Under a Willow Tree

Tom picked up his cell phone. Sniffling back the stupid sobs, he sat up and shook his head out of it all. He was a man. He shouldn't be crying about all this. Real men don't show emotion - not in front of others, at least. Going down the list of contacts on his mobile phone, he decided to do something he really should have done long before.

The phone rang two or three times, until finally, a soft, calming voice came on.

"Hello?" The recipient of the call spoke.

Tom cleared his throat before speaking, hoping to remove any signs of crying from his voice. "W-Willow?"

"Yeah. Who's this?" She responded.

"It's Tom." Tom replied, trying to smile a little at the sound of her voice.

Willow froze, all of a sudden, when he said his name. She had a feeling it was him. A really strong feeling. "Oh, hey." She tried to sound as casual as usual, though her insides were doing all sorts of flips and somersaults that put the Olympian gymnasts to shame.

"I was wondering..." Tom's voice trailed off for a minute. He looked up at his wall clock. 1:39 PM. Where or what you could you possibly do at 1:39 PM? "...if you wanted to talk."

"Talk?" Willow raised an eyebrow, puzzled.

"Erm... Yeah. Are you free now? Do you want to have lunch? It's bit late for that, so maybe just coffee?"

"Coffee..." Willow consulted her watch. It was almost two p.m., and it was a Saturday, so she had all the time in the world. "Sure. Where can I meet you?"

"There's this great shop on Kensington High Street called Marty's. I'll see you there in about ten minutes?"

"Alright. I'll be there." Willow replied. After she hung up, she looked over at Georgia who had on a tell-me-who-it-was look. Grinning wildly, Willow told her. "That was Tom."

Georgia's eyes looked as if they were going to pop right out of her head. "Serious?"

"Serious is as seriousness can get!" Willow said. "He wants to meet for coffee."

"Coffee! God, do you know what this means?"

"He depends on caffeine a lot."

"No!! He's into you." Georgia cried. "We have to get you back to your place. You need to put on something that screams 'leave that slag of a girlfriend, you stupid bloke'."

"Can't, Georgie. I'm going to meet him in ten minutes at a place called Marty's."

"Marty's? No shit, Willow. Did he really say Marty's?"

"Yeah, that's what I heard. Why?"

"That's Tom's signature coffee shop." Georgia said.

"Signature coffee shop?" Willow repeated, giggling. "Does he own the place or something?"

"No, that's where he always takes girls to 'know them better'."

"Is that a good thing... or bad?"

"I don't know..." Georgia frowned. "I guess it's good because any girl he goes in there with, comes out his girlfriend. But, as you know, their relationships never last as long. And the only longest lasting relationship was Jade... so, it's probably good and bad."

"Speaking of Jade, he's still with her. How can I come out of that place his girlfriend if he's still taken?"

"Maybe... he's going to break up with her, but he needs to know you more so that he's got the right girl to run to when they've gone splittity-split."

"Probably." Willow looked down at her watch again. "God, Georgia, I really have to get going. I don't want to stand him up."

"You're right. He's had enough of that type of bullshit to deal with. Now, go on, you minger! Make me proud!" Georgia waved her away, full of enthusiasm.

Willow arrived at the coffee place, without Tom in sight. She grabbed a seat by the window, hoping that Tom could see her, and placed an order for a simple cup of tea. When the waiter came by with her order, Tom still had not arrived. She sipped her tea, looking out the window for that distinguishable head of platinum blonde hair.

Twenty minutes and one more cup of tea later, Tom finally arrived at the coffee place. He looked around the cafe for Willow, who was sitting alone, staring out the window with a close-to-fallen spirit.

"I'm so sorry," he said to her, when he made his way to her table. "I really am. You should hate me for making you wait."

Willow got up in a courteous manner to welcome Tom. A smile crept up along her face. "No problem. It's good to see you." She reached over to him to give him a big hug. Strangely, though, instead of lightly hugging her back, Tom threw both his arms around her and buried his face on her shoulder, as if it were the first time he'd seen her in such a long time. Willow didn't move away, but let Tom remain that way. After letting go, he sat down on the seat across Willow.

She took a good look at him as he was looking through a menu a waiter had just given him. His hair was combed, but he looked tired. His clothes were matching and proper, but they were wrinkled and they looked slept in. "Tom, are you alright?" She asked. "You look a bit - "

"I'm fine. Just fine." Tom scoffed, looking through the menu.

"Are you sure? If you're not feeling well, we could just do this some other time - "

"No." Tom looked up abruptly from the menu. "I can't. I can't put this off any longer. I mean, I know I look a bit run down, but I'll be fine."

"Okay, then..." Willow replied hesitantly. A waiter came by and asked for Tom's order. Once he took it, Tom looked back to normal. That is, he was trying hard to look as normal as he can.

"How are you?" He asked casually.

"I'm doing alright. Nothing new, really." Willow responded. "And you?"

"I'm sure you can tell that I'm not doing fine, but this will get better." Tom said.

"I hope I'm not being rude, or anything, but can I ask what happened?"

"Oh... maybe some other time." Tom politely brushed it off. "So, tell me, how's school...."

Tom and Willow conversed like the closest of friends for the next hour or so. They laughed and shared tidbits of themselves, just like what they had done the time they got locked up in his caravan weeks ago. Slowly, Tom's miserable appearance began to subside. He was smiling and laughing genuinely with Willow, as if the incident with Jade he had a few hours ago had never happened.

"So, this whole time, you've never really mentioned much about your mum." Tom said, when their laughter died down.

"Oh..." Willow looked down at her cup of tea. "Well, she passed away a long time ago."

Tom suddenly turned red. "Oh, I'm sorry. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't know."

"No, it's alright." Willow looked at him and managed a half-smile. "That's a long time ago, now. It wouldn't matter."

"She must mean a lot to you." Tom assumed.

"Oh, yes. She was indeed." Willow nodded, looking out the window of the cafe. "She was amazing, even if I was too young to understand. But, from the mouths of those who've met her, she was just wonderful."

"I suppose it runs through your genes." Tom smiled. "You're quite wonderful yourself."

Willow flustered. "Thank you. I really wish I could have really known what those people meant by her being wonderful, though. She died when I was only eight. I was supposed to have a new baby sister that night, when she..." Willow's voice trailed off as she continued looking out the window at the cars zooming past the cafe. Tom waited a while, letting her compose herself.

"I'm sorry." She finally spoke, turning back at him. "I tend to always drift away when I recall that dreadful night. It's become a horrible habit of mine... My mum died when she was giving birth to my sister. Neither of them lived."

Tom, without realizing it, placed his hand over Willow's and held it. "I'm very sorry. But, amazingly though, you look happy."

"I've learned to move on. That's one thing life really should be all about."

"Moving on..." Tom mused, still holding onto Willow, who also hadn't notice him holding her hand.

"So where's Jade today?" Willow asked, causing Tom to flinch and quickly let go of her hand.

"She's..erm.. She's out." Tom took a sip of his coffee, trying to think of a plausible excuse. "Out with her friends."

"Oh..." Willow nodded. "Aren't you afraid she might see us and get the wrong idea - "

"No." Tom interrupted immediately. "I doubt it."