The Dancer

Why Do You Hate Me?

"You're teaching Tom Hiddleston ballet?! Tom Freaking Hiddleston!!! Em! Why the hell is this not a big deal to you?!" Jess shouted down the phone after I'd told her my news. "He's a huge celebrity right now, everyone loves him, yet you can't stand him. I honestly don't get it" she sounded so surprised at my hate for the man, it passed however when I told her the reason for my hate.

"He's going to ruin any chance I have of becoming a teacher Jess! He knows absolutely nothing about ballet and I swear to god, if I have to tell him to point his freaking toes one more time!" I was interuppted by Jess' laughing down the phone. "What's so funny Jessica?!"

"You like him don't you?" Well it was blunt, but at least she didn't hedge the question or sugar coat it. "You clearly need to just screw him and move on. I bet he likes you too" she teased and all I could do was blush.

"There is no way in hell I would like Tom Hiddleston, or that he would even come close to liking me either. Don't make me laugh Jess! HA HA HA" I heard Jess laughing again and let out a huff to shut her up.

"I'm so looking forward to telling you 'I told you so'" She sniggered.

"Well you'll be bitterly disappointed, because you won't have to"

And then I hung up.

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"No Tom. It's spring, jeté then arabesque. Not spring, arabesque, jeté! How many more times do we have to go over this?!" I yelled out as he messed up again. I held my head in my hands, shaking my head in disappointment. 3 days we had been going over this section and he still messed up every time!

"It would help if you slowed down and went over the steps properly, like a proper teacher should do!" Tom snapped. That was it, I'd done it. The true Tom had surfaced. Gone was the gentleman facade, here was the Tom who put up a fight and finally stood up for himself. However, this did make me fight back. A lot.

"A proper teacher doesn't get lugged with an amature who thinks he has rhythm because he can shake his hips for the ladies! Ooh I'm Tom Hiddleston, if I shake my arse near a camera for a minute, I'll have girls falling at my feet! Well I'm sorry Tom, but that is not dancing!"

"Well you clearly don't need me to pass this bloody exam of yours, Miss "Prima Ballerina", so maybe I'll just leave so you can find another prancing plonker to fill my spot!" We were almost nose to nose now, except my tiny body meant my nose only actually came up to his chest but let's think about this metaphorically...

"Maybe I will!" I shouted back in his face, before he glared at me then turned to leave, picking up his kit bag on his way. Miss Turner was going to murder me.

The door slammed shut as Tom stormed out of the building, leaving me an empty studio to vent my anger. I let out an almighty scream and kicked my dance bag across the room, before sliding down the mirror and pulling my knees up to my chest while tears slowly rolled down my cheeks. I hated him. There was no way in hell we'd ever be able to be a good dance couple.

I had been crying for a few minutes when I heard the door click again. Instead of looking up to see who it was, I ignored them and continued to sob into my knees. I heard soft footsteps getting closer to me, stopping just in front of where I was sitting. It was silent for a few seconds, followed by a dull thud of a bag hitting the floor.

"Why do you hate me?" Tom whispered, his voice breaking slightly, as if he'd been crying too. I looked up to meet his glossy blue eyes, highlighting the fact he too had actually been crying. I let out a deep sigh and waited while he slid down and sat beside me. I turned my head to look at him, only for my heart to stop for a moment when our eyes met again.

"Honestly? I don't know. I guess because you're a well known actor who has already made it big in the world, living your dream. I suppose, I'm jealous of that. I've worked my arse off for 20 years just to be able to live my dream, and now I'm almost 33 years old and I'm one exam away from being able to do that. But if I fail that exam, my dream won't come true and I'll be stuck. Sure I can take the exam again, but I've never failed a dance exam in my life, it would break my heart." Then out of nowhere, Tom took a hold of my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. It was the first contact we'd actually made that wasn't related to the dance and well... I kinda liked it.

"Would it make you feel better if I told you that it took me at least 20 years to achieve my dream too? I didn't become a famous actor over night Emma. To be honest, my big break was Thor. No one really knew me before then, it got me known to the world. See, we aren't so different are we?" He wiped the remaining tears from my eyes and smiled at me. This time, I smiled back.

Maybe I didn't hate him so much after all.