Chapter 19: A life less ordinary
Two hearts, one night
Wish we didn't have to say goodbye
- Paradise Fears
When I cracked an eye open and felt the bed's empty spot next to me, I was seized by a wave of anxiety.
"Trev?" I called out softly.
When there was no reply, the anxious feeling kicked up a notch and I had to take in a deep breath to calm myself down.
Moments later, I heard a door slam shut in the distance – perhaps the front door of the suite?
"Hey, you. You're up," Tom's cheerful voice floated in as he appeared at the bedroom doorway. "I got coffee for all of us."
I blinked both eyes open, wanting to make sure Tom was really there.
"Still sleepy?" he teased.
"Umm yeah."
"This might help." Tom crossed over to the bed and plopped down beside me as I propped myself up on my elbows. In each hand, he held a cup of takeaway coffee. "Have one."
"Thanks." I took the cup closest to me and began to sip the warm, aromatic black coffee. "This is really good. So you went out for a coffee run?"
"Well, not exactly. I was worried about paparazzi so I got the hotel to help grab these coffees from a café nearby and deliver them to the suite."
"Right." I glanced at Tom. "Are they hard to deal with? The paparazzi?"
"Usually they're fine," he assured me. "But once in a while, I still get amazed by their persistence in invading a person's privacy. And by amazed I mean pissed off."
I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. "I'm sorry. I mean, I can't relate, but I hate how that comes as a package with your job description."
"Don't worry. I've learned to be stealthy over the years."
"By wearing a cap pulled down low your face and hoping for the best?" I said with a laugh, recalling the night we went for a movie after the catering gig for Blake Lively, where he was dressed all in black including a black cap.
"Pretty much, yeah," Tom replied, laughing too.
"Could you guys laugh any louder?"
Tom and I turned at the sound of Jayna's whining voice. She was leaning against the doorway, frowning, with one hand rubbing her temple. It was classic hungover Jayna.
"Good morning, sunshine," I greeted.
"It's barely 9AM. What's so good about it?" she asked crabbily.
"There's coffee for you and Harrison out on the dining table," Tom informed her.
"Really? Bless you, my child." Jayna immediately hopped away from view.
"So Jayna isn't a morning person, I gather?" Tom guessed.
"Only as much as Dracula is one, I guess," I responded.
"Hi again," Jayna announced her return with a flourish, gripping her cup of coffee like the lifesaver that it was.
"Hello, crazy kids," Harrison chimed in from behind her, also armed with his coffee. "You two are looking unfairly chipper. Did you even get any sleep?"
"What do you think, Harrison?" Jayna snickered, giving Harrison a wink.
"Oh, just drink up your coffee," I told Jayna with a roll of my eyes.
Jayna climbed into bed with me while Harrison took a seat on the edge of the bed alongside Tom.
"This is nice," Jayna said as she sipped from her cup in contentment.
"Yeah, I wish we could stay in and just hang out the entire day," Harrison sighed. He glanced at his watch and spoke to Tom, "What time are we supposed to be at the golf course, mate?"
"10.30AM, which means we should get ready right about.. now," Tom answered reluctantly, gazing at me.
"Oh, it's that golf charity event, right?" Jayna asked.
"Yup. Followed by some interviews for Tom and then taping for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."
"Have fun," I said to Tom and Harrison.
"What do you girls have planned for today?" Harrison questioned.
"Tons of fun stuff. I have a shift at Café Luna this afternoon, and then I'm going to clean my apartment and tackle schoolwork. My microeconomics lecturer went on a rampage this week, ugh." As I talked, it didn't escape me how vastly different my Sunday schedule looked when compared to Tom's and Harrison's.
"Mine's not much better," Jayna said gloomily. "I have schoolwork as well – one paper and one presentation for my marketing class, followed by a huge family dinner because Aunt Kelly is in town. It's going to last for an eternity and a half because Aunt Kelly never lets anyone go home before 11PM."
"Do you want to swap?" Tom joked.
"Sure, Aunt Kelly is a fan of all the Marvel movies anyway," Jayna replied without missing a beat. "As for me, I've never played golf before but I'm sure I could swing it – geddit? Plus, I'm super entertaining so I bet Stephen Colbert would love to have me on his show."
"You'd end up hijacking the entire thing and making it your talk show, Jays," I predicted.
"Oh, absolutely," Jayna agreed enthusiastically.
"The Late Night Show with Jayna Cameron," I said.
"Or The Early Morning Show with Jayna Cameron," she quipped. "I'll come on after the club has closed."
I nodded. "People will watch it at home while snacking on cereal at 3 in the morning, intoxicated and bleary-eyed."
Tom and Harrison chuckled.
"You girls are making it very hard for us to say goodbye to you," Harrison proclaimed.
As difficult as it was, we did indeed have to say goodbye half an hour later.
"Let us know when you're safely back at Warren," Harrison told me and Jayna as the four of us stood at the suite foyer, preparing to exit, take the elevator and then part ways.
"Of course." Jayna wrapped her arms around Harrison for one last hug and a kiss on his cheek.
Tom pulled me aside and gazed at me with brown eyes tinged with sadness. "I really don't want to say goodbye."
"Ditto," I said, looking back at him and trying to memorize every detail of his beautiful face.
Tom leaned in and enveloped me in the tightest hug. I'd never felt more safe.
"I'll call you tonight," he whispered into my ear.
"Okay," I said, smiling.
Tom sneaked in a quick peck on my cheek, murmuring, "Take care of yourself, Alison Rose."
"… You'd better go before I punch you."
Tom laughed cheekily as he released me.
"Let's go, Tom," Harrison called as he approached us.
"All right, I'm ready," Tom said.
Harrison glanced at me with a lopsided grin. "Ali, no hug for me? I saw Tom hugging you and there was zero resistance. I demand equal treatment."
"You'd better go before she punches you, mate," Tom told Harrison with a guffaw.
I rolled my eyes, then thought, What the heck.
Stepping toward Harrison, I threw him a quick hug, which caught him by total surprise.
"Wow, Ali," Harrison said when he got over his initial shock. "We really must throw more parties if that's the kind of overnight effect they have on you."
As Jayna and I waved goodbye to Tom and Harrison, I thought to myself, More like the Trevor McGeek effect.
"So so so?"
Jayna gave me exactly two seconds to settle into the driver's seat before she began the interrogation.
"What is it, Jays?" I asked nonchalantly, playing dumb as I started Jayna's car and reversed out of our parking spot. Jayna had decided that I had the honor of driving us back to Warren because she was still hammered from all the drinking last night.
Jayna responded by whacking me on the arm, hard.
"Ow! Jays! Not the smartest thing to do to your sole option for a safe ride back home."
Jayna sighed, her blue eyes flashing with annoyance at me. "I've been patiently waiting for you to tell me everything that's happened between you and Trevor McGeek. But my patience has officially hit its limit. SO SPILL NOW PLEASE."
"Okay, okay. The spilling will commence now," I said. "What do you want to know?"
"Uhh everything?!"
"I don't really know where to start…"
"Start at the pool."
I nodded and launched into the story of how I was wolfing down finger sandwiches at the poolside when Tom found me, and ended it at the point where we fell into the bed in the master bedroom, kissing.
"And then nothing happened after that?" Jayna asked, incredulous.
"Sorry to dash your X-rated hopes."
"Talk about an anticlimax."
"We just talked –"
"Please tell me there was at least some saliva-swapping action."
"Gross, Jays."
"Well, was there?"
"Okay, fine. We talked and kissed till we dozed off… Nothing exciting, but it was perfect to me," I said, my lips curving into a smile.
"Well, didn't you want.. something more to happen?"
"I don't know. Too much has already happened in one night. I need time to take in everything. Especially the part about Trev getting someone to look me up and never mentioning anything to me all this time."
"Yeah, that wasn't his shining moment for sure," Jayna agreed. "All the more so when he knows how guarded you are and how trust is a major thing with you. But I suppose he has his reasons."
"Yup. So I'd really like to take things slow."
"Baby steps."
"Yeah."
"You have my full support, of course. I'm just so happy that you two finally got it on. Sort of."
"Thanks, Jays. Amidst the dizzying range of emotions I've been feeling, happiness is definitely a big part of it."
"I'm so glad! I still feel like throwing up a little, but I promise that's got nothing to do with my best friend and her new smoochie boy."
"Jays!" I groaned. "Smoochie boy? We're not in elementary school."
"And it's all because of me," Jayna continued her chatter gleefully. "It all took place at a party for my birthday. And I was the one who asked Trevor McGeek to go look for you after a successful video recording with him and Harrison."
"Speaking of which, when do I get to see the video? I demand an exclusive preview before you debut it to the rest of the World Wide Web."
"Oh, that." Jayna paused. "I gave it some thought, and I've decided not to publish the video on my channel. Or anywhere else online, for that matter."
"What? After all the planning and effort? Why?"
"I'm just not ready for the potential onslaught of crazed fans – I mean, once these fans realize that I have personal access to Tom Holland and Harrison Osterfield, can you imagine the madness and chaos that might ensue?"
"Umm yeah. Oh hey, why don't you just reshoot and make it look like you'd just bumped into them on the street or something?"
"I don't know. It might work, but I hate fabricating stuff, you know? Especially fabricating something to appear unfabricated." Jayna chuckled at the irony.
"Yeah, I agree. And honestly Jays, your YouTube channel is plenty popular on its own. You don't need some British boys – as charming as they are – to boost your view count."
"Absolutely. Also, I feel a sense of duty to protect these guys since we actually know them now. They're no longer just names you read in the entertainment news or faces you see on the silver screen."
"But mostly it's because you're terrified of their more maniacal fans, right?"
"Yes, ma'am."
I laughed.
Jayna mused, "It's kind of bizarre, when you think about all that's been going on. How our ordinary lives have become a little less ordinary now… Just because we randomly crossed paths with Tom Holland that one night."
"Are you waiting for me to give you credit for that as well? Okay, here you go. It's all because you wanted to crash a random party to get material for your channel. You made it all happen, Jayna Cameron."
"No need to thank me. I only ask that you when you and Tom Cat get married in the future, you will name your firstborn after me."
"You're insane," I said with a laugh. "Because, well, what if it's a boy?"
"I'll be gracious – you can give your son a super manly first name then slot in 'Jayna' as a middle name."
"That settles it then."
As I turned up the car's air conditioning a notch, I caught from the corner of my eye a glimpse of Jayna folding her arms. "So I just have one more question..." she said.
"Yes?"
"What are you going to tell Owen?"