Just Like Her

Chapter 2

Tom

Her long dark hair cascaded down her back, curling slightly at the ends, and her eyes danced with amusement at something the leggy blonde said to her—that was until her mahogany eyes met mine.

In an instant, her eyes glazed with tears as she turned and coughed into her elbow, her entire body racked with convulsions.

By the time I managed to cross the sea of bodies, she had recovered herself, though her friend still eyed her with a look of concern. I was standing in front of them then, but still utterly unsure of what to say.

"Hi," I breathed somewhat unsteadily. "We didn't exactly get to exchange names... I'm Tom."

"Emma," she rasped before shifting her attention to her friend. "This is Trisha. Trisha this is Tom."

"So I heard," she said through a toothy grin.

She held out her hand for me to take. I did and shook it briefly before returning my attention to Emma. "I didn't get a chance to thank you properly for helping me find that book."

She nodded slowly before turning to her friend to explain. "We met in Flannigan's—"

Trisha's smile dropped as she turned to gape at her friend. "Wait, your imaginary boyfriend is real?"

I attempted to hide my grin as Emma's face flushed crimson.

"Oh look," her friend squeaked. "There's someone I know, way over there—bye!"

And with that she fled, teetering on her heels as fast as she could manage.

My smirk won out. "You're imaginary—"

"Her name for you," she cut in as she glared after her friend. "Not mine."

"I went back to the shop to try and find you, but you must not have been working that day."

That brought her attention back to me. She blinked several times as if trying to grasp what I'd said. "I work full-time?"

"Perhaps you were on break then—"

Her eyes widened, suddenly, in understanding. "Oh! Oh god—I don't work at the shop."

"O-oh, sorry I just assumed—"

She shook her head. "I used to, but now I'm just one of those loitering customers."

"Right," I nodded into my drink, embarrassed by my mistake.

"You went looking for me?"

She was smiling up at me, her dark eyes shining lightly with amusement.

I nodded slowly. "I—I wanted to tell you that I'd given Gran the book and a few days later she'd called me to say that she loved it."

"That's great!" She beamed.

"Yeah... she's not an easy one to please."

She shrugged. "Great women have great expectations."

I laughed but nodded. "She'd love that, and I have a feeling she'd agree with you completely."

Emma laughed too but dropped her gaze to the space between us.

After a moment, I dipped my chin to try and catch her eye. "It's nice to see you again, Emma."

She glanced up at me and smiled with that same glint in her eyes. She shook her head slightly, sending her loose curls tumbling over her shoulders. "What are you doing here?"