Picture Us

Chapter 6: Tam

Tam furrowed his brow, watching the clock intently, waiting for the final seconds until he was dismissed. Why you ask? He was dreading returning to the new dormitory he was assigned, and no matter how hard he stared at the clock, trying to stop time progressing completely, it was all in vain. Sure, he had asked for it, but now that his new roommate had been revealed, he was sure to have a hell of a great year with him, the devil. Keefe Sencen.

As soon as the clock struck 2:00 he sprinted out of the classroom, so caught up in racing towards the Dorm campus he ignored the professor's protests. Determined to avoid Keefe for as long as possible, his breath deep and quick. As he entered the campus, a rush of cold air waved against his hot cheeks, continuing up the stairs, finally slowing down before entering the shithole. "Oh, thank god..." He sighed, his chest burning, yet feeling a sense of accomplishment.

As quick as he entered, he left. Bag thrown onto his bed, and his work for the day strewn across the floor. Tam didn't have a plan on where he would spend the next few hours, he just knew he was going to go somewhere away from him. He pulled his silvery bangs further onto his forehead, settling on walking around aimlessly until dinner.

***

Tam expected Keefe to be back before dinner, but for some reason he had snuck off. Good. He shouldn't worry about Keefe; he has other work to do. Determined to get at least some sleep before sneaking off to work.

***

His alarm startled him awake, God dammit. 10:15pm. Falling out of bed with a thump, quickly threw on his uniform, a crisp white buttoned shirt with a black tie and vest. Sharp. Tam gathered his things and made his way out, sneaking a peek into Keefe's room on his way out, door ajar completely empty, leaving him puzzled.

After making his way to the bar, he entered seeing a familiar face in the corner. Keefe... "what the hell is he doing here?" he muttered, seething with annoyance. He hasn't been at the dorm all night and now he rocks up to where I work? Absolutely not. He took another glance, he saw Keefe completely dishevelled, almost slumped over a table with multiple empty glasses placed carelessly all around him. Tam stared at him, quickly turning away, not quite sure whether he should be concerned or pay no mind to it.

The next hour Tam served customers, occasionally glancing over at Keefe's table to see whether he moved or not, the number of glasses around him growing steadily. A few drunk girls in their early twenties came up and sat right in front of him, one even finding the courage to offer up her number to him, he never quite knew what you're supposed to do in a situation like this, so much to their dislike, he ignored them.

Tam's shift ended at 1:00AM, he found himself counting down the seconds until he's done once again, tuning out the loud music and yelling men. He made his way home, watching from afar as Keefe stumbled back to his- no... their dorm, collapsing onto the bed. He did the same, only he took the time to take off his shoes and change his clothes.

*****

He struggled to sleep well, waking up much earlier than he'd like for his afternoon classes.

"Fuck it," he fell out of bed with a loud thump, surprisingly not waking up Keefe and struggled to the kitchen.

He pulled out cereal, and as he poured it into a bowl, he heard Keefe murmuring to himself. The blond stumbled toward Tam, looking like an absolute mess. Which, Tam had to admit, was rare. For all his faults, Keefe Sencen was conventionally attractive. Not that Tam would ever let the fucker know.

"Good morning," Tam greeted, but ice edged his tone. He eyed Keefe with silver eyes, hoping the blond would pick up on the contempt.

"Since when did you care to wish me good morning?" Keefe said. He said it through a smirk, which Tam realised he meant it as a joke, but his tired eyes and terrible hair masked his sarcasm.

"Since I saw you have way too many drinks at the bar last night," Tam deadpanned.

Tam saw Keefe's tiredness morph into shock. His eyes filled with dread, and when Tam's stern gaze met Keefe's, the blond turned away.

"How do you know about that?" Keefe asked.

"I work there," Tam said simply. "That's how I know that how much you drunk was way too much. You're going to harm yourself."

"You think I don't know?" Keefe hissed. "I'm not stupid, Tam. I just don't care."

"Being reckless isn't much better," Tam folded his arms. No way was he letting Keefe off the hook. "Which is why I've decided I'm keeping an eye on you."

The words slipped out of his mouth before he could think about them. Tam groaned internally, cursing himself for speaking the words into existence.

"I don't need you to babysit me, I'm not a child damn it." Keefe sassed.

"Then stop acting like one." Tam retorted. "Besides, I don't want puke all over our dorm room, and to have to deal with you being wasted all the time."

"And there it is," Keefe huffed. "That's why you're so intent on watching my drinking. Because you don't want a dirty dorm room. Here I thought you actually cared. But no, it's just your saviour complex again. How foolish of me."

"That's not-" Tam slapped his forehead. "And don't you dare spin this on me. You're the one spending far too much time and money on alcohol. Can't you just accept my help? Is it that hard to believe that I'm looking out for you?"

"Yes!"

And there it was. No matter how much Tam wanted to turn around Keefe's drinking issues, no matter how much he cared that this stupid blond boy wouldn't kill himself, the rivalry they shared built a wall between them.

But Tam Song was never known to give up so easily. He'd bargained and battled with his parents all his life. Keefe Sencen was no match for him. Tam shook his head, shaking his silver-tipped bangs out of his eyes.

"Well, you'd better believe it," Tam folded his arms. "Because it's happening."

"Still time to change your mind," Keefe said in a sing-song voice.

"I'm tempted to," Tam said. But even Keefe knew, by the daggers Tam shot at him, that there was no way Tam would back down. Keefe relented, dipping his head and throwing his hands in the air. "But that's not happening."

"Okay, I don't care anyway" Despite Keefe accepting defeat, he would not be beaten by Tammy again. He still found it hard accept that the ever so cold, angry-faced and stubborn emo kid would insist he cared for him. All the more reason to prove himself right.