The Three-Month Rule

Chapter 7 - Talking to Himself

"Allie? Allie? Allie, can you hear me?" Lucy was saying, rapidly shaking Allegra's shoulders as she stared into an abyss.

"Yeah," Allegra eventually answered, still unable to blink.

Lucy locked her phone again and threw it into her bag, turning her full attention to the woman in shock beside her.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"I need..." Allegra began to respond, still unblinking. "I need to speak to him."

"Can you call him later?" Lucy asked supportively, even though Allegra was talking to herself.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Allegra replied. She still hadn't blinked.

"Why not?"

Suddenly, Allegra was able to blink.

"Why did he not tell me but announce it on live TV?" she asked, talking to herself again. "He must be talking about someone else."

"No, he's not," Lucy said firmly, shaking Allegra's shoulders again. "Perhaps he's only just made his mind up."

"He could have told me first."

Allegra's phone screen lit up as texts from Naomi began filling her notifications. Lucy reached across the desk and placed the phone the other way, so that the screen wasn't attracting attention.

"I'm not ready for this," Allegra groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"For what?"

"I feel like everything is about to change," she mumbled from behind her palms.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm Tom Hiddleston's girlfriend..." Allegra said, pulling her face from her hands and breathing deeply, realisation finally hitting her. "I'm going to get all sorts of attention now."

"Yeah... But you're Tom Hiddleston's girlfriend!" Lucy repeated, which didn't help Allegra's heart from pounding uncontrollably.

"I need to see him," Allegra said to herself.

"Go to him. Be free!" Lucy said happily, spreading her arms in a romantic motion.

"I don't know where he is."

"Text him."

"If he wanted me there he would have invited me."

"He knew you were working," Lucy offered, giving Allegra a comforting smile even though she wasn't looking at her.

"I don't know what to do," Allegra sighed. "I don't know how to process this information. I think I'm going to faint." Allegra swallowed, trying to push the nausea back down her throat.

"Go home," Lucy smiled, nudging her friend and colleague.

"What?" Allegra looked at her best friend for the first time in about twenty minutes.

"Go home, Allie. Turn your phone off and watch a Disney film or something. I can handle work today by myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. All I have to do is gather up all of the paper I threw, put it in order again and then write it all up," Lucy said, looking around at the documents on the floor.

"Really?"

"Really, really. Go home."

"Thank you," Allegra smiled, relief washing over her like a wave. "Wait, what if someone sees me and follows me home or something?"

"Do you have somewhere else you can go?"

Allegra stopped and bit her lip in thought, and then remembered the shiny silver metal key in her pocket.

"Yeah," she said. "But Taca is still at mine."

"I can look after Taca," Lucy nodded in confidence.

"Are you sure?"

"She's a cat, Allie. I won't kill her!" Lucy laughed.

"Thank you," Allegra repeated before grabbing her things and walking up the concrete steps she had come to know well in the last three months.

***

Tom's house was completely silent. Bobby was comfortably asleep in his dog bed in the kitchen, beside the glass back door that led out to a beautiful 2-acre garden which was surrounded by a tall solid fence.

Allegra walked quietly through the hall, placing her key gently next to a house phone on the top of a wooden coffee table next to the coat rack. Two pairs of Tom's shoes were set neatly underneath a few coats, and Allegra looked around the hall in a way that she never had a chance to before.

Two original paintings settled perfectly on the tall white wall on the left side, their strokes masterfully complimenting the scenes they portrayed. One painting made Allegra smile – a man and a woman on a wet wooden decking overlooking a river, kissing underneath a red umbrella next to a street lamp, their arms wrapped romantically around each other's waists. Brent Heighton's signature neatly complimented the corner of the painting. The bright red and yellow tones in the art piece bringing a perfect amount of colour to the walls of Tom Hiddleston's hall.

Suddenly, the home phone started ringing, making Allegra jump. She automatically went to pick it up but stopped, reminding herself that she was not in her own home. She was in her boyfriend's home. She smiled at this thought and the phone stopped ringing, a voice coming through loudly on the mailbox.

"Allie, I'm not sure when you're going to hear this... Or if you're actually going to hear it at all, but..." Tom's voice began saying. Bobby's ears pricked at the sound of his master's voice, and he woke from his sleep, raising his head excitedly expecting to see his master in the hallway. "I want to be with you. I really do."

Allegra unintentionally stopped breathing momentarily, her hand travelling to her chest in an attempt to calm her heart.

"I had an interview this morning with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield and..." he sighed. "If you start getting paparazzi, journalist and fan attention, please do not be worried. It's my fault. I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable. If you need to discuss anything, you can call me in a few days," he cleared his throat before continuing. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you first, and I'm sorry I can't be there right now, but... I do want to be with you. Fully. Completely. I..." he breathed heavily, letting out one deep breath of nerves. "I think I'm falling in love with you," a pause. "I'm probably talking to myself which is something new for me, but... If you are there... I want you," another pause. "Bye," he whispered, and the phone clicked.