His Woman, her Toms - TommyinnitxOc

39

I sat in Toms's room as I wrote some cue cards. He was on his computer doing some research and writing his own cue cards. This was the second time I had visited and I was glad to learn his parents wouldn't be here until after dinner. I didn't have to talk again. 

I dont think the reality of the speech had hit yet. I had emailed Mr.Bruner and asked to do the speech during lunch in front of him only and my teachers always allowed me to do that. My speech was about books and I wasn't sure it sounded right. 

"What if I said, 'books are n escape from the real world, from your troubles and worries. They allow you to imagine this world where you can laugh, cry, and feel like you arent alone.'" I asked Toms. But really I had already answered myself and wrote it down.

"It sounds like some sort of quote," Toms told me with a laugh. "Everything you write sounds like smart quotes." 

"Thanks. I guess." I reply, unsure of whether to take it as a compliment or an insult.

Toms clicked something on his computer and I went over to look and see he was editing something. I swatted his hand. "Toms! We are doing school work. You can edit later when you're done with your speech." 

"Fine, fine," Toms grumbled as he moved back to his research. 

I sat back down on his bed and started editing my cue cards. There wasn't much to edit and Toms handed me his to edit as well. Now his required a lot of editing to the point where I had to rewrite his cue cards for him while asking him what he meant when he wrote each sentence. 

Toms was much better at anything hands-on. Like science experiments or making things with clay and wood. Even his drawing was okay. His coding and editing were pretty great as well. 

But when it came to languages Toms couldn't write down what he means. We helped each other out and it was probably my favourite time of the day when I got to laugh with Toms over his mistakes and teach him how to fix them. It meant I got to spend time with him and I had grown to love doing that.

After we were both just memorizing our things Toms decided to go and grab us a snack. 

"I'll get us some Ice cream." He decided finally after deliberating for an entire minute. 

"Sounds good." I agreed as I flipped to my next cue card and mumbled the words with my eyes closed. After finishing going through it I decided to check my emails to see if Mr.Bruner responded. While I was sure he would say yes I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to get surprised tomorrow when I walked into class.

I opened my emails and smiled when I saw a new email from him. I opened it up and started reading it immediately.

Dear Bree Rogers,

I'm sorry but I'm going to have to deny your request. This assignment is for the sole purpose of talking in front of a group of people. It is an important skill to have and is something that we cannot let students pass on.

See you tomorrow in class,

Mr.Bruner

I blinked at the screen. That couldn't be right, I was hallucinating, dreaming, something. I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes. I have to present, in front of a bunch of people. I have to talk in front of a crowd of judgmental teenagers. 

My breathing wasn't working and I was out of breath without having done anything. My chest heaved up and down and I pulled a pillow to squeeze against my chest.

I was going to fidget and someone was going to call me out about it. People were going to hate hearing me talk about books for five minutes and yell at me. Then I would get worried and start stuttering and I might have a panic attack right there in front of everyone. 

I felt tears spill down on my cheeks and I shut my eyes closed but that only brought images of what tomorrow would look like. I was gasping for air at this point and felt like I was overheating in the room. I needed to get out. 

Just when I thought about getting up to open Toms's window, he entered the room. He was holding two bowls of ice cream and with one look my way his features turned worried and pale. 

"Holy shit. Bree!" He shouted and placed the ice cream on his desk before rushing next to me. His gaze looked around me and I could tell he was freaking out by the wideness of them. "I-i... um Breathe. In and out." He finally got out. 

I felt more tears spill out and all I could do was shake my head as my hands and arms began to shake. Toms was silent for a moment before he spoke up again.

"Do you want a hug?" He asked, his voice sounded stressed. I nodded immediately. yes, a hug would help very much right now. 

He slowly put his arms around me and I curled up in his embrace. Who knew Toms gave such amazing hugs? I put my shaky arms around his waist and my sobs slowly turned to silent tears as the minutes went on. He held me in a tight hug for a long time and even after the crying and the shaking had stopped I still didn't pull away. 

"What happened?" Toms asked slowly as he moved his chin from on top of my head. I adjusted myself so that I was facing his desk to the side of us. I fiddled with the hem of my yellow jumper before answering.

"I have to give the speech to the whole class," I said and my voice was only slightly shaky. 

Toms was silent and it seemed he was processing what to say next. I couldn't blame him seeing as I would probably think about what I said carefully if I was in his position. "You'll do great." He said reassuringly. 

"But what if I get too nervous and have a panic attack or they all get bored over my subject," I mumbled.

"Then I'll be there. I will listen to you talk and If you need to you can pretend you're just talking to me the whole time." He replied.

I thought about it and nodded. Maybe if I had Toms there then it would be alright. He could help me if I got nervous and he always listened to me talk. 

"Okay," I said hesitantly and pulled away from the hug. "Thank you."

"I'm always here for you."

"That's poggers." I joke to try and lighten the mood.

Toms nods. "Poggers indeed."

A/n: Easter weekend! I'm getting some writing in as I have had a very big breakthrough with ideas for this story. I was stuck, I knew where I want to go with the story but I was unsure how to get there. Now I finally figured out how so these chapters are going to be coming faster.