paint the grass green | tom holland

Chapter Ten

On Tuesday morning you woke up to a message from Tom.

4.32am

I'll come pick you and Theo up around 8

It wasn't the first text he's sent you since last night. But it's the first one where he wasn't begging you to call him back. You know you have to talk to Tom at some point, you can't shut him out of your life. Because that would mean cutting him out of Theo's life and you won't do that. Theo needs his father. Even if he doesn't know that it's Tom. You ignore all other messages, your reply quick and simple:

No need. I'm catching a ride with a colleague.

Not exactly the truth, but you can't bear the thought of seeing him in the morning, and have him take you to work. No. Not after what he'd said to you last night. You need time to think, to get your thoughts straight. And you need your space for that. Seeing him would just upset you, make all that anger bubble up again. You couldn't even look at Flopsi without feeling irritated.

When Theo notices the look on your face he asks if he'd done anything wrong. So you relax your face and assure him that everything's fine. You can see the scepticism on his face. Last night he'd asked you if it was his fault that you'd been fighting with Tom. It broke your heart. Of course, you told him that it wasn't his fault and that you and Tom just had a disagreement. Theo tried to get you to tell him what the disagreement was about. But you couldn't tell him.

The tube is busy. Way too busy for your comfort. Your fingers tighten around the holding bars while more and more people file into the small space. You'd rather be anywhere else right now. Not to mention the extra cost. On top of all of that, the connection to your workplace is less than ideal. As soon as you manage to squeeze out of the busy station, one look at the time tells you you'd never be able to make it on time.

You arrive at your office fifteen minutes late, drenched in sweat and exhausted from lack of sleep and rushing about half a mile from the tube station to work. You felt disgusting.

As soon as you sit down at your desk your boss gives you a lecture about tardiness. You've worked here for two years now, and you've never been late. Couldn't he let it go this one time? Couldn't he tell that you were on the brink of a breakdown already?

You don't really have friends in the office, everyone just focuses on their own work, striving to be the best. The only person you've had a few decent conversations with throughout the time you've been working here is Margo from HR. Granted, you'd only talked to her five times tops. But you knew she didn't live far from you. And she was a sweetheart, always helping people out in any way she could. Maybe you can ask her if she'd pick you up and give you a lift in the mornings.

Yes, it'll take you a lot of effort to bring yourself to actually ask her. But what other options do you have? The tube was a hassle you didn't want to put yourself through. Not with how stressed you were in the first place, with everything going on in your life at the moment.

After contemplating it for a few hours, not without writing a pros and cons list, you make your way to her office during your lunch break. You hated that you had to do this, but there was no way you were going to take the tube to work again.

"Hey, Margo" You knock on her open door and she greets you with a wide smile.

"Y/N, hi. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

You tell her about your broken car and how the tube wasn't really an option. "I really don't want to inconvenience you, but we live in the same area and-"

"Nonsense, that's not an inconvenience at all." Margo waves her hand. "I love company" She smiles again. She asks you for your address but you tell her it would be fine to pick you up from Theo's daycare. Taking the bus there wasn't nearly as stressful as your way to work, so you'd manage.