Chapter 26

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Tom woke up to a massive headache. And his phone on his face, the metal cool and silent. But the headache was getting normal, and at this point it wasn't really painful, just a feeling that reminded him he escaped last night. Tom groaned and let out a tired sigh, sitting up to let his phone fall in his lap. Messages were open. That was odd. Why would his phone be open?

"Oh, shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!" Tom quickly pieced together that he texted someone drunk. Now the question was who. He slowly picked up his phone, staring at the name on the top of the screen. His eyes were as wide as saucers, and his mind was racing. What had he said to the Commie last night?!

Tom: Nahhhhhh

Tom: U Kive tpuu

Tom: sjkdhhho

Tord: Are you good man?

Tom: I'm grooiod

Tord: Are you high?

Tom: nopeyie

Tord: Are you drunk? You never act like this.

Tom: Siii

Tord: Did that shithead kick you out? I'll kick his ass

Tom: yenahhh........ kendaaa. I wolkeed out

Tord: Where are you staying? Are you safe? Have you told anyone where you are? Did you tell my mom? You can stay with her till I get back.

Tom: Neh mann. I donut need holp. Safe as cun be

Tord: just, stay safe you idiot. I don't know what I would do without you.

Tom: <4 som here

Tord: we'll i should sleep I've got to get up early tomorrow

Tord: <3 don't die.

Tom: yu ither. Negth

Tom felt so embarrassed at this very moment. His mind was racing. He basically confessed feelings he didn't fucking have. Because Tom knew for a fact that that stupid Commie would be nothing more than a friend ever! He dragged his hand through his hair, currently stressing at what lay on his phone before him. But why had Tord said he didn't know what he would do without him? It was probably just a friend thing, right? Like the friend dynamic would be weird if he was gone. Yeah, that was it. And the heart was to just make sure Tom didn't feel bad for sending one. That had to be it. Cause there is no way in hell that he liked that stupid horned devil who had the cutest smile! Absolutely no way.

"Fuck you, drunk Tom."

He chucked his phone to the floor and hopped in the shower.

Steam ran through the room and as Tom got dressed. His skin dripped with small amounts of water. Tom quickly threw on an outfit, one of the last that remained in his duffle. He then checked his phone, finding a call from an unknown number. He called the number back.

"Hello! This is Sherlie, the Starbucks manager on Heartwood! How may I help you this lovely morning?" Her voice was energetic, and radiated joy. She seemed way too happy.

"Hey, this is Tom Edgegood, the one who interviewed yesterday. I saw I missed one of your calls. Just calling back to see what I missed."

"Oh, yes Tom! I'm so glad you called me back. I decided you'd be a good candidate for our team. Do you still wanna work here?"

"Yes, that'd be great."

"The welcome aboard. Come in any time today and we can discuss your shifts."

"Okay, will do. Thank you so much!"

The call ended and Tom did tiny fistpumps into the air.

Tom decided he'd head out around 1:00 pm to go set up his shifts. In the meantime he found himself staring at Tord's messages. He was definitely not blushing. His eyes kept getting caught on the heart. Was it possible it was stated romantically? No, Tord wouldn't do that. Nobody liked Tom like that. And if anyone did it for sure wouldn't be Tord. But for some reason, one he couldn't figure out, he felt overwhelming joy in the fact that Tord cared about him. He was actually wanted by people, and it was people he got joy from. Maybe Tord did like hi-

A loud beeping shocked him from his thoughts. It was probably the universe telling him he was wrong. Though it was just his alarm clock going off at one. He slowly pushed himself up, got his shoes on, and headed out the door.

Tom was greeted by the soft smell of nutmeg in the air. The cafe was relatively quiet. He liked it. His eyes scanned the room to find the girl he met the day before. Her hair was tied back in a messy bun, and her eyes sparkled like there was no tomorrow.

"Hey, Edgy!"

"Don't call me that."

"I'm going to. Now follow me."

Tom let out a sigh and followed Sherlie to the back of the store. They sat at a table and she spread out a piece of paper in front of him. It was covered in colors and numbers.

"Pick the times that work for you. Yellow is the color you can pick from. You can work as much or as little as you want."

"Alrighty." He looked over the plethora of options. He could either work in the morning or night on the weekends. The shifts were normally 2-3 hours. He picked the five days that aligned with school days. They started 45 minutes after the end of school. Then he picked two midday shifts for the weekend. She smiled at his selections and nodded, writing something over the yellow highlighted boxes.

"Do you want to start now? I'd need to run you through training anyway."

"Uh, sure."

"Follow me!"

She moved quickly through the store to behind the counter.

Tom got out around 6:00 pm. It had been a grueling day, and if he ever saw a coffee pot again he might break something. He needed to relax. He needed to calm down somehow. Tom's memory flashed back to the gun range. That was probably the most calm he had been--excluding waking up cuddling Tord. Cause he wasn't going to ask Commie to do that with him, because he didn't want to do that with Tord. He opened up his phone. It was a little less than half an hour past six.

Tom: Hey Commie, wanna go shooting?

He then waited for a response.

A Song of Two Hearts [A TomTord Highschool AU]Where stories live. Discover now