Favorable (Jamilton)

33. Jefferson

Thomas woke up the next morning to complete silence. With the weather closing in on winter, there weren't any birds to be screeching their morning song of despair at the ass crack of dawn. With the end of the football season coming up, hangovers were becoming more common which meant alarm clocks were typically off. And with no Hamilton came the lack of aggressive typing--

No Hamilton. 

Thomas shot up in the bed to make sure that his roommate wasn't just sleeping in for once and not trapped in wherever the kidnapping victims were being held. He threw a pillow at the wad of blankets before allowing himself to panic slightly. 

He pulled on a hoodie and shoes before rushing out of the dorm. He ran back into the room to grab his phone, then he was off down the hallway. He pulled out the phone and started texting Laurens to see if Alex just decided to spend the night there and just forgot to call or something.

from: Jlau
i thought he was with you.? he didn't show up last night. 

Thomas groaned and opened Hamilton's chat head. 

to: Significant Annoyance
hey whered you go.? you didnt call, you didnt come back ... i need to know that you arent kidnapped or sometihng

im the last person to see you as far as i know so if you could not get me arrested thatd be great
youre always on your phone you could at least let me know you arent dead

He quickly walked by the cafe and looked around inside to make sure his apparently lost boyfriend wasn't there, which he surprisingly wasn't. He was definitely starting to panic as he left the building. So much so that he was too busy texting a non-responsive Hamilton to notice anyone walking in front of him and he bumped right into his old family friend. 

"Tommy! Hey, how you been?" Adams cheered. "Haven't seen you since before Thanksgiving, when you were with that obnoxious gremlin. Speaking of, where is that thing anyway?"

"You haven't seen me since Thanksgiving because of what you pulled when you sat with me and my sisters at the cafe, and I don't know where he is. I was just looking for him so if you could just--"

"Oh, so it's missing? As in like kidnapped missing?" 

"I don't know, that's why I'm trying to find him."

Adams shrugged and kept walking alongside Thomas, despite obviously not being wanted. "I dunno, man," he said. "if I were you, I'd just let it go."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You know, let it go. If they don't want it and all the loudmouthed tendencies, they'll throw it out." 

"Or they'll kill him?"

"Either way it seems like a win to me." 

Thomas turned toward John Adams and didn't even bother glaring. He was mostly shocked that a human being could say that about another human being. Especially one that's close to a family friend. It was impressive in a sick and twisted way. 

"What makes you say that?" 

"I mean there was no filter. Anything that came to that self-righteous mind had to be shared with everyone. I get that that's your boy toy and all, but seriously, Thomas? There was a whole situation where someone was being paid for that asshole's side-chick. Maybe you should just keep all of that mentally fucked up glory until you find something that's actually worth your time. Long story short, be glad that the creole bastard is gone. Could be a new beginning for you." 

Thomas stopped walking but Adams kept going like he didn't say what he just said. Everything about it suggested that Jefferson was going to punch him in the face, and he walked like he didn't even care. 

Jefferson stormed up to him, grabbed him by the shoulder, and turned him around so quick that it took his head a second to catch up. Thomas didn't feel like getting in trouble before he could find his idiot, so he didn't punch Adams.

"Unless you know exactly what you're talking about, it would do you well to now say anything at all." 

Thoams let go of the shoulder that he was still holding and started toward the makeshift station that some police officers had set up to tell them about a new person to add to the wall of faces.

Before he stepped in, he got a new message. 

from: Significant Annoyance
not dead, i just passed out in the library .. gotta study up yknow

Thomas thought that something seemed off about the text. It didn't sound like anything Hamilton would say. Somethine he would do, sure, but he would have worded it differently.

to: Significant Annoyance
ok thats fine. go back to the dorm and get some sleep tho
before you do, we havent gone out for dinner in a while. we still on for that dinner date tonight.?

from: Significant Annoyance
totally.

And that was all Thomas needed to know for sure that something was going on and he didn't like it. They never made plans for a date and they've never actually been out to dinner. Unless ordering pizza and not leaving their room counted, but neither of them had the money to go out at this point so they never bothered. 

He went into the office and told the woman behind the desk what was happening. She didn't seem too thrilled to have another missing person to account for and Thomas could tell, just by the way she was talking.

"Are you sure he's missing?" She asked in a snarky voice.

"What? No, that's why I'm here, to stop him from being officially missing!" 

"Well, then why don't you just wait until you know for sure that something isn't right?" She glanced at the phone. "Besides, isn't that him that you're talking to there?"

"Listen, I know my boyfriend, alright! And I know that this isn't him!" He waved the phone for emphasis. "He wouldn't just leave without saying something and I know that it's not him texting me!"

"How do you know sir?" The lady was definitely losing her patience with him, if she had any to begin wiht, but he couldn't care less. 

"Because we never made those plans!"

"He could think that he forgot about them and didn't want to make you upset. Go and wait, I'll send out something. Have a nice day." she put on a fake smile and waved him away. 

He left the station with a huff and ran into Charles Lee, not literally like he did with Adams. 

"Where's Hamilton?" 

"I don't know." Thomas ran a hand through his hair and looked around like he would find Alex like that. "I can almost guarantee the clowns in there aren't going to be much help, though."

"I can help you," Lee offered. He looked dead serious. 

"No offense, but last time we helped each other, things went south pretty quick." 

"Wow, such a great pun," Lee groaned sarcastically. He sighed and pinched his nose. "Look, I don't like to think about that any more than you do, alright? But we're both missing something here. I need to find Sam, you need to find Alex, they aren't moving quickly enough in there because the longer this takes, the more publicity it gets. Especially if they find a body and we can't have that. Right?" 

Thomas looked at him for a second, shocked. "Right."

"So the logical thing would be to get our group of people. People that we can count on to actually look because those cheap assclowns aren't doing shit for the actual victims here." 

"You do have a point. . ." 

"I know I have a point. So what do you say, do you know anyone?" 

Confidence and determination found their way into Thomas's mind and he stood up a little straighter. 

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do."