Winter in Cambridge

Chapter 12 - Blue balls

Author Note

Accompanying song:

Alkaline by Sleep Token

As Tom turned to go and hail his own taxi, he saw Jack stumbling out of the doors of Lola Lo and falling onto the pavement with a loud thwacking, popping sound, closely followed by Adam tumbling behind him.

"FUCK! My nose!" Jack hollered out as he lifted his head off the pavement and covered his bleeding face with his hand.

Blood seeped through Jack's fingers and dripped onto the floor, mixing with the puddle below his torso, turning it a burgundy red.

Tom huffed irritatedly as he looked up into the dark, rain-filled sky, blowing out a breath of misted air. Tom's shoulders slumped before he turned to look towards the pile of disorientated bodies.

He didn't want to help his friend Jack. He had other things to do, like going to the University and finding Winter's personal file on the student registry system. But as Jack turned his head, Tom knew he'd been seen as Jack's drunken eyes flashed with recognition.

Tom wanted to walk away, but now he'd been spotted, he couldn't just leave Jack on the floor. Especially as Adam was no help whatsoever as he could barely stand without swaying himself.

"TOM!"

Tom groaned under his breath before slowly making his way over to his fallen comrade. Jack was still lying on the wet pavement, his arm outstretched towards Adam, who was on all fours trying to somehow assist from his doggy-style position on the floor.

"I think my nose is broken."

"You think?" Tom replied to Jack sarcastically as he placed his hands on his hips, looking down at him disapprovingly and shaking his head.

Adam bumped into the side of Tom's knee, causing yet another irritated groan to slip from Tom's mouth. Adam then used Tom as some sort of climbing device as he clung to his legs, raising himself up with no assistance from Tom.

"Come on, mate. Give us a hand with him." Adam chuckled as he swayed and stumbled, almost blindly around as his eyes couldn't focus on Jack's outstretched, bloodied hand.

"For fucks sake," Tom muttered under his breath as he knocked Adam's hand out of the way and took hold of Jack's wrist in a firm grip, hoisting him to his feet.

Tom huffed as he lifted Jack's arm up and around the back of his neck to rest on his shoulders, holding him up.

"Let's get you in a taxi and back to the house."

The stag party had rented an air B&B for the weekend to use as their party base. Some of the men had travelled from across the country to come for the weekend and wanted to save money on hotel rooms. It was cheaper as a large house could be rented for a fraction of the cost.

Tom wasn't staying there though. He didn't see the point as he'd rather stay at home. It was, after all, only a twenty-minute drive outside of Cambridge to his house, and with Catherine away at her sister's hen party, he had the entirety of their home to himself.

Tom managed to hail a taxi, but the driver took one look at Jack and Adam, demanding double the usual to take them as they were so intoxicated.

"Shouldn't I take him to a hospital?"

Rolling his eyes and huffing loudly at the taxi driver, Tom agreed on their behalf as he helped to get Jack into the backseat, stuffing some extra cash into the taxi driver's hand. He slammed the back door shut and started to walk off towards the University to fulfil his quest. He'd done his good deed for the day.