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NOVEMBER 4TH, 2017 — ❝ YOU'RE NOT APART OF MY LIFE ANYMORE. ❞
Tom hadn't told anyone but Eloise about Taylor's text. Even she seemed suspicious about what Taylor's intentions were—but she told him that if he wanted to go, he could, but to tell her what happened afterwards.
So, here he was, waiting inside of the restaurant he and Taylor had had their last date at. It was awkward, sitting here in the same place he'd been at when she told him she was working on her new album, and then hadn't heard back from her for weeks, and then got the breakup text.
When she finally walked in, she looked around the tables first, before making eye contact with her. Taylor's face lit up in a warm smile, and she came over to Tom, and embraced him as if they were old friends, not exes.
"Uh, hi, Taylor," Tom awkwardly said, "what brings us here?"
"Let's sit down first," Was all Taylor replied.
↠↠↠↠↠
So far, they'd been sat down at a table, and had ordered drinks, but Tom still had no idea what they were here for.
Taylor had just taken a drink of her water when Tom finally asked, "So what are we doing here, Taylor?"
"I knew you would ask that," Taylor replied, setting her cup down. She leaned on the table, and said, "I know you're dating that Hemingway girl."
"Okay, and what about it? What does this have to do with you?" Tom asked, shaking his head. "I'm with Eloise, what does that have to do with you?"
"Her father's in the hospital, isn't he?" Taylor continued, and Tom hesitated, and then nodded, and hissed, "Keep your voice down."
"So why aren't you with her right now? Why are you with me?" She asked, smiling slyly at him, as if she cracked a code of some sort. "Because you're dating her, yet . . . You're here with me. Why?"
"Curiosity killed the cat," Tom quietly snapped. He was starting to get irritated. What had he seen in being here, with her? What had he seen with her?
"But satisfaction brought it back." Taylor finished, smiling triumphantly. She opened her mouth to say something, but Tom cut her off.
"You're not apart of my life anymore, Taylor. I wanted to come here to tell you that. After tonight, I'm blocking your phone number, and I don't want to hear anything about us in the media in the upcoming weeks. My girlfriend encouraged me to come here, to hear what you had to say, but I'm through. I'm finished. Whatever you wanted, I don't care about it."
He got up from the table, grabbing his coat off of the back of his chair, and started towards the exit. He could hear Taylor signaling her assistant, giving the assistant her purse to pay for the drinks, and the clicks of her heels as she followed Tom out the door.
"Tom, wait," Taylor said. She didn't sound upset, if anything, it sounded like he was fair game to her. "I didn't mean to push you over the edge like that. Can you please just listen to me?"
Finally, Tom stopped, and turned around, and said, "I need to get back to the hospital, Taylor. And besides, you're already attracting attention."
Across the street, there was a man with a camera, alone, just sitting in the darkness of his car. "You've set me up, Taylor, and I don't like it."
Taylor finally sighed, glaring at him. "Fine. Go back to your little author girlfriend."
Tom turned to leave, but stopped when Taylor said, "Just don't be mad when her sexuality leaks to the press."
Whirling around to face her, he snapped, "Excuse me? Are you threatening to expose her sexuality to the press, so what? I can get back with you?"
"I don't care what you want with me," Taylor snapped back, but Tom could see in her eyes that she did care. But he was too livid to care what she wanted. "But I can't be blamed when Eloise's sexuality and past relationship gets exposed to the press."
"Who is your source?" Tom snapped. "Who?! Do I know them?!"
"You'll see when the article comes out," Taylor sneered. "But it wasn't me. I wanted to warn you, but you're too much of a dumbass to listen to me, it seems!"
Tom shook his head. His anger was making his head want to explode; he'd never felt so angry before in his life. He went to walk away, but Taylor grabbed his shoulder, and went to cup his cheek. She started leaning in, and Tom pushed her away, and exclaimed, "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Now, Taylor looked hurt. "I-I just thought," She stuttered, and Tom waved her off, and then started walking off in the direction of the hospital.
He was too angry to drive, he needed to clear his head. Who the hell was exposing Eloise's asexuality and her abusive relationship, then, if Taylor adamantly said it wasn't her?
Tom didn't like the thought of being powerless in this, he thought, as he rounded the corner. But he'd warn Eloise. He'd warn her before--
His phone buzzed in his pocket. It took him a second to realize it was ringing, and he fished it out of his pocket, expecting it to be Eloise. But it was his agent.
Frowning, he answered it with a, "Hello?"
"Tom! Where the hell have you been?" His agent's voice came through the phone, obviously frustrated with him. "You have a press tour to get ready for in the next month!"
Tom's heart sank. He had forgotten--the press tour and premieres for Early Man were coming up in late December, early January time. He didn't know how long Nikolai would be in the hospital for, but he knew he would have to leave Eloise in order to go on this tour--there was no way he could get out of it.
"I'm sorry, I forgot," Tom apologized, "things got stressful for me last night--my girlfriend's dad is in the hospital right now, I've been spending time with her--"
"Oh, that Hemingway girl? The writer one? I know you really like her Tom, but you can't forget about your job, besides I'm pretty sure you might need to do reshoots for Avengers 4 in the coming months. But, Tom? Please get off your ass. You have a job. And it's certainly not being a nurse for your girlfriend's dad."
