Someone to Remember

Maya stood there, alone in the café, processing everything that just happened to her within the past 10 minutes. When she woke up this morning, it never crossed her mind that a person like Tom would just walk in and offer her a role like that. She pulled out the paper he gave her and admired his neat handwriting. She had only five days to prepare herself for her audition. Normally, she went in mostly unprepared for these types of things, with a quick overview of the script and about two hours to memorize. Now, though, she had plenty of time. As she further scanned the note, she noticed that he had scribbled his phone number onto the bottom.

If you need anything before then, give me a call. I’ll be happy to help.
Tom

A subconscious smile slipped back on her face while she rubbed her thumb over the numbers lightly. But then, a thought hit her. She didn’t know which movie she was about to get herself into and she didn’t even have the script to get ready. She cursed under her breath quietly. Seeing as there weren’t any customers in the little shop, Maya quickly decided to close up early and left a note for her boss, the thought of her paycheck being docked not registering in her mind as she grabbed her purse and ran out. Part of her was hoping she would catch Tom somewhere along the sidewalks just because she didn’t want to have to make an embarrassing phone call to him later on.

Unfortunately, he was nowhere in sight, so calling him was her only option. She pulled out her cell phone and shakily dialed the number. When he didn’t answer, she sighed deeply.

“Hey, Tom,” she began, walking back down the street to her apartment. “It’s Maya from the coffee shop. Uh, you kind of forgot to tell me where I can get a script to practice with for the movie, and, uh, I was wondering if it would be possible to get me a copy.” She sighed again and looked around her for some sort of inspiration for words. “I live in the apartment complex a few blocks from the shop, so if you want, you could drop it off there. Um, yeah, talk to you soon, hopefully. Bye.”
She hung up quickly and shook her head. She hated leaving messages for anyone, even her own mother. She always felt as though she would ramble on pointlessly and her messages would never get to the point of why she was calling. That was why she preferred e-mails or meeting with a person face-to-face. It always assured her that she would get to what she needed to say to the person.

As Maya hauled herself up the creaky stairs to her door, she realized that she now had the rest of the afternoon to herself. Unsure of what to do, she unlocked her door and threw her coat and purse onto her couch and her keys to the counter. The soft mewing from Link made her face light up again.

“Hey there, handsome,” she cooed to him, scratching Link’s head lovingly as he approached her. He pawed at her leg, demanding to be held as he did every afternoon or evening when she would return home. That was one of the many perks of having Link there. He would always greet her and brighten her mood in an instant, no matter how terrible the day had been.

She picked him up swiftly and pulled her phone out of her pocket with her free hand, setting it on the counter. Quietly, she made her way across the room to her couch, sitting down with a sigh. While Link purred contently in her arms, Maya felt a wave of sudden exhaustion hit her and she allowed her eyes to flutter shut, sending her into a much needed rest.

A strange, distant buzzing sound brought Maya back from her dream state and she groggily opened her eyes. Everything around her was darker, indicating nightfall. She looked down to her lap to see Link missing from his past position. Instead, she found him on the counter, sitting next to the source of the buzzing. Slowly, she got up and trudged over to him, picking up her phone and answering it without glancing at the screen.

“Hello?” she mumbled sleepily into the phone.

“Hey, this is Maya, right?” a strangely familiar male voice responded to her.

“Yeah, who’s this?” she asked, not particularly caring about how rude she might have been sounding.

“It’s Tom,” the voice said coolly. “Tom Hiddleston.”

Her brain immediately woke up at those words and her eyes widened. “Oh, h-hey, Tom. What’s up?” He chuckled softly at her apparent realization.

“Nothing really. I got your voicemail and I’m totally sorry about that. I guess I wasn’t fully thinking when I gave you the information.”

“Ah, it’s fine,” she replied calmly, walking over to her fridge and pulling out her carton of orange juice. “When do you think I can get it?”

“Well, actually, I think I can get it to you sooner than I thought.” Maya’s eyebrow rose at these words and she paused.

“What do you mean?” she inquired, slowly grabbing a glass from the cabinet above her head and pouring the juice into it.

“You said you lived in the apartment complex near the shop, yes?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I think I found it just now.” She froze and nearly dropped the carton she was holding. Cautiously, she walked over to her window that gave her a clear view of the street. And there he was, true to his word, standing on the sidewalk beneath her with a phone pressed to his ear. She tapped the window loudly in hopes of catching his attention. He looked up after a moment and smiled. “Hey,” he said to her on the phone.

“Hi,” she replied. “I’m in apartment five, up the first flight of stairs.”

“Got it,” he said and vanished from her sight. “I should be up shortly.”

“Alright, bye.” She hung up her phone and ran back into the kitchen, tossing the juice back into the refrigerator and sprinting off to her room to change out of her work clothes. As quickly as she could, she slipped on an old band shirt and a pair of loose sweat pants.

A knock at the door made her rush back to the living room. She rolled up her pant legs hastily before yanking the door open. Tom was standing there, a bright smile on his face and a manila envelope in his hands. Maya couldn’t help but return the smile as she welcomed him in politely.

“Hey,” he said again to her, carefully walking into the room.

“Hi,” she said back, the dorky smile on her face growing wider. “Thanks for getting that to me.” She pointed at the envelope in his hand. He raised it slightly and nodded.

“Yeah, of course,” he replied, offering it out to her. “Totally slipped my mind earlier.”

“Oh it’s not a problem. Don’t worry about it.” Her smile tried to reassure the man who was now looking down, embarrassed slightly. She couldn’t imagine that he was the one getting embarrassed when she was standing there in her obviously unprofessional attire and messed up hair. He looked up and nodded before taking a look around the room.

“You’ve got a lovely little place here, I must say,” the lean man commented as he turned around. Maya grinned to herself and rocked in place while he looked around.

“It’s only temporary until I can afford something a bit better.” She noticed how Tom started shaking his head while she spoke.

“Honestly, I would give up my giant place for this,” he said to her soberly. “It has this cozy feel to it that’s just perfect for someone living on their own.” As if on cue, Link trotted over to the man, mewing loudly. Tom chuckled and bent down to scratch Link’s head in the same manner Maya would every morning. “Or for someone living just with a smart, little feline companion.” Link rubbed his muzzle into Tom’s hand, and Maya stood there in shock. When she had gotten Link from the shelter, the woman had told her that he wasn’t a very sociable cat and it was a surprise that he warmed up so quickly to her. Seeing him now with Tom left her baffled.

“Really now?” she said quietly as she observed the two. She shook her head and looked over at the clock. “Hey, um, it’s kind of late for me and I have to work really early tomorrow morning.” She felt bad for saying these words, simply because it wasn’t everyday she had a gorgeous actor standing in her living room. He rose slowly and nodded.

“Right, I’m sorry about that,” he said softly, meeting her eyes again. “I’ll see you in a few days.”

“Yeah, a few days,” she barely mumbled as she walked back to the door, opening it for Tom. “Travel safely and have a good night.”

He nodded again and began making his way out the door. Before he left, however, he reached out for Maya’s hand, a gesture to shake it politely. She obliged and placed a cold hand in his warm one, and nearly had a heart attack when he brought her hand up and placed a soft kiss upon it. Looking away to hide the bright red hue on her face, she retracted her hand and kept her gaze on the ground.

“Good night, Tom,” she mumbled. Her eyes barely peeked up to see him smiling broadly at her.

“Good night, Maya,” he said in a hushed tone. “And good night to you, my good cat,” he called out to Link, who perched himself on the counter to watch Tom leave.

“Link,” she quietly muttered. “His name is Link.”

“Ah, good night to you, Link,” the actor corrected, the smile on his face spreading. With those final words, he was off, almost soundlessly descending the stairs. She watched him as he left, running to her window once he was out of sight. At the window, she saw him exit the complex entrance and walk to a car parked about half a block from the building. He looked back up to her window before getting in his car, causing Maya to squeak and duck down, embarrassed. She stayed that way until she heard his car pull away and fade into the dark of that London night.