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[REAL LIFE]
It was 6:54 pm. Harper was sitting on the edge of her bed, her knee drumming nervously. She kept eyeing the door, as if it would tell her that Tom was coming.
Harper was never one for going outside of her comfort zone, so she stuck to a ruffled red and white polka-dotted dress and some black boots.
She was freaking the fuck out to say the least.
Because Tom gave her this feeling that made her more nervous than she'd ever been. When she talked to him, her throat would get dry. When she caught herself staring at him, her own cheeks would heat up and her palms would start to sweat. And she couldn't figure out how to stop these things from happening, Because how can you know how to handle feelings that you've tried to hide from?
Harper let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
"Okay," she consoled herself out loud.
"You've got this. Why are you worrying? Stop being a little bitch."
She sighed. self-assurance wasn't exactly helping the nerves.
Harper paced around her room, twirling her ring around her pointer finger.
A knock on her door brought her out of her own head. she stumbled over a foot as she went to grab the handle. She swung the door open to see a incredibly handsome Tom, wearing a black button up and dark jeans, giving her a tiny smile and wave.
"Hey!"
"Hi!"
The pair spoke at the same time, laughing at their own awkwardness.
"You look absolutely beautiful, Harper."
Harper felt the sides of her mouth raise and her cheeks burn.
"You look absolutely beautiful too, Tommy"
Tom laughed and thanked her.
They started walking down the hallway in comfortable silence, getting into the elevator when Harper asked,
"What's the plan? I'm kinda hoping this is some elaborate scheme to kidnap me and send me to a drug lord."
Tom shrugged.
"I mean, I wasn't planning on a drug lord but I could try and make that happen."
The conversation continued as they exited the building, starting down 79th street in a brisk walk.
Tom paused in front of a small chinese restaurant.
"Stay here for a second, will you?"
Tom sped-walked through the door. harper stood and scrolled through her phone, clearing messages from the likes of Seb, Chris, Mackie and Frankie asking for details about their date.
"Okay, ready to keep going?" Tom said, appearing next to Harper with a picnic basket.
"Where in the living hell did you get that thing?" Harper asked with a laugh.
Tom wiggled his eyebrows, and said,
"I know people. Now c'mon, we have shit to do."
They had been walking for 3 blocks when they came upon a familiar sight.
"Central park, how tourist of you Tommy!"
Harper said, nudging the boy's shoulder.
"Now you judge me, but just wait. You're about to have the time of your life," he grinned.
Tom lead them down a path through the park, admiring the trees and pond that sat blissfully in the middle of a bustiling city.
She followed him to a bench that sat in between two willows. Tom sat down and patted the spot next to him, Harper following in suit and plopping down.
Tom began to clear his throat;
"I first wanted to thank you for taking me along with you today, I haven't had that much fun with someone in a while."
"No need to thank me Tomato, I had an amazing time too. I hope I didn't freak you out too much with my immense knowledge of Atila the Hun."
"That was slightly freaky."
"Whatever."
"But as I was saying," Tom took a pause and looked directly into Harper's eyes, "I really have had fun with you the past few days, and I want to keep getting to know you better," his voice faltered at the end as his gaze went down to his hands.
Harper surprised herself by what she said next.
"I really like hanging out with you Tom. and I won't lie, sometimes, you annoy the fuck out of me, but you're still great."
Tom grinned, "Ouch."
"And I want to now thank you for taking me on this date. Even though I still don't really know what's going on."
"Oh right!" Tom picked up the picnic basket from where he placed it on the ground.
"I was thinking about all our conversations and what you told me that you liked and disliked. So, I bought us Chinese food," he pulled out cartons and chopsticks, "and I brought some real cinema," he said while pulling a Macbook out of the picnic basket.
"Tom fucking Holland, you left a picnic basket with a 1,000 dollar computer in a Chinese restaurant in New York City? Are you on straight crack?" Tom stayed silent and started typing in a password.
"Whatever, you're just mad because you would never have the guts to do that," Tom scoffed.
Harper raised an eyebrow.
"Or maybe I don't have the mental capacity of a squirrel."
"Hey, it's been proven that squirrels are kind of smart," Tom said with a laugh.
"I bet you read that on Buzzfeed."
Tom didn't give her an answer but stuck his tongue out at the girl. He then twisted the computer away from her.
"Are you ready to see what we're gonna watch?"
"Hell yeah."
Tom twisted the computer back towards Harper with a sheepish smile. Harper's eyes widened in shock.
"You brought me Chinese food and now we're watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. you have officially been removed from my hit list!"
Harper giggled at the awkward look on toms face.
"BUT FIRST," Tom said raising his voice, "you have to tell me a little bit about yourself."
"see, now you just got added back on my list. you're like number 34," Harper grunted.
"C'mon. I feel like I don't know enough about you after knowing you for at least a year! All I want to do is listen to your life story and eat chicken fried rice."
"Fine," Harper whined as she opened up a small container of miso soup, "ask away."
Tom gave her a toothy smile that she couldn't help but return.
"What's up with the Harry Potter obsession?"
"Is that even a question?" Harper snorted. "The characters are amazing, the story is incredible, and i mean J.K. Rowling can suck my dick but it sort of gave me an escape when I was younger."
Tom paused before following up.
"An escape from what, if I may ask?"
She gave him a slight smile that he noticed didn't reach her eyes.
"When I was younger, I knew that my parents were never happy throughout their marriage. It was evident by their constant debate on who was gonna take me to school, all the way to whether they should keep their bakery open. By the way, I know I didn't have a rough childhood. There are children out there that go through experiences that no child should ever go though, so I wouldn't like sympathy. But, it definitely drove me to become more closed off and weary of others."
harper paused, taking a deep breath after letting out the information that weighed on her conscience, "so, books like Harry Potter and films like The Avengers helped and raised me through a time where I wasn't receiving parenting at home."
Tom hesitantly reached for her hand. It was soft under his own, but he could feel them oh-so slightly shaking.
"Harps, I really didn't mean to pry, I just—"
"Tom, I promise you it's fine. I'm just not used to talking about myself all that much."
Tom smiled and removed his hand. They ate in silence for a few minutes, eating and taking in their surroundings.
"So, can I ask a question now?" Harper questioned.
Tom swallowed.
"Go right ahead."
"On a scale of one to me during Captain Marvel reshoots, how exciting was being Billy Elliot?"
Tom gave a giggle that Harper has never heard before, and it made her laugh too.
"I loved Billy Elliot. So much. Y'know, acting in movies has and always will be my dream job, but something about being on stage and seeing strangers faces in the audience, knowing they are watching you, there is nothing like it. Plus, I loved when people got excited about me landing a triple pirouette."
"That sounds like an amazing experience. I bet you had the ladies crawling all over you after you grand jeté'd into their hearts."
Tom shook his head with a mouth full of rice.
"Nope. Not at all."
Harper gave him her best surprised face.
"So it wasn't Love Island, theatre version?"
"Sadly, no. I mean, I met my first girlfriend through it, but it didn't end up working out too well."
Harper raised an eyebrow.
"Juicy, talking about our exes now."
Tom rolled his eyes.
"No. Now it is time to see Hermione in those low rise jeans. what a 2000's sentence."
Tom reached down and pulled a thick blanket out of the basket.
"Damn Holland, is that Hermione's bag? You're probably got an alpaca hiding in there!
Tom smiled.
"Always the tone of surprise."
Harper and Tom settled next to one another their eyes meeting each other's. Both turned slightly pink as Hedwig's Theme started to play.
"Hey Tommy?"
"Yeah, love?"
"Thank you for this. This was the best date I've ever been on."
"It's my pleasure. I'm very happy you said yes to me."
"Me too."
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i know, I KNOW. i wanted a tarper kiss. you maybe wanted a tarper kiss. rami malek, if he read this, would probably want a tarper kiss. but i have to keep all you beautiful people on your toes. but I PROMISE, stuff is about to get exciting. if you thought this was good at all, comment something. maybe comment "cooties" i don't know. i just like hearing from you guys.
LOVE YOU ALL :))