Under a Willow Tree

"I've got to meet that Willow if all she does is cause a riot amongst all you lot." Dan chuckled, helping Rupert up.

"It's not funny," retorted Rupert, not removing his glare from Tom. He said to him, "Why do you care so much about Willow? Do you like her?"

Tom didn't say anything, but hardened his scowl and turned around to walk away quickly.

"Tom's really in over his head these past few days." Dan noted once Tom was out of earshot.

"I'll say," Rupert said, wiping the blood off his face. "The other day he seemed angry over the article in the Daily Mail."

"At first I thought it was because of Jade." The crew member chimed in.

Rupert looked at him, confused. "I don't understand."

"Well, when I was making my usual rounds amongst the caravans, I heard bickering. I tried to follow the source of the noise, and then I saw Jade getting very upset with Tom. I don't know what for, but I heard some very nasty terms in her vocabulary," the crew member said, making a face of disgust.

"Yeah..." Dan mused. "Jade has a pretty hot temper. I'm afraid to approach when it's 'one of those days' for her. She just gets so shitty. But what were you and Tom having a row about?" He added to Rupert.

"I told him that she broke up with me. And that she was no longer going to be stepping in the studio." Rupert explained.

"She's done what?" Dan looked surprised.

"She isn't working here anymore? But why?" The crew member added.

"I don't know. She wouldn't explain. She was pretty upset over the phone. I figured it was because of that bloody article. God! I can't believe this. I was really into her, and then she would just blow me off like that. And what type of girl would run away from her problems? So what if we're not together? Doesn't mean she should just stop coming to the set." Rupert's cheeks were heating up and more blood spewed from his nostril.

Dan called at a nearby crew member for a box of tissues, and then said to Rupert, "How long have you been together, anyway?"

Rupert looked up to calculate the days from when he first took her out to the present. "About two weeks, now. If you don't count the past few days in which we haven't talked, then thats about a week and two days."

"Yikes." The crew member looked appalled. "That's horrible. After only two weeks, she's had enough. I always thought she was really nice."

"Well, I always thought she was trouble. I should have warned you, but it's not my thing to stick my nose up anyone's lovelife." Dan told Rupert, handing him the box of tissues.

"I don't know," Rupert began. "She sounded so hysterical on the phone. It's like this was all beyond her control..."

"Just put this aside for now. She'll probably see how wrong she was and come running back for you. And maybe by that time, you're all over her." Dan patted Rupert on the shoulder. Rupert nodded, and then left the set to go home. It was a long day for him.

Willow didn't bother to step out of her bedroom for a few days, except to go to classes. But even then, she wouldn't appear for dinner, lunch, or breakfast. Her great-aunt and uncle were getting very worried that they called up their family psychologist to analyze the problem. Willow, obviously heart broken, would not let the doctor or her Aunt Ariana or Uncle Peter inside. She did, however, let Florence come in to bring her tray of dinner and to be a companion to talk to.

"Oh, I won't go out. No!" Willow said, stubbornly, after Florence went on and on about how the Beckworth's were getting very worried and how 'a nice, good-looking doctor-man was waiting outside to talk to her'.

"Sweetheart," Florence spoke gently. "This will soon pass. I know how you feel about being forced to un-love someone, but sometimes it's for the better good."

"But what about my grandmother? Even if she didn't live the life my Aunt Ariana is living right now, she was beyond happy and in love." Willow reasoned.

"Child!" Florence grabbed Willow's soft, youthful hands in her dry, aged ones. "You're young! There are many boys out there for you! Rupert isn't the one, so don't get caught up with him. Your grandmother went through alot of relationships until she finally knew what type of man she wanted. You, on the other hand, have just started your quest. I suppose this was your first love?"

Willow nodded. "But what if Rupert was exactly what I wanted?"

Florence eyed her for a minute, then said solemnly, "Are you sure? Can you honestly say that he is the young man that you could be with forever?"

"What is all this talk about being with someone forever? What if I don't want to be married? What if I don't want to be chained to someone forever? Rupert is just a boy that I really, really like. I want him as a boyfriend. Not anything more!" Willow cried, frustrated.

"You don't want to be married?" Florence look scandalized. "But - but why ever not?"

"No," Willow heaved a heavy sigh. "I didn't really mean it. I mean, of course I do. Just not now. I just want a boyfriend! Someone to hold onto in cold walks along London. Someone to share a ride with after going shopping or after school. Someone to talk to at night when you're completely broken. And someone that brings all your emotions out with one action. I have never felt that before. There have been many boys who were interested in me, and I in them, but once I confided in them that I lived in a dusty, old bungalow, they've stopped calling. I felt so ashamed."

Florence wanted to speak, but a knock came from one of the servants outside Willow's bedroom door. "Florence, Mrs. Beckworth wants you."

"Willow, you must come out, sooner or later. The perfect man will appear, you just need to come out." Florence told her, before stepping out.

Tom looked out the window in his apartment. The night was so beautiful and the lights flickering all across London were so inviting - except he had no one to share it with. Yet again, he caught a fight with Jade and all his friends despised him for what he did to Rupert. He didn't want to call up Georgia, because she'd automatically ask where his friends were and he didn't want to explain what happened. So Tom stood there, smoking his fifth cigarette and drinking his second glass of Scotch. How ironic it was that the most beautiful of all nights, he spent it alone.

A hard, quick rap came on his doorway. Tom spun around, shock that someone came to see him. He was sure as hell that that night would be a lonely one. Upon opening the door, he saw Dan standing there with a bottle of vodka and DVD's.

"Care if I join you?" Dan asked, noticing the half-empty bottle of Scotch on Tom's coffee table.

"Sure, whatever." Tom said, stepping aside to let Dan in.

"So what's with the atmosphere? The night is young, brethren!" Dan piped up, animatedly. "No plans? Parties?"

Tom shook his head glumly. "This night is bogus. I've been having quite a week."

"Yeah, I've noticed. So, Rosemary's Baby or would you perhaps care for some Godfather?" Dan said, looking through the DVD's he brought with him.

"Whatever you like. I'm not up for it." Tom sank down in his couch.

"Okay, come on. Get up." Dan said, pulling Tom's arm. "I'm going to teach you something that my publicist taught me to cope with the break up of my ex."

"No! Get off!" Tom griped.

"No, come up. Don't be such an arse."

Tom lazily got up, putting his cigarette and drink down.

"Okay, here's the thing, Tom. We're going to be releasing all that anger within us. Now, to do that we take a deep a breath," Dan inhaled, "and then let it out, but slowly."

Tom and Dan breathed in and out, a few times, letting their chest well up and then collapse slowly.

"Feeling good?" Dan asked.

"No. I still feel pretty fucked up." Tom cursed nastily.

"Okay, then.. There's this other thing that my publicist taught me. She said to repeat the name or problem that's causing you to be very shitty for a handful of times. For example, if I'm having a row with a friend I'd say their name for about a hundred times and then it'll just get stuck in my head and I'll be used to it, so it won't be so harsh whenever I think about them."

"That sounds so stupid."

"No, it isn't. Just try it. It works wonders." Dan insisted. "Okay so let me start, as an example. Erm... Let's say I was having a row with Rupert. So I'd go," Dan shut his eyes. "Rupert, Rupert, Rupert, Rupert, Rupert... And I'd go on until it's really nothing to me at all. Now, you go on. You can just practice first: take the name of the person you really love, you know, someone you can't stop thinking about."

Tom shut his eyes, and angled his head up, as if looking to the heavens and then breathed in. "Willow, Willow, Willow, Willow, Willow, Willow - "

"Wait, wait, wait," Dan interrupted suddenly. "I said the person you really loved."

"Yeah, Jade." Tom replied as a matter-of-factly.

"No, you weren't saying her name."

"I was. You're right next to me. What are you talking about?"

"You were most certainly not saying Jade's name."

"I wasn't?" The look on Tom's face was genuine perplexity. "I swear. I was."

"No, you were saying Willow's name." Dan claimed, indefinite if Tom wasn't denying it for his sake.

Tom's eyes widened, his jaw hung. "Shit."

"Yeah, 'shit'. What's going on with you, mate?" Dan asked. "What's with all this 'Willow' nonsense?"

Tom dropped down on his sofa, looked all dazed and confused. His eyes were distant, but he threw his hand to his forehead, rubbing it absently.

"I don't understand. Suddenly, everything seems so odd. Ever since I've first met her, it's like my world is spinning more quickly than usual. I mean, everything else is blacked out. Work, Jade, my friends - everything! I don't know if it's love or what, because I don't know her, but you know how it feels right?" Tom looked up at Dan. "To be completely smitten? It's uncontrollable, but that feeling is beyond explanation. You don't know if it's good or if it's bad. You don't know if you're in pain or if you're happy."

Dan sat down next to Tom, looking oddly concerned. "Tom, snap out of it. I didn't know that these excercises would do this to you. Come on, you're just dreaming."

"No, Dan, I'm not." Tom smiled. "I'm not... I get it. I get it now. Thank you! You've shown me the answer!"

"What answer?"

"I'm in love with Willow!" Tom jumped up cheerily. "I love her! It's Willow that I love!"

Tom skipped across his apartment like a little boy at the end of the schoolday. "I love her! I love Willow!" He yelled continuously.

"Tom! STOP!" Dan snapped. "You're NOT in love with her. You're just drunk!"

"I'm not drunk. I'm not feeling woozy or like I'm going to faint. I'm surely on cloud nine, but I know what I'm saying. I love her. It's certain." Tom's smile grew larger. "I'm sure as hell in love."

"Just chill, okay? I'll call up Georgia, see if she can fix you." Dan said, reaching into his pocket for his phone.

"Call whoever you want, I don't give a damn. I'm certain with this statement, Danny, boy!" Tom yelped, clasping his hands around Dan's cheeks.

"Hello? Georgie?" Dan said, talking into his phone. "You have to get to Tom's, quick. He's gone completely mental. Like he's jumping all over the place. You have to come."

Once Dan hung up, Tom grabbed his phone. "You know what I'm going to do?"

"Um... I hope it's not tossing my phone against the wall." Dan guessed, trying to take back his phone.

"No, I'm going to call Willow up. I'll tell her the grand news!" Tom said. "Haha! 'Grand'. What an odd word! I've never used that word before. I think I'm going to use it more often, now. 'Grand'. 'Oh, 'ello there! Havin' a 'grand' time?' "

"I bet you don't even know her number." Dan retorted.

"I bet you I do. It's... Well, it's... Oh, we'll just let Georgie ring her up for me when she gets here. Woohoo! Boy, do I feel grand!" Tom pulled a Tom Cruise antic when he jumped up on his couch enthusiastically.

"What have I done?" Dan sighed, heavily, burying his face in his palms.

A few minutes gone by until Georgia appeared inside Tom's flat.

"Where's the madman?" She asked Dan.

"He collapsed in bed a minute ago. You should've seen him earlier. It was scary. He just went all over the place saying..." His voice trailed off.

"Well? What was he saying?"

"That he was in love with Willow Coult. It just sounded so strange."

"What's so strange about it? If a boy's in love, then he's in love." Georgia shrugged, making her way towards Tom's bedroom.

"But he was drunk, so, there couldn't be any possibility that he knew he was saying." Dan followed her into Tom's room.

"If you haven't been watching him closely for the past few days, then you probably couldn't have noticed that he was really into Willow. He just kept denying it, which gives the outsiders the illusion." Georgia explained.

"You're kidding, right?"

"No," Georgia smiled. "I'm a Psychology major. I know these things. Tom, get up." She said to Tom, who was sprawled carelessly on his bed.

"Mmff.." He groaned. "Georgie..."

"Yeah, it's me, Georgie. Now get up you minger."

"No. Too tired." Tom muttered, eyes still closed.

"Had a long day, mate?" Georgia questioned.

"Very. Until..." Tom's voice trailed off for a minute, and then he resumed saying, "I've finally seen the light of things. Willow."

"For goodness' sakes. It's like he's a two year old. He's just hungover." Dan said, frustrated.

"Seriously, I'm not drunk," Tom sat up quickly. "Think whatever you'll think but I'm not drunk. I'm just very, very happy."

Dan gaped at him. He was convinced. Tom's words weren't slurred, his eyes weren't bloodshot, and his focus and straight on. Tom was, indeed, serious. "But what are you going to do about Jade?"

"I've gotten enough of her," Tom said nonchalantly. "It's time to pick out the weeds in life."

"So, you're going to be ending your relationship with her?" Georgia inquired, hopeful.

"Why not?" Tom grinned.