You Don't Have to Stay Forever.

“There’s only green tea in this house” Anna thought while staring at the empty fridge, she sneezed for the hundredth time that day and groaned, if only her mother would come to her flat and take care of the poor girl who was now buttoning up her thick coat, before winding her scarf around her delicate neck.

Walking down the pouring rain was something Anna was used to, she didn’t mind getting soaked, but since she was having a cold that was the least thing she should be doing, but with her mate Georgia out of town with her parents, Anna needed to buy some groceries.

The market was packed and Anna didn’t fancy going through a mob of housekeepers hurrying to go home as soon as possible, and there was no way she was going to Sainsbury’s, every time she went there, the press would be there waiting to snap pictures and wouldn’t even let her through. She could go over to her sister’s and borrow some of her groceries, this wouldn’t be the first time Anna did.

“My goodness you are drenched!” Exclaimed Jane Asher as her youngest sister showed up at her door, handing her a towel she nagged the blonde remembering she could’ve called letting her know she was ill, “you could’ve died!” Anna chuckled at her sibling’s concern. “Go up to my room and grab a pair of dry clothes while I gather supplies and make you some of mom’s tea." The youngest Asher girl obeyed while Jane walked back in her kitchen, where her guests asked who was she scolding moments ago. “My little sister, she ran out of groceries and came to borrow a few from me, she walked all the way in the rain and with a cold!” she said before putting the kettle in the stove.

“Is she already back from New York?” asked Elaine, she was very fond of Anna and felt happy she was back in London; Jane nodded while taking out grocery supplies, “it’s been so long since we hung out, if I weren’t following her on Instagram and Twitter I wouldn’t even remember what she looks like!” her mate Jane along with Emma and her brother chuckled at Elaine’s complains.

“She’s got a busy schedule now Elaine, if you want to go for a pint with her I can get you an appointment for next year” joked Jane before the kettle was ready.

“I swear that if she’s now an air head I’ll bring her feet back in the ground before you can say Watermelon.” Elaine was a nice girl, but being friends with famous people was a bit difficult to someone like her, who had a normal job at the bank.

“She’s not an air head, still humble and manic as always.” Jane assured her friend who just rolled her eyes not quite believing her statement “Tom you’ve met her while doing the photo shoot for Vogue am I right?” She asked to the blue eyed man sitting next to Emma; he gave a nod before agreeing with Jane that Anna was in fact a very down to earth girl.

“Well she hasn’t returned my calls or my texts you know! That’s a rude thing to do, especially if she claims that I’m her sister from another mother,” before the brunette could ramble another word, a pair of soft hands were placed over her mouth, Elaine felt a kiss of her cheek and this made her smile although no one could see.

“You already know how much I love you Elaine” Anna who was now wearing a pair of denim trousers with an oversized jersey said to a very calmed Elaine, it was typical from her sister’s mate to complain about absolutely everything.

“Well I’m just saying that if you could remind me those three words a bit more often, then I wouldn’t be complaining to your poor sister every week.” Emma and Tom Hiddleston chuckled at how childish Elaine was being. Anna then noticed that Tom was there, it had been a couple of months since the Vogue US issue came out, their photo shoot on it, Anna never bought an issue where she featured, that was her mother and father’s job, but as soon as she flipped the pages and found her pictures with him she paid for it and would read it over and over again.

“Emma and Tom are coming as well” was the last bit Anna could hear, her sister said something but she was too distracted “did you listen to what I said?” Jane said handing her a mug of earl grey tea, Anna shook her head looking bashfully down at the steaming tea “The four of us are going to the theatre tomorrow night, if you’re not busy you should come.” Jane always wanted to spend as much time she could with her young sister, due to her rising career she was traveling all the time so whenever she was in London it was nice to catch up.

“I’m dying and you want me to go to the theatre?” Anna asked remembering how her sister flipped about her going out in her ill state.

“People don’t die from colds” Elaine said rolling her eyes.

“Maybe you should see a doctor, check everything’s alright just in case” Emma Hiddleston commented, the blonde thin girl before her did look ill, dark bags were under her blue eyes and the tip of her nose was red.

“That is a marvellous idea” Jane agreed “I’ll give you a lift before going to the office tomorrow morning.” Anna nodded but just because she was feeling pretty bad, the cold was getting worse instead of better, no matter how much green tea she drank.

“Do you have that recipe from the carrot and ginger soup?” Anna asked Jane, as the older girl rose from her seat to find her mother’s recipe Elaine asked Emma how her mother was doing.

“Perfectly fine, it was such a nice idea to introduce her to your mom and Jane’s; I bet they’re having a blast at Saint-Tropez!” Anna coughed violently after hearing that her mother was ‘having a blast’ at Saint-Tropez, Elaine patter her back until she recovered as Jane walked back in the kitchen with the notebook full of recipes.

“Take the notebook with you but bring it back before you leave the country again!” Anna nodded before asking Emma about the whole Saint-Tropez thing.

“Well my mother’s best friend Gloria moved to Italy with her only daughter, a few months ago Jane and Elaine said that we could introduce our mothers, ever since then they’ve been inseparable! A week ago they flew to the island to spend a month relaxing themselves” she took a bite from her brownie looking at the shocked expression on Anna’s face “I assume you didn’t know?” the young girl shook her head feeling sad, why would her mother not tell her any of this? Elaine was probably right, she was drifting apart from her friends and family, but she couldn’t just turn down the fashion campaigns and runways that kept her traveling around the world.

“I didn’t know either” tom’s voice rang in her ears causing her to look up into his icy blue eyes “she finally called me a few hours ago to tell me about it, that’s why I came here with Emma so at least I could meet the daughters of her newest partners in crime” a small smile formed on her lips.

“Is dad moping around the house due to her absence?” she asked Jane who laughed along with the others before assuring her that her father was alright and still alive despite her mother being on holiday “do you think she’s drinking heavily?”

“Don’t be silly she’s probably hanging all day at the hotel’s spa” Elaine said, the only thought of her mother being tanked was insane.

“I’m off then” Anna said taking the bag full of groceries and the recipe notebook, she gave a peck to her sister and Elaine before shaking hands with Emma, Tom rose from his heat claiming to be going home as well and asking Anna if she needed a lift “I’ll take you up on that offer since I’m dying slowly,” he chuckled before putting on his leather jacket and following the young model out the house.

Tom’s car was parked right in front of Jane’s home and after going down the steps he opened the door for Anna, making her face flush since that brought back the memory from them at Cannes, the warm feeling on her face went down a bit as she slid in the passenger’s seat thanking Tom who gave a kind smile before starting the car. It wasn’t a long ride to Anna’s flat and as soon as she told Tom the address he commented that he lived just down the street from hers.

A few minutes later the rain drops were starting to fall down hard on the city, people rushing to make it home as quickly as possible and people shielding themselves from the rain with their brollies, Anna glanced briefly at Tom who was focused on the road, a question popped into her mind as she saw how carefully he was driving.

“Are you used to drive?” she asked after a few moments of hesitation, he smiled bashfully and a light pink coloured his prominent cheekbones, Tom shrugged and confessed that he was trying to drive as much as he used to “you should buy a decent car in order to drive”

“How is this car not decent enough for you?” Tom was rather offended that she was looking down on his Mercedes, it surely wasn’t a slk 200 but it was decent for sure.

“This Mercedes is a nice car I’m not complaining! But, are you familiar with the Aston Martin vanquish?” Anna had surprised Tom with her knowledge about cars and as he admitted to be new into that area she chuckled, “well, whenever you are ready to let go of this car give me a ring and I will be glad to help you find a suitable car for you mister,” he agreed before parking in front of her building, Anna was about to open the door herself when she felt Tom’s hand over hers making a lump go up in her throat.

“I’ll get it for you” he said with a nice smile again, as she waited for him to open the door the lump on her throat disappeared, Tom helped Anna out and to the front door of her building, as Anna was looking for her keys in her bag she asked Tom if he had any plans for dinner “I will watch a few episodes of ‘Doctor Who’ before going to bed”.

“Aren’t you having something for dinner?” she asked worried, her grandma always told her that no one should skip dinner, ever. Tom said that maybe he would eat a salad or a sandwich, as she opened the door of the building she thought of asking him to join her for dinner, but she didn’t want to scare him.

Tom was an attractive thirty two year old man, Anna was probably not the first woman to ask him to go up to her flat, but she surely didn’t want to give him the idea that he was having her for dinner. After a few seconds that felt like hours in her head she made up her mind “why don’t you stay for dinner?” she asked cautiously, waiting for any hint of lust as her heart pounded loudly against her rib cage.

“Only if I can help you cook” the girl smile widely before accepting his offer as well, the two of them walked up to her flat and as they walked inside Anna turned on the telly. Tom took off his jacket and followed the blonde girl into the kitchen where she took out the groceries from the bag “what are you cooking?” he asked standing beside her.

“Carrot and ginger soup with lemon cream, cheese-baked pepper with linguine and apple soufflé” Tom grinned at the random but still nutritious meal Anna had in mind.

“Sounds delicious, want me to peel and chop the vegetables?” Anna nodded and thanked him. Tom was a great help now that she thought about it, the last person who helped her in the kitchen was her friend Robert, he was clumsy and when he was going to get something from the fridge he bumped into her almost making her drop the crystal bowl of whatever she was holding, the apple pie she planned on baking for pudding was burned because she went to take a shower and Robert forgot to take it out of the oven, in a few words they had to go out to dinner since the whole meal was a disaster. Tom had good skills while chopping vegetables, his long fingers sure helped him while peeling them as well and he was perfectly good at stuffing the peppers.

He was chatty, very chatty indeed, but Anna didn’t mind since he was making her laugh so much, all the anecdotes he had from his childhood, school years and while shooting movies had her so entertained that at some point she was sitting just listening while he finished cooking.

“This is delicious” Anna complimented on the soufflé, everything was in fact very good, the soup –which was the only thing she did. The stuffed peppers and pudding were Tom’s entirely, she just watched him amused as he confessed how much he enjoyed cooking “I still feel really guilty about letting you cook most part of the meal”.

“Never mind dear, you’re ill, tired and despite that invited me to have dinner. Believe me it’s the least I could do” the twenty three year old model was indeed feeling ill and tired when they first arrived to her flat, but now after a nice meal and Tom’s stories she was feeling so much better.

Tom did the washing up, even when Anna stood in his way and refused to move, he had to pin both of her delicate arms to her sides before lifting her away from the sink, the girl was feeling rather light-headed after that happened but shoved it off quickly before hoping on the kitchen isle gazing at Tom’s back, he was a very tall man, lean and also fit. Daydreaming was something Anna Asher didn’t do very often, but today she seemed to be on a daydream state, it was probably from the cold she had.

“Thanks for being a sweetheart” she told Tom as he zipped up his jacket “I owe you one for sure” the blue eyed man chuckled but the girl told him she was being serious.

“Maybe you can cook dinner for me at my place someday” Anna’s eyes beamed, he was looking forward to see her again someday the blonde model agreed and said that she would also do the washing up “marvellous, give me your number so I can give you a ring” as she gave him her phone number her heart fluttered, it certainly wasn’t a romantic date, she and Tom just felt really comfortable around each other.

Tom walked out of her flat after a brief embrace, as he hoped into his car and started the engine an involuntary smile crept up into his lips, he didn’t know when was the right time to ring her and ask if she was up to have dinner, he then felt like asking for some advice from one of his mates, but who? It had been a while since he felt insecure about anything, he was an ‘A-list’ actor, from RADA, and now as he arrived to his house and flopped on his double sized bed, Tom Hiddleston was feeling like a teenager and he liked that feeling.