olivia , tom hiddleston

nine

chapter nine
I can't do this
Monday 29th January 2018

Shakily, Olivia ran a hand through her hair as she checked over her appearance in the car mirror. She was sat outside Tom's house, and she had been for a couple of minutes. "Okay, Olivia, you're just gonna walk in there and tell him that it's over." She encouraged herself, but her heart was rejecting the words as it was beating quickly.

The woman sighed and finally opened the car door, letting the chilly Monday night air slap her in the face. Her boots clicked nervously against the tarmac path leading up to Tom's smart back door.

This part of London, Belsize Park, was quite familiar to Olivia. She had visited Martin Freeman here regularly and the pair had even deeply discussed the Jones getting a house in the neighbourhood. In the dark, it was difficult to be blown away by the beauty of the road with crisp white houses and sleek black doors.

When Olivia reached the door, she pressed her index finger lightly against the door bell. She shoved her hands in her coat pockets but couldn't fight her smile when she heard Tom's dog bark from inside.

The door in front of Olivia Jones opened suddenly and a disheveled looking Tom appeared with an awkward smile. He had on a loose pair of trousers and a baggy hoody. He had his glasses rested on the bridge of his nose, and a few strands of his hair had fallen out from behind his ears.

"Hi, come in," Tom said quickly, stepping away so that Olivia could move into the hallway. She smiled in thanks when Tom took her coat and hung it up behind the door. "I, uh, I completely forgot to warn you about Bobby." Tom mumbled softly as he led her into his lounge. He had a fire burning, which made shadows dance across the room and send out bursts of heat.

"No, it's okay. I love dogs." Olivia replied.

"Well, I'll let him in but he might be a bit jumpy." He warned but the woman just shrugged lightly as she was used to over excited dogs. Tom disappeared quickly and almost immediately, a dog ran into the room with its tongue flapping from its lips at the knew person. Olivia smiled brightly and kneeled down on the floor to stroke him and stop it from jumping up at her.

"How old is he?" She asked but she wasn't sure why. She had come here to end whatever it was going on between herself and Tom. All this delaying made Olivia want to stand closer to the man and forget everything that happened this weekend.

"I got him in October. He's about 5 months old." Tom explained and smiled softly as Olivia positioned herself against the sofa's arm on the floor, scooping Bobby into her lap. Tom moved to the sofa and sat on the floor next to her, leaning so that his back rested on the sofa behind them.

"He's adorable." She whispered when Bobby allowed her to scratch under his ears. She turned to Tom and smiled, but when she caught sight of his guilty look, the smile disappeared.

"Look, Olivia..." He began but his voice trailed off. The actor wasn't sure what Olivia was feeling and what she felt towards Tom.

"Why did you lie?" Olivia decided that there was no point trying to slowly tare away the band aid but rip it off and make the cut deeper.

"I-I..." He had thought it all through, but now, sat here with Olivia in his lounge with his dog in her lap, he couldn't piece together why he would ever lie to anyone like Olivia Jones.