fainting fan girl ~ t.h

Chapter 10: better.

I was starting to get a little panicky now as we have been in the car for 40 minutes. Not because it's awkward or anything I'm just confused. Where the hell could he be taking me? The heavy feeling in my chest got worse when we came out of the city and onto a road in the little countryside that we had in London.

"Y/n, I really do promise you that it's okay." He had obviously seen the fiddling of my hands.

"I know Tom, I trust you." I smiled.

He gave a sweet smile back. As he turned to face the window, his eyes lit up. "Anndddd, we're here!"

I looked out my window to see we had pulled onto the side of the road. It was a little cafe, almost like the food carts you see on the side of the road on long road trips. The pastel blue letters read "the tea room." It was simple but pretty, like the cafe itself. A smile crept across my face which slowly turned into a hungry one as I saw the scones in the display window.

"I know it's random but I love it here and ,I don't really know why but, I wanted to share my happy place with you" Toms words fell out of his mouth in a nervous jitter.

Tom and I just...click. There's no explanation to it. It's so different when you love a celebrity compared to actually getting to know them.

"T-Tom, this place is beautiful!" I grinned a grin as wide as the Cheshire Cat.

The wrinkles on his forehead eased and tracked to around his eyes instead. His smile could light up any room in an instant.

"Oh thank god you like it, now come onnnn!" He playfully groaned as he began a little run towards the worn out wooden door. I chuckled heartily and trailed behind him.

An old lady wearing a pink apron tottered over to Tom. She was very aged but still had so much light in her eyes. "Hi Tom, how are you-"

"And who's this beautiful young lady?" She exclaimed. I tucked my hair behind my, flattered.

"Oh! This is y/n, she's a friend of mine." He smiled.

"Ah well, a friend of Toms is a friend of ours!" She said, still with a toothy grin.

"You're so nice, thank you."

"Of course! Now I know what Tom will be having but what will y/n be having?"

"Honestly, I've been dying for one of those scones since I saw them." I chuckled, pointing to the display window.

"Ah yes, my specialty, coming right up!" She playfully winked and I laughed, thanking her in return.

Tom led me to a table in the middle of the room where you could really admire the whole room. The whole place was decorated in different vintage signs and relatable quotes, all the furniture was a white rustic wood to tie in with the pastel theme, little banners were strung across the ceiling (to give almost a tea party effect) and there was a huge chalk board behind the counter.

"So, I wanna know the whole story behind this place." I grinned.

"Ah yeah well a few years ago I was travelling for an audition and we had spent probably 3 hours in the car and I was desperate to just get out. We were coming down this road when I spotted this place and begged my mum to pull over and...the rest is history!" He laughed at the flashback.

"That's so nice, did you just end up becoming a regular?"

"Yeah, civil war had just come out and I was building up fame. It was hard to determine who actually wanted to be your friend and who was just using you so when I came to this place, it just felt right. Everyone here knew who I was but just treated me like a normal person. The ladies here are like family." He chuckled, a little sad.

"Hey, I don't want you to think I'm hanging out with you because of fame, you know that right?"

"Oh yeah of course love." He grinned. Back with the 'love' thing again, sending a swarm of butterflies to my stomach.

I don't know what it is with him but that feeling that I've fought through my whole life just disappears with him. The years of anxiety, panic, stress just brush away like I've never even felt them in my life. I really hope we stay friends because besides him being amazing, he just makes me feel better.

"Here you go lovelies! And it's on the house, don't even think about paying!" She exclaimed, with a stern face.

"no, I won't let you do that!" Tom said sternly.

"Yeah yeah whatever..." she shouted as she walking away. I giggled and Tom shook his head with a smirk.

"They always does that" he said with a small chuckle.

"awww bless em" I laugh.

We got our food and talked for ages. We just talked about pretty much everything. Like I've said a million times, we just click. There were no awkward silences, no dry conversations...just free flowing fun chat. We talked about our family's, marvel (which I asked about a lot), our jobs but then came the dreaded subject of mental health.

"...yeah I can get really stressed sometimes with work and it completely throws me off."

"Oh I'm so sorry Tom, I can't imagine what it's like, you know, fame."

"It's a lot but I don't take for granted the incredible positives I get out of my job" he gave a small smile.

"Yeah, you're incredible at what you do!" I said a little too enthusiastically.

"Thank you love, it means a lot." His grew wider. I'm kind off getting used to the 'love' thing now...

"if you don't mind me asking, why do you get so anxious?"

I must have reacted in some way when he said the 'a' word as Toms face became overrun with worry.

"I'm sorry! That was rude of me I-"

"No! no, it's fine it's just a difficult subject." I gave the most enthusiastic smile I could which wasn't much.

"We don't have to talk about it." He said in a concerning manner. He was so caring, it made my heart burst.

"No it's fine, I um, since I was little I never really liked lots of crowds and hated going to party's. One time, my mum really wanted me to try and come out my comfort zone so she sent me to a party and I had a complete meltdown with the amount of kids there. I then developed anxiety for pretty much everything else in my life as well as crowds. Luckily I'm much better now, I have medication for when it gets really bad." I wanted to move the muscles in my face to put on a fake smile but they wouldn't let me. And to top it off, I could feel my eyes welling up.

"God I'm sorry I'm so stupid." I chuckled half heartedly as a tear slipped from my eye. It didn't seem like a big deal but it was such a traumatising period of my life that it hurt to talk about it.

I felt a hand softly touch the side of my face. Lifting my head, I meet with the beautiful brown eyes that I take so much comfort in. Tom runs his thumb along my cheek, as gently as he can, wiping away the single drop.

"I'm so sorry y/n, you're so strong." I give him a weak smile at his compliment.

"I know we haven't known each other long but I feel like we have a connection." He says quietly. Oh my gosh, my stomach feels like a zoo.

"...I hope you can trust me to help you as we become better friends."

Friends. Stop y/n! You didn't really think he meant a romantic connection, did you?

Hi! If you couldn't tell already due to my chaotic writing, this is a very all-over-the-place story. This is a fan to best friend to lover story so we've still got a few chapters until they finally get together (but they'll still have moments of course!). Overall I hope you're enjoying this and please give feedback! <3