The Three-Month Rule

Chapter 11 - First Encounter

"It's about a castle and the family that lived there. It's a place that Allie is fond of and made many happy memories there growing up," he explained, observing her face the entire time.

"Have you already read it, Tom?" Chris asked, raising an eyebrow. Tom laughed, leaning forwards to try and suppress his amusement. "I didn't know you could read," Chris mocked as he drank more beer.

"No, she interviewed me for it. That's how we met," Tom said, smiling at the memory. Allegra observed him as he spoke, and for the first time, she swore she could see him blush beneath the green light.

"Aw, that's so romantic!" Elsa gasped, her hand clapping to her chest to feel her heart flutter with excitement.

"Really?" Allie asked.

"Is it?" Chris mocked.

Elsa turned to her husband and slapped him playfully, nudging him with a smirk.

"Yes," Elsa told them both.

Allegra grinned, butterflies fluttering in her stomach and bringing her attention to her full bladder.

"I'm just going to the toilet," she told them, and Tom stood up so that she could get out.

Elsa and Chris looked across at Tom once he had taken his seat again, raising their eyebrows in anticipation.

"So..." Chris began, extending the 'o' for dramatics.

"So," Tom repeated, a grin tattooed on his lips.

"She's adorable!" Elsa called excitedly, her face lighting up with happiness as Tom chuckled.

"She's pretty amazing, isn't she?"

"She's very different from all of your previous interests," Chris noted.

"Is she?" Tom asked.

"Isn't she?"

"I suppose she is, yes."

"What attracted you to her?" Elsa asked him, slotting herself back into the conversation.

"I'm not going to go all soppy tonight," Tom chuckled, shaking his head gently and swirling the last mouthful of beer around in the bottom of his glass.

"That makes a difference, brother," Chris grinned, mocking Tom yet again.

"Come on," Elsa begged, shuffling impatiently in her seat.

Tom looked at his hands and sighed.

"Well..." he began.

Allegra rounded the corner from the ladies' toilets but stopped suddenly, as she heard Tom's velvet voice quietly drifting over OneRepublic's latest song 'Connection'. She stopped to listen, realising he was talking about her, nerves hitting her like a brick wall at the thought of him mentioning one of her flaws or saying something negative about her.

"When you two first met, did you feel a physical connection? Like, actual electricity the first time you touched?" he was saying to his two drunk friends.

"Yes," Elsa breathed.

"No," Chris said, unable to say anything serious.

"I just remember walking in to the café and seeing her at the till, and I remember thinking..." he paused, looking down at the dark polished wooden table top. "She's beautiful." He smiled to himself, remembering the time he first laid eyes on her, and it was as if in that moment he was talking to himself. "She was lost in thought... Eyeing up the cakes and pastries... Absorbed in her own little world..." he smiled again. "And then she turned and walked to our table. I was so pleased. I shook her hand and..." Tom paused again, his blue eyes looking up at his friends, his smile fading. "I remember thinking how much it would hurt me to let it go."

Elsa's palm slapped her chest again as she melted internally, the romantic in her heart swallowing every second of the conversation.

"I feel sick," Chris mumbled, pretending to throw up on the floor.

"Stop it," Elsa begged him, slapping his muscular arm again.

Chris's expression changed suddenly, and he placed his glass down, turning his full attention to his smitten best friend.

"No, but seriously," he started. "You seem happier in the last week than you have in the last two years. Maybe even longer."

"I've never felt like this, Chris," Tom said with a frown. "I've only known her for just over a week, but..." Tom chuckled to himself for a moment before the frown returned. "When I'm not with her..." he paused again, making Elsa and Chris lean forwards in their seats, eager to hear the end of the sentence. "I feel empty."

Allegra had frozen for the second time that night and couldn't find the right moment to return to the table. She wanted to hear more, she wanted to hear every good thought he'd ever had about her. Was this real? What had she done to deserve this? Did he... Did he love her?

"Do you love her? Like... Really love her?" Elsa asked, stealing the thoughts from Allegra's mind.

"...I think I do," he said.