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APRIL 23RD, 2018 — ❝ IF LOKI DIES, I'M RIOTING. ❞
Eloise looked down at the two tickets she had in her hand.
One of them was the ticket for the movie. The second one was a ticket to pick up a dress to rent.
So here she was, dressed in a red button-up and blue jeans, matched with black flats. She had sunglasses hiding her eyes, which were slightly glazed, but also hiding them from the incredibly bright sun--brighter than usual, thanks to the mini-hangover she was nursing.
She watched everyone interact with each other, and then saw Chris Hemsworth from afar, with his wife, Elsa. Part of her wanted to go up to him, to go hug him, and apologize for distancing herself from him, but instead she stayed, her feet glued to the ground, as she continued watching everything, unsure.
"Eloise!" She snapped back into reality, looking around, and saw Chris walking towards her, hand-in-hand with Elsa.
Seeing Chris so happy with his wife made Eloise feel incredibly sad. "Hi, Chris," Eloise lamely responded, and then said, "Hi, Elsa."
"You came! I was hoping you'd come," Elsa replied, and then saw Eloise's sunglasses, and the downcast look that had come about her friend. "How are you doing, honey?"
Eloise licked her lips, and went to reply something snarky, before she sighed, and replied, "Well, these last few months have been fucking rough. But, well . . . I decided I might as well come here."
"A little hungover, eh Eloise?" Chris gently teased, and Eloise said, "Yeah."
Chris stepped forward, slinging his arm around Eloise, and pulled her towards him, into a group hug with Elsa. "Now, let me help you lose that frown of yours, Eloise," He said, "I've missed you too much for you to my little cloud of rain."
As the three of them walked, Elsa on Chris's left side, while Eloise was on his right, she stretched her arm across his chest, and said, "I'm sorry. I've been really upset these last few days. I got drunk last night at my hotel's bar. I'm not sure how I'm going to react when I see Tom, though."
Chris sharply inhaled, and said, "He's really nervous. So nervous, in fact, that he refuses to come out of his dressing room."
"He says he won't come out unless you're here," Elsa added. "If you hadn't come, I don't know who would've ended up dragging him out of his dressing room."
Eloise bit her lip as she pictured Tom, huddled in his dressing room, refusing to answer the door whenever someone knocked, and would only say, "I'll come out once Eloise is here!"
She was quieter, after hearing that, when she continued walking with Chris and Elsa into the building where the dressing rooms were. She'd taken off her sunglasses, hanging them on her collar, and took deep, calming breaths.
This was the first time she'd be seeing Tom in four months, and her heart was slowly descending into her stomach as she took each step closer to his dressing room. When they finally stopped, she sucked a breath in anticipation.
Chris withdrew his arms from the two women, and raised his hand, knocking on Tom's dressing room. "Who is it?" His voice called from inside the dressing room.
"It's Chris--"
"Chris, I already told you, I won't--"
"Come out until I'm here." Eloise finished, speaking up. She looked at the floor, and then back up at the door, and then, she heard footsteps coming towards the door.
Once the door opened, it was like the world around her melted away. It was him, it was her Tom, and he looked down at her, as if he was in shock as well. "Eloise," He said, shaking his head. "I . . . I didn't think you'd come."
"Well, I'm, uh, I'm here," Eloise replied lamely, looking up at him. She had no idea what to say, and she could tell he didn't know what to say either. They were both at a loss for words.
"We'll leave you two to it," Elsa said, grabbing her husband's arm, and dragged him down the hall.
Tom stepped away from the door, and said, "Uh, come in. We have . . . A lot to talk about, don't we?"
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Eloise and Tom awkwardly and quietly sat across from each other, and at the same time said:
"I'm sorry I didn't call."
"Your hair is different."
They both sheepishly laughed, blushing, and again said at the same time, "You first."
"I'll go first." Eloise said, and then sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Not long after dad got out of the hospital, Nicolas came by. You've heard . . . Bits and pieces about Nicolas. He is my ex . . . The one who abused me.
"Well, he came by for a few days, disrupting my dad's peace and trying to convince me to leave you. The last night I spent at the house, with Nicolas there, it turned out he was wanted in Indiana for countless abuse charges. Keeping his exes hostage. Evading arrest. Dad and Penelope messaged Robert, and sent me to New York to get away from Nicolas. I'm staying in one of Robert's apartment's that he's not currently in."
"But that's not the full story," Tom gently added, and she nodded, and he continued, "I'll hear the rest when the time is right. So let me tell you my side as well:
"I didn't think my agent would have signed me up for so much . . . But oh, he did. And after the press tour for Early Man was early, I was about to schedule a flight home. And then my agent came to me, and said I had three upcoming auditions, and a short film to film. And so I let myself get swept out, into all of these auditions, and the script of this short film, and then, by the time all that was over . . .
"My agent came back to me again, saying I couldn't go home. I had so much more to do, and he introduced me to my new personal assistant." Tom rubbed his eyes, and said, "He tried setting the two of us up on dates, multiple times. He knew we'd be seen together. We'd be photographed together. And he did it anyway. I'm . . . I'm not sure if you ever saw any of the pictures online or not."
Eloise stared at her hands. She had. She'd seen all of the photos from the three dates the two of them had gone on. She looked at all of them, and then cried hysterically in her apartment bedroom.
Tom leaned forward, and quietly said, "I'm so sorry, Eloise. For all of it. For letting myself getting taken advantage of. For everything Nicolas put you through. And for all you had to go through alone."
And just like that, Eloise broke. The tears came streaming down her cheeks, and Eloise fidgeted with her hands. For the past few months, she'd been having to nurse her heartbreak by herself, not telling anyone except for her therapist how she'd been feeling.
She refused to talk to anyone about Tom, after so long.
The very mention of his name hurt too much. And looking at his ring? Eloise would cry herself to sleep at night as she overlooked it on her nightstand.
Tom wrapped her arms around her, and brought her close to his chest. She cried into his arms, not caring if she ruined his shirt or not. In a way, she felt he deserved it, for all she had gone through all alone.
"I will never leave you again, Eloise," Tom whispered, and then took his left hand from her back, and reached into his pocket. "And I know you probably don't believe me, but . . . Will you now?"
Eloise pulled away in confusion, looking up at him. She then looked down at his outstretched hand, and gave a small gasp.
He was holding a velvet red box--with a small ring inside of it.
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Eloise looked down at her left hand one more time.
She still couldn't believe it.
Tonight, she and Tom were going to announce their engagement. And they were going to let everyone know that they were getting married.
Tom had said, "I don't show off many things . . . But I want to show the whole world how much I love you, Eloise. I want the whole world to know that you are the woman I will forever be in love with." And she had cried again, hearing that.
No one but Nikolai and Penelope knew. Eloise had called them, crying, and then texted them a picture of it. They hadn't even told Chris and Elsa, or even Mark or Robert.
Eloise felt a bit jittery, since she was going to step out again as an engaged woman. This time, she remembered not to drink any coffee. It made her nerves even worse, and she'd made that mistake back at the Ragnarok premiere.
Tom looked over at her, grinning widely. He leaned over, grabbing her right hand, and then whispered in her ear, "How does Mrs. Eloise Hiddleston sound?"
She chuckled, and then whispered back, "How does Mr. Tom Hemingway sound?"
This time, he laughed out loud. They weren't sure yet about their last names (who was taking whose), but they were having a good time teasing each other with what their names could be (Eloise had shot down the monstrosity that had been Hiddleway).
Then, the moment came, and they were ushered out.
Tom let Eloise take the lead, and immediately, her ring was noticed amongst all of the photographers. They started calling out their names, asking about the ring, and the two of them grinned widely as they made their way towards the interviewers.
As soon as they were spotted, they were called over for three separate interviews. "I'll take one, you'll take the other, and then we'll take the last one?" Tom said to Eloise, who nodded.
Eloise lifted up the small train of her dress, and walked towards the other interviewer, the woman looked incredibly excited that she was going to be interviewing Eloise.
"Hi! Hello, how are you?" Eloise said.
"I'm good! How are you? I'm sure you're floating on a cloud right now!"
Blushing, Eloise lifted up her left hand, and replied, "Yes! This actually just happened. I'm still in disbelief. Isn't it beautiful? I'm so happy right now."
"So, it's confirmed then? The two of you will be getting married?"
Eloise nodded in confirmation, and said, "We don't have the date yet, of course, but we're getting married. And I can't wait."
She felt a hand on her waist, and turned to see Tom, and grinned. "Also, I'm so excited to see Infinity War, and if my favorite character dies . . . I'm rioting."
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TOM HIDDLESTON AND ELOISE HEMINGWAY ANNOUNCE ENGAGEMENT AT INFINITY WAR PREMIERE!
(A/N: next chapter is the last chapter. i can't believe we're finally at the end!)