"Hey man!" Tom Holland said casually walking up to Tom Hiddleston who was making a plate of food at the craft services table on set days later.
"Hey." Hiddleston glanced up before turning his attention back to the food.
"How's it going?" Holland grabbed a chicken leg tossing it on his plate. "Eh chicken again."
Hiddleston nodded in agreement. They continued making their plates in silence and Holland followed Hiddleston to a table sitting down across from him.
"Laney not here today?" Hiddleston asked.
"She's here...why?"
"Wondering why you're eating with me and not her." He teased.
Holland laughed. "Well funny you mention Laney.....how are you? You know after your breakup?"
"I've had better days."
"Yeah Laney to." Tom cursed as he realized he had already slipped.
"She's having a hard time?" Hiddleston asked softly.
"Yeah." Holland gave him a strange look, "Of course she is. She just doesn't understand what happened. And I'm gonna be real with you. She called me the day after you left. She was out of her mind hysterical."
Hiddleston set his fork down. He knew she hadn't been ok but he hadn't heard any details about how she was until now. Hearing it out loud was a lot harder then he thought it would be.
"I hate myself for hurting her." Tom admitted.
"I kind of hate you to." Holland replied tightly, narrowing his eyes.
"And Laney?"
Holland shrugged honestly. "I don't know."
"What's going on?" Chris Hemsworth sat down interrupting them.
They both shrugged.
"I'll catch you later man." Holland stood up dumping his plate in the trash he went off to find Laney.
Hiddleston talked with Hemsworth for a while but his mind was on Laney, as it more than often was.
The picture on twitter must have gotten to Laney which is why Holland has come looking for answers. Hiddleston knew how close Laney was to him. Over the course of dating Tom, Laney had stopped hanging out with a lot of her friends. Tom had never asked her to, but he had to admit he didn't mind. He was selfish when it came to Laney and he loved having her all to himself. At some point Laney and Holland had hit it off and Hiddleston wondered if he should be worried even despite their age difference, but he soon realized they really were just the best of friends. He had heard how Holland had been there for Laney after the breakup and he was forever grateful to him for that.
Holland never was able to catch up with Laney, he had to get back on set and by the time he was done for the day she was long gone. Laney had gotten home early that day and was excited to see that her brother had called. Her brother Mike was an IT genius living it up in Silicon Valley. He got engaged to his longtime girlfriend Courtney and their engagement party was at a beautiful outdoor venue on the water in San Francisco. Laney and Tom had gone down for the long weekend booking an outrageous penthouse suite. It had been one of the best weekends of Laney's life.
Mike had called Laney to let her know he would be traveling to Atlanta the next day and would be staying for a few nights for an IT conference. He was hoping she would have some time to catch up. As it turned out Laney was off the next day and was able to rent a car and pick Mike up at the Atlanta airport.
"Mikey!" She called as she saw him exit the terminal.
He grinned and waved making his way towards her.
"Laney-Lou!" He pulled her into his arms for a big hug.
Mike was 18 months older than Laney and they both had the same sandy colored blonde hair and deep green eyes. Their parents owned a winery in Northern California and Laney was certain she had had the best possible childhood. She and Mike had been the best of friends growing up and she loved her new sister-in-law just as much. Mike also had become good friends with Tom over the years. Laney hadn't talked to Mike about the breakup other than a quick text to tell him it had happened.
"It's so good to see you." Laney squeezed her brother tightly.
"You to. You look....like crap." He took a step back looking her over.
"Well gee thanks." She laughed and slapped him playfully.
Mike smiled at her teasingly. "I'm kidding. You look gorgeous as always."
"I wish Courtney could have come."
"She sends her love. She would have come but she's in the middle of a huge case."
"And 5 months pregnant!" Laney clapped her hands together.
"And that."
Courtney was one of the top divorce attorneys in San Francisco and she was also, as Laney had said, 5 months pregnant.
"Can't believe you're going to be a dad in 4 months." Laney's eyes grew wide as they walked towards the baggage claim.
"I can't believe you and Tom broke up."
Laney's head snapped up and her jaw dropped. "Really?"
Mike shrugged and grabbed his suitcase. "You sent me a text Laney, telling me you broke up and I had to call you 3 times before you even talked to me. And even then, you avoided speaking of it. Court saw it on E! News before I even spoke to you. I expect some explanation."
"How about not in the airport?!" Laney hissed.
"Fine but I want to know the whole story, or you don't get to see the newest sonogram of your niece. And don't think you'll get it from Court either. She wants to know what happened too."
"Fine." Laney rolled her eyes.
Grabbing dinner in the restaurant of the hotel Mike was staying at, they secured a table near the back.
Once ordering their drinks Mike wasted no time in getting to the bottom of the breakup.
"So, tell me what happened."
"He broke up with me." Laney took a sip of her ice water.
"I know that. But what did he say. Why? I mean I thought for sure you two were going to get married!"
Laney's chest ached, and she fiddled with the paper from her straw.
Mike stopped noticing the tears settling in Laney's eyes.
"Oh Laney." He said softly.
She looked away. "He didn't give me a reason." She said quietly. "He just said he didn't think we were right for each other anymore."
"I saw the tweet he posted of you.....he talked to me that night, the night of my engagement party. He asked if I thought if Mom and Dad would be ok if he asked you to marry him."
"What?" Laney's eyes flashed back to mike. "And you never said anything to me?"
"Well no. Laney I thought he was going to propose. I didn't want to ruin it."
Laney forced a bitter laugh. "So much for that. "
"That's what I'm saying. It doesn't add up. He was crazy about you. You 2 were so happy."
"I remember." Laney replied flatly.
"I talked to him. "
"When?"
"About a month after you broke up. Maybe longer."
"You called him?"
Mike shook his head. "He called me. "
"And...."
"He apologized for hurting you. He said he knew how he handled things was cowardly."
"Nice of him to apologize to you. And not me."
"He asked how you were and I told him I didn't really know, that I could barely get a hold of you. He sounded heartbroken Lane."
"I don't care!" Laney cried. "I'm heartbroken! Was heartbroken." She tried to correct herself. "He left me in his home where I had to live alone until I could find an apartment. I was humiliated. I didn't have a friend around and everything in that house was HIM! I couldn't sleep in that bed. So I slept on the couch. That's when I slept. The only person who I even talked to was Holland. And he was in London which is why I talked to him because he was far enough away he couldn't come see how pathetic I was."
Mike was quiet for a minute, "No one thinks your pathetic. I'm worried about you. Mom and Dad are worried about you. You didn't even call them."
"To say what? I was dumped?" Laney shook her head flicking the straw paper, that was now a little round perfect ball, across the table.
"I just want to forget him."
"Hard to do as your working with him."
"I barely see him."
Mike raised an eyebrow.
"Can I see the sonogram now?" She held out her hand patiently.