Forget-Me-Not (A Tom Hiddleston Fanfiction)

(21) I Feel Like Dancin'

Nina was under a communal gazebo set up for the make-up artists, and she had her portable radio on beside her. She sang quietly to herself, doing random dance moves every now and then to her favourite Billy Idol song by far, hoping that no one was watching but as far as she knew, most people were on set.

"In the midnight hour, she cried more, more, more..." Nina shook her little hips like her life depended on it, rearranging things as she went along. "With a rebel yell, she cried more, more, more..." She caught sight of herself in the mirror, realising that she still hadn't done her own make-up. "In the midnight hour, babe..." She grabbed a foundation brush, using it as a microphone before she began to apply it to herself. "More, more, more...with a rebel yell, she cried more, more more..." She dug around for her mascara and continued to perform random dance moves. "Oh yeah, little baby, she want more...more, more, more, more, more...oh yeah little angel, she want more, more, more, more, more..."

She put down her mascara and struck a dramatic pose in the mirror as she caught sight of a tall figure behind her, clapping slowly. She slowly brought her arms back down to her sides and turned around, her face redder than the lipstick she was just about to put on.

"That was quite a show you put on there, Nina." Tom stood there in his uniform, his hair neatly slicked back with his cap perched on top, exactly where Nina had put it that very morning.

"Thank you...Captain Nicholls..." Nina mumbled, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly.

"Please, call me James." He smiled lopsidedly, the corners of his eyes creasing up again. Tom seemed to be amused at Nina's embarrassment but not in a spiteful kind of way. "You're being called for on set. I volunteered to come and get you..."

"Well, thank you, Capt- James. I meant James." Nina was flustered now, caught out by Tom's sudden appearance.

Tom held out his arm to her and she took it as gracefully as she could muster, and the two of them walked over a pretty little bridge and across to where they were filming. Annie stared across at her from where she stood with one of the horses and wiggled her eyebrows. Nina rolled her eyes, her cheeks still red. Annie laughed in response, sticking her tongue out.

Nina did her job and soon disappeared behind the camera, watching as the scene slowly unfolded before her very eyes. It was quite confusing since they weren't really filming in a chronological order and she needed to ask if she could get her hands on a copy of the script.

As she watched the actors on the set, she felt that Tom's emotions were quite overwhelming. It was like he was creating a physical cloud of them and then they were slowly moving away from him and hitting Nina. Not only was Tom giving it his all, but so was Jeremy, and the horse was having a good go at it, too.

Steven called cut and walked across to Tom and Jeremy, speaking to them presumably on what they did well and what they could do better; wherever you were as an actor, you were sure to get constructive criticism.

Tom looked at Nina over Steven's shoulder and she wasn't sure if he winked at her, or not. Maybe she'd just gone a little insane? The constant vibrating in her pocket was definitely helping to drive her to insanity.

She took it out of her pocket just to turn it off, resolving to call whoever it was back at her lunch break. She didn't see who it was, exactly, but she could make a very educated guess.

*****

"Hi, you've reached the voicemail of-" Nina shut her phone off frustratedly for what felt like the hundredth time and dropped it into her lap, turning her attention back to her ham salad. Considering Kyle was trying to get a hold of her no more than an hour earlier, he didn't seem to care and Nina had officially decided that she was sick of it. But she kept telling herself that she loved Kyle, but was that the right thing to do?

"Relationship troubles again?" Tom sat on the stone wall beside her, a bag of crisps in one hand.

"None of your business, Tommy boy." Nina tapped her nose.

"Its James, I told you." Tom laughed softly. "No, call me Tom, it's lunch break."

"Do you have multi personality disorder or something then?" Nina smiled weakly.

"Maybe I do." Tom shrugged, looking at Nina. "But, really, though, relationship troubles? I told you, I'm here for you, Nina. Don't tell me you've forgotten what I said to you."

"I haven't..." His words echoed in her head. I might have known you for four days or four years, it doesn't matter. All my friends mean the world to me. "Thank you Tom, but really, I'm f-"

"Don't say it." He butted in suddenly. "Don't say that f-word."

"The f-word?"

"Yes. Fine." He looked back at her again, his eyes sad yet he still seemed to smile.

"But, Tom, I'm f-" She quickly stopped herself. "Ok. I'm ok."

"If you're ok, I'm ok." Tom stopped talking as Nina's phone vibrated and an old picture of Kyle showed up on the screen. She picked her phone up, staring at it disdainfully, as if it was just about to blow up. "Are you going to answer it, Nina?"

"Uh... Yeah. Sure." She pressed the answer button and held the phone gingerly to her ear, looking across at Tom. "Hello...?"

"Why didn't you answer my calls? Nina, I need an explanation now." Phase 1 of 'Let's get Nina in the palm of my hand'.

"I'm at work, Kyle, I said that." Nina soon felt her frustration get the better of her. "Why don't you go do some work rather than sleeping around and drinking?" She didn't know where this new found confidence came from, but hell, she liked it and she probably needed it.

"Working with who? Who have you gotten off with?" He was demanding but for once Nina didn't want to crumble under his pressure.

"No one, Kyle. Please, can we just have a normal conversation?"

"Fine, baby. I just get so worried." And there it was. Phase 2. Playing the vulnerability card. Making Nina think he was being loving and protective, not scary and possessive. But Nina didn't want to fall for that one ever again. She was finding her own feet.

"Yeah, yeah..." She sighed. "How are your shows going?"

"They'd be better with you in the audience. I miss you, babe." And Phase 3. Trying to make her feel guilty, trying to make her suck up to him, telling him she loved him, boosting his ever-growing ego.

"Just pretend I'm there, ok? I gotta go. Love you."

"Bye." No 'I love you' back, nothing. Just the sound of silence as Nina slowly brought her phone back down from her ear, never having taken her eyes off Tom.

[A/N] who has ever been in nina's position? dance like nobody's watching, is what i'd say. trust me, i do it all the time. drop a vote for agony aunt james/tom?
yours truly :) x