Twelve Red Roses (a Tom Hiddleston fanfic)

Chapter 2- San Diego Zoo

I stayed in a cheap hotel that night after Rutherford Gardens, which I ended up regretting. The building had looked fine on the outside when I first booked a room in it, but the bed hurt my back, the elevator was broken, and there was no air conditioning on that hot day of June. I hate to be complaining on just the first two days of my trip, but... I couldn't find anything to be happy about in that hotel.So I continued to complain.

The next two days will be my last (and would turn out to be my most eventful) days in California. I don't expect to stay at the Redwood forest for too long. I'll just hike along the trails and head to the zoo after that.

The most eventful part of that morning before actually hiking, was when I saw a familiar face. There he was, in a different tour group, standing at least a few inches over everyone else. I also notice he's wearing dark sunglasses, even though the branches from the redwood trees prevent any sunlight to come through. Upon seeing me, he grins, and reaches me with just a few strides. I quickly shut my mouth, realizing it had dropped in astonishment. How the hell is he here? I mean, what are the odds of that?

"Cass, hey! I didn't think I'd ever run into you again."

"Tom," I greet in return. "Especially not two days in a row."

He chuckles, and you can see the sides of his eyes crinkle through his sunglasses. It's cute. "Listen, Cass, I wanted to ask you something yesterday," he says.

"Yeah?" I ask, prompting him to go on. As his blue eyes studied me, I soon grey more conscious about the way I looked, and I found myself mentally reviewing my outfit and if I had brushed my hair this morning.

"I was wondering if we could exchange numbers?" He asks, smiling in a hopeful way.

I freeze. Exchange numbers? He wants to exchange numbers with me? But why?

"I, uh-"

At that moment. the tour guide from my group kindly asks everyone to gather so we could get going, so I'm once again saved from my awkward situation in which I am helpless in.

"Sorry, I've got to go," I mumble before leaving. While on the tour, I'm still completely surprised that I had run into Tom again.

After the hike and a short lunch, I head for the San Diego zoo. It will probably take the rest of the day to go through all of the animals there.

While first entering the rather expensive, hot zoo, it crosses my mind that I don't really need to be doing any of this. It's not as though I have children or friends to smile with or talk to over the sights. All I have is myself, and so breezing right through the attractions proved to be easy. Sure, I'm enjoying myself. I'm just... lonely.

I stop at the grey wolf area and absent-mindedly stare in, letting my thoughts flow. I must've been staring in for almost three minutes before I sense someone stand next to me. Rather close, in fact. As close as you would get if you were standing next to a good friend or family member. Thinking it must be some sort of weirdo, I just take a side-step to my right before glancing up to see who this stranger is. And I swear, my heart skips a beat.

"Hello, darling."

"Tom?"

Tom chuckles, looking down at me. "Yeah, it's me."

Then, within a few milliseconds, I turn from surprised to angry. "Are you following me or something?" I snap, taking another step back. He's certainly not the gentleman I thought he was!

"What? No, I'm not following you, I promise," he says. I try to look for the truth in his blue eyes, but he is, of course, wearing the dark shades again. This time, though, he's also wearing a baseball cap.