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JULY 26TH, 2017 — ❝ CHEESEBURGER IN PARADISE! ❞
It had taken an hour and a half longer than usual for Eloise to sleep.
She could believe that Tom Hiddleston was spending the night in her house. That he'd called her beautiful, an angel. That he kept running his hand through her hair, and said it reminded him of clouds.
Holy Christ Almighty.
When she woke the next morning, the morning sun was peeking in through her blinds, and she groaned, grabbing her phone. The clock read nine forty-five, and she rubbed her eyes. She flicked through her notifications, before finally pulling herself out of her bed.
Nikolai was already awake, and downstairs making eggs. Eloise was halfway down the stairs when she heard two different male voices, and knew that Tom must have woken up before her. She took a deep breath, rounding the staircase and into the kitchen.
"Good morning, my darling!" Nikolai smiled at his daughter, handing her a glass of orange juice. "I wish you had told me Tom was spending the night. I would have gotten him some pajamas!"
Looking over at Tom guiltily, she said, "It was, uh . . . Kind of a last minute thing. You were in bed. And I knew you'd overworked yourself, again." She was steering the conversation away from her and Tom, something she did too often when she was too nervous to talk about something.
Tom looked over at her, and then asked Nikolai, "How's your new book coming along?"
"Unfortunately, I'm not feeling this one that much." He shrugged, turning off the stove and separating the eggs onto three different plates. "If you want, darling, you're free to take the idea. It's synopsis hadn't been announced yet."
"Do you trade ideas often?" Tom asked, following Nikolai over to the table. Eloise nodded, sitting across from him, and replied, "That's how I got the idea for Sorrowful Beauty and Heart of Gold."
"And she's also the reason how I got most of my ideas for my series Stars Awaken." Nikolai explained, coming over with his own plate. "Juice, coffee, or tea, anyone?"
Eloise lifted her cup in response, signaling juice, and Tom asked, "Could I have some tea, please?"
"I like him." Nikolai said to Eloise, making both she and Tom asked. Once the three of them were all seated with their breakfast and drinks, Tom asked, "So, I've been wondering this. How do you have an slight English accent, but Eloise doesn't?"
Nikolai was sitting next to his daughter, and they exchanged smiles. "When I was a boy, I was sent to a boarding school in New Cross. I chose to go, and the scholarship was fully supported, which was a plus. I ended up just . . . Staying there, living there after I turned eighteen, and wrote letters to my father before his death.
"I came back to America once for his funeral, moving back to England after that with my aunt, and there I met Eloise's mother." Nikolai paused, looking down at the table. He then smiled, looking back up and continued. "Eloise got her mother's accent. And, living in America her whole life does that to her. The small accent I'd picked up has been fading over time."
Tom nodded, and asked, "How long have you two been living in this house?"
"We moved in here when I was ten," Eloise started to explain, "right after BBC picked up Stars Awaken. Before this, we were living in a one-bedroom apartment in New York. A real small place, not even 1000 square feet."
"Even with the royalties coming in?" Tom asked curiously, and Nikolai nodded, explaining further, "It's not cheap to live in a one-bedroom apartment in New York. We're incredibly blessed to live here in this house and state."
Tom nodded. He'd had friends who had struggled before they became rich, and there were still people who were struggling today.
Changing the subject, Nikolai asked, "Are you two kids going out today?"
Tom chuckled, and Eloise looked over at him, and asked, "Are we still on for burgers?"
"I'd love a good burger," He replied, folding his hands on the table. He smiled at her again, and her heart fluttered.
Yep. She was screwed.
↠↠↠↠↠
"I love your car, can I say that?" Tom said as they got in, and she laughed, replying, "I think you should be allowed to say that."
He laughed as well, and then quietly said, "I hope you don't mind that I keep asking you and your father questions about things. I don't want to be too intrusive."
"No, not at all," Eloise replied as they buckled themselves in. "If anything, he likes meeting new people and getting to know them. He and I are a little sheltered up here in our house together."
"Does that ever get tiring?" Tom asked as she put the keys into the ignition. "I'd almost be afraid of getting irritated at my company."
Eloise shook her head. "No, we've always been like that. Of course, if it's my period, I get crabby, but my dad and I like each other's company. My mom . . . " She trailed off, and then shook her head. "I haven't talked to my mom in a while. Only because, she's, well, off doing her own thing."
Tom was noticing that Eloise had secret little sore spots. They weren't as noticeable to others as they were to him, but he knew that one day in the future, he'd want to ask her about some of them.
As they rode out of the neighborhood and into town, they had a carpool karaoke session. Eloise had given him free-reign, and he'd put on a lot of early 2000s music, which made her laugh and love him even more.
Later in the day, Nikolai was going to get on a flight to New York to start his international tour, and wasn't going to be back for another month and a half.
When they pulled into the parking lot, Eloise parked and as she took the keys out of the ignition, Tom asked, "Hey, Eloise . . . " She looked over at him, and he felt suddenly insecure about his question. " . . . When you met me last year, did you really want to go out for dinner with me?"
Shifting in her seat to unbuckle herself, Eloise looked away from him and said, "Yes. Yes, I had wanted to do that."
Tom bit the inside of his cheek as he unbuckled himself as well, and they walked in silently, Eloise desperately wanting to reach over and hold his hand, and unbeknownst to her, Tom wanted to do the same.
They ordered their food and sat down in a booth, and Eloise asked, "So, Tom. How was comic con?"
He laughed, replying, "It was fun, I had a lot of fun. Are you as dedicated as the fans I met?"
"Oh, honey," Eloise replied, leaning forward on the table. "I used to go to those. Every single convention I could. Just for the chance to meet you."
"Really?" Tom asked, surprised. "How come we never met?"
"The lines would always become too full before I had the chance to join, I didn't have enough money to get a photo op, or it was just that fate didn't want me to." Eloise shrugged, but it was obvious to Tom that she was still a bit upset about it.
Reaching across the table and squeezing her hand reassuringly, he grinned at her, and said, "Then it's a good thing fate let us meet."
Eloise blushed, looking away, and grinning. "You . . . " She trailed off. She looked back over at their hands, which were still intertwined, and then up into his eyes. " . . . I don't even know what to say."
Tom laughed, and took his hand away, resting it under his chin. "Since our date last night wasn't the greatest because I decided to be a bit of an ass-"
"You were not-" Eloise tried to interrupt, but Tom continued, "-I want to make this lunch up to you. You can see the fully sober me. The best me."
His smile made her heart flutter, and she said, "The best you is all of you-"
Cutting herself off, Eloise grimaced, and then reached into her bag, pulling out her inhaler. Tom looked down at his hands, which were fumbling nervously with each other, and then looked up when Eloise put her inhaler back in her pocket.
Tom opened his mouth to say something, when the speakers in the restaurant started playing music. Eloise laughed at the song playing, and said, "My aunt used to always sing this to me whenever we got burgers."
"Cheeseburger in paradise," Tom sang to her in a Southern drawl, making her laugh and exclaim, "I love it!"
The two of them laughed, and Eloise put her hands on the table, and said, "Okay, Tom. I've been wanting to ask you something, but I keep chickening out."
He nodded, saying a small, "okay," and waiting for her to go on.
"Have you read all of my books?" She asked, putting one of her hands under her chin. Tom smiled, and replied, "Over the last eight months, I've read all nine of your books."
Eloise grinned, and Tom continued, "And my favorite still is Happier Now and Then."
Her novella that she'd written years ago, her first published book. Eloise had written it when she was seventeen, ten years after her mother had divorced her father and left them. It had been classified as "fictional," but if anything, it shed more light on her mother's affair, the devastation that followed, and the heartbreak of her father through fictional characters that resembled the four of them (Eloise, Nikolai, her mother, and her mother's lover).
"That was my first book I published," Eloise said, "and I was honestly afraid it'd get bad reviews. But it got rave reviews, as a honest, cutthroat, depressing story about what affairs do to people and their families. I like to think of it as one of my best works."
"And it definitely is," Tom replied, "I wanted to read your books in order of publication, and I have to say, because I read Happier Now and Then first, and then The Tides of Remorse second, they have a very special place in my heart."
That made Eloise's heart soar. The Tides of Remorse was a book she was incredibly attached to-she'd written it when she went on tour with her father for one of his books, and seeing all the different people and places inspired her to write a book about mental illnesses.
"You definitely kicked off your career at a very important note, if I'm honest," Tom said, "talking about the affects of an affair, talking about mental illnesses, and then you third book kicked off a fictional series that's probably going to be picked up for a TV series."
Smiling, Eloise looked out the window, and said, "You make me very happy, Tom." She looked over at him. "I don't think you realize that."
Tom's heart fluttered. He was starting to catch feelings for her, and he hoped that it was obvious to Eloise . . . He liked her.
↠↠↠↠↠
Tom and Eloise had spent the entire day together, hanging out in her house.
They bid Nikolai goodbye before he left, Eloise giving him a hug and kiss before he went. When they settled down on the couch in the upstairs loft, they were deciding what movie they wanted to watch.
"Favorite movie?" Tom asked, and Eloise smiled, replying, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I love that movie so much. What about you?"
"One of my many, many, favorites would have to be Dirty Dancing." Tom looked over at her, to already see her grinning.
"Then we're watching that one, then," Eloise said, winking at him.
They were lying with their heads on each side of the couch, their legs intertwined in the middle.
As the movie went on, and the two of them sang together, the sun finally set, and Eloise was forced to get up and turn some lights on in the house.
When their movie ended, Tom asked, "This may sound weird, but do you have any lip balm?"
"Not weird at all," She replied, chuckling, and led him down the hallway into her room. She gave him her lip balm, and they made small talk.
When he put the cap back on, he started to say something, but it was completely lost on Eloise. She was staring into his eyes, and when he asked, "Eloise?"
She said, "Huh?"
Tom laughed. This was probably something that happened to him often, Eloise thought, wanting to kick herself for getting lost in his eyes. "Sorry, what was that?"
"Oh, I was asking if you'd like to go on another date with me soon," Tom replied, "I like spending time with you."
Eloise grinned. "I'd love nothing more," She replied, "I get to choose the place next time."
"Deal."