Possibly, · I'm · Insane

jlrpuck

bouncy_castle79

swankkat

jlrpuck

Chapter Twelve

He was up with the dawn, unable to stand the dark silence of the nighttime anymore. He hated nighttime, he thought, as he took a shower. He towel-dried his hair briskly and didn’t even bother with gel. He had a feeling it would be a day heavy on hair ruffling, so what would be the point?

It was cold and crisp, the sort of bracing cold that ripped the air out of his lungs when he stepped outside. He kicked fallen leaves about and wandered aimlessly for hours, until it was time for his first class. He went to class, automatically, but paid no attention at all. Then he went to the next class and had the same experience. He realized then that it was near noon and he’d not eaten since Fortuna’s chocolate biscuits the night before, so he wandered to the café and indulged his sulk by ordering some tea that he knew he would be able to complain about, and grabbing a badly-made chocolate croissant that he knew would not have enough chocolate.

Not that he was sulking.

Time Lords didn’t sulk.

He sat at a table and nursed the tea and wished he’d brought a book to read. Not that he would have read, really. He was in a miserable mood. He wished he slept. It seemed like it would be a huge relief to crawl into bed and sleep and have time pass without him having to be conscious of it.

“Bremmy,” said a voice.

Brem looked up. Wigglesworth 300. “It’s just Brem, honestly,” he said, in exasperation, and considered maybe he wasn’t in a fit mood to associate with others at the moment.

Wigglesworth 300 apparently did not sense the little oncoming-stormlet mood he had brewing. She flopped into the seat opposite him. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Brem answered, sullenly.

“How’s Kate?”

And now everyone was going to start asking him about Kate. Great. “Kate is…” Brem suddenly decided he didn’t want to lie. “Kate is awful. I mean, she’s wonderful, but I’ve ruined everything.” He heard the words pour out of him.

Wigglesworth 300 blinked at him. “What? How? I find that difficult to believe. You couldn’t ruin anything.”

Brem barked unamused laughter.

“What happened? Tell me everything. From the beginning.”

Brem thought. “Welllllll. We sat next to each other in Twentieth-Century Novel. I asked her if we should go somewhere after her next class. We have this thing, really, we go to Tealuxe, and…So she said yes, and I met her after her next class, and I kissed her hello, and then we walked to Tealuxe, and she was talking about Chelsea—”

“Who’s Chelsea?” Wigglesworth 300 interjected.

“I dunno.” Brem shrugged. “Someone Kate said knew me. Must be one of you lot. So we got to Tealuxe—”

“You lot?” echoed Wigglesworth 300. “What does that mean?”

Brem looked at her. “You know. You lot. You lot who call me to walk you home at night.” Brem thought it might not be tactful to point out it usually happened when they were drunk.

“So Kate asked you about a girl you walked home?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“I don’t know. Several times, I suppose. Saturday night, apparently.”

“You walked her home Saturday night?”

“Yes. After my date with Kate.”

“Oh, Brem,” Wigglesworth 300 said to him.

“What?” he said.

“You walked a woman home after going out with Kate? Did you explain this to Kate?”

“Explain what?”

“For a smart guy, how can you be so clueless? Did you explain to Kate that you didn’t sleep with Chelsea?”

Brem stared at her. “Why would I sleep with Chelsea if I’m dating Kate?”

Wigglesworth 300 shook her head a bit. “Who are you?” she asked.

Brem decided she meant the question rhetorically, so he didn’t answer.

“Brem,” she said, leaning across the table at him and speaking slowly as if she was scared he wouldn’t understand. “You need to find Kate, and you need to tell her why you saw Chelsea after your date with Kate, and you need to make it very clear that you’re not sleeping with her. Or any of us.”

“Kate thinks I’m sleeping with you? All of you?”

“Kate apparently thinks you’re very, very good.”

Brem groaned as it all dawned on him. “And you’re just addresses! In my mobile! In my head! You’re just addresses. I’m sleeping with all of you and I didn’t even bother to learn your names!” He tore his hands through his hair and jumped off his chair, grabbing his coat. “I’ve got to go. Thanks!” he called back, as he jogged out of the café.

He had no idea where Kate was, and he didn’t know her well enough to know her schedule, but, by sheer luck, he ran across Pennypacker 112 on the Yard, and she said to him, “Are you looking for Kate?”

“How’d you know?” he gasped, pausing in his run.

“Lucky guess. She’s in a study group in Lamont with Kayla.”

Brem had no idea who Kayla was, but he leaned forward and kissed Pennypacker 112 on the cheek. “Thank you so much.”

He reversed direction, heading now toward the modern Lamont Library on the edge of campus. He found Kate’s study group easily, as it was on the main floor. He didn’t bother to register who she was with, just focused on the fact that she was there.

“Can I talk to you?” he asked.

She blinked at him. “What?”

“How could you think I’m sleeping with all these women?”

Kate gaped at him.

“I mean, that’s bad enough, but then you think I don’t even know their names? That I’m sleeping with these women and I don’t even know their names? That’s just rude.”

“It is,” said another girl at the table.

“Thanks.” Brem glanced at her, and then blinked. “Oh. Holworthy 401, right?”

“Right. Hi, Bremmy.” She waved at him.

“It’s Brem. Really, it’s just Brem. And this is brilliant. Tell Kate that we’ve never slept together.”

“We’ve never slept together,” she said.

“See?”

“I don’t think we have at least,” she continued.

Brem stared at her. “What? What?” he squeaked.

“Hang on, I’m trying to remember.”

“Oh, I think you’d remember if you’d slept with me,” said Brem. He paused. “I didn’t really mean that the way it sounded.”

“I don’t think I’ve slept with you,” mused Holworthy 401. “Not that you aren’t cute. But no. I’m pretty sure we’ve never slept together. You’re always very gentlemanly and just walk me home.”

“Yes,” he said, relieved. “Exactly.” He turned back to Kate. “Always gentlemanly. Just walk them home. How could you possibly think otherwise?” He glanced back at Holworthy 401. “And you really need to drink less. Really.”

Kate stood and hissed at him, “We are going outside,” before turning and marching out.

Brem turned to follow her and realized that every person in the library was staring at them. Including the librarian. “I was kind of loud, wasn’t I?” he apologized to her. “Sorry.” And then followed Kate out.

Kate was waiting for him and apparently furious. “You were upset with me for causing a scene on a street, and then you cause a huge scene in a library?”

“I wasn’t upset with you for causing a scene, I was upset with you for shouting. I hate shouting. Shouting is reserved for life-and-death situations. And your father telling you he’s killed your entire species.”

Kate stared at him. “There are times when you make absolutely no sense.”

“I’m complicated. And I have a dry sense of humour. And I’m not sleeping with any of them. I swear it. How could you leap to that conclusion?”

“What are they for, Brem? All those addresses, in the cell phone, what are they for?”

“I walk them home. They drink a little too much, and they call me, and I walk them home, because I don’t want them walking home by themselves. Chelsea called me after I got home on Saturday. I went out to meet her and walk her home and I told her about you, that’s all it was.”

“You walk drunk women home from parties?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you just say that?”

“Why didn’t you just ask me what the addresses were for? Instead of shouting at me?”

Kate wrapped her arms around her middle. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“You’re cold,” he realized. “You haven’t got your coat.”

“Brem, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shouted, and I should have asked, and I should never have let Heather put such silly ideas in my head—”

“Heather?” he echoed. “Where does Heather live? Do I know her?”

Kate actually laughed, which he thought was a very good sign. “No, you don’t know her. She lives with me. She’s my roommate. And she said…Never mind.”

“What did she say?”

“It was stupid, Brem. She doesn’t know you and—”

“What did she say, Kate?” he demanded.

“She said you had bedroom hair and puppy-dog eyes, which you do. And that you hung out entirely with drunk sluts.”

“She called them what?”

“It was awful. It was awful. I should never have…There’s a way, Brem, in which you’re a bit too good to be true, you know? And you’ve got all these women who seemed so…And it took you three dates to kiss me and then you only did because I told you to, and I thought I was being silly.” She wasn’t looking at him as she spoke, pushing at those wisps of hair in front of her eyes. “I thought you didn’t like me, and I liked you way too much, and—”

“Kate. It would be impossible for me to put into words how very much I like you.”

Kate met his eyes. “Ah,” she said. “Well, then. That’s…” She swallowed.

“You should keep that in mind, whenever I act like an idiot.”

She stepped forward, bunching her hands in the lapels of his coat, and leaned up and kissed him. Relieved, he kissed her back. She pulled back after a second, leaning her forehead against his and brushing her hands through his hair. He kept his eyes closed, relying on his other sharpened Time Lord senses to keep the moment close.

“You don’t have any gel in your hair,” she said.

“I was out of sorts this morning,” he responded.

“Oh, Brem. I’m so sorry.”

“We’re okay, though, now, right?”

“Yes.”

“D’you want to go to Tealuxe?”

“I’ve got this study group thing.”

“What are you studying?”

“Biology.”

“Oh, I can teach you biology.”

“So you keep promising.”

“How long until your study group’s over?”

“Can I have your cell phone for a second?”

He pulled back a bit then, keeping his hands on her waist but his eyes wary. “Why?”

“I promise not to storm off on you.”

He dug one hand into the pocket of his coat and handed it across to her. She dropped her hands from his hair in order to poke at the buttons, then turned it to face him.

“There you have it,” she smiled. “My number.”

He looked at the name Kate and the number underneath it, and grinned, pocketing the mobile.

“I’ll call you when I’m done here.”

“But you don’t have my number,” he protested.

“I’m going to ask Kayla for it,” she responded, and winked at him, ruffling his hair one last time before stepping away from him.

“Kate,” he said, and she turned back on her way toward Lamont. “Can I have your dorm key?”

“For what?” she asked.

“I need to have a word with Heather.”

********

The door to Kate’s dorm room was closed most of the way, but not entirely, so that Brem was able to knock on it and then nudge it open without waiting for a reply.

Heather was sprawled on her bed reading a book, and she looked up as he strolled into the room. “I don’t know where Kate is,” she said, looking back to her book.

“Maybe not,” he said, sticking his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “But I do. I’m here specifically to see you. Heather. What’s your last name?”

Heather lifted her eyebrows. “Why?”

“It’s nice, when you’re saying someone’s name dramatically, to have their full name to say.”

“Do you have a point?” asked Heather.

“Always. Or never. It depends on your perspective. Soooooooo.” He leaned against Kate’s desk. “Drunk sluts, huh?”

“Huh?” Heather echoed, clearly having no idea what he was talking about, which made him even more furious than he already was. That she would call them something so hurtful so casually that she would then forget it…

“Drunk sluts,” he bit out. “You told Kate I only hang out with drunk sluts.”

“Oh.” Heather finally gave him the courtesy of sitting up on the bed. “That. Brem, you’ve got to admit, your bevy of women—”

“I don’t have a ‘bevy’ of women. I have nice friends who—”

“Yeah,” drawled Heather. “Like Claire from Econ.”

“Where does Claire from Econ live?”

“Wigglesworth. 300, I think.”

Wigglesworth 300. Who had been so nice to him earlier that day and explained to him what had gone wrong with Kate. Brem bristled, losing grasp of his mask of nonchalance. “She is a sweet girl who has a few intimacy issues due to things that happened in her past over which she has no control. It is totally unfair for you to make assumptions like that about people. For instance, there’s probably a good reason why you feel it necessary to interfere in other people’s relationships and say unkind things about people you barely know. I mean, a reason other than that you’re mean and vindictive.”

“I wasn’t interfering,” retorted Heather. “I thought she should know. She’s my friend.”

“I think you and I define the word ‘friend’ differently,” commented Brem, mildly, and straightened from Kate’s desk. “The lesson to be learned here is if you spread any rumors, really about anyone but especially about anyone I like, I’ll find out. And I won’t be pleased.”

Heather did not look impressed. She lifted skeptical eyebrows at him. “And what happens then?”

“It’s not entirely clear,” Brem admitted, cheerfully. “But there’s precedent you won’t find it enjoyable. Have a brilliant day, yeah? Shall I close the door over on my way out, or leave it open?”

********

“How long will it take you to write a column?” asked Kate.

“I dunno.” He lifted his shoulders in a small shrug while keeping hold of Kate’s hand. “It depends.”

“On what?”

“Whether I have an idea.”

“And do you have an idea?”

“No.”

“Then how long will it take you to write a column?”

He sighed. “A while.”

Kate grinned at him. He was watching his feet kick the dead leaves out of the way on the path they were wending on the Yard but he felt the grin nonetheless. He could feel when Kate grinned at him. The thought made him stop abruptly and turn and cut her off in the middle of a sentence with a kiss.

“Oh,” she said, when he drew back.

“What were you saying?” he asked, resuming their walk as if he had never stopped

“That I’ll call you when I get out of class and if you’re not done then I’ll run to the library to try to get some reading done. We’ve got that paper due next week for Twentieth-Century Novel that I still don’t even have a topic for.”

“Oh,” he said, and decided against telling her he’d written that paper during the first week of school when he had been bored one day.

“You’ve probably got that paper already written, don’t you?”

“What? No. Absolutely not.”

“Someday I’m going to play poker with you, Brem Tyler, and I am going to take you for every penny.”

“Go to class,” he said, good-naturedly, because they had reached her building.

She grinned at him and leaned up to place three kisses at what felt like random over the skin of his cheek and the bridge of his nose. He knew she was placing them over freckles. Because she did that. “I’ll see you later,” she told him, and he looked at her, nose red with cold and hair flattened under her bright red fuzzy earmuffs, and then she darted into the building, this whirlwind of color and life that liked to kiss his freckles.

“Well,” drawled a voice behind him. “That looked promising.”

Brem’s eyes widened in genuine surprise, as he turned. “Jack,” he said.

“Careful, kid. You sound shocked instead of delighted.” Jack grinned at him.

“I…” stammered Brem, because, in all honesty, he was annoyed Jack was there and trying not to show it. For once in his life, he had a slice of life that was no one’s but his, and that was Kate, and now here was Jack, who would want to know everything about it.

“Was about to ask me to grab a cup of coffee with you, I know.” Jack draped his arm over Brem’s shoulders familiarly and led him away from the building.

“Actually, I’ve got…I’ve got things I have to…What are you doing here?”

“Recruiting.”

“Recruiting,” Brem repeated, dryly.

“Aw, Brem!” mocked Jack. “Don’t you believe me?”

“No. I don’t.”

“Brem, this place has the smartest minds on the planet.”

“Exactly. I haven’t noticed that’s a characteristic of Torchwood employees.”

“Oh, ouch,” laughed Jack. “So tell me about the girl.”

“I’d really rather not.”

“What’s her name?”

“Kate.”

“Kate! So you figured everything out, then!”

“Yes. No thanks to you,” he couldn’t help pointing out. “And I wish I hadn’t called you, because all it did was alarm you and make you come here to check up on me, and honestly, I’m fine.”

“Yeah. I could tell. ‘Fine’ looks to me to be an understatement when you’ve got a girl like that doing stuff like that in public. That means the stuff that goes on in private must be even better.”

“I really have a ton of things to do,” said Brem.

Jack laughed again. “I bet you do. But here you are. A struggling college student. Surely you won’t turn down a free lunch.”

“Jack—”

“With Kate.”

“Oh, definitely not. You are definitely not getting anywhere near Kate.”

“Do you think I’d hit on your girlfriend? Really?” Jack appeared wounded.

“I think you’d say something like ‘hello,’ and that’d be the same thing for you, really.”

“Now you sound just like your father.”

“Clever?”

Jack laughed. “I’ll behave myself.”

Brem was silent.

“She’s a secret, isn’t she?”

“She isn’t…” Brem exhaled. “Mum knows. I told Mum. All about her. I just…The rest of them are so…I mean, they’re not…It’s just…”

“You sound just like your father now, too,” remarked Jack, wryly, and stopped walking and turned to look at him seriously. “Relax, Brem, huh? That’s something you don’t do enough of. Relax. Let me take you and Kate to lunch.”

Brem looked at him. He had, when you came right down to it, a very small family. And one of them was here and just wanted to take him to lunch. Just because he loved him. It occurred to Brem that maybe he was very bad at just relaxing, as Jack suggested. Maybe he really did worry too much, as his mother kept telling him. Maybe they should just go to lunch.

“Kate has a class,” he said.

“Okay.”

“And I’ve got to write a column.”

A grin spread across Jack’s face. “Oh, yeah. The famous column.”

“Why is it famous?” asked Brem.

“Because your father never shuts up about it. He quotes them.”

Brem felt himself blush. “That’s silly,” he said. “They’re not that good.”

“That’s what I told him,” said Jack, and Brem imagined he must have looked a bit flabbergasted at that because Jack laughed heartily and slapped him on the back. “Write your column. I really do have recruiting to do. Call me when you want to go to lunch.”

“Yeah,” said Brem, and Jack winked at him before turning and walking through the Yard, dramatic World War II greatcoat fanning out behind him. Brem watched him and looked down at his own coat and thought, Got to get a better coat.

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