Chapter Text
It is the best of times, it is the worst of times. For Elliott Montgomery, the girl on a rusty mountain bike maneuvering through Toronto's afternoon traffic, this day is definitely the latter.
Well, maybe comparing her predicament to the French Revolution is exaggerating a bit, but in her defense it is Friday, it is raining, and she is really, really late.
"Hey, watch it buddy!", Ellie shouts as she swerves to the left, narrowly missing the taxi that suddenly decides to pull into her bike lane. Pedaling past the vehicle, she makes a face at the taxi driver, being careful to avoid the puddles and bright orange pylons lining the rest of the street.
Orange pylons usually mean that filming trailers will be showing up pretty soon. They're always filming something or other in Toronto, and those bulky white rental units are a perpetual presence on her university campus. Just last year, she saw Patrick J. Adams taking a lunch break on the sidewalk when the 'Suits' trailers temporarily took over an entire pathway next to one of the theology buildings. Ellie thinks she handled herself pretty well that time, considering it was her very first celebrity sighting. Although, she does remember a lot of hyperventilating, frantic texting in capital letters, and high-pitched squealing - in the privacy of a public washroom stall, of course.
Passing the orange pylons, she wonders what's being filmed this time and if anyone famous will be in it. Fat chance Tom Hiddleston is involved, but a girl can dream. Chickening out of meeting him at TIFF in September was possibly the stupidest decision she'd made since agreeing to watch 'Twilight' on opening night. Then again, if her reaction to spotting Patrick J. Adams was any indication (and she wasn't even a fan), avoiding physical proximity to Thomas William Hiddleston might have been a wise choice after all.
It's not that she was afraid of freaking out - Tom's a good sport about that kind of stuff. No, it was a selfish, cowardly decision made to preserve her own sanity. Her reasoning was that the fantastical scenarios she dreams up in her head are real possibilities, as far fetched as they may be, and meeting the literal man of her dreams would most definitely make them all impossibilities. It's like, two roads diverged in a yellow wood and if you never chose a path, there would still be two paths to choose from, whereas making one choice means forsaking the other forever. Does that make sense? Well, it did in her mind.
These days, what seemed like sound reasoning at the time doesn't make much sense anymore. She wonders why past-Ellie was such an idiot, especially since that cowardly decision completely went against her philosophy of "carpe the fucking diem", which also happens to be what she admires about Tom. His "feel the fear and do it anyway" attitude towards life has touched countless lives, including Ellie's. It was what ultimately pushed her to apply for grad school in London, despite knowing her slim chance of getting in, not to mention the astronomical tuition fees she'd be paying as an overseas student.
There are so many things she wants to ask Tom, mostly questions that have nothing to do with film, like his thoughts on the ethics of international volunteering or the implications of extraterrestrial life. Interviewers never ask these important questions. Too bad Ellie will never get to ask any of it. She might have even missed her only chance of ever seeing him up close.
Honestly! Regret is such a bitch. It shows up when you are having the crappiest day, sinks to the pit of your stomach, and sits there like it owns the damn place. Luckily, Ellie couldn't wallow in self-pity for much longer because she's biking in a car lane and several annoyed honks refocus her attention back to the task at hand, which is trying not to have her brains splattered on the wet pavement. A few curious pedestrians startled by the commotion turn their heads just in time to catch the sight of a wet blue backpack disappearing into the chilly November rain. To them, the girl on her rusty mountain bike probably looked like any other university student scrambling to class or rushing to hand in an assignment just before the deadline.
Aaaand they would be correct. In fact, Ellie's on her way to drop off the last essay of the semester. The prof said he'd be in till 5pm, and it's currently 4:58. Ellie, as per usual, is just baaaarely going to make it, if she does at all. At 5:04pm, the prof is in the midst of locking up when Ellie bursts through the door at the end of the hall. He knows exactly why she's running towards him, and he's not impressed.
"You're lucky I stayed late to answer questions, young lady", tuts the prof. He looks displeased, but accepts her damp wad of paper nevertheless and stuffs it among the other essays in his briefcase. Ellie does her best to look sheepish, even though she's mentally giving herself a big pat on the back.
Glaring at her over his spectacles, the prof asks, "And what is your name?" He had neglected to glance at the assignment before filing it away, but now he thinks he should probably find out her name just in case he's not feeling so generous later and decides to slap on a late penalty.
Fortunately, Ellie realizes this too.
Her lips, red from strenuous pedaling, curls into a sly grin like that smug cat from Alice in Wonderland. She shakes her head a little, and replies in the sweetest, most respectful voice, "You have a great weekend, sir! Don't grade too many essays!", before practically skipping out the exit. Defeated, the prof sighs and halfheartedly wishes her a great weekend too.
Outside, the night air is crisp and cold. Rain continues to drizzle from a few dark clouds, but to the girl bounding down the street, the world feels warmer and brighter than it's been for a long while.
"Say my name! Say my name!", Ellie shouts into the darkness, reminiscent of Tom Hiddleston's little stint at Comic Con earlier that year.
"El-li-ott! El-li-ott! El-li-ott!", she chants to herself while laughing out loud.
Turning onto the street of the taxi incident earlier, she's a little surprised to see that the orange pylons are already replaced by a row of filming trailers. Even though she knows those trailers belong to a world far removed from her current reality, she still takes pleasure in imagining a run-in with some random celebrity. It's something she's often thought about since TIFF.
The sight of filming trailers reminds her that 'Crimson Peak' starts shooting in February, which means Tom Hiddleston will be back in Toronto. This prospect puts a little smile on Ellie's face. Who knows? Maybe she'll run into him and get to bombard him with questions after all. Ellie doesn't believe in luck or fate, but she's grateful that life has put her in some pretty serendipitous situations. For one, she managed to get her grubby hands on TIFF tickets for 'Only Lovers Left Alive' and she wasn't even that keen on meeting Tom at the time.
Truth be told, the chances of any of her wildly imaginative scenarios playing out in real life are next to zero. Nada. Ziltch. Ellie knows this. But, it's still fun to imagine.
Ellie's giggles fill the night air as she muses on her hypothetical meeting with Tom.
It's so funny, she thinks, because it could actually never happen....right?