~ Ready and Waiting to Fall ~

Chapter 1

March 3, 2007 – London, England – 4 p.m.

I was glancing back and forth between my sketchbook and the Houses of Parliament that stretched in front of me. Black ink flowed easily from my pen as I sketched a detail of the windows in the building. I really loved this building and was very content to stand in this spot, on this busy street, taking it all in.

The street that the Houses of Parliament were located on was busy with cars and pedestrians, but I was able to find a decent vantage point, leaning against a building across the street to sketch it, and tune it all out. Most people were ignoring me, but I could feel the eyes of a few questioning what I was doing.

I must have been there for a while because I saw a man who had already walked by, pass me again. The first time he had gone by I had looked over my sketchbook and watched him. He was tall and his dark hair was just long enough to creep over his ears. He was definitely a hot one. I was staring again.

He must have felt my eyes on him because he turned to look. I looked back down at my sketchbook quickly, and then he was next to me.

"That's very good." He sounded nervous as he looked down at my sketchbook. His accent blended in with all of the other voices around us.

"Thanks," I said smiling at him in return. I could tell he was a little surprised at the sound of my American accent.

"Are you an artist?"

"Mmm …" I had to think about it for a second, "Yes and no. I'm an architecture student." I looked back down at my sketchbook to find the spot I was working again, and back up at the building quickly. I began darkening some areas of the sketch for shadows.

He watched.

"Why'd you pick the Parliament?" He sounded like he realized I wasn't going to bite.

"I guess I like the perpendicular lines of it," I shrugged, looking up into his blue-gray eyes. Beautiful. I'd like to sketch him, I thought to myself.

"Well it's lovely." The man nodded toward my drawing again.

"Do you want it?" I was just about finished with this sketch.

"Oh, no – that's all right." He kind of waved my gesture off.

"You can have it," I insisted, grinning up at him. He had to be at least half a foot taller than me. "I have others. I'll even sign it for you, because I'm going to be a famous architect one day." I surprised myself with that confidence that had just come out of my mouth. I brushed my hair out of my face when a breeze came around the corner.

"A famous architect, huh?" His eyes lit up teasingly as he said the word famous. I nodded in the positive, and he laughed. "I'm Rob … Pattinson." It sounded like he added his last name as an afterthought.

"Millie," I said in response, "Reinhardt." In the corner of the page, I wrote:

To Rob,

With Love,

Millie

I ripped the page out of the spiral bound sketchbook, careful not to tear it anymore than necessary, and handed it to Rob.

"Well thanks Millie." Rob looked at the sketch again, and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. He must have enjoyed seeing 'love' written there – I could only assume.

"You're welcome," I responded as I capped the pen. I closed my sketchbook and stuck the pen down the middle of the spiral binding, before shoving it into my bag. We looked at each other for a moment and then his eyes drifted off in another direction. I noticed how he seemed a little unsure of himself, and I wasn't sure why – especially because he was the one who had initiated this conversation.

"So what brings you to London?" Rob asked.

"Actually, I'm studying in Rome for the semester, but I escaped up here for the weekend," I answered, brushing my hair back again. "I can't tell you how nice it is to hear English coming from all directions."

He laughed.

"So what's good to eat around here?" I asked as I tugged my ever-present hair tie off of my wrist so I could pull my hair back and keep it out of my eyes. It was nearing dinner time, and I was kind of hoping he'd join me. I was enjoying talking with him.

"There's a great pub a few miles from here, we can hop on the tube and head over there," Rob started and then added on quickly, "Its okay if you say no."

"No, no … I want to," I answered.

"Fantastic." Rob had a great smile and his eyes lit up as he did. "Shall we?" He held out his left hand and gestured for me to start walking.

"Yeah," I nodded. "I'm not pulling you away from anything am I?"

"Nah," he shook his head. Rob carefully folded the drawing and stuck it inside his jacket pocket. "I was just going to hide out in my apartment tonight."

"Glad I could help you out there." I teased. He shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Did you come to London by yourself?"

"Nah, I'm here with three of the guys I go to school with, but I ditched them for the day," I answered. "I live with them too, so I'm about to go bonkers if I see them anymore. Plus they are going to the Dave Matthews Band concert in Manchester, and I just didn't care to go to that." I was starting to ramble.

"That must be interesting," he said. I followed him down the stairs to the subway.

"Oh, it is." I smiled to myself.

"Do you need a ticket?" He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked at me.

"I got a three-day thing." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the pass I had bought at the airport. I followed him through the busy underground, and we were both quiet as we waited for the next train to pull up. It was a comfortable silence and neither of us seemed bothered by it.

When we stepped onto the train, I dug through my bag so I could find my cell phone. I had to text one of the guys to let them know I was doing okay. I sent James a text quickly, explaining to Rob what I was doing, which he got a kick out of, and then put my phone away so I could focus on the man standing by me.

He had a hold of the metal bar that ran parallel to the ceiling, and was leaning his head against his arm. Rob looked like a model standing there like that. I leaned into the poll I was holding onto, bracing myself as the train slowed to a jerky stop.

"Now we've established that I'm a student, what do you do?"

"I'm an actor-musician," he answered moving out of the way so people could get on and off. Rob stepped closer to me as the train lurched forward causing him to bump into me. "Sorry."

"That's okay." He smelled good. "That must be hard to get into both."

"Eh, it's not too bad," he shrugged. "The next stop is ours."

The train slowed again, and I planted my feet to keep from falling forward. When the doors opened, Rob and I headed off of the train. He walked behind me, but close enough that I swore I could feel his breathe on my head. After we got out of the crowd a bit, I asked him what kind of work he'd done, if any, in his chosen professions.

"I've done a couple of movies and some stage stuff."

"Really?" I was surprised. "What movies have you done?"

"Um … some small independent stuff and … Harry Potter." The way he said 'Harry Potter' it sounded like he was questioning that he'd done it. I guess he didn't like to advertise that to the world.

"Impressive," I nodded. "I know absolutely nothing about Harry Potter except that it's very popular."

"Really?" It was his turn to sound surprised as we headed back up to the street level.

"I just never had any desire to read or watch it so I didn't, and now it's become this 'avoid it at all costs' thing because it drives my best friend nuts that I'll have nothing to do with it."

Rob seemed to get a kick out of that comment, and his laugh made me laugh too.

"That seems like more effort than it's worth."

"Not too much," I shrugged with a smile. "So what character did you play?"

"Cedric Diggory."

"So can I tell her I met the Cedric Diggory? She might be impressed." He shook his head at that comment, and his hair fell into his eyes. I wanted to reach up and brush it out of his eyes for him.

We arrived at a small pub a few minutes later, and found a place to sit in a back corner. The place was not too crowded yet, but it was still early, especially for a Saturday night. I threw my bag over the back of the chair and sat down. Rob sat down across from me.

It took a few minutes for a waiter to come and take our drink orders. Rob asked him to bring a couple of menus over as well. When our drinks had come and we had ordered our food, we fell back into our conversation from before and I asked him about his music.

He talked about that awhile and then asked me why I had picked architecture to be my profession. I really liked that he seemed genuinely interested in everything I said unlike other guys I had known, and I was truly interested in what he had to say as well.

We spent a few hours at the pub just getting to know each other, and I was starting to wish that I was going to be in London longer than the following morning. It didn't seem like either of us wanted the night to end, so to prolong the inevitable I requested that he walk me back to the Houses of Parliament so I could see it at night. He obliged my request.

"Beautiful." I sighed leaning forward against the railing that separated the sidewalk from the Thames River below. We were standing on the opposite side of the river, the lights from the Parliament reflected off of the calm water.

Rob mocked my position and stood close enough so our arms were touching.

The city was really quiet for a Saturday night, except for a few cars passing and voices of other pedestrians once in a while. We were both enjoying the silence between us. It was nice not to have to talk every second to fill it. The guys I lived with felt the need to pass every minute talking or laughing it up about Lord knows what.

This was a nice quality that Rob seemed to possess, and there were a lot of things about his personality, which I had noticed this night, that I liked about him.

I reached into my bag and pulled out my camera so I could take a couple of pictures of the building and the city at night, and I couldn't resist turning toward Rob, and snapping a picture of him.

He had his chin propped up on his hands and was looking across the river. When the flash went off, he turned his head and quirked an eyebrow; I took another picture. That was a cute look.

Smiling, I shrugged.

"Give it here." He stood up straight and held out his hand, wiggling his fingers so I would give him my camera.

"Why?" It was my turn to raise an eyebrow.

"If this is your favorite building, you should have a picture with it," Rob stated simply. He still held his hand out, so I reluctantly handed him my camera, and he stepped away from the rail so that he could take a good picture of me and the Houses of Parliament.

I leaned back against the rail and he took a couple of pictures.

"Thanks," I said as he handed my camera back to me. I felt a little bold, so I grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and pulled him back next to me. He was startled by the quick action and I giggled. "We have to take a picture together now."

"Oh – okay."

Rob put his arm lightly around my waist, his hand coming to rest on my side. I was a little surprised by the gesture, but I liked it so I wasn't going to complain. He leaned in close while I held out my camera to take the picture. I took a few shots just to be sure.

When I had finished, we looked through the pictures. He kept his arm around me.

"Looks good," I said looking over at him and yawning. "Sorry." I smiled sheepishly, embarrassed.

"Am I that boring?" He asked with a quiet laugh pulling away from my side.

"No," I shook my head adamantly to get my point across. "It's kind of been a long day, and I have to leave the hotel early so I can be at the airport early enough to go back to Rome."

"Let me walk you back to where you're staying." Rob stated.

"Sure." I dug through my bag again to find the map that I had circled the street my hotel was on. I pulled it out and opened it and folded it again so the street was on top. "It is … here." I held up the map and pointed to my pen mark.

"By Leicester Square," he noted. "Should we walk? It's not too far."

"That's fine," I answered. We walked along quietly and before I knew it we were at the hotel I was staying at. "Thanks for walking me back and for dinner that was really nice of you."

I didn't want to say goodbye.

"No problem."

"Here." I pulled out my sketchbook and pen, and opening it to the back I wrote down my phone number and e-mail address. "Write your stuff down."

"Really?"

"Don't sound so shocked Rob," I teased and passed my sketchbook and pen to him. "You're a great guy and I'd like to stay in touch."

I watched as he wrote down his phone number and e-mail address too, and when he handed the book back to me, I ripped the page out and in half to give him the part that I'd written my contact information on. I stuck his half back into the sketchbook and put it back in my bag.

"Well I better get inside," I stated reluctantly.

"Tonight was fun."

"It was," I agreed with a smile on my face. "Have a good night."

"You too."

"Don't hesitate to call or e-mail me."

"I won't." Rob smiled as I started to pack up toward the door.

"Night."

"Night."

I turned to pull on the handle and with one last glance and a smile I headed inside hoping that I would hear from him soon. I made my way upstairs to the room I was staying in remembering every detail from the evening I had spent with him.

My dreams that night were filled with Rob.

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EDITS/DRAFT 1:

The black ink flowed easily across the textured paper as I sketched a detail of the Houses of Parliament in London. I loved this building and was very content to stand in this spot, taking it all in, with my eyes and in my sketchbook. Even though the streets were busy, I had been able to tune it all out, until someone stopped next to me.

I knew his eyes were focused on where my pen was scratching several parallel lines on the page. I glanced at him for a second – he was very nice looking. He smiled back and then looked away for a moment, as if he was comparing my drawing to the building in front of him.

"That's very good." His dark hair fell in front of his eyes, and when he spoke, his accent blended in with all of the other voices around me.

"Thanks," I said. He looked a little surprised at the sound of my American accent.

"Are you an artist?"

"In a sense, I'm an architecture student," I answered. My pen met my paper again. He was quiet for a while as he watched me darken some areas of the sketch where the details of the lines met up.

"Why'd you pick the Parliament?"

"I guess I like the perpendicular lines of it," I shrugged. I really didn't mind his questions. He could probably ask me anything he wanted, and I would answer.

"Well it's lovely." He nodded toward my drawing again.

"Do you want it?" I was just about finished.

"Oh, no – that's all right."

"You can have it," I insisted. "I have others. I'll even sign it for you, just in case I become a famous architect one day." I grinned up at him.

"A famous architect, huh?" His eyes lit up teasingly as he said 'famous'. I nodded 'yes', and he laughed, but not in a mean way. "I'm Rob."

"Millie," I said in response. In the corner of the page, I wrote 'To Rob, With Love, Millie'. I ripped the page out of the spiral bound book, careful not to tear it more than necessary, and handed it to Rob.

"Well thanks Millie." He held it up so he could look at the drawing closer.

"You're welcome," I responded. I closed my sketchbook and stuck the pen in the spiral binding, before shoving it into my bag. We looked at each other for a minute and then his eyes moved off in another direction. It looked like he was a little unsure of himself, which was odd considering he had been the one to initiate this conversation.

"So what brings you to London?" Rob asked.

"I'm actually studying in Rome for the semester, but escaped up here for the weekend," I answered, brushing my hair behind my ear that had fallen in front of my eyes. "I can't tell you how nice it is to hear English."

He laughed.

"So what's good to eat around here?" I was getting hungry since it was nearing dinner, and I secretly hoped he'd join me. I was out by myself – having ditched the three guys I'd come to London with. Besides he seemed like a decent guy.

"Actually there's a great place a few miles from here, we can hop on the tube and head over there."

"Okay." My answered must have sounded a little hesitant.

"It's okay if you say no," Rob stated.

"No, no … I want to," I answered with a smile on my face.

"Fantastic." He had a great smile, and his blue eyes lit up as he did.

"So did you come to London by yourself?" Rob asked after we had started walking

"I did, but I ditched them for the day," I answered. "I'm living in an apartment with three guys from school and we came here for the weekend. They are going to the Dave Matthews Band concert in Manchester, and I just didn't care to go – so I'm out and about by myself.

"Plus I really needed a break from them. We spend 24/7 together, and I've just about had it with them," I was rambling.

"Three guys … wow."

"I know … I'm a brave soul."

He laughed.

"They are making me check in every two hours so incase I get kidnapped they might have an idea of when."

"That's good to know."

We headed down some stairs that led to the subway.

"Do you have a pass?"

"Yeah," I nodded reaching into my pocket for the ticket I had bought at the airport. I followed him through the busy underground. We were quiet, which would have normally been awkward considering we had just met, but it was rather comfortable.

When we got on the train, I dug through my bag so I could find my phone; it was time to text one of my boys and let them know I was still alive and kicking. I sent James a text quickly and then put my phone away so I could talk to Rob so more.

"So we've established that I'm a student, what do you do?" I grabbed onto the poll that we were standing by as the train slowed to a sudden stop. Rob was bracing himself by holding onto the rail that was above our heads.

"I'm an actor-musician," he answered, looking down at me and moving to get out of the way of people who were getting on and off. He stepped closer to me to move out of their way just as the train lurched forward causing him to bump into me. "Sorry."

"That's okay." Rob smelled good. "That must be hard to get into both."

He shrugged. "Eh, it's not too bad. This is our stop."

The train started to slow again and I planted my feet to keep from falling forward. When the doors opened, I turned to walk out of them, Rob was right behind me. I could feel his breath on my head a little.

After we got out of the crowd a bit, I asked him what kind of work he'd done, if any, in his chosen professions.

"I've done a couple of movies and some stage stuff."

"Really?" I was surprised.

"The only thing I'm pretty sure you've heard of – as most people have – would be Harry Potter."

"Impressive," I nodded. "I know nothing about Harry Potter, having never read the books or seen the movies, except that it's very popular."

"Really?" It was his turn to sound surprised as we headed back up to the street.

"Mmhmm," I replied. "My best friend loves it though. I just never had any desire to read or watch it so I didn't, and now it's become this 'avoid it at all costs' because it drives my best friend nuts that I'll have nothing to do with it."

Rob laughed heartily at that comment, and I laughed too.

"That seems like more effort than it's worth. They're actually pretty good," he stated.

"Eh, that's all right." I shrugged. "What character did you play?"

"Cedric Diggory."

"So can I tell her I met the Cedric Diggory, she might be impressed." He shook his head at that comment and his hair fell back into his eyes. I wanted to reach up and brush it out of his eyes for him.

We got to a small restaurant, definitely off the beaten path and shown to a table immediately. I threw my bag over the back of the chair and then sat down. Rob sat down across from me and almost looked nervous.

"What kind of music do you do?"

His eyes lit up when I asked him about that. It seemed like he was more into his music than his acting. Rob told me about his band and some of the stuff they had done before we were interrupted for our drink orders.

We spent the rest of our meal getting to know each other more, and I was starting to wish I was going to be London longer then the following morning. And after we finished our long dinner, he led me back to the Houses of Parliament because I wanted to see it at night.

"Wow it looks even cooler at night." I sighed. This time we stood on the other side of the Thames River, the lights from the building reflecting on the calm water. I leaned against the railing, clasping my hands together. Rob mocked my position and stood close enough so our arms were touching.

The city was actually really quiet for a Saturday night, but it was later in the evening. We seemed to enjoy the silence between us, and the sounds of a few cars passing and voices intermixed. It was nice, the guys I was with the majority of the time felt the need to pass every minute talking or laughing it up about Lord knows what.

That was a nice quality Rob seemed to hold. There was a lot of stuff I liked about him in just the short amount of time I had known him.

I reached into my bag and pulled out my camera so I could take a couple pictures of the building. I turned and snapped a picture of him. He had his chin propped up on his hands and was looking across the river. Rob turned his head and raised his brow after the flash had gone off.

I shrugged with a smile and took another picture.

"Give it here." He stood up straight and held out his hand, waving his fingers.

"Why?" I asked.

"If this is your favorite building, don't you think you should have a picture with it?" Rob was still holding out his hand. I set my camera in his hand and he stepped away from the rail. I leaned back against the rail and let him take a couple of pictures.

"Thanks." I said as he put the camera back in my hand. I grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and pulled him back next to me. He was startled by that action and I laughed. "We have to take a picture together now."

Rob put his arm around my waist lightly, and I was a little surprised by the gesture, but I liked it. He leaned in close while I held out my camera to take the picture. We looked at the pictures and he kept his arm around my waist.

"Looks good," I looked over at him and yawned. "Sorry." I smiled sheepishly. That was embarrassing.

"Am I that boring?" He laughed.

"No," I shook my head. "It's kind of been a long day, and we have to be at the airport bright and early tomorrow morning to go back to Rome."

"Well I should walk you back to your hotel then. Where are you staying?" He sounded like he already had that decision made and I wouldn't be able to protest him doing that – if that had been the case, which of course it wasn't.

"Um …" I dug through my bag again to find my map. I had circled where the hotel was at before I left that morning. "It is … here." I held up the map and pointed to my pen mark.

"By Leicester Square," he noted, squinting his eyes in the dark to see where I was pointing. "Do you want to walk?"

"Sure." I answered. We walked along in silence and before I knew it we were at the hotel. "Thank you for walking me back and for dinner that was really nice of you." I really didn't want to say goodbye to him.

"No problem."

"Here." I pulled out my sketchbook and pen, and I opened it to the back so I could write down my phone number and e-mail address. "Write your stuff down."

"Really?"

"Don't sound so shocked Rob," I passed my sketchbook and pen to him. "You're a great guy I'd like to stay in touch." I watched as he wrote down his phone number and e-mail address too, and when he handed me the book back, I ripped the page out and in half to give him my information. I stuck the slip with his back into the book and shoved it back into my bag.

"Millie! What are you still doing out?" Rob and I both turned at the sound of a male voice.

"You guys are back already?" I was surprised to see my three roommates walking up to the hotel.

"It's nearly 1 a.m."

"Oh," I paused and looked at Rob. "This is my new friend Rob." I saw the guys eye him suspiciously, especially the oldest James, who had taken to becoming my 'big brother', and heard Rob clear his throat nervously. "Rob these are my friend's from school: James, Jake and Matt." I pointed to each one.

"Nice to meet you," Rob shook their hands.

"You coming up?" James asked me. Not that he would leave me down here with Rob alone at night. I could feel a lecture coming.

"Yeah," I nodded. The three headed inside, and I turned back to Rob. I knew they'd be waiting for me inside the doors. "Well, I better go or they'll freak out if I'm not inside in the next two minutes."

"Okay," he laughed a little. "This evening was fun."

"It was," I agreed with a smile on my face. "Have a good night."

"You too."

"Don't hesitate to call or e-mail me."

"I won't."

I started to back up toward the door. "Night."

"Night."

I turned to pull on the handle and with one last glance I headed inside hoping that I would hear from him soon. As soon as I entered the lobby, I was immediately questioned by James as we headed to the elevator.

When I made it into my room, I was glad to get away from the questioning and the lecture and returned my thoughts to the man I had spent the evening with. My dreams that night were filled with Rob.