Twelve Red Roses (a Tom Hiddleston fanfic)

Chapter 25- Accidentally In Love

Tom notices me lightly shaking the bars that held us in, checking to see if they were tight enough and secure.

"It'll be fine, Cass," he says lightly, a smile on his face. I wanted to smack it right off of him.

"I know it'll be fine. I just... can't move..." I mutter.

He laughs lightly. "That's sort of the point."

Scowling at him, I listen as a set of instructions play over the speakers, telling us obvious details, such as staying put and keeping our body parts in the roller coaster cart at all times. As if I haven't heard that a million times in my life.

It starts out slow at first, but I've watched the ride from the line long enough to know what happens. I do my best not to look over the edge as we move, higher and higher up the large 'hill'. The thing that really accelerates the cart.

Then, as we reach the top, my breath hitches in my throat as I wait for the speed, the acceleration, the adrenaline rush. I think everyone holds their breath for a moment, but it's all let out with gasps -and some screams- as we speed down the slope. And it was enjoyable, and breathtaking, believe me. But also a little rough on the places your shoulders hit against the bars keeping you in. I clutch onto the bars and ignore the slight pain, however, as we speed up even more, turning occasionally and looping. It seemed that I was always dreading the next part, thinking it looked a little scary or rough, but I always had a smile on my face by the end. And the best part about all of this? I could easily hear Tom's laughs and whoops and even his noises of surprise. It was the perfect soundtrack, really, and never failed to make me laugh.

"I told you it would be worth it," he says upon getting off. Our hearts hadn't yet settled down, nor had our quickened breath. The roller-coaster gave us both rushes of energy, and, I think, permanent smiles.

"It was," I agree. My face was starting to hurt. And here he'll immediately want to go on another one, in three... two...

"That one looks fun!"

I let out a breath, shaking my head. Just like a child, that man is. I look to where he's pointing. "Oh, that is quite a lot of loops..." I murmur. "I think I'll take a break, actually, and just sit down... I'll watch."

Feeling quite like my designated role right then (a mom), I sit on a nearby bench, already feeling sort of tired. Perhaps I wasn't cut out for this exhilarating life that Tom lived. Or, the life he lived at amusement parks, that is.

He sits next to me, quite gracefully for the long-legged man he is, and takes my smaller hand in his larger two. "You're not afraid of going upside down, are you?"

"Maybe I am," I huff. He was making this far harder than it needed to be.

But he doesn't push it any further. "Okay. Then you tell me, Cass, which ride we'll go on next."

I stare at him and that smile on his face. "What?"

"I'm letting you choose," he says, the light crinkles by his eyes appearing as his white teeth sparkled. Alright, they didn't actually sparkle. But they may as well.

His selflessness never ceased to surprise me. Even now, after he's shown me too much kindness for my own good, I was still surprised. "Oh. Thank you." I send him a gentle smile as he hands me the brochure we got at the entrance, telling us about each of the rides. I couldn't help but feel bad, though, if he wasn't going to go on any rides I didn't want to go on. A lot of roller coasters here went upside down. I wasn't comfortable with that, but it didn't mean he couldn't enjoy them.

"Hm... This one?" I point to a picture of one in the brochure. It has a thrill level of five, which, most of the rides had, and hardly went upside down at all.

"Of course. Anything you want," he answers, rising to his feet.

I felt spoiled, then, as we walked towards my desired coaster. He let me choose, even though it was his day. It was his idea to go here, and it was his treat. I began to wonder if Tom was even human, let alone if he was even real. Or maybe he was actually from the past, where gentlemen used to exist. I'm not even sure.

The sun was still beating down on us, but we didn't let it bother us. This place was open until midnight, so we didn't even bother to get here until five, as it started to slowly cool down. That gave us seven hours here. Far too many hours, if you ask me, but I knew Tom would have fun and completely tire himself out. He's like a giant puppy- a golden retriever puppy with those almost-blonde curls of his- that I have to walk and feed and play with everyday, and hope to get enough energy out of him so that he'll fall fast asleep once night comes.

Alright, so I don't feed and walk him, but what's the difference? Right, no difference, just as I thought. He is a puppy. It is settled.

It doesn't take us very long before we get to the new roller coaster. Now we only have to wait for twenty minutes or so.

~

Tom did it. He convinced me to go on the one ride I've been avoiding this whole time. It was almost ten p.m. by then, and Tom had been on it twice.

We were back at our hotel now, and, just as I hoped, Tom was tired. But he couldn't resist to stay in my room for a bit, talking about how the day went.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" He asks, referring to the ride I was terrified of.

"No, it wasn't," I reply with a shrug, sipping at my cheap decaf tea. It took me a while before I allowed Tom to have any this late, but I managed to find a few packets of decaf, so I finally allowed it.

He raises an eyebrow in my direction, his blue eyes staring into mine knowingly.

I frown. "Okay, I was terrified. But I think I did well."

"You did," he says with a smile, stirring his incredibly sweetened tea. New rule from now on. No tea after nine, unless it's decaf and with low sugar. He went all out on his tea all of the time with lots of sugar and even a bit of milk. It made my dark tea seem so... Ordinary.

Heck, everything of mine seemed ordinary compared to his things.

"So what have we got planned for tomorrow?" I ask.

"Well we were going to visit the Rock N' Roll hall of fame, but I may need to change plans," he explains with a warm smile.

"Oh?"

He nods. "I have a date," he says, rather nonchalantly.

I raise an eyebrow, frowning. "A date..? What sort of date?"

"With you," he adds.

Immediately my concern and confusion and jealousy fade away. And they are replaced with surprise and faint happiness.

"I was thanking we'd take a small picnic to the park and watch some fireworks."

"Fireworks..? It's not the Fourth of July, Thomas."

He shrugs. "Well they've got fireworks tomorrow at a local park. What do you say, Cass? Go on a date with me?"

I gulp. "I thought we promised that we wouldn't..."

"Fall in love?" He finishes for me. "Yes, we promised that, but we didn't promise no dates."

I think about it for a moment. But, come on, how does he even think I'll say no when his eyes are doing that begging-thing of his?

"Okay. I'll go with you."

He smiles. "Perfect. Wonderful. I think it will be fun."

I nod. "I think so, too."

"Alright. You get some sleep, and I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay. See you."

He gives me a nod and a smile before leaving my hotel room.

Another date with Tom. It felt so wrong but so right. I didn't want to break my promises, but at the same time, I was enjoying all of this.

Ugh. I really hate being in love.