Chapter 7:
“Come on! Tell me! I won’t judge you, dear.”
I believe him but talking about my exes is like pouring salt on a healing wound. I sigh heavily and begin.
“I mainly keep them for comfort, honestly. They’re incredibly warm and cozy, but there’s also the part of me that associates memories with each item. The shirt you’re wearing was from Jacob. We dated for almost a year and then he ended it because we ‘lacked something’. Those pants are from…” I trail off.
“What is it?” Tom looks concerned and curious. He can’t tell that this is killing me inside.
“They’re from… my ex-fiancé, David. We ended things about a year ago.” My face is burning and Tom’s eye stare at my face with an unreadable expression.
“Did you love him?”
“Yes.” I whisper. I know where this is going.
“Did he love you?”
There it is.
“I thought he did… found out that he didn’t, though.”
Instead of asking the questions I can see running through his head, he pulls me into a hug. A tear escapes and lands on his shoulder and he begins apologizing for making me relive it. I see the heartbroken look in his eyes and question why it’s there.
“I’m so sorry to ask but… what happened?” I try to stall myself from talking about it by grabbing a celery stick but the buzz from the wine is starting to hit me and I have no control over my mouth when that happens.
“We were together for a year and a half and everything was great. It was no surprise to anyone that we wanted to get married. We set the date, got the dress and tux and cake and everything. I just didn’t feel happy thinking about being married to him, you know? He was a great guy and I loved him but I guess I wasn’t in love with him.” I pause and take a look at Tom. He’s listening so intently that it makes me smile despite the rest of the story. “The night before our wedding day, I caught him cheating on me. We both knew it was over after that.”
“Why would he cheat on you?” Tom’s face is a mix of confusing, shock, and disgust. It’s adorable.
“He never said why. He called me and apologized for getting caught and wasting so much of my life. He wasn’t sorry for cheating, of course. He loved sex a little too much and I’m assuming that since I didn’t want to spend every waking moment doing him that he decided to find someone who would.”
“Then why keep his clothes?”
“We had some good memories together. He gave me those pants when I got a little too drunk one night and lost my own. He was a shithead boyfriend but was my best friend. I couldn’t let go of that… no matter how hard I tried.”
He doesn’t say anything. Instead of words, he scoots close to me on the couch and wraps his blanket around us both. He pulls me into his arms and strokes my hair. He’s so warm that I start to nod off within minutes.
He wakes me up by telling me a story from his childhood. It’s a rather funny one about him and his sisters and a lizard. He spoke with his hands and made me laugh so much that I forgot about my troubled past and only focused on right now—with him.
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Why is this chapter so short? Dx I apologize about that. In the next few chapters, we'll learn more about Alice's backstory and I'm currently working on a chapter from Tom's point of view so ^_^ I hope you like it!
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Streets vs. Sheets (A Tom Hiddleston FanFic)
FanfictionAn aspiring nurse and journalist with a troubled past receives a call that changes her life-- and introduces her to the man of her dreams. Too bad she works for him and she has a strict rule against dating colleagues. Packed with romance, laughs, an...
