Tom's POV
It's been a few weeks since Mickey started going back to school, and the chapel is incredibly boring without her. I'll be sitting at my desk filling out reports, and I'll glance up to tell her a joke, but all I'll see is an empty desk. I don't think I'll ever get used to that.
I sat at my desk with my feet up, twiddling a pencil between my fingers rapidly. Doug had his head down, Judy was clicking away at her typewriter, Booker was cleaning his motorcycle helmet, and Ioki was gone handling a case over at River Valley Institute. The only sound around us was the fan buzzing in the corner, trying to circulate the stale air around us. We were the only team in the chapel, so it was eerily quiet.
I blew a raspberry, and I felt incredibly bored. I dug through one of the drawers of my desk and found some darts. I grabbed a handful and located the nearby dartboard on the wall.
"It's weird without Mickey," Doug stated, breaking our silent streak.
"Yeah," Judy and I agreed.
"It's quiet," I said, throwing a dart at the board and it nearly landed in the bullseye.
"One Friday of many," Doug stated, "not sure how long I can hold on. She makes the time go by faster."
"She's taken vacations before," Judy stated as I threw another dart. "It's essentially the same thing."
"And she's coming back," Booker said without looking up at us from his helmet. "It ain't like she quit."
"Yeah, you're right," Doug sighed and sat up straight in his chair and he began writing away. I ignored them all, and threw another dart.
Fuller's office door opened and Fuller stepped out to call us, "Booker! Hanson! Get in here."
I peered toward Booker just as he looked up from his helmet. He set it down on the table of the desk he adopted and I followed him into Fuller's office.
Fuller put me and Booker on a theft case at Evergreen High School. It seemed simple enough for me to do it alone, or Booker to do it alone, but Fuller had an alternative motive.
I was standing in front of Fuller's desk and said, "this seems easy enough for Detective Booker to accomplish on his own."
"I know, that's why I'm assigning both of you. As you know, Gregg has school, so I want you to get acquainted with a new partner," Fuller explained and handed us our case files. "I think you guys will get along."
"I don't think so. We are at different levels of understanding each other," I said.
"Come on, Tommy," Booker said which made me roll my eyes.
I raised my eyebrows and suggested, "what about Doug? Bring back the McQuaid Brothers."
"McQuaid Brothers?" Booker chuckled, looking at me with judgement in his eyes.
"See?!" I nearly yelled.
"Come on, pal," Booker said and pat his hand on my shoulder a few times. "I'll buy you a taco."
I felt my nostrils flex as I glared down at his hand and wiggled my shoulder out from under his grasp. I did not want this guy near me, let alone touching me. What's his problem?
"You guys don't have to like each other, but you have to respect each other. All right? Can you at least do that?" Fuller asked.
"I can but I don't know if he can," I grumbled as I flipped through the folder.
"Get it done," Fuller said firmly.
I came to a page in my folder and noticed what my name was going to be for this assignment and I immediately sighed audibly.
"What's wrong now?" Fuller asked with an exasperated tone.
"Cruise," I stated defeatedly.
Fuller's eyebrows raised. "Yeah, and?"
"Tom Cruise?" I flexed my lip.
"I don't see the issue," Fuller said with his eyebrows narrow over his eyes.
Booker piped up, "Cap'n, you don't know who Tom Cruise is?"
Fuller looked confused. "Who?"
"Jesus Christ," I mumbled under my breath. This must have been a name that Jenko was saving for me. I'm sure he was waiting for this.
Fuller sighed while rubbing his eye. "Booker. Hanson."
"Yeah?" We asked.
"Get out of my office. I don't want to see either of you again until that case is closed."
Booker and I left his office right away and we gathered our belongings to head to Evergreen High. We took separate cars, and I finished reading my file as I waited for the bell to ring.
Booker and I walked in together, and he was all sorts of nasty. Girls were already oogling over him, and he ate it up. He winked at them and nodded toward a few. They're minors for crying out loud. Children. He definitely peaked in high school.
This is one of his first assignments undercover for Jump Street, but I really hoped that he knew what he was doing. I've had one other assignment with him, and he electrocuted me. I don't wish to go through that again.
We walked down the hallway when we saw the principal talking to a student by a locker. We approached quietly and overheard them talking about how his locker had been robbed that night.
Booker slinked his way in, "I'm sorry. I couldn't help but overhear that your locker got broken into?"
The student nodded. He looked upset.
"That's a bummer, man. Hey, my friend Tom and I have a great idea," Booker started.
"We do?" I asked and raised an eyebrow.
"We will start monitoring this hall during our free periods. That way, we can catch whoever is doing this," Booker finished.
The principal nodded. "That's not a bad idea."
I was assigned locker duty the next day. My mind wandered to Mickey as I was forced to sit in the boring hallway and watch everyone who walked past. I don't even try not to think about her anymore, I can't get her off my mind. I was so bored, I even began to day dream a little bit. I imagined Mickey turning the corner, and closing my eyes just to see her smile could make my world stop. Her bright, dancing eyes might start becoming distracting if I don't get a daily dose of eye contact.
"Tom?" Booker asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. I did not even notice he walked up to me.
"Yeah? What?" I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
He held back his scoff. "Now, why would I be there?"
"To do your job and act like a student?"
He shook his head. "Nah. Been there, done that. Don't care for it."
"You have to at least pretend to pay attention."
"Look, if I'm walking out of a classroom and some guy is trying to throw me into a bush for whatever reason, I can't say, 'hold on, let me recite the names and dates of everything that happened in the civil war'. Being in those classes won't gonna serve me or anyone for that matter."
"Yeah—no. No, that's gonna throw you deeper into the bush."
"Exactly. Anyways, we've got a problem," he said, "another locker had been broken into, on the other side of the school."
"Dammit," I said and accidentally elbowed the metal locker behind me when I swung my arm back. I huffed and shook out the tingling feeling in my arm.
"They've also broken into the library," Booker said.
"Do we know why?" I asked.
Booker snapped, "if I knew that, I wouldn't be here talking to you."
"It's 9:15 in the morning, it's too early for you to have an attitude with me," I barked and stood up from my chair. I glanced around the hallway to make sure that no one could hear and I said, "if Mickey were here, she'd know what to do."
Booker groaned and asked, "what's your deal with her anyway?"
"Deal? What deal? There's no deal," I said defensively.
He chuckled, "please."
"Look, man, we are at work. Not the time to be discussing my personal life," I stated firmly.
"This is the perfect time to be discussing your personal life. Fuller wants us to be closer... this is how normal people do it."
I rolled my eyes and itched my nose with my finger. I said, "fine, fine. What do you want to know?"
"You and Mickey?" Booker raised his eyebrows.
"Right. Um, it's nothing. We are good friends, Jenko made us partners when I first joined. Been partners ever since."
"Jenko?" He asked, easing an eyebrow at me.
"Right... he was our captain before Fuller. He was a good man."
"Oh."
"And... you know... she's Mickey."
"I see you blushing," Booker pointed out.
"Shut up," I snapped and ran my fingers through my hair. "It's hot in here."
"Be a man and ask her out."
"Why would I do that?" I asked, trying to steer him away from this conversation.
"Because you like her."
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "I do not."
"Yes, obviously you do. You've told me before."
"I definitely did not."
"The eyes, man. They never lie," he said while pointing at his own brown eyes.
"Even if I wanted to... which I don't... I can't. Jump Street has rules against it."
"Rules schmules." He blew a raspberry.
"Aren't you a cop?" I stood up from my seat.
"Detective but go ahead," he corrected me.
"Shouldn't you be following the rules?" I asked, "and enforce them?"
"Whatever, Hanburger. Just hurry before I beat you to it."
Frustrated, I pushed him against the wall and got a handful of his jacket. I was so mad, I didn't even realize the nickname he called me... which I despised. I barked at him, "you leave her alone. I don't like you, Booker, and I'll be damned if I let you get near her."
Booker smirked at me and said again, "you're blushing."
I rolled my eyes once again at his inflated ego and I let him go. I took a few steps back and ran my fingers through my hair. I reiterated, "we are just friends, all right?"
Booker shoved his fists in his front pockets and asked, "can you tell me when her birthday is?"
"December 2nd," I stated.
"What's her favorite food?"
I shrugged. "She loves pizza but she's been on a broccoli cheddar soup kick lately."
"And what's her middle name?"
"Janine. What's with all these questions?"
"Most guys don't know that about their friends. Hell, most guys don't even know that about their own girlfriends!" Booker stated.
I rolled my eyes again. I said, "look, I have a girlfriend."
"Who?" He asked with a furrow of his dark eyebrows.
"It's none of your business, but Jackie Garrett."
"Jackie Garrett... Jackie Garrett from the District Attorney's office? That Jackie Garrett?" He asked.
"Yeah," I said. Jackie originally asked me out when I had to talk to her about a narcotics case back in November. It's been going fine, and we haven't really been telling people. The only people who knew were us... and now Booker.
He snickered, "she's such a bitch."
"Can we get back to the assignment? Please?" I sat back down in the metal chair. I really didn't have the energy to defend her.
"When's her birthday?" Booker asked.
"Who?" I groaned.
"Hackie—I mean, Jackie."
"Um... October 24th."
"What's her middle name?"
"Something with a Y," I answered quickly.
"What's her favorite food?"
I don't think she has a favorite food. I know what she doesn't like, and that's a lot of stuff. Whenever I get to pick what's for dinner, she always has something to complain about with it. Whatever her favorite food is, she has yet to share that with me. I hesitated before I spit out the first thing I could think of. "Dumplings."
Booker sneered, "you made that up."
"Shut up, no I didn't."
"Yes, you did. I know you did. That's pathetic. You know more about some girl than your actual girlfriend."
"Just drop it, all right?" I barked. "Let's get back to the assignment. I want to close it already."
"Fine," he said followed by an exhale. "So... what would Mickey do?"
"What?" I asked.
"Become Mickey. Become one with the Mickey. What would Mickey say? You know her better than I do."
"First, she'd scold us for wasting time in this hallway, because most offenders don't hit the same place twice," I stated with a slight chuckle. I began going through the actions of the criminals and what Mickey would say about it. I really missed working with her, she was good at the psychological aspect of the criminals. "I think she would point out about how the offenders moved on from lockers to the library. It means they are escalating, and it looks like they're building up their confidence."
Booker crossed his arms thoughtfully. "Do you think that they are building up for something bigger?"
"I think so... like what?" I asked.
"Something big..." Booker stated.
"Like the classifieds?" I asked.
Booker's eyes lit up at my suggestion. "I think you're right, Tim."
"Not my name, but okay."
"Where are those?"
"Principal's office."
"We gotta get in there."
Later that night, Booker received a tip about how there's supposed to be another break-in that night. We beat the offenders to the school, and Booker picked the lock to the principals office and we snuck in. I was a little concerned that he could pick the lock so effortlessly, but decided that that issue should be scheduled to be dealt with at another time.
Booker and I hid behind the desk when the kids busted down the door. We popped up at them and flashed our badges, finishing the assignment by reading the kids their Miranda Rights and taking them downtown. The whole time, I couldn't stop thinking about being able to see Mickey again on Monday.
I hope you enjoyed! Next chapter revolves around gambling! Don't forget to vote and comment! 😁