Something to Cool Could Happen: A Tom Holland Love Story

18: Phone Calls and Freak Outs

"Ok. I'm pressing send." Tom said, hovering the mouse over the send button. They whole gang was gathered around the computer screen, staring at the files neatly placed in the email. They all closed their eyes, hearing the click of the mouse. Now, they could only wait.

Penelope tossed and turned, sad to be in her own bed. All by herself. It had been a week since they sent in her audition and only one day since the boys had left, their vacation time coming to an end too soon. Of course they couldn't have stayed past two weeks anyway—her parents would flip—but she missed them so much. She despaired the day they went to replace her mailbox: she didn't want to be apart from them. She was like any other theatre kid when it came to the cast list coming out or waiting for that very important call, but this time was worse than any other. Tom warned her it might take some time, and she understood that completely, but it didn't make it any easier. Lucky for her, she had their numbers and Instagrams: a call, text, or even just tons of photos of them were at her fingertips. Tom has already called her twice that day, before and after the plane ride. Jacob went through her Instagram and liked every single picture, making her heart smile. And of course Haz has texted her, assuring her that she'd see them soon. She hoped he was right. She couldn't help but play the last moments of them together over and over in her head.

"I love you, Penelope!" Tom said loudly out his window, waving. Their car was on the road but not moving very fast.

"This isn't goodbye! By a long shot!" Haz shouted, doing a U-turn. She loved that she could tell they didn't want to leave.

"Don't forget the time zone difference!" Jacob struggled to yell out the window, making her laugh as she waved to them as they finally drove off.

She hugged her pillow. At least her family would be back tomorrow. She'd have to explain the new mailbox, but other than that it would be nice to see them again. Scooby jumped on her bed, laying down at her feet. She sat up and stroked the dog's sleek coat. Scooby started licking her hand, comforting her. Soon enough she felt Patches kneeding on her leg, pricking her slightly with his claw massage. She laid back down, and he crawled onto her stomach making himself at home. She pat the cat's head lightly, feeling sleep coming on.

***

The next morning, Penelope awoke to her alarming sounding off. She got up and pulled on fresh pair of of leggings. She made her way downstairs to the den, put on a movie and started stretching. It wasn't the same without Tom, but no way was she skipping. She stretched before Tom, so she can stretch after Tom. Finally resting in a spilt, she shut her eyes, trying to relax. She barely noticed her phone buzzing next to her. When she did, she picked it up, expecting her Mom or maybe even one of the boys. But it was neither. At first it seemed like a random number, until she looked at the location. She hit accept and put it up to her ear, almost shaking.

"Hello, is this Penelope Greene?"

"Yes, that's me." She smiled, trying to calm herself.

"Hi, my name's Jon Watts, director of the newest Spider-Man films."

"Oh, hi! How are you?" She felt a wave of heat come over her, her core buzzing.

"I'm great, thank you. Let's cut to the chase, I'm sending you a plane ticket and some other important stuff to the email on your resume, so you should definitely check on that...and I look forward to seeing you in person for a screen test."

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" She said it so calmly, but she was exploding.

"Thank you, have a great day and safe travels."

"You too!" She hung up and immediately checked her email. She could barely breathe as it refreshed, but sure enough there it was. The email. She opened it up, joyfully screaming as she read the schedule, looked at the plane ticket, went over all the forms and the scene she was going to do. She checked the time. Before she could go into her world clock to see if Tom would be awake or free, she heard Scooby go crazy and the front door open. She ran to the living room to see her parents and little sis. She burst. "Guess what!"