You Don't Have to Stay Forever.

Tom slipped back on his suit and headed out to do some interviews, he was mind blown by the response the fans had to his surprise appearance as Loki, as he approached to the journalists the light of the cameras blinded him a little, but he was feeling so proud and excited that it didn’t bothered him, the first journalist was a man, after greeting him Tom answered happily what he felt by seeing the reaction the audience had. Truth is that Tom new his character was popular; all of his mates and family told him that it was probably even more popular than the heroes themselves, but he didn’t believe it until hearing the screaming and cheering, this had to be a dream.

“I have one last question” said the journalist to Tom who agreed to answer that question “are you and Anna Asher a couple?” this took the British actor by surprise, he hadn’t seen his friend for a week and this question didn’t suit the topic they were discussing later, which was the Thor movie “I didn’t mean to upset you by asking that, everyone’s just being curious you don’t have to answer” the journalist quickly apologized as he saw Tom’s reaction.

“Never mind you just threw me off. We’re just mates” he answered with a reassuring smile before walking off to meet his co-stars and friends. As he greeted Scarlett and Chris Evans his mind was wondering something else, last time he saw Anna was at the airport, she gave him a lift and was mocking him for using a Jango Fett mask. The ring of her laughter in his ear, almost made him go deaf while hugging her goodbye, the blonde model wished him luck telling him to break a leg before walking off, as he remembered her frame walking away he could feel something in the pit of his stomach, probably because he was nervous but now after making his appearance, chatting with his friends he still felt that funny feeling just by thinking about Anna, and he couldn’t blame his nerves.

“How was London?” Scarlett asked Tom after Chris went to the men’s room.

“Peaceful” he confessed, trying to keep his mind to go back and remember all the days he spent with a certain supermodel. Scarlett nodded and smirked, she had seen the photographs, actually everyone saw them, and they were curious. Tom had a busy schedule and the time he spent in London was entirely to meet his family and enjoy some time in his quiet home, he had this calm life and it shocked his co-stars to see that this time his stay in London was a bit different.

“Did you have fun?” the beautiful Scarlett pushed while sipping her beverage, her friend rambled on about what he did, but didn’t mention that he hung out with the blonde model “sounds nice” she decided not to push Tom, although they were friends, Scarlett was that kind of person who knew right away when to step back and give some space to someone, if he ever wanted to tell her, she knew he would just approach and talk about it. Chris Evans walked back to the two of them and also asked Tom about his stay in London.

“I was just telling Scarlett that I enjoyed London very much” Chris shared a quick glance with Scarlett.

“What made it more enjoyable this time?” Chris asked with a hint of laughter to his mate what he meant by asking that “I’m just saying, maybe you met a certain lady and she brightened up your stay over there” Scarlett tried to hide her smirk, something good about Chris was that he was not afraid of speaking his mind, and Tom trusted him enough to answer the question he has made without feeling uncomfortable. After a few seconds of doubt the British man made up his mind.

“I have been feeling weird around a certain lass” he started as his mates stepped closer so no one could eavesdrop their conversation “we spent so much time together, almost two months, and I didn’t noticed until I was at the airport” Chris nodded his head understanding “I guess it’s ridiculous to think she fancies me” Tom finished with a chuckle.

“Absolutely no, it is not ridiculous. Why do you say that?” asked Scarlett quickly.

“She’s 23, probably not into someone with such a quiet and simple life like me” this has been the thought bothering his mind; he thought that Anna, being so random and weird wouldn’t look twice at someone like him.

“Tom you’re a very successful actor, I’m sure she wouldn’t have agreed to spend time with you if she wasn’t feeling anything for you” Chris reassured his friend, usually Tom was a total chatter-box and seeing him so calm and insecure was not a pleasing sight “you’re a very funny man as well!”

“What if she just feels sympathy for me, or pity” Tom’s eyes were full of concern, he wasn’t sure about his feelings towards Anna, until now he thought they were nothing but friends, he didn’t want to admit to have any kind of infatuation if she was not feeling the same way.

“I’m sure she’s not hanging out with you out of pity, she might be a girl who likes parties but so do you!” Scarlett knew the kind of girl Anna Asher was, they met at the Elle magazine offices back in December 2012 and by the looks of it, she wasn’t the bitch type.

“My mother thinks she’s too young and immature” Chris sighed, it was impossible for any of them to convince Tom to just go for it.

“What are you afraid of?” the young actress looked at Tom curiously after her question, he was obviously afraid of getting his hopes up for someone who wouldn’t fulfil them.

“Drop it, it’s really stupid for me to think about wooing a girl” Anna was not much younger than Tom, they were just nine years apart, but he knew that nowadays girls in their early twenties were just looking to party all night instead of cuddling in his bed while watching a film. The rest of the night neither of his friends dared to bring up the subject and Tom was thankful for that, they all said their goodbyes hoping to get together sometime, as he walked into his hotel room he slipped out his coat and kicked out the shoes, the man was knackered and he also didn’t notice that his mobile was vibrating, after a long bath he put on his jimjams and crawled under the sheets, his phone was still vibrating and after noticing Tom groaned and rose from bed to the desk by the window.

5 new voice mails

“It’s probably my mother” he mumbled and laughed quietly at his own joke before pressing the button to check his voice mails. Loud music erupted from the first voice mail and a few excited screams, it only lasted a few seconds, the second voice mail was pretty much like the first one except that you could hear cheering, the third voice mail was more audible and Tom could easily hear a Devendra Banhart song, he wasn’t a huge fan but could hear a bit of the lyrics clearly.

Never Seen Such Good Things Go so wrong,
And everywhere we go
they play our song
shouldn’t love so much like me
Give me? And send me to my knee
Love your strange fella'
Show 'em what life could let be
Love your strange fella'
Want you? Like on me.

The fourth voice mail was clearer, it was a different song, the tune began and his mind recalled hearing it being sung by Anna, the night they were cooking pizza at his place.

Won't you come home I surrender
I miss my sweet bag of bones, drunk and tender
Why don't you want to stay here suspended
In the dead arms of a year that has ended

Can't see the shape of the song that we're singing
River too dirty for us to go swimming
Why would you want to stay clear of adoration
That disappears when you're near when you're close

Won't you come home I surrender
I miss my sweet bag of bones, drunk and tender
Why don't you want to stay here suspended
In the dead arms of a year that has ended

Tom was frozen in his spot by the window, when the fifth voice mail began, it wasn’t a song, the annoying noise from the gig he was hearing disappeared and was replaced by a silent environment, then he heard Anna’s voice “Remember I told you about the Devendra gig? You just heard my favourite songs; I bet you’re asleep by now or just woken up, whatever. I hope your stay over the states doesn’t take long, I miss my partner in crime, haven’t been to the pub in almost a week. What have you done to me Tom?” the voice mail was over and the actor couldn’t believe what he just heard, maybe Anna was drunk, that would make her go emotional and he was pretty sure that she didn’t attend to the gig on her own, she was probably with one of her many mates. Without a second thought Tom sent her a text, telling her that he would be home in a couple of days and then they would hit the pub.

Next couple of days flew past Tom and before he knew it, he was on a plane back to London, he had a week before he had to work on the play Coriolanus feeling the excitement to be back in the theatre, his experience at Comic-Con reassured his confidence to go back into theatre.

Things were going good for Tom, he grabbed his luggage and headed out to hail a cab, the press was waiting for him and he was polite as ever as he got his luggage in the boot of the black cab before hoping in. The ride to his home was silent and he got inside quickly before the paparazzi spotted him, everything was like the last time he left, this time he decided that maybe he could take his mother out to dinner later, as he gave her a rang to confirm the plans he changed into a pair of more casual clothes before picking up his mother and taking her to a famous restaurant, her mother was used to the media following her and her son and she was kind of giddy about it.

“Well I am honoured you decided to meet me first thing after arriving” Diana said sipping her glass of wine, her son shook his head saying how impossible she was to please “last time you barely spoke to me, glad to see you are not pursuing that silly girl” Tom’s jaw clenched a bit knowing perfectly who her mother was talking about.

“Let’s just enjoy dinner” he said before ordering another bottle of wine.

A week flew and Tom soon found himself meeting with friends and family, everyone was pleased to see him after a while and like his mother asked him why he didn’t met them last time he was in town, he merely said that he was busy working in some script for his upcoming theatre work.

It was a cloudy Saturday, the rain was pouring down hard at times, Tom made it to the grocery store right before it got harder, tonight he wanted to be alone in his home, have a drink and watch some movie or just listen to some music, who knew that catching up with so many people along the week would be so tiring? He was carrying his bags and on his way out of the store, the press haven’t been following him lately, probably because they got tired of him not making any appearance with someone interesting.

Right before getting into his car he saw her, struggling with five bags full of groceries while trying to open her car’s boot, Tom placed both of his bags in the backseat as he quickly approached the blonde girl and opened the boot for her. Anna smiled and sighed before thanking the man behind her for giving her a hand, as soon as she stared into Tom’s blue eyes, her face flushed and she regretted going to that grocery store.

“I’ll see you around” she mumbled before going to the driver’s side, Tom stopped her from opening the door and getting in “please move”

“Why are you crossed with me?” he didn’t understand the upset tone she used and her scowl confirmed that she was indeed mad at him “we haven’t even seen each other since I got back”.

“Exactly!” she said throwing her arms up in the air, no longer worried of hiding her emotions around him “you came back and didn’t have the guts to give me a ring, not even a text!” Tom’s brows shot up in surprise.

“What are you, my mother? I don’t have to call you whenever I’m in town!” Anna was beyond mad, which was a really bad thing; whenever she was mad she just let the words spill out of her mouth.

“I called you at the Devendra Banhart gig!” she said, hoping he would get the hint, but Tom was clueless, he had no idea what she meant and was actually pretty upset by her complaining “are you honestly, that blind? I asked you to have dinner with me for thirteen nights, we watched your favourite films at your place late at night, I somehow learned to cook ten different types of pudding because I know how much you like it, danced with you to a slow song at my flat, allowed you to walk me to the door of my building, gave you a lift to the airport the day you left and cried all the way back home because I missed you!” her blue eyes were full of rage.

So this was mutual, Tom felt relieved knowing that she was just as troubled about their ‘relationship’ as he was, whatever he felt she was also feeling it, although he now wasn’t really sure about that, she was right about him being a wanker for not letting her know at least when he arrived.

“I’m sorry. But I thought it was very stupid of me to think that you would be interested in something more than friendship” Anna looked at his pleading eyes, he was probably telling the truth, but that was not an excuse.

“So if I haven’t decided to come over to this grocery store you would’ve disappeared just like that!” he frowned but smiled up instantly.

“But you came, and I helped you open the boot” Tom was never the type of man who believed in fate, he thought that every action has a reaction but now standing before this girl he thought that maybe fate was real.

“Well I’m still mad at you” she said not sounding mad at all.

“Let me make it up to you” his warm eyes were hard for her to say no, along with his smooth, pleading voice, she shrugged and told him that he wouldn’t succeed anyway “go to my house around seven” he said with a smug look on his face, Anna watched him walk away and headed back to her flat.

Was this some sort of date? Anna sighed as she threw the beautiful Louis Vuitton dress to her double size bed and picked out something less fancy. What if he was taking her out to a fancy place? Never in her life picking an outfit had been so hard, she needed to thin properly before roaming into her closet again, something nice could be a pair of skinny jeans, as she took out of all the skinny jeans she had she chose her Hudson Juliette Bordeaux Wax Super Skinny Jeans , a silver top, Chanel bag, a navy blue jacket and a pair of Ice Cream Pumps of the Melissa x Karl Lagerfeld collaboration. After brushing her hair and slipping on her clothes she smirked and thought that being the face of that collaboration had its benefits.

Tom opened the door revealing a casual yet fancy looking Anna, the only thing he noticed was that she wasn’t wearing any makeup, which he was fine with.

“Now I feel underdressed” he confessed once she stepped in the foyer flushing at his comment. He was wearing a pair of tight black pants, a purple see through shirt along with a leather jacket; he was looking dashing as ever. They were feeling a bit awkward, it all happened so fast, and now they were here not really knowing what to do or what to expect “I hope you’re hungry” she said she was actually starving, due to her being picky about the outfit she couldn’t eat a snack as she planned, Tom smiled and led her upstairs.

“I thought we were having dinner” she said following him to the second floor of his home.

“We are” he said before stepping out through a glass door into a beautiful balcony. Anna saw the small table with two chairs, a bottle of champagne and the city lights providing the illumination to the balcony.

“Did you set this up?” it had only been four hours ago since they ran into each other, and she spent three of them picking out what she was about to wear.

“It wasn’t that hard” he said feeling the heat rush into his face, wondering if he had exaggerated about their dinner “we can go back downstairs and dine in the kitchen isle” Anna laughed at his sudden embarrassment, taking a step forward she wrapped her arms around his torso, resting her head on his shoulder, smelling the cologne from his clothes.

“I think it’s lovely” Tom beamed and led her to the table.

They still wondered if this made their a couple, or if this meant that they were going to date for a while before taking this further, neither of them remembered the questions in their minds, they had such a great time catching up and quickly forgetting as well the long week they didn’t see each other. At the end of the night, as each one of them was remembering the events of that night, something warm in the pit of their stomachs made them sigh and fall asleep with big smiles on their faces.