Zealous (Tom Riddle)

Chapter 10

Elizabeth awoke feeling warm and touching something soft with her fingertips. She opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the light, before her lips parted in a quiet gasp.

Tom Riddle was in front of her. Her hands were entangled in his hair and her head was against his chest but he was laying completely still in his normal sleeping position.

His eyes were closed tight. It was clear that he wasn't going to wake up unless Elizabeth moved.

She tried to slowly untangle her fingers from his soft, black hair but it was no use. Her hand ended up caressing the top of Tom's cheek and his eyes fluttered open. He squinted at her.

"Get off of me," he muttered angrily, his voice full of sleep.

"S-sorry," Elizabeth mumbled back, finally being able to move back to the other side of the bed.

Tom's entire body went cold. He instantly regretted his decision. As if he would say anything to get her back, though.

Within a few seconds, Tom was wide awake. His eyes focused on Elizabeth's, who was giving him a look of confusion.

"I don't like contact," Tom said bluntly.

Elizabeth sighed, "I know that. You don't think I did it on purpose, do you?"

"Considering your advances on me when you were using Mary as an excuse, I believe you would," Tom replied slyly, a smirk appearing on his lips yet again. He rose from the bed, straightening out the shirt he was wearing before turning around and unbuttoning it.

As he slipped the material off his shoulders, Elizabeth studied the muscles in his back. They were well-defined, catching Elizabeth's brown eyes. She decided not to comment on the fact that he was changing in front of her.

Tom left on his black trousers. He was too aware that Elizabeth was still in the room, regardless of whether he'd changed his shirt in front of her or not.

Elizabeth sighed at the sight of the sleek black shirt over Tom's body. She felt herself wishing that he'd take it off again. She passed this off as usual teenage girl behaviour, shaking her head at herself in disapproval.

"How old are you?"

The question took Elizabeth by surprise.

"I'm sixteen," she told him softly, "Why?"

"I'm also sixteen," he replied, not answering Elizabeth properly. She tutted.

He took no notice of this and continued to rake a hand through his hair. Elizabeth stretched.

She rubbed her eyes and collected her clothes, entering the bathroom to get changed.

Once she got in, her thoughts instantly filled themselves with Tom. Being in the bathroom was probably the furthest away she'd been from Tom since they'd gotten to that village, and that made her wonder how much she would miss his company when they got back to Hogwarts.

"Elizabeth, hurry up!" Tom snapped from the other side of the door.

"Sorry," she breathed out as she opened it, her face flushed as she looked into his glassy blue eyes.

"It's alright," he replied coolly, watching her as she rushed past him to collect her things. She packed them all away into the bag that she'd taken them to the village in. Tom watched as she walked away. She was clearly focused on getting ready to go after he'd rushed her. She placed her bag back on the bed and looked at Tom cautiously.

It was awkward since Elizabeth woke up in Tom's arms. And the thing that made it worse was that neither of them truly minded. They were both lonely souls who needed healing.

"Let's go then, shall we?" Tom asked casually, slinging his bag on the bed next to Elizabeth's.

The girl he had somewhat become friends with nodded. They took off without a word.