Safe Place to Hide || Chenford / The Rookie

Chapter 13

He knocks softly on the door, calling her name so she won't be overly startled by an unexpected visitor so late into the evening. She opens the door almost immediately, and Tim has to quickly snap his jaw shut when his mouth involuntarily drops open.

It's not that he never sees her in street clothes, or even that he's forgotten how amazing she looked all dressed up at Angela's attempted wedding. But he certainly hadn't expected to see her dressed up like this tonight — high heels elongating her legs, fitted skirt hugging her curves in all the right places, and the crop of her top offering just enough of a peek at a sliver of skin around her waist to make him certain that he wants to see more. Hair falling in loose waves around her shoulders and the deep red of her lipstick drawing his eyes to her mouth, even when he knows he shouldn't be sending mixed signals. He's seen her look cute, pretty, even beautiful before, but tonight she looks sexy in a way that he is definitely not prepared to process.

She's looking at him in confusion, "What are you doing here, Tim? Is something wrong? Were we supposed to meet or something...?"

"I— uh. No. Are you going somewhere?" 

Lucy steps back, gesturing for Tim to enter the apartment, "I — no. I just got back actually. I met Adam for a drink. What's up?"

Tim's brow creases in confusion as it takes him a moment to place the name, "You went on a date? Tonight? With Tamara's pedophile teacher?"

"He's not a pedophile, Tim."

He's shaking his head in disbelief, "I don't know why I came over here."

"Well, that makes two of us then," she crosses her arms, sensing his frustration and feeling her own rising up in her chest.

"I — I thought you might want to — after earlier and last night..."

Lucy locks her eyes on his, "Might want to what, Tim?"

Tim glares at her, "I care about you Lucy, I do, and you know I'm trying to be here for you, but I'm not up for all these damn games."

"What games?" Lucy asks, mouth dropping open in disbelief.

Tim pins her with his gaze, a similar look of incredulity painting his features. "Seriously? Where do I start? How about when you decided to make a joke about having feelings for me, when I was still your TO, mind you?"

Lucy cringes slightly, but opens her mouth to object, "I already —"

"Or how about the fact that you kissed me, out of the blue, less than 24 hours ago, and then I show up here tonight and you're just getting back from a date with — with — that guy?" he sputters, realizing he might be digging himself into a hole he can't get out of.

Lucy stares at him, "Are you jealous?"

"NO!" Tim snaps, too quickly for it to be believable to either of them.

"Yeah — okay — I made that stupid joke, and I put you in an awful position, and I apologized for it, okay? And then, okay, yes, I was emotional, and you — you were just being so — so— I don't know — I'm just not used to you being so kind and supportive and soft with me, and you said that thing about Nolan and me and — I guess — I thought — so maybe I got confused. Maybe I misread things, and yes, okay, I kissed you, and then you rejected me, Tim. It was humiliating. And now you're mad at me?" Lucy has no doubt that her cheeks must be absolutely flaming, and she knows she's dangerously on the brink of bursting into tears.

Tim's face softens immediately and he closes his eyes briefly, collecting himself, before looking back at her. "I didn't reject you, Lucy."

Lucy raises her eyebrows, "I'm pretty sure you did."

"No. I didn't. I told you why we couldn't go there. And that has nothing to do with how I feel about you." Lucy freezes, staring at him, waiting to hear what he will say next, and suddenly it is just far too much pressure for him, and the entire situation is far too complicated. "It doesn't matter. We both know why we can't do this."

"Then why are you here, Tim?"

He doesn't respond, and she laughs dryly, "Right. And I'm the one playing games. If that's all you came to say, then I think you should probably go now."

Tim shakes his head in frustration, "Are you still planning to go to that pool party this weekend?"

Lucy shrugs, and Tim frowns. "Look — whatever's going on between us, we're still working this case together. If you don't want to do that anymore, then that's fine, we'll get Nyla or Angela to back you up, but there's no circumstance where you're going in alone."

Lucy rolls her eyes, "It's a pool party with a bunch of overgrown frat guys and teenage girls. I'll be fine."

Tim's expression hardens, and his stern TO mask falls into place. "If that was all it was, then you wouldn't be going, Chen. We have no idea what all this could be linked to, so quit being a brat and tell me what you want to do."

Lucy huffs an exaggerated sigh before moving to open the door for him, "I'm picking the girls up at 4."

"I'll meet you here at 3:00 so we can finalize our plan before you head out."

"Whatever," she snaps, and Tim rolls his eyes, mentally kicking himself for having come here at all when, objectively, he'd already known it was a terrible decision.

***

Yup. Tim's definitely not jealous 😂... what'd you think? Would that conversation have gone differently if Lucy hadn't been fresh off of her date with Adam? Probably not, because they're both idiots 😂, but would love to hear your thoughts on who is being the bigger idiot. Thanks for reading! ❤️

-- Lana