Y/N
"Were those two girls filming back there?" I asked Tom as we got into the back of the hire car. The chauffeur was putting our suitcases in the boot for us which was nice of him to do.
"Honestly I wasn't even paying attention I just kept my head down and my girl close," he grinned cheekily.
"That was so lame. But no, I think there were people filming us getting in the car," I sighed. The windows were tinted darker than the usual car you'd see for our privacy although I was still weary.
"People take photos all the time, why do you seem nervous about this time?" Tom asked, putting his hand on my thigh with a look at concern.
"Well you posted on Instagram when we got to Los Angeles that we'd be there for a week after the show... But now we're in London straight after," I shrugged.
"You can't just go on the internet and find a list of people who have been deported darling. If it's really that much of an issue, you can just add something to your story saying that we came back for work and setting up the new film or something," Tom shrugged.
We slept in the car from the airport to Tom and Harry's house, waking up briefly to lug our suitcases up the stairs and greet Harry. We then went straight to bed to sleep the jet lag off. I know that people say you shouldn't nap and you should stay awake as long as possible to try and adjust to the time zone difference, but we were exhausted.
I woke up at about five, decided to freshen up with a shower in the ensuite and assumed it was about ten past when Tom shuffled into the shower behind me with his eyes still closed. This boy, loves his sleep.
"Can we get take out tonight?" Tom whined, leaning forward and holding his head straight under the running water, his fringe flattening down across his forehead and over his eyes.
"Whatever you want, I'm good with anything," I said smiling to myself as he exhaled a deep breath, spitting out a bit of water at the same time.
Something I had learnt about Tom in our short relationship thus far, was that it took him a really long time to 'properly' wake up. Seriously, he sets an alarm in the morning, just to lay in bed for half an hour on his phone, then has a shower, then has a tea, then gets ready for the day. And even then, he's still half asleep by the time he gets to work.
"Now that we know we can't go back to America for three years, have you thought about buying a place somewhere else? Maybe here in London?" Tom asked, his lips curling into a little smile as I turned the shower off and dried myself with a nearby towel.
To be fair, I hadn't even thought about it. My only through process lately was surrounding the new film and launching my writing career. Wait, fuck. Is he trying to insinuate that he wants me to not stay here? I don't even think I asked if I could live with him again, shit.
"Fuck, I didn't even ask you if I could stay here again did I? Shit Tom I'm so sorry, I've completely overstayed my welcome. I promise I'll look for rental places in between work," I said screwing my face up.
Another thing about Tom that I had learnt was he took a while to get dressed after his showers. When I finished having a shower for instance, I would dry off, wrap my hair up in a towel and get changed. Or if I had somewhere to go I would blow dry my hair. Tom on the other hand, rubs his hair with the towel, lays down his body and then walks around the house with the towel around his waist for like twenty minutes.
I genuinely don't understand why. I asked him once and he said it was to make sure he was 'proper dry' before getting dressed. I have no idea what that meant but I'm not complaining seeing him walk around naked albeit the towel. This is how he looked right now as I had changed into pajamas to go into the living room where Harry was watching television.
"Don't be stupid, you're always welcome here. We used to have like four people living here at one point... And Harry doesn't mind if you're here, right Harry?" He said grinning at me before looking at his brother across the room who had not been involved in our prior conversation what so ever.
"Huh?"
"See? Harry doesn't care," Tom smiled.
I was embarrassed for assuming that I could stay here whilst in London for the film, but I hadn't thought any further about my long term plans without America in the picture. I guess if Tom lives in London, I should probably buy a place in London too so we can be near each other right? That's what couples do.
And I don't mind London, I actually quite like it a lot. I like the cold, I like the roads and the trees, I like how the buildings look and how the people aren't very tanned. I like it here more than Los Angeles I think.
"Harry! What should we order tonight?" Tom called out from the kitchen, scanning the refrigerator for a beer and sighing when there was only bottles of Harry's favourite and not his. Which made perfect sense given he hadn't been here for over a week.
"Italian? Chinese?" He suggested.
"Ooh Italian! Yes, yes, yes," I said eagerly, looking up from my phone as I had searched 'London properties for rent' into Google. I'm still a little hazy on what the currency conversion is here so I can't tell if these prices are good or not, I'll have to switch back and forth between tabs to convert the figures.
"Like shitty pizza or nice pizza... Or like a proper Italian restaurant?" Harry asked with a chuckle.
"Are you thick Harry? We have to order from Cinque e Cucina, Y/N needs to taste their heavenly Tuscan meatballs," Tom scoffed as he walked back towards us with his 'shitty' beer. He still drank it though.
Harry and Tom had their differences but mainly in two things in particular:
1) Who made better tea
2) Who drinks better beer
"Oh shit did we not order from Cinque last time you stayed? Fuck, it's actually so good, as good as legit places in Italy," Harry said excitedly.
"Best balls that have ever been in my mouth, hands down," Tom said chuckling, holding the beer bottle against his lips with half a cheeky grin.
"What other balls have been in your mouth mate?" Harry taunted.
"You didn't offer to get Harry or I a drink at all? You're just happy walking around naked in your towel with sopping wet hair and drinking his beer huh?" I taunted, looking at Harry and offering to get him a drink as I got up off the couch to pour myself a glass of soda.
Tom grinned as I came back and took my phone from his hands where he had started scrolling through the rental properties on the screen. He told me I was looking in he wrong suburbs and that I would inevitably get stabbed by a 'road man' if I lived there. I don't know what a road man is but I'd prefer to not get stabbed by one.
"Why are you looking at rentals?" Tom asked cocking one of his eyebrows up.
"To.. Live... In?" I said squinting at him with furrowed brows. What type of question was that, we just had a conversation about me moving to London.
"Why not just buy a place?" He shrugged.
"Because I'm not a millionaire with a shit tonne of cash to put down on a house and I'm not a British citizen?"
"But you will be after the film," he smiled.
"A millionaire? I highly doubt it. I still won't be a citizen though. Can you even buy property if you dont hold a passport here?" I said opening a new tab on my phone to google it.
I know how long it took for me to get a working visa in the states, apply for rentals and be rejected time after time. I mentally sighed at the prospect of having to do that again here in London. It's exhausting. That's why when I met Magda, a retired film editor with a mansion and free space, I jumped at the opportunity of living in her downstairs floor.
"Why don't you just live with me?" Tom said quietly.
"Isn't that a discussion you should have with Harry like, privately?" I said looking over at Harry who once again wasn't paying attention to our conversation at all.
"No I mean like, why don't you and I buy a house together. I am a citizen after all, and we both have money, and we're locked out of America for three years. We might as well settle down somewhere," Tom shrugged.
I almost choked on my drink hearing him say that. I won't lie, it really caught me off guard.
"Don't you think it's a little... fast to be buying a property together Tom?" I asked, not really expecting to be having this conversation so early in our relationship.
"Not now obviously, you can stay here as long as you need but like, in the future... Maybe we could keep that as an option in our heads, living together, just us."