Chenford-The Bar

7

Tim got up and contemplated his life for a few minutes before going to the kitchen to start coffee.

Lucy walked out into the kitchen after freshening up for a while and looked over at Tim, who was making eggs and bacon. "Coffee is on the table." He pointed in the direction of it with his spatula and continued stirring the eggs. "Thanks." Lucy said groggily. Despite her best efforts, she was still hungover.

Her head was pounding, and she was regretting not accepting the offered water from Tim.

She took a sip of coffee and squinted at him. "So. Just to set the record straight." Lucy set down her glass. "I vaguely remember puking in your toilet last night." She held up her hand as if to conjure the memory up from her foggy brain.

Lucy looked over at Tim for confirmation. He silently nodded after a moment but didn't look up from the pan. "And you were rubbing my back?" Lucy squinted her eyes.

Tim's mouth became open. He stammered. "Well, I mean, I've heard it helps soothe people. I didn't mean to be weird. I just..." Tim trailed off as he looked up and saw the snarky look he was receiving from Lucy. "What." He sighed and turned the stove off.

"You. Tim Bradford. The man who hates vomit and anything to do with it." Tim shook his head as he prepared the plates. "Stayed in the same room with me and even sat next to me? Why?" Lucy turned her body on the chair to fully face Tim. He looked up from the prepped plates.

"Well, I wasn't just gonna let you sit on my bathroom floor puking. You would've completely missed the toilet if I hadn't redirected you." Tim grabbed the two plates and walked over to the kitchen table. "Still. It's a big step in order to get over a fear. Exposure therapy." Lucy did a little hand gesture as she said the last two words. Tim rolled his eyes. "Do not use your psychology on me, Chen." He set the plate down in front of her and sat down. Lucy scoffed. "Still though you didn't run away like I thought you would have." "Right" Tim replied and began eating.

Awkward silence ensued as they both ate across from one another. They didn't know what to say anymore.

"Hey, um, Tamara called you last night after you were already asleep. I guess your texts didn't go through. I told her everything was alright." Tim said and continued finishing his food and coffee. "Yeah, my phone has been pretty buggy lately. Thanks for telling her. The last thing I want is to wor-." Lucy almost choked on her food, finally fully processing what Tim had just said. "You okay?" Tim asked, his mouth half full with food. "You talked to Tamara?" Lucy patted her chest and drank some water.

"Well, yeah. I didn't want her to assume the worst." Tim looked at her with confusion. "Was I not supposed to?" Lucy shook her head. "No, no, it's ok. Thank you. It's just." Lucy sighed and contemplated telling Tim about what Tamara had said for a few moments but ultimately decided it'd be a good time to finally talk about it.

"She teased me yesterday because I told her you were coming to the bar."
She looked down at her food, avoiding eye contact. Tim slowly nodded but didn't get it. "Why would she do that?" Tim stood up with his plate and walked to the kitchen sink. He was always a fast eater.

"Well. The last time she saw us together... we were..." Lucy looked at Tim and put her hands up to hopefully let that finish the sentence so she didn't have to. Tim thought for a second. "I still don't get it." He put his dishes in the sink and came back for Lucy's.

"We kissed."

Tim stood in his tracks. He remembered that night quite well. Lucy had basically jumped his bones after he gave her a sorry excuse for a kiss. Tamara had walked in, and the rest was history. The undercover operation never happened, so they went about their lives. Trying desperately to not let the moment ruin their friendship. It was work. At least that's what Tim chose to believe.

"Oh. Yeah." Tim was in the middle of picking up Lucy's plate. She looked up at him. "Yeah." Tim quietly picked up the plate and walked back to the sink. "That explains her tone then."

Tim had stopped cleaning. It'd been a few minutes since they had spoken, and Lucy was trying to finish her coffee as fast as she could so she could get out of there. "Do you guys talk about it? You know. That. A lot?" He made hand gestures in between words, trying desperately to compose himself.

"No. We talked about it once. The morning after. I explained, and that was the end of it. At least, I thought it was until she brought it up last night." Lucy finished off her coffee.

Tim nodded and looked around the room. "Well, uh, what'd she say?" Tim looked at her, leaning on his arm.  Lucy looked at him, annoyed. Tim made a face back that insinuated that he was waiting for a response. Lucy sighed. "She said that if we had alcohol then the spark might come back." She set the cup down and put her hands on her eyes, rubbing them, hoping that this was some twisted nightmare and she would eventually wake up in her own bed.

"Spark?" It was Tim's turn to be snarky. "We had a spark?" Tim smirked. Lucy groaned. "Oh my God. They were her words, not mine." Tim sat back down across from her. "Oh, I don't doubt that." He set his arms on the table, folding his hands together.  "Do you want to deliver the bad news to her about our spark not coming back, or should I?" Tim had said the word 'spark' with finger quotations. His tone was of mockery, and Lucy knew it. "I'm going home." She walked away to go find her clothes she had on the night before.

Tim smiled and shook his head before getting up and grabbing her cup to take to the kitchen. "Let me give you a ride to the bar. You can pick up your car there." Tim followed her after cleaning up some of the dishes.

"I can Uber!" Lucy yelled from the other room. She was trying to move as quickly as she could. "It's a waste of money, Lucy. It's not a big deal." Tim stood in the doorway, leaning against it. "No. I'm fine, Tim. Where are my clothes?"

Lucy was distraught. She could tell she was overreacting to simple. Flirting? She didn't even know. She did know that she wanted to be out of this situation as fast as possible.

She looked up at the man in the doorway and took a few deep breaths. Then she decided to play her all-time favorite game: What the hell emotion is on Tim Bradford's face? Today's guess was a mixture of amusement and concern. It was an odd combination, but Lucy added it to the list.

Tim squinted at her for a few moments and slowly nodded, "I washed them. I'll go grab them." She had almost forgotten what question she had asked him. Tim walked away, and Lucy looked at the bed. She felt the covers under her hands. Her mind went back to last night. She sat down on the bed, slightly going under the covers. He had held her here. Made sure she was ok. She took a few more breaths. Stayed with her all night. She felt calm again. His body had felt safe.

Tim returned with the fresh clothes and saw Lucy silently sitting on his bed, flattening out the wrinkled sheets. She looked peaceful. He cleared his throat loudly.

She shot up quickly and muttered an apology before grabbing the clothes from his hands and walking past him.

"Are you alright, Lucy? You seem. Off." Lucy could hear the concern in Tim's voice and turned around with a sigh. "I'm fine, Tim. I promise. I just-." Lucy had looked up.

She hadn't realized that when she stopped and turned, she had done so right in front of Tim. They couldn't have been more than 5 inches from each other.

For a moment, she didn't say a word. She admired his face and once again felt the feeling of calm and safety she had felt last night. Their closeness made it harder for her to focus on the task of getting home.