I Want Crazy

An entire month had passed since Tom had walked out of Jim’s room that night. She couldn’t say she wasn’t completely happy about it. Her and Jim did have a good friendship and he always seemed to help her keep from getting too flustered about school. He was the break point. The first couple days after the incident, Jim would stop at her room to talk her to her senses. He wasn’t really mad about the Leo thing, he just wasn’t expecting it. Jim wouldn’t admit that he was jealous about it, he hadn’t let his emotions and feelings for her get the best of him. Tom knew he had. She wouldn’t open the door when he knocked and Daisy Mae would tell him that she wasn’t there even though she was. Tom’s roommate was being very supportive about the whole thing. Daisy Mae wasn’t exactly in favor of their deal anyway. She had grown really close to Tom and knew that she should have better.

When he knew Tom wouldn’t answer her dorm room door, Jim decided to confront her in public. He would come to her normal study area and sit at the table next to her. She would focus on her work when he talked. When he said something she didn’t agree with, she rolled her eyes, got up, and left. That didn’t stop Jim. He continued to come to the table. It got to the point where Tom had to change her routine completely, moving her study area across campus, or in the medical area when Leo was on duty. Jim didn’t bother him while he was in the medical building so Tom knew it was a safe place.

Things were getting tense for Leo since he was in the middle of the fight. He was keeping the secret hideouts for Tom, but he was also hearing Jim beg him to defend him or speak in his favor. Leo couldn’t do that for Jim. Tom would come around and he was sure of it. Tom was too laid back to let something like this come between their friendship. Leo always saw the smile on Tom’s face after she spent the night with Jim. She would forgive him and they would go right back to where they started.

Jim stopped trying as hard after the first week. When she disappeared from the library, he didn’t go looking for her. He did, however, go to her room one more time.

“Tom, I know you’re in there.” He said through a door. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed, with a textbook PADD in her lap and a new pair of glasses that she just found out she needed perched on her nose. Tom looked up at the door and then to Daisy Mae who stood in front of the mirror getting herself ready for a night out.

Daisy Mae sighed and walked over to the door. “She’s not here, Jim.”

“Bullshit. I’ve looked all over campus. She’s here I know it.” Tom groaned, and pushed her books off her lap and moved over to the door. She pushed the button to make the door swish open. “Yeah, I lied. I didn’t look for you. I just knew.” Tom scoffed at Jim.

“Well…” Daisy Mae started in her thick accent. “I’m headed out. Unless you want me to stay?” she asked Tom.

Tom shook her head. “He’ll only be here a moment.”

“He better be.” The brunette threatened with eyes glaring into Jim’s. She walked out passed the two of them.

“It was nice seeing you, too, Daisy.” Jim told her. Daisy Mae responded with an ‘mmhmm’ as she continued down the hallway.

“What do you want?”

Jim shifted his weight on his feet. He was a little flustered but it needed to be said. Nervously he said something without thinking. “I like what you’re doing with your hair.” He said, gesturing up to his own head. Tom rolled her eyes at him, remembering that her hair was in a bun on the top of her head. “The pony tail sticking out in different directions. It’s…unique.”

“Get on with it.” Tom said with no change in tone. She was annoyed and she was getting tired of him showing up here.

“Okay, well. I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to leave you alone.” Jim told her. Tom raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “No more coming to your door, or stalking you in the library. You can even use your normal study spot. I won’t go looking for you.”

“Is there some sort of catch?”

“Look, I just know that you’re mad, okay? I know that you need time to get over this, because you were right. I did freak out about you and Bones, but we’ve all moved on from it, right? It was one drunken night and it didn’t matter. Bones and I are good, you and him are good. Everyone is still friends.”

“I’m not – ”

“You are my friend.” Jim insisted. “You were my friend since the moment you walked up to me at that bar. No girl has ever done that as confidently as you have. Not to mention that you were actually giving me advice on some other girl.”

“You should’ve taken my advice.” Tom told him, thinking about the night he got his face rearranged at the bar they lived by.

“I should have. But if I hadn’t I’m not sure that I would be here. I would prefer not trying to get my friend to talk to me again, since I don’t do well groveling. I’ve never had a friend who is a girl. I’ve never been on her door step trying to get her back.” Jim ran a hand through his hair. “What we have is…awesome.” Tom scoffed. “We’re friends. Best friends, even, I think. And you’re great. Perfect. And even if it means that we don’t have sex anymore, I don’t even care. I just want my friend back.”

“I’m not so sure I want that. I’m seriously, stupidly, sexually attracted to you, Jimmy. I don’t think you and I can just be friends.”

“Then that’s fine. We can still have sex.” Jim said with a smirk.

“Alright, I’m done listening.” Tom said, annoyed. She reached for the button to close and lock the door again.

“No, just wait.” Jim said, reaching for her arm, clasping it between his fingers. Tom look at his hand on her arm and then up to him. “Just think about it. You know where I’m at. I’m gonna wait until you come to me.”

Tom sighed. “You gonna be waiting for a really long time.”

Jim shook his head. “No, I won’t. I’m irresistible.”

Tom shook her head, with an eye roll. “Good night, Jim.”

“Night, Tommy.”

~~~~~

“Mom, I’m fine. I promise. You really don’t have to keep calling every day. I don’t even talk to dad this much.”

“That’s because your father never has much to say. I’m just worried about you with finals coming up. Are you getting enough sleep? Are you studying a lot?”

Tom rolled her eyes, looking at her book in her lap. She was actually in the midst of studying when her mother called her at the same time she had been for the last few days. Cadence had a habit of calling people while she was cooking dinner, and her first call recently was to Tom. “I would be studying right now. But I’m talking to you. I’m fine. Sleeping and studying. I’m just stressing out a little bit. I feel like I need a break, but I need to study.”

“Oh, honey, you deserve a break. Why don’t you go out tonight? I’m sure your friends miss you.”

“My friends are studying just as hard as I am.”

“What about that doctor fellow your sister told me about? He seems nice.”

“He is nice, mother, but I’m not dating him. Whatever Yas told you, was a bit overreaching. He’s my best friend.”

“Okay, well, what about that other boy? Kirk. Are you still not talking to him?”

“Yeah, no I’m not. I haven’t talked to him in a couple of months.”

“What happened with him? For the first couple months out there, he was all you would talk about and now all of a sudden you aren’t friends?”

“He was not all I would talk about.” Tom said, blushing and picking at her finger nails. “I talked about other things.”

“Yeah, but they always had something to do with him. ‘Jim and I went out last night,’ ‘Jim said something really funny,’ ‘Jim is a really smart guy’.”

“Mom, really?”

“Look, if he’s so smart, you should get him to help you study.”

Tom scoffed. “I’m not that desperate.” Tom sighed and looked at her study guide. “Look, I should get back to studying. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

“Alright. I love you, Reagan.”

“You, too, Mom.” Tom sighed, dropping her communicator on her bed next to her. She looked at her study tools wishing that they would all just disappear and that she would be done with all of it. Tom didn’t remember ever working this hard for something. She was exhausted. All of these classes were taking a toll out on her sanity. The words blended together. She needed to move to a new subject. She checked the time and noticed that it was an off time for Leo. He normally spent the hours he wasn’t in the medical lab sleeping. Beginner’s Med was the way to go. She packed up her book bag with a few books in her bag and headed out the door to Leo’s room. Tom arrived and chimed the doorbell. The door swished open a second later only to reveal not Leo, but Jim.

Jim showed his charming smile and leaned against the door frame. “I knew you couldn’t stay away from me for very long.”

“Not funny, Kirk. Is Leo here?”

Jim shook his head. “Some sort of doctor emergency. That or he needed a drink. Not sure. He wasn’t here when I got in.”

“So you have no idea where he is?” Tom asked, annoyed with him beating around the bush. Jim just shook his head. “Great.” Tom sighed. “Well tell him thanks for nothing.” Tom turned and started to walk away from the room and go back to her own.

“Tom!” Jim called stopping her footsteps from going anywhere.

“What is it, Kirk?”
“What is with this “Kirk” stuff?” Jim asked. Tom only raised an eyebrow wanting him to get to his point in stopping her. “Look, maybe I could help you.” Tom scoffed and turned back around to leave. “Oh, come on. Would it be that horrible? You seem like you could use a little break, too. I could give you a neck massage.”

Tom snorted a laugh. “Yeah, that will lead us straight to the bed.”

“Then so be it.”

Tom shook her head. “Good night, Jim.”

“Tommy, c’mon.” Jim said, grabbing her wrist.

“Jim - ” Tom said, but was stopped when Jim pulled her into him room. He shut the door and locked it with his code so that Tom couldn’t get out herself. Tom sighed. “Isn’t this considered kidnapping?” she asked him.

Jim shrugged. “I’m trying to help.” he said, as he put his hands on her shoulders. “Close your eyes.”

“Oh, yeah, right. Close my eyes and then you rape me, right? That’s how it works with you creepers.”

“I’m not about to rape you, Tommy.” Jim assured. “Could you just comply with me for two seconds instead of being your normal difficult self?” Tom groaned, but went along with him anyway. She closed her eyes and she felt a tug as Jim turned her around. “Take three steps forward.”

“Are you gonna make me run into something?” Tom asked.

“Trust me…” Jim sighed, getting annoyed with Tom’s lack of compliance. Tom took the three steps forward that Jim ordered her to. To her surprise he didn’t make her run into anything. She took a deep breath thankful that Jim wasn’t messing with her. “See, trust me. There’s really nothing I could do to you that wouldn’t result in me getting my ass handed to me on a plate.” Jim explained, taking Tom’s bag off of her shoulder.

“Got that right, Kirk.”

“And enough with the Kirk crap. I prefer even Jimmy to that.” Jim said, although he was walking away from Tom because she couldn’t hear his voice right up on her ear anymore. She sighed in relief knowing that him being as close as he was would just make her want to turn around and throw him back on his bed, not caring that Leo could walk in any second. “Okay.” Jim said, his voice seeming closer. Tom felt him move a little bit right in front of her and then move right to her side. He sighed. “Open your eyes.” Tom did. In front of her she saw that he had moved her to stand in front of the desk. The desk had been arranged with all of her textbook PADDs and a few of her favorite snack candies. She furrowed her brow and looked to Jim.

“What exactly is this for?” she asked him.

Jim sighed. “You were taking a really long time to come to your sense. I’m kind of impatient.”

“Kind of?”

“And…” Jim said, ignoring her comment. “I decided to put together this little peace offering and come to the rescue and be your study tutor for the week.”

“Jim, you have your own exams to study for.”

“I’ve already taken them. Don’t worry about it.” he said, sitting her down in one of the chairs at the desk. He took the other one. “Look, I was planning on coming to you tonight, but since you’re here, we might as well just get going. Now, pick a subject, and let’s get started.”

“I’m not doing this.” Tom argued. “I don’t need your help.”

“You do need my help. Or at least you need someone’s help. Otherwise, you probably wouldn’t have come to my door, asking for it.”

“I was looking for Leo.” Tom groaned.

“And he is not here. So, please, to stop wasting time, just let me help you with this. And maybe, if you’re up for it, later, I could help you relax.”

Tom laughed. “You make it sound like it’s just that easy to get back in my pants.”

“It’s not. I know that much. But I know that it could take a little bit of the edge off so that you’re not so stressed out. And Bones agrees with me.”

“Oh, does he, now?”

Jim nodded. “So technically it’s Doctor’s Orders for me to have sex with you.”

Tom sighed. “Ah, you’ll use any line in the book to get yourself laid, won’t you?” she joked.

Jim nodded again. “Just about.”