— LOVE BUG
part eighteen ꙳
⋆ ⋆ ⋆
A/N
surprise shawtyyyy
also....
i'm pretty sure when i left, this book
was placed during the summer, but uh,
i'm changing it. lmao whoops.
there's a new song i'm basing part of this fic off,
so hopefully you guys don't mind the change too much.
also, i cannot remember where i said that they lived, and i'm too lazy to reread through the the chapters,
so i'm changing it to louisiana.
underside the window, lina sat anxiously with her head pushed against the glass, her eyes flickering from the clouds that surrounded the plane and her two friends that were passed out next to her. her knee bounced up and down, hitting the small table that was pulled out in front of her.
flying had never been her favorite thing in the world, it scared her and her nerves never seemed to deteriorate no matter how many times she'd done it.
she never figured out if it was the heights or the thought of crashing that scared her the most, never really let herself find out, instead choosing to never leave the ground, unless absolutely necessary, which now apparently included a trip to new york.
hailey had given her a long pep talk for two reasons before they boarded the plane.
the first being " don't think about dying. don't look out the window. and definitely don't think about falling out of the sky at three hundred miles per hour or however fast planes crash. "
at the time it sounded okay.
probably because she was already freaking out and not really paying attention to anything hailey or natalie said.
her only calm thought was finally getting to see their childhood friend who'd been living the hollywood life for so long, that their visits were few and far in between.
the second talk lina received was more of a lecture/warning. and can you take a guess about who it was about? if you said harry styles, well you're very wrong. if you said mr. tom holland, well there's a gold metal waiting for you at the end of this chapter.
natalie had handed her a list of thing she wasn't allowed to do. which included teasing, being rude, or flirting with said boy. not that lina was planning on spending more than even a few minutes alone with him.
agreeing to be his friend over social media was one thing. but lina was one of those people that didn't do well around new people. she'd had the same friends since she was eight, and hadn't made any new ones since.
her so called dating life was practically nonexistent and the last time she'd had a crush on anyone was jonah ramirez in the seventh grade.
it had been a long, lonely time, but after her parents, and her friends tragic dating history, the idea of liking anyone or being friends with anyone new was truly revolting.
some would call her a closed off, cold bitch, but to her friends, and to anyone who she still knew, she was just damaged.
they weren't that far out and that made things even worse. it wasn't their first trip there but realistically, new york was a brand new place, with brand new people, and brand new sights. she knew nat and hailey had been wanting to come out here for ages, talks about even possibly moving out here had been discussed more times than lina would like.
she was happy in their little three room apartment on the edge of town. the one with an array of flowers on the balcony, the one where they fed stray cats through their fire escape and rescued the tiny mice that found themselves in the buckets under the sink.
it wasn't perfect but it was home.
"you look like you're about to scream." a sleepy hailey notes yawning.
lina frowns. "i do not, i'm just thinking."
"thinking of ways to get out of tonight?"
"no." it wasn't a complete lie.
"sure." she responded, her tone light and teasing.
"i'm not," lina continued, trying to convince her. "i just hate flying, you know that."
hailey nodded, taking the hint and shut her mouth.
there wasn't much talk as their conversation came to an end. nat continued to sleep all the way through the landing until the flight director was walking through, waking up the sleeping passengers. she settled in happily and rubbed her eyes, pausing the music she must have been listening to since they took off.
she smiled at them with a nod and reached up to grab her bag from overhead, pulling it into her lap as they waited for it to be their turn to get off.
it only took twenty minutes for them to exit. the chilly air was the first thing she was greeted with as she stepped off.
pulling her jean jacket closer to her body, lina shivered. cold weather wasn't something she was used to. much like every other aspect in her life, the new temperature was not a welcome change.
"cheer up, lina." nat tossed an arm around her shoulder and hailey's. "we're meeting z in an hour."
lina forced a smile. "you're right."
"there's my girl!" she cheered and steered her in the direction of the conveyor belt where their suitcases were.
seeing her childhood friend after almost a year was a feeling she just couldn't explain. she had basically thrown herself in zendaya's lap as soon as they made it to their hotel room where she had been chilling, waiting for them to arrive. lina was, clingy. that was probably the best word to explain it as she dug her head into her friends next and refused to let her go.
"lina," she laughed.
"yes?" was her response.
"i can't breathe."
loosening her grip, lina pouted.
hailey laughed at her from across the room where she was sitting curling her hair. everyone had been getting ready for the party at zendaya's except for lina who didn't feel the need to impress anyone. she had done a light layer of makeup at nat's request and was wearing a red plaid skirt ( with fleece tights, obviously. she did not plan on spending her entire night cold. ) and a black silk long sleeve.
"you're gonna have to let go at some point." nat reminded her.
"nope," lina shook her head, burrowing her head in zendaya's neck. "never letting go."
"i pity your future boyfriend." hailey chided.
"or girlfriend." zendaya piped up, slinging her arms around lina's waist.
"or girlfriend." hailey pointed her brush in their direction, nodding her head.
"i'm going to stay single for the rest of my life and adopt a bunch of cats." she reminded them. "no boyfriends or girlfriends for me."
"uh-huh." they harmonized.
she needed new friends, all her old ones did was bully her.
her pout never really resided as they packed the last of their things and left the house. catching a taxi with a celebrity in the backseat was an interesting experience as their driver gawked the entire drive, nearly losing his cool when zendaya signed a napkin for him and shook his hand happily.
hailey cackled as they stumbled out of the cab, squeezing zendaya and parading happily up the drive way to the house they had spent their previous vacations in. there were plenty of cars already parked and the sounds of music could be heard echoing down to where they stood.
party's had always been their thing, not hers, so as nat and hailey cheered and skipped their way into the house, lina stayed still, staring up at the mansion like house.
"you okay?" zendaya asks.
"just admiring the house." she answers. "it's very vintage. very you."
zendaya gave her look that clearly said 'you're full of bullshit'
"i'm fine." she insisted. "i promise."
"if you want to leave, tell me. okay?"
lina nodded and nudged her forward. "go have fun."
her friend seemed hesitant to leave, but eventually made her way back into the house. lina waited a few minutes before following suit. the house wasn't as crowded as she thought it was going to be, but there was enough people to definitely make her uncomfortable.
following the pathway to the kitchen, she grabbed an empty coffee mug from the cabinet, filled it with milk stuck it into the microwave. several people gave her strange looks as she climbed up onto the counter to reach the chocolate.
they took ridiculous long slips of their tequila scented drinks and watched noisily
once her drink was done, she trailed off into the backyard where most people had yet to discover, ignoring the stares they gave her.
the bricked fire pit sat a-flamed, glowing light leading her until she was only a foot away and collapsing onto the wooden bench. she dragged the loose red blanket over her lap and sipped on her drink, the steam curled along her upper lip and blended in with the cold sky.
most of their trips to z's place, they spent one night just sitting around this very fire, reminiscing about their childhood memories and making new ones.
lina sipped on her hot chocolate until there was nothing left in the mug. she reached forward and placed it on the glass table next to her and settled back in her seat, wrapping the blanket further around her shoulders. the warmth was a welcome feelings compared to the icy cold.
despite the fact that it made no sense, the cold was still better than the crowd of people that were lounging in z's living room
"you have to be careful or you're going to get sick." a voice announces, making themselves known, before stepping around where she's sat and sits down on the opposite bench.
she bit down on her lip and huffed, turning in her seat to face the intruder completely. "hello, thomas."
ta da!!!!!
after god knows how long,
i am back with a new chapter.
it's longer than most and
i hope you guys enjoyed it.
<3
( this is also the first tom holland
fan fic i've ever written
where i actually wrote out the meeting
between my oc and tom )
— emery