Petrichor

Chapter 4

Every time I breathe and take you in

My heart beats again

Baby I can't help it

You keep me drowning in your love

~

I've got a surprise for you x

Emily frowned as she walked along Oxford street towards the tube, re reading the text from Tom. It had been eight months since she'd moved to London, and things were actually going pretty well. She'd got a job as a sales assistant in the menswear department at Selfridges and although it wasn't an earth shattering career and the hours were hit and miss, it gave her enough money to survive.

Tom had got a few film roles and had just come back from three months away filming 'War Horse', which was a period drama based on a book and directed by Kenneth Brannagh. Even Emily had heard of him, and Tom had been so excited to work with him and had talked about him non stop for almost two hours without barely taking a breath when he'd got home. Emily had listened to all his stories from set, indulging his enthusiasm. She was so glad to have him back, but most of all she was proud of him. He'd worked so hard and finally it was starting to pay off. He'd even now got a manager, Luke. She'd met him a couple of times, and he seemed nice. He had the measure of Tom and seemed to have mastered how to get the best from him, although sometimes he would email Emily to ask her how to approach certain things with Tom. He'd very quickly realised that Emily was the only person who really knew Tom and how he ticked.

They were still living in Toms little flat and true to Toms word, they'd made it work. It was cramped, and they lived on top of each other, but it was home. That didn't mean she didn't find it hard though. The first time Emily had woken up with Toms body sprawled half on top of her, she'd nearly had a heart attack. When she used to come and stay he'd always been so careful to give her as much space as he could in the bed, but now his subconscious had seemingly gotten used to her being in such close proximity that she regularly woke up with several of Toms limbs draped across her. It was some kind of beautiful torture, as Emily would sometimes lay there and dream that he would wake up, smiling sleepily at her as he kissed her neck, his hands roaming her body, sliding down from her neck, across her breasts, teasing her nipples before they dropped lower..... So many times she'd wondered what he'd do if she touched him, if she woke him up with her mouth around his cock. But she'd never know. She was too scared to try. So instead she would carefully manouvre herself out from beneath him and leave the warmth and temptation of the bed they shared, and tuck all those feelings away while she went to work and acted like a normal person who hadn't been hopelessly in love with their best friend for the last twelve years.

Stepping off the train, Emily started the walk back to their flat, firing off a text back to Tom,

Just off the tube. Be home in 5 x

She quickly locked her phone and plunged her hands back into her pockets, the cold February air chilling her skin as she put her head down and marched towards their building. She unlocked the front door and started upstairs, unzipping her coat and pulling her scarf off as she went. When she opened the door to the flat the warm air hit her and she breathed a sigh of relief as she noticed Tom loitering awkwardly in the middle of the living room.

'Alright?' She asked, glancing at him as she shrugged her coat off and hung it on its hook, before leaning over to unzip her boots and pull them off. Standing back upright, she looked back to where Tom was still hovering,

'So what's the surprise?'

Tom grinned at her nervously, 'sit down'

Emily sighed and walked to the sofa sitting down and looking expectantly at him.