This is probably the longest one yet. But you know what? It's also the best. So yeah.
Or… one of the best. How about, it's the first best?
Yeah, now I bet you ALL know what's coming. Haha, yeah you do!
************
"Hey, Em." Tom smiled lightly, his eyes traveling down my body for a moment. "Cold?" His hand gestured to my thick blanket.
"Erm…" I couldn't even complete a sentence. He must've thought I was socially challenged. "Erm… yeah, just a bit."
"Oh, well, I have this for you. Maybe it'll help?" Tom pulled a gray lump of fabric out from under his arm and unfolded it, revealing a familiar looking sweatshirt.
"Is this mine?" I asked, taking it from his hands.
"Yeah, I found it on my couch when I was cleaning up." He laughed slightly, his hand nervously rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh… Oh! Thank you." I stated, realizing that I must've left it there when we started baking. "You didn't need to bring it by. I would've come to get it." I felt bad that it had inconvenienced him.
"It was no problem… You would've been finagled into staying at the so-called party anyway. It was the most boring thing in the world." He laughed. I was about to reply before he continued speaking. "I did call though. You're phone was off." He shrugged his shoulders, unperturbed.
"Yeah, it died earlier. I just didn't notice." I stated, shrugging slightly myself. A sudden fear washed through me that things were about to enter the Awkward Silence mode. Instinct took over, causing me to voice the first thing on my mind. "Would you like to come in?"
"Yeah, sure." Tom smiled happily as I opened the door wider, allowing him to walk passed me and into the little room.
"Sorry it's a bit of a mess. I was trying to be a productive student." I laughed, nervously biting my lip.
"It's not that bad. You've seen Dougie's place, right?" I couldn't tell if he was being rhetoric or not.
"Do you want a drink?" I asked, moving into the suedo-kitchen. "We have… water bottles and protein shakes."
"I'll take the water." He laughed as I handed him the bottle.
"We're not stocked very well for college students. For a party school, we put this place to shame." I joked, leading him over to the couch.
"Is that because you can't afford the cool-kid drinks, or because your too cool for school?" Tom played along, cracking the cap off of the water.
"Dorm rules, actually. My roommates big on the rules." I sighed, grimacing slightly.
"Ah, speaking of your lovely roommate, where is she?" Tom glanced around the flat quickly.
"She's not hiding behind the door, Tom." I laughed, rolling my eyes. "She went to pick up pizza. And actually…" I trailed off, fear starting to build in the pit of my stomach.
"She'll be back soon?" He surmised, wincing slightly.
"Yeah," I breathed, trying to find a clear solution to the dilemma.
"Should I be leaving, then?" Tom asked looking worried as well. My expression must've been somewhat concerning.
"Erm-" Part of me knew that if I wanted to play everything safe, Tom would need to go. But how could I ask him to leave when a bigger part of me was dying to have him stay? Fate was definitely testing me.
My eyes shot wide open as the familiar sound of hard bottomed shoes echoing in the hallway out side of my room. Amanda's crackly whistling met my ears, implying with such a musical wind that I was completely out of time.
"Shit." I hissed, jumping off the couch and pulling Tom along behind me. He asked no questions as he stumbled to his feet, following blindly. Where could I hide him in such a small dorm? We had no closet, just drawers! No cupboards big enough, or room under the bed… what was I supposed to do?
"Bathroom?" He asked, looking down at me for direction.
"Yes." I breathed, pulling him down the little hall and opening the wooden door. I flicked the light on as he entered the room and I released his shirt, closing the door in his face just in time as our front door opened widely, revealing a very cold looking Amanda.
"Oh my gosh it is absolutely freezing out there! We are never ordering from that place again!" I barely listened as Amanda ranted on about our favorite pizza parlor as I had heard the speech a hundred times. "Next time, you're going, Emily."
"Yeah, yeah. Sure." I stated, my eyes flicking quickly to the bathroom as I heard the floorboards creak.
"Hey, you okay?" How come she was so good at picking up odd behavior? Couldn't I just have a normal roommate for once!
"Fine. Completely fine." I didn't sound fine at all. Acting wasn't really my forte.
"You sure? Are you feeling sick?" She asked, moving towards me to feel my forehead. I ducked out from underneath her hand, avoiding contact.
"No, I feel fine." I argued, trying not to strain myself.
Amanda looked at me quizzically for a moment, taking in my awkward proximity to the bathroom door. She was standing nearly a foot a way from me, and I silently prayed she couldn't hear Tom breath.
"Maybe you should take a bath or something." She suggested, clearly thinking that I was insane.
"Erm…" I trailed off, terrified of opening the bathroom door with her so close. "Yeah, I think I will." I agreed, willing her to turn around so I could open the door.
"Okay?" She looked very confused as to why I was still standing in front of her.
"I just wanted to let you know… that… I like your McFly collage. I was looking at it earlier." I stated, looking over her shoulder at all the pictures. Amanda couldn't deny the smile that spread across her face as she turned to look at the photos too.
"Thanks. I'm really pleased with the way it came out - Emily?" The moment she turned around I pushed open the bathroom door and quickly closed it behind me. Tom stood, looking amused, directly next to the door. Sliding awkwardly across the bathroom floor, I turned on the bathtub. The basin began to fill and I moved back across the room, ignoring Tom completely and putting my ear against the door.
"You sure you're okay, Em?" Amanda asked directly from the other side. Tom held his face in his hands, obviously trying not to laugh at my terrified face.
"I'm sure. Thanks, Mandy." I replied back, shoving my hand over his mouth as well, hoping to stifle his giggles. Silently, I guided him away from the door and more in to the room. He sat on the toilet seat and I sat on the edge of the tub, feeling small droplets of water spray up and onto the back of my shirt.
"Damn… my blankets on the floor out there." I whispered more to myself, angry at my horrible planning.
"I'm sure she picked it up." Tom whispered back, a smile still evident upon his face. I scowled, not able to see why he found everything so hilarious.
"I don't get why you're laughing. It's a completely serious thing we're doing, here." Was it really, though? Tom Fletcher was sitting on the toilet in my bathroom while I allowed my tub to fill up with a fake bath. It wasn't very serious, was it?
"I'm just laughing at how ironic it is. She has this massive wall of just McFly pictures, and here I am in her dorm room. It's the strangest thing." He chuckled, covering his mouth again.
A smile crept up onto my own face as I assessed the situation from his point of view. I had never thought of it that way.
"I can just picture letting her into the room… she'd definitely faint." I whispered, shaking my head to refrain from laughing.
"Would she faint because I'm here? Or because you're letting her in when you're supposed to be bathing?" Tom asked, a small smirk evident up on his face.
"Tom!" I gasped at his implication, hitting his arm lightly. It didn't have quite the same affect, seeing as my voice never went over a whisper. His eyes laughed playfully as his grin widened.
"What?" He asked innocently, earning another light smack on the arm from me. He pulled said arm away, crinkling his nose in my direction.
"She'll hear you if you keep smacking me." He whispered, his eyes darting very obviously to the door.
"Only if you scream."
"Is that supposed to be a threat, Ms. Jones?"
"Possibly." I smiled, moving off of the edge of the tub in order to stretch out across the floor. I suddenly remembered why I enjoyed having an O.C.D roommate; she kept our bathroom spotless.
Tom joined me on the floor, making my heart flutter dangerously fast as his body lined up with mine perfectly. Were we supposed to fit together so symmetrically, or was it just my imagination?
Tom and I entertained ourselves for quite some time asking Would You Rather questions to one another. It had been so long since I'd played the game and I'd forgotten how fun it could be.
It could also be extremely truthful.
"Would you rather… see a really, really horrible movie with someone you really, really liked or see a totally awesome, out of this world movie with someone you wanted to literally kill." Tom whispered as I turned off the water, realizing it was about to over flow.
"Hm… well, I don't really want to kill anyone." I whispered back, dropping my hand over the side of the tub to make some water noises. I thought things through too much some times.
"Pretend you do."
"Well… am I allowed to leave the theater at all? To go to the bathroom or to get candy or something like that?"
"No. You have to stay for the entire thing. AND you have to stay with the person the entire time too."
"Well, obviously the shitty movie then. It wouldn't be too bad if someone I liked was there." That was such an obvious answer.
"And you could never ever see a movie ever again after that." He added on, smiling down at me.
"Now you're just being ridiculous." I laughed, keeping my voice low while thinking of a new question for him. "Hm… would you rather… be forced to leave McFly because of embarrassing naked photos of yourself, or voluntarily leave so that one of the guys could stay instead." I asked, smiling at my torturous question.
Tom's jaw dropped, looking stricken.
"That's not nice." He growled, scowling at me.
"And you're answer is?" I asked evilly.
He considered the question thoroughly, taking some time before he answered. I was about to ask the question again before he finally spoke up. "I would definitely rather to be forced to leave. I don't know if I could ever give it up." He shrugged, looking ashamed.
"Even for one of your friends?" I asked clarifying, not reproachfully.
"Would you hate me if I said yes?" He looked down at me, wincing slightly.
"I asked the question." I shrugged, leaning my head against the bathroom wall while casually resting on his shoulder. Did he notice?
If he did notice, he didn't show any acknowledgement. Instead, he asked me another question.
"Would you rather be stuck in a bathroom with me, or with Danny?" He asked, a huge smile breaking out across his face.
"You can't make me decide that!" I laughed, reminding myself to stay quiet.
"Yes I can. The rules of Would You Rather permit me to." He stuck his tongue out rather immaturely.
"Fine…" I sighed, giving it some thought.
Obviously Tom would want me to say him, right? Why else would he have asked the question? And honestly, locking myself in a bathroom with my only brother didn't sound appealing in the slightest. I could practically hear all the fart jokes…
"You." I stated simply, shrugging my shoulders very casually.
"Me?" Tom seemed a bit surprised, though pleased all the same.
"Oh come on, Tom. Would you like to be stuck in a bathroom with Danny?" I laughed, rolling my eyes.
"Oh so it's not me because of my awesome gentlemanliness?" He teased, looking down at me.
"Is gentlemanliness even a word?"
"Yes. Yes it is." His smile was still evident upon his face.
I suddenly realized that my entire face kind of hurt. The moment I recognized the pain, the smile that had permanently been upon my face fell, and my cheeks felt sore. Tom seemed to notice my sudden change in facial expression, his own features growing worried.
"You okay?" He asked, confused.
"Um, yeah. My face just hurts from smiling." I laughed honestly, a little bit embarrassed.
"Seriously?" He looked very amused.
"Yeah." I chuckled. "That's never really happened before."
The moment the words left my mouth, I began to blush. Wasn't admitting that somewhat close to admitting I had a kind-of thing for Tom? He must've realized what I'd just said.
And sure enough, a small blush rose up on his cheeks as well. He coughed awkwardly and reached his arm up to scratch his neck. I wished I could've taken my words back. Awkwardness was something I was willing to avoid at all costs.
My body seemed to be completely out of sink with my mind. As the cute little blush rose on Tom's cheeks, all of my senses had the sudden urge to kiss him. It was a very rare moment for all of my senses to agree with one another, so my body acted upon it's own will.
I tilted my head up, ready to give his jaw line just a quick little peck. While I could sense what my body was doing, I had no idea what his own would do. Every inch of my being could've never anticipated the way Tom leaned down the exact moment I tilted up, causing our lips to touch lightly.
Oh my gosh, I was kissing Tom Fletcher.
We both froze, as though neither of us had really meant for it to happen. I pulled away, the blush rising higher across my cheeks. My eyes couldn't meet his own as I leaned away, completely shocked.
"Um… that wasn't on purpose." I stated, still unable to control my words.
"Really?" Tom asked, his eyes meeting mine for a fraction of a second.
"I… I don't know." How was I supposed to answer him? With an 'actually, yes it was. Can we go back and do it again? Thanks.' I didn't see that happening.
"Oh. Right." His response seemed just as awkward and forced as mine. Oh god, what had I done? I'd completely ruined any of the friendship that I had built with Tom. He actually looked hurt! How could I hurt one of the nicest guys in the world? For the second time!
"Actually…" I started, taking a deep breath. "Maybe it kind of was on purpose." There. I'd just put all of my heart and feelings on the line. He could take it and keep it, or throw it on the ground and stomp all over it. As long as I wasn't the one causing him pain, I could deal.
Tom stared down at me, a suspicion clear in his eyes. I stared determinedly back, practically daring him to challenge my statement. Why would I make something like that up anyway?
I was about to argue my side further, angry that he didn't believe me. Of course I was the only girl who'd be mad about something like that. Most would pretend they were joking anyway! God, he probably thought I was a complete weirdo for even thinking-
Tom Fletcher kissed me again.
How could I even describe the way amazing feels?