Silent Complications

Chapter 7

The following morning after the events of the previous night, Thomas never spoke of it; neither did Alexander say that he had witnessed some of it. That day the two, in fact, spent their day going to classes first before coming back and spending time with each other, smiling and laughing together. 

It was two in the afternoon and Thomas was planning on taking Alexander out on a date that night; it would be their first day. Although, Thomas was feeling hesitant and nervous to ask. 

Sure Thomas had been on many dates before, but what really made him like this - anxious and all - was one: he felt the need to ask the Revolutionary Squad for their permission to date Alexander; and two: he was worried that Madison would see them and attempt to, not only hurt Alexander, but to kill him. He knew that the Squad would be willing to help protect Alexander, but he didn’t know how to approach them in asking for their permission - they were all very protective of the little immigrant. For the past month they had been boyfriends, but they haven’t ever really gotten a chance to go out together… until today. Today would be the day that he chose to ask the Squad. (And though Lafayette was Thomas’s cousin, it did not mean that the frenchman would not want an explanation.)

Earlier that day, the virginian asked Alexander to call the Squad to come and “visit” for the afternoon; though Alexander invited them over for the night instead. Now, Thomas complained to his companion about this, but soon gave up once realizing he was getting nowhere - Thomas’s defeat made Alexander proud of himself, as well as ecstatic. 

Alexander grinned from ear to ear, nearly jumping around the dorm like a little school girl who’s friends were coming over for a sleepover - which basically was the case. He suggested that the two of them needed to clean the place up a bit, but Thomas was almost late to class that he had to dash. And so, running out the dorm he went sprinting down the hall and on his way to English.

Though having long legs, Thomas wasn’t running as fast as he expected to. He jogged the rest of the way before finally reaching his destination. Sighing in relief he opened the door and noticed that most students were already there, all eyes reverting to his arrival. Ignoring the stares he slipped to the back of the classroom and sat in an open seat; and that seat happened to be next to none other than Charles Lee. 

Lee always sat in the back of the room; always the silent one. You know the saying: the quiet ones are always the smart ones? Well, that wasn’t the case with Lee. Lee was only quiet most of the time because he was either secretly hating you or just not giving a fuck. And something that Thomas knew - that most others didn’t know - was that the raven-haired punk had more or less of a weak spot for Samuel Seabury. How’d he know this? Well, this isn’t a story about Lee and Seabury, so let’s just leave it at that, shall we?

The English professor, Mr. Adams, cleared his throat aloud in order to regain the classroom’s attention; he succeeded in doing this and asked the class to open up their textbooks. The sound of rustling papers echoed throughout the entire room, soon ceasing to complete silence as Adams then told them to read a few paragraphs of the section they were told to turn to in their books.

As Thomas read at least one paragraph of the section he could tell that it was already something he’s learned before - this led his thoughts to tonight’s yet-to-happen events with the Squad staying over for the night. He lightly shook his head to push the thoughts away for now and looked down at the book, pretending to read the page. He just hoped that the Squad would allow him to be with Alexander even though they fought a lot back in high school.

After some time of silence, Professor Adams spoke up in a loud voice and started to talk about Shakespeare and his great accomplishments in writing. Thomas continued to stare blankly down at his textbook when he felt someone lightly kick his leg. Finally looking up from his book he turned his attention to Charles Lee, who of which was the only person who sat next to him.

"What?" He whispered, his voice clear with annoyance.

“What the hell are you mumbling on about?” Lee asked, sounding just as annoyed himself. “It’s fucking annoying.” Another thing that Thomas knew about Charles Lee was that he could not go a sentence without saying a word of profanity.

Thomas furrowed his brow in slight confusion, realization finally hitting him: he was saying his thoughts aloud once again. What was it with him mumbling his thoughts out loud for the rest of the world to hear; he also wondered if Lee heard any of his quiet ramblings considering he sat next to him. “Sorry…” was all he muttered in reply, and turned back to his textbook to continue “reading” it.

Lee rolled his eyes at Thomas’s reply. “Whatever, just keep your fucking thoughts to yourself, will ya, idiot.” He whispered back and he too looked back at his own textbook - probably also not paying attention to whatever Professor Adams was saying. 

“I’m not the idiot here, imbecile.” Thomas retored snarkily, earning a glare from Lee.

“Wanna bet?”

“No talking.” Adams raised his voice to hush the two, breaking the quiet bickering between both Thomas and Lee before going back to writing on the whiteboard. Thomas could not care any more about what it was he was writing.

Looking to Lee once more, Thomas whispered to him once more. “Just stop calling me an idiot, Lee. I’m trying to think here, so mind your own business.” Without another word he looked back down at his textbook.

Quietly Lee scoffs in response. “Then you stop calling me an imbecile. You keep your mouth shut and stop mumbling - I don’t want to know anything about your personal life.” He whispered back lowly and fiercely, and instead of looking back down at his textbook, he leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling above. Thomas did not respond, not wanting to continue their conversation as it would be pointless. All he wanted and needed to at that moment, was to think about how he was going to be able to get the courage to keep his relationship with Alexander.