?"

I take a drink of my water.

"well, I came here for school. After I finished I decided to stay. I'm not sure if I still want to move back?"

He smiles.

"how old are you?"

I process what he said. I guess we haven't really talked yet.

"oh um 26, my birthday is late july."

He smiles. Please say something close to my age I don't want us to be like 20 years apart....

"I'm 33, little old but I enjoy understanding older and younger people. I don't enjoy being alone all the time."

He loses his smile.

"me either, at least you have willow."

The waiter brings us our food. She has been so nice already.

"Here's the food. Do you guys need anything else?

"Nope I think that's all thank you."

" oh and just one last thing before I let you guys eat.  please tell me you have little kids at home?"

We stare at eachother and laugh.

"Nope were just friends sadly."

She opens her mouth wide.

"I'm so sorry!"

She walks away.

"okay I now I feel bad!"

He chukles.

"do we really look that old?"

We both laugh again. We enjoy the meal and skip on desert.

"we'll have ice cream when we get home, it taste better all snuggled up watching tv on the couch anyway."

I laugh.

15 minutes later

We get home and immediately change into pajamas, I grab a tub of ice cream and 2 spoons while he grabs a fluffy pillow and a fluffy blanket. We lay down on the couch right next to eachother, willow joins us she goes right between our legs. We finish the ice cream tub and I am so cold.

"my goodness its chilly in here!"

Tom looks over to me.

"well I'll warm you up."

He pulls me close and his warmth makes me calm. I close my eyes for feels like 1 seconds and the tv goes black and makes a loud noise.

"this is a weather warning. Winds speeds up to 45mph and flash flood warning."

right as screen goes back to normal a big flash of lighting and huge thunder hits outside. The tv shuts off. We lost all power. Tom stands up and looks out the window.

"Its really coming down already"

He walks back over to me and sits down.

"I hope I can sleep."

He puts his feet up and pulls me close to him. He whispers into my ear.

"want to move this sleepover onto my bed? It'll be more comfy there"

I nod and he picks me up. He walks to the bedroom and lay down. We have a whole bed and yet were cuddled up in the middle taking up no space. I nuzzle into him and he grabs me and pulls me even closer.

"Tom, I know this is a little weird but are we like dating now? I only said we were friends at the restaurant cause I didn't want to say we're dating then for you to be embarrassed."

He opens his eyes.

"well, I would love too. I'm glad you asked first!"

He laughs, I burrow into him again. He holds me. Willow walks in and cuddles up next to my legs and keeps them warm. The storm gets worse outside. Me and Tom can't sleep.

"Well whats the point of just laying here doing nothing?"

We sit up.

"so lets get to know more about eachother? I'll go first, I love playing gutiar and singing."

I smile and think about what to say.

"I went to college for pediatric nursing, so like a baby nurse."

Toms face lights up like the room isn't dark anymore.

"kids are my favorite their so cute"

I lay flat on the bed facing towards the ceiling.

"Tom, how come your not married yet?"

He lays down next to me.

"well, I fell in love. She was beautiful. She made me laugh. I was gonna tie the knot but I found out she cheated. That was the end of it. It caused a terrible point in my life I lost my dog timber too. Then I met Willow and she was my love. can't have life without her. She helped me out."

I turn over to face him.

"Tom, I had the same thing happen. It was my last year of college here. He was great and treated me and my family well. I found out he was sleeping with another girl. He moved back to my home town after we broke up. Thats why I stayed here to get a break from him and his friends."

He turns over to face me and pushes my hair back.

"Claire I don't get how people do that just throw years away to have 1 night with someone else."

He kisses me and holds me close.

"I know Tom hopefully since we both know how it feels and we would never put eachother through it."

We fall asleep.

Did we finally learn more about them?...Yes. I'm happy I know more about them and what happened before. This just gives them an even better thing to connect with.