Chapter Three

Tom wanted to take advantage of out time together. He wasted no time in showing that either. The next day as I was in class, he sent me a cute little text message: 'You. Me. Something to eat?' I checked my clock on my phone and told him I would meet him at 1:15 at the café around the corner from the hotel. Meeting him then would give me a half hour to change. I had just rolled out of bed and threw on clean clothes before heading to class. I couldn't meet him looking less than presentable.

When I go there, I was hoping Ashleigh wasn't there. True she was my best friend but I knew she would have some stupid advice that I would never need. She always knew those kinds of things. But as soon as I unlocked the door I smelt incense and heard her yell from her room, "Why are you home so early?"

Normally I would have stayed in the student center at NYU to study until work. She had me down the second I would open the door. "Hey Ash," I yelled back. "Just meeting a friend for lunch, so I decided to change." I walked past her room without looking in.

"Good idea because you look like shit. Who are you meeting? And don't tell me Tom."

I switched from black sweatpants to my favorite denim jeans and rolled my eyes at her first comment. As she asked who I was meeting I tossed on an aqua and lilac off the shoulder shirt. I poked my head through the top of the shirt and asked back, "What if it is Tom?"

I heard her footsteps coming towards my room. She stood in the doorway as I put on a pair of black star earrings. "Well, usually when a guy invites you to lunch it means that he's not interested in you, he only wants a friend." She put her free hand on her hip and waited for a reply.

"Who said I'm interested?" I asked switching my eyebrow ring. I turned to her and she pointed to my ears.

"You only put earrings in when it's something important."

I did a once over in the mirror. I was happy with what I was wearing. I pushed past Ash and towards the door. "Well, I'm off to lunch with Tom. I'll see you later."

"Fine, ignore me, do whatever you want!" she yelled as I was walking out the door. If she said anything else after that, I don't know; I slammed the door.

By the time I arrived at the café, Tom looked bored out of his mind. The hostess came toward me and I pointed to Tom. I walked past her and right to the seat across from Tom. When he noticed I was standing there he stood up to greet me. "Sorry, I'm late. Ashleigh kept giving me useless information." Tom wrapped his right arm around my waist as he kissed my cheek.

He pulled my chair out and pushed it in when I sat down. "I thought you were going to stand me up."

"No, I would have called if I needed to cancel. But better late than never, right? I'm here now." I looked up at him, my eyes meeting his. I smiled brightly at him.

The waitress took our order and left us to talk. "So what was your roommate going on about?"

"She was telling me how if a guy likes you he won't invite you on a day date. A day date means he's only looking for a friend. Well, I'm not going to say no to someone who's going to be here for a short amount of time."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't listen to her. Otherwise I would have been one lonely guy." Tom smiled at me again.

I took a sip of my margarita. "You must get used to being lonely. I mean you're always on tour. I'm sure you started to miss your family and your girlfriend…" I dragged on by taking another sip of my drink.

Tom laughed, "I don't have a girlfriend. It's too hard to keep a girlfriend when you're on tour, but yeah it gets lonely on tour."

We chatted through the meal that we shared. He was funny, funnier than I thought, but how funny can you be online? I enjoyed being with him. I wasn't looking for someone to date. It was just nice to meet a guy I could talk to.

As we were finishing up our coffees, Tom perked up. "Oh, before I forget, the guys and I want to invite you to a little show we're doing tonight. It's just at a little place called Java…"

I cut him off, "Joe's. Ashleigh and I go to see the bands almost all the time. I've even had a set or two there. We'll definitely be there. Thanks for inviting us."

"By the way, what time is it?" he pulled out his cell and looked shocked. "Oh, Audrey, I'm sorry but I have to get back to the hotel. Promise me you'll be there tonight."

"Promise, I'll see you there. Good luck in case I don't see you before the show." Tom wrapped his arms around me and gave me a kiss on the cheek good-bye.

"Thanks, I'll see you late. Bye." I watched him head off in the opposite direction as me. I waited until I couldn't see him anymore before I headed home.

When Ashleigh and I finally arrived at Java Joe's, the boys were setting up. We sat in our usual spot: table closest to the bar in the back. Tom looked out into the crowd as he sat down the start to play. He noticed me and mouthed 'Hi.' I did the same thing to him. Dougie waved to us as he saw us sitting there. Tom and Danny strummed a few chords to make sure their guitars were in tune.

Tom leaned toward the microphone when they were ready. "Hey everyone, we're McFly. We're a band from England. We just released our first single to the radio stations. It's called 'Not Alone.' Here it is." Tom's eyes met mine and he nodded. The guys started to play my song. I watched as the guys played and sang. Tom was very into his performance. His eyes were shut tightly and you could tell he was putting his whole heart into the song. It touched me that he was taking the song to hear. He was putting his heart and soul into every note and chord that he sang and played.

I watched him and thought to myself that this I what his life was meant to be. He put so much passion into his music and I was happy enough to have him in my life. But as I sate there staring at him my heart skipped a beat. At that moment I saw Tom in a different light. I finally realized that I had a crush on him.