A Song of Two Hearts [A TomTord Highschool AU]

Chapter 24

Tom woke up to another headache pounding through his skull. His body felt heavy and he felt like he was going to throw up. So he rushed to the restroom, his uncoordinated self running into the wall and door before finally making it to the toilet. He hurled, and the motion aggravated the headache he had. This was going to be a fun morning.

Tom had finally finished emptying his stomach, and his was now somewhat able to control his body. So he went out for a walk, unaware of the fact that he smelled like he had bathed in whiskey. He strolled down the street, noticing how run down and shady everything was. Tom made his way to the convenience store, entering and heading straight to the pain meds. He grabbed a cardboard box that contained the pills and walked to the self checkout. Once he had made the purchase he headed out, returning to the dark room he now called home. He took the pain meds and waited for his headache to subside. In the meantime he decided to see what his friends had left on his phone.

Edd: Hey man, you okay?

Matt: Yeah, you've been off the radar for a bit

Eventually Matt and Edd got sidetracked throughout their checking on Tom and instead started talking about cookies and cats. But what really interested Tom was the independent chat he and Tord had, which had unread messages. He contemplated whether to check them or not. Tom sat there on the floor, his lit up screen by his side as he tried to decide. He started to get curious. Why would the Commie be texting him? Outside of the group chat no less. He thought back to the first time Tord had texted just Tom. How their time at the gun range went. He remembered Tord's stupid face, and his stupid smile, and his stupid touch. So Tom opened the text messages.

Tord: Are you mad at me?

Tord: did I do something wrong?

Tord: it's ok if you're mad at me, just tell me, please don't leave me in the dark...

Tom felt bad. He had left Tord in the dark for a day. When all the guy wanted to know was if Tom was mad at him or not. God, Tom was such a dick. But responding now wouldn't do any good. What would he even say. "Yeah I'm totally fine, just got beat by the guy you fought when you came over." No. Tom wasn't going to have Tord pity him or be worried about him. So he shut down his phone, and slid it back on it's charger. Tom was hungry, but he didn't have the money to eat. Instead he had a bottle of whiskey that was half gone. It was time to get a job. Tom stumbled into the shower, washing off the smell of acidic alcohol.

Tom found himself in front of the Starbucks he met Adam at. This was as good a place as any to try for a job. Starbucks paid relatively well, and the work environment was clean. He walked up and requested the manager. When he finally met the woman in charge he asked her about the hiring process. He was lucky today, because they were short on staff and had an open position. So Tom quickly applied and gave the woman his number in case he would get hired. He then walked out of the establishment back to the rundown motel.

He had been out for longer than he had thought, and the sun was setting. The time read 9:21 pm. He decided it would be another good night to wallow in self pity and get lifted up by the lightness of alcohol. So for the next half hour he got himself drunk on the remainder of the bottle.

A couple minutes later Tom was a blundering fool. His face was flushed and he kept saying random stuff to himself, laughing hysterically at nothing. And he was having the time of his life. Drunken Tom then rolled over to his phone. He reopened Tord's messages, staring at them in glee. Tord had thought of him. Tord cared. And he was so glad Tord did. Cause otherwise this fool would be heartbroken--though he would never admit it.

Tom: Nahhhhhh

Tom: U Kive tpuu

Tom: sjkdhhho

Tom then stared at the message, smiling giddily for no reason while moving up to the bed. He then laid down, keeping his eyes trained on the chat.