I Want Crazy

It had been a hard few months for Tom at the academy. Tom was running on caffeine. She was taking on more classes than she could handle. She was taking the classes recommended for a first year as well as some extra-curricular classes. In some cases, when she was doing her school work she had to have a dictionary PADD open so she could look up words that she didn’t understand. It was tough for her, but she didn’t want to lighten her load. It would only mean that she was quitting, that she couldn’t handle it, and that simply wasn’t okay. She needed to catch up to everyone here. She found herself asking more questions in class than anybody else did and staying up late in the library of the dorm room while Daisy Mae was curled up in their room upstairs. The girl who said she, herself, was going to be up late a lot studying, managed to get her full eight hours of sleep every night. Tom was jealous. She was lucky if she got half that.

Jim wasn’t much help either. Tom knew that she had made a deal with him, but she didn’t realize how much he would strike out when he went to the bar. He often called her up and convinced her to go up to his room. When she didn’t answer, he went as far as to find her. When he did, Tom would always let up an exasperated sigh when he strolled through the door way. She would always give in to him, if only for a break from her studying. Jim was that for her: an escape. He was there to make sure that after a long day of studying over the weekend, she could just relax for a few hours. Tom was thankful, but also a little bitter, because she knew she should be studying so she didn’t fall behind.

Tom spoke with her family often, her dad more than anyone else. She did miss her mother and her other sisters, but it was her dad that pulled on her heartstrings the most. Tom called him almost every other day when she went on her breaks to go get coffee. Neither had really much to report, but they liked having that connection. She would tell him how her classes were going and that she was keeping her grades up. She also told him about her friends, keeping her deal with Jim out of the conversation. He didn’t need to know that anyway. Thomas would tell her about the shop and how much her mother missed her. Tom knew that he was saying just that her mother missed her, but she knew it also meant he did, too. He never was one to admit his feelings and Tom understood.

Currently, she was meeting with her sister, Yasmin, for lunch between classes. Yas had been begging her for days, saying that it would just be an hour of her time. Tom eventually agreed as long as she would help her with a few questions from her Beginner’s Medical class. It was one of the classes that she didn’t necessarily need, but who knows when it would come in handy? The two quickly got through the questions and then went to get their lunches. Yas sat a table across from her sister who had a textbook under her tray of food.

“So, Tom, other than working yourself to death, are you doing okay?”

Tom shrugged. “I guess. Just trying to stay awake most days. I can’t tell you how tiring school is. No wonder I didn’t really go back after high school.”

“I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

“For you maybe. School comes easy to you and everyone else. I have to work for it. And work hard. There’s barely any time for myself.”

“What about your friends? Don’t they help you out?”

“DM helps me when she can. I try not to bother Leo, since I know that he doesn’t really like hanging around us kids. He puts up with us when he wants a drink. And Jim…well, he’s Jim.”

“What’s going on with you two anyway?”

Tom laughed once. “We have a deal.”

“Do I even want to know?” Yas asked her sister, taking a bite of her salad.

Tom shrugged. “Probably not. We’re friends more than anything. We just…” Tom thought, “take care of each other.”

Yasmin cringed in her seat. “Okay. That’s really all I need to know. You haven’t told Dad have you? I mean, you tell him everything.”

“Of course, I haven’t told Dad. I don’t want to give him a heart attack. And I don’t tell him everything.” Tom argued, as she popped one of her French fries in her mouth.

“Maybe you would feel better if you ate better.” Yasmin informed her sister.

Tom glared at her. “Paging Doctor Parker. Uh, shut up.” she said, jokingly. Yasmin laughed. “I couldn’t come up with anything funnier than that. I feel like I’m in second grade with no comeback.”

“You’re such a goofball.” Yasmin said, throwing a cherry tomato at her sister’s face. Tom caught it in her mouth and chewed it happily. “So what about this doctor friend of yours? Who’s he?”

“Leo. I thought I told you he was the doctor.” Yasmin shook her head at her sister. “Oh, yeah. Well, he’s six years older than us and he’s been through the whole marriage thing. I think, though, that he is kinda like our elder, in a way. He seems like he doesn’t enjoy Jim’s antics.”

“Well, from what I heard, Jim is more of a child.”

“You heard right.” Tom nodded with a smile. A sound emitted from her pocket and she jumped as her communicator rang. She took it out, held a finger up to her sister, and answered it. “Go for Tom.” She said.

“I need a drink.” The voice sounded.

“Leo?”

“Yeah.” He said. “You think you could take the night off and get a drink with me?”

Tom hesitated. “I don’t know. I’ve got a lot of studying to do.”

“Aw, come on. Do I ever ask you for anything?”

“Uh, well you actually don’t want me to get into that.” she heard Leo grunt, agreeing. “Maybe if you helped me out with some of my Med stuff before we go.” Tom hinted.

“Done.” And with a click of the phone he had dropped the call.

“Was that a certain doctor friend?” Yasmin teased.

Tom rolled her eyes, but nodded her head. “Yes, we’re going to get a drink after he helps me study.”

“Ohh!” Yasmin cooed, raising her eyebrow.

“What?”

“Are you going to study or study?” Yasmin was obviously hinting at something other than studying.

“Yas, there is nothing going on with Leo and I. He’s my best friend.”

“So is Jim.”

“Jim is different.”

“Jim is always different. You’re always defending him.”

“That’s because he’s a lot more than he lets on. He’s secretly a genius. He’s going places.”

“So are you. With Doctor Leonard McCoy.” Yasmin stressed. Tom shook her head. “Do you know how excited Mom would be if you came home with a doctor?”

“Okay, so before you start looking at color swatches for my wedding, I’m going to go to class.” Tom said, picking up her things and throwing her bag over her shoulder. She walked around the table and gave Yasmin a hug over her shoulder.

“Love ya.” Yasmin said as she squeezed her sister’s arm.

“You, too.”

~~~~~

Tom walked up to the room Leo shared with Jim. She knew Jim would be out since it was a Friday night. There was no way he was missing out on it. Tom, however, planned on staying in. She had a couple of her Med books in a bag along with a couple bottles of whatever she felt was needed. She knocked at the door. It swished open revealing Leo on the other side of it, his hair all in disarray. Tom laughed at the sight.

“You look like you’ve had a rough day.” Tom joked, slipping passed him and getting herself comfortable on Leo’s bed.

“Don’t get me started.” Leo groaned throwing himself down next to her. “I thought we were meeting in the library.” He grumbled into his pillow.

“Change of plans my medical licensed friend. I have brought the booze to you.” she reached into her bag and pulled out two bottles. She handed one to Leo who sat up, happily, opened his bottle and took a shot straight from it. He breathed out with a sigh, feeling the alcohol sting his throat. Tom furrowed her brow at him. “You know you could wait and at least celebrate with me.”

“What are we celebrating?” he asked, leaning up on his arm.

“Too late now.” Tom said, waving it off, and opening her own bottle. She lifted it to her lips, but it was brought back down by Leo’s hand. Leo raised an eyebrow at her and Tom smirked. “I got a ‘B’ on a test.” She said with a proud smile.

“Well, that is reason to celebrate.” He lifted his bottle to her. “Here, here.” Tom clinked her own with his and they both took a shot.

“Gah.” Tom gasped. “Oh, that’s good.” She took another shot quickly. “Alright. Now that we’re relaxed a little bit, let’s get this done before we’re too drunk.” Tom pulled her Med stuff out of her bag. Leo groaned and sat up on his bed, leaning over Tom’s shoulder to help her with her work. They got all of her studying done in an hour, taking shots when Tom was able to answer one of his questions on her own. She was happy with herself. She needed some sort of reward and shots were just the thing. Tom leaned back against Leo’s headboard and pushed her school stuff on the floor. She sighed getting comfortable. Leo moved to sit next to her. “So what made your day so crappy?” Tom asked, generally interested.

“Damn trainees. They think they know everything.”

“Ah, yeah. That would get annoying. I mean, in my engineering classes, I feel like the smartest person in there because I’ve done most of this beginners stuff. But these kids still feel the need to tell me what I’m supposed to do.”

“Exactly.” He said, raising his bottle to Tom. They both took a shot. “Kids. You’re one of those kids, you know? I mean, you’re no Jim.”

Tom laughed. “No, I’m not. Thanks for that. Makes me feel mature that you actually accept me.”

“‘Course I do. You’re bringing me around. I don’t think about the divorce as much anymore. I mean, the ex-wife’s still a very shrill woman. And Joanna, I miss her, but thanks to you and Jim, I don’t think about her much. It doesn’t hurt as bad.”

“Joanna?” Tom questioned. She’d never heard him say that name before.

“My daughter.” Leo admitted, before taking a long swig.

“Damn.” Tom said, with wide eyes. “I didn’t know you had a daughter.”

Leo shrugged it off. “Never came up. Jim doesn’t even know. Let’s not tell him just yet.” Tom nodded, without hesitation.

“Of course.” The two sat in silence each taking a shot every few minutes. Tom looked over to Leo and noticed how sad he looked. She sighed. “I bet you’re a great dad.” She consoled. Leo let out a breath of his own. Watching him, Tom couldn’t help but feel bad herself. How would her dad feel if she had been taken from him? Then, she gave in, to everything that she never liked. Maybe it was the alcohol controlling her, or maybe she just really felt bad for him. She scooted herself closer to Leo and moved his arm around her shoulders as she leaned her head on his. Leo’s hand tightened on her shoulder as he took another drink. Tom looked up at him. “You know, my sister. She’s got this crazy idea that I’m gonna drop Jim and date you.” Leo raised an eyebrow. “I know, right? I mean, she was only thinking out loud, but she was telling me how excited my mom would be if I brought home a doctor.”

“Hm…” Leo said in response. “I don’t think I’ve come across your sister yet.”

“Probably not.” Tom shrugged. She took a shot and looked down at the bottle in her hands. “I’m definitely not the dating kind, but I don’t think it would be too crazy. Maybe a long time from now. And I mean, like a long time.” She looked up to Leo who just stared at her. Tom looked back down and laughed, shaking her head. Leo took another drink and realized it was the last shot. He sighed in defeat. Tom was out, too. “Oh, God. Just ignore me. I’m drunk.” When she looked back up at Leo she could feel the blush on her face. “I always seem to talk too much when I’m drunk.” She said slowly, watching as Leo brought his hand up to her face and cupped her cheek. She felt a slight tug as she her neck stretched upwards until Leo’s lips met hers, harshly. The kiss was heated, and rushed. Tom let her bottle fall to the floor and she hitched her leg over to straddle Leo. She felt him moan against her mouth at the friction between the two. She smiled, knowing very well what she was doing.

~~~~~

Afterwards, they both fell asleep, over-tired and aches that smashed their brains against their skulls. Having been comfortable when Leo had her arm around her earlier, she settled for the same now, as her head lay on his chest, moving up and down with his slow, steady breaths. She’d never done this after she had sex, but with Leo she liked it. The two had a tight friendship and knew so much about each other. More than she and Jim knew about the other. Not that she minded knowing so little about Jim. Whatever happened to him as a child had to be hard since his father died saving his life and she knew that knowing anything after that would only cause her to sympathize with him. Not that she could, her father was alive and well. Knowing more about Jim would make their deal a lot harder at keeping all of the feelings out of it.

The door to the room swished open. Jim walked into his dark room, not knowing about the guest they had. “Bones, have you heard from Tom? I’ve been looking all over for her.” he asked the dark. When Leo didn’t answer, Jim sighed. “I hate to do this to ya, buddy. Lights.” He said, aloud. The lights quickly flashed on. Tom groaned against the sudden brightness of the room, rolled over away from Leo, and covered her eyes with the crook of her elbow. When she rolled over, Jim saw her bare back had become exposed. He blushed realizing what he had just walked in on. The blush quickly faded and he became a little angry. She had never stayed with him like that. He wasn’t sure that he really wanted her to, but it was still something he didn’t get from her. “Tom!” he shouted in the small space of a room. The blond shot up, not covering herself with the sheet, leaving her chest exposed. Leo rose a little slower, but he was still recovering from his sleep state.

“What?” Tom said, angrily. She hated being woken up. Jim looked her over, rolling his eyes, trying to tell her inconspicuously that she should cover herself. Tom looked down and saw her nakedness. She groaned and reached around the bed for her clothes, leaning over a drowsy Leo when she saw her pants on the other side of him. She looked up to Jim after she was dressed. “What’s your problem?”

“You think sleeping with our best friend without telling me is okay?”

“What are you talking about? I sleep with you. What’s so wrong with sleeping with him?” she said, referring to Leo. Leo who was slowly beginning to realize what was going on, grabbed his clothes, tugged them on and made some excuse about being hungry to leave the room. “We aren’t exclusive to each other, Jim. I could have slept with Leo if I wanted to, so I did.”

“In my room. On his bed.”

“Would you have preferred it on your bed?”

“I would have preferred it on my bed, with me.” Jim argued. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“Obviously not well enough. And you could have found someone else, right? You can’t actually have me as your first pick if you’re going out looking for someone.” Jim didn’t say anything to this. He didn’t know what to say. “I mean, you should have known this was going to happen, right? If you can go out and hook up with some random girl, why can’t I hook up with someone.”

“I figured it would be some random guy. I never thought it would be Bones.”

“Why not? Because he’s not you?” Jim blushed and bit the inside of his cheek with angry eyes. “That’s it, isn’t it? You’re mad because I didn’t make myself available to you. Instead, I was off doing my own thing. I told you I’m not doing this. No feeling, no attachments. Just sex. That’s what you agreed to.”

“I know, but this is just – it’s Bones!” he struggled for his words. Jim knew that he was in the wrong here. He knew that Tom was going to have sex with other guys. He just grew somewhat close to her in the previous months that maybe she wouldn’t want to. Of course, he slept with a couple other women but that didn’t matter.

“And you know this whole time, it’s all it’s been. You and Leo. I’ve been too busy with school to even think about hooking up with anyone else.” Tom groaned and began picking up her books and shoving them into her bag.

“Oh, come on. Where are you doing?”

“I’m leaving.” She said, throwing her bag over her shoulder. “You can’t handle this. Don’t expect me to come back.”