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"Ughhhh," Tina groaned as consciousness came to her. She felt absolutely awful. Pounding head. Dry mouth. Dehydrated.
Ah. Hangover. Great, Her mind slowly realized, the biggest clue coming in the form of the sunlight peeking through her window being particularly unpleasant. She groaned and threw her covers over her head to block out the light hoping to return to the sweet, not headache feeling, embrace of sleep.
"She lives!" A voice from the corner of her bedroom declared, not at all helping her headache.
"No, she very much does not live," Tina whined, "so shut up and show some respect for the dead."
"Funny," the voice replied. Tina groaned and tried to burrow deeper into her comforter cocoon as she heard the chair she kept in the corner of her room scrape against the floor as it's occupant--the evil being who couldn't seem to shut up and leave Tina to sleep--stood up and walked across the room. "Come on, Drunkina, sit up." Tina felt a hand lightly tap her ankle as her guest reached the foot of her bed.
"Go away," Tina grumbled as she blindly and weakly tried to kick at the hand.
"Be nice," came the reply, though it was mostly drowned out by Tina's loud whine at the bed being jostled as her guest flopped down beside her.
"Reed, you're a goddamn sadist," Tina growled.
"Now, now, would a sadist come bearing gifts?"
Tina was tempted to stay in the safety--and darkness--of her sunlight shield, but her curiosity got the better of her. She slowly, and with the utmost of effort, shuffled, wiggled, and flopped about in bed until she had made a 180 degree turn away from her window. Only then did she realize she probably should've done so earlier to help with the sun's glare from her window. She shifted her comforter slightly, just enough to peek one eye out from under it to see what her torturer was referring to.
Beside Tina sat her best friend--thought at the moment, he was possibly her greatest enemy--Gavin Reed, his legs stretched out in front of him on her bed, his back against her headboard, waving a bottle of water in her line of sight.
"Sit up," he said, repeating his earlier command.
"No," Tina petulantly argued, as she made a grab for the bottle in the hopes of bringing it into her duck feather lined cave and hydrating herself under the covers.
"Ah, ah, ah," Gavin admonished as he held the bottle away from her. "No water, or Advil, until you sit up," he added, shaking a bottle of pills in his other hand to emphasize his point.
"Keep treating it like some fucking maracas, and I'll kick you out of this bed," Tina warned, the normally innocuous sound irritating her at that very moment.
"Then sit up already," Gavin replied with a chuckle.
"Raughhhhh," came the groan-growl-hybrid sound from Tina as she gave up on her hopes of staying under the covers. Her throat felt like she had spent an hour gargling asphalt, and her head hurt. She needed the items Gavin was using to coax her out into the land of the living. "Fine, you win," she grumbled as she pushed the overs down to her waist and very slowly sat up.
"There you go," Gavin teasingly praised as Tina settled herself beside him against the headboard.
"Fuck off," Tina replied. Gavin simply laughed and took hold of her hand, laying her palm upward as he shook two pills out into her grasp. Tina quickly tossed the pills into her mouth and held her hand out to him, impatiently snapping her fingers in demand for the water. Gavin cracked the bottle open and handed it to her.
"Think you might be able to handle breakfast?" Gavin asked as Tina practically chugged the water until the bottle was half empty.
"Doubtful," Tina reported, panting slightly as she caught her breath post-water gulping. "Unless you feel like an up close enactment of that scene from The Exorcist."
"Reenactment. Wouldn't be for the first time this past twenty four hours," Gavin corrected. Tina glanced at him, silently asking for clarification with her eyes. "Dumpster outside Burn's....Miller's car.....thankfully you made it to your bathroom once we got you home," Gavin listed off. Tina sat back and thoughtfully sipped her water. She made a mental note to call Chris to apologize later once her head had ceased it's aching.
"Are you serious?" She asked. "...How drunk was I?" Gavin snorted beside her.
"Uh, 'very' feels like an understatement," he replied.
"Please tell me you kept me from making a fool out of myself," Tina pleaded, knowing she could count on Gavin to have remained sober.
"Ha!" Gavin practically barked out a laugh. "Interesting choice of words."
"Do I want to know why that is?" Tina hesitantly asked.
"She's just so...pretty," Tina slurred, knocking back her---who was even counting anymore?--drink of the night.
"Yeah, you might've mentioned that before," Gavin said, shaking his head.
"Because she is!" Tina insisted, her gaze going to the other side of the bar to the 'she' in question: Valerie Morales.
"Maybe you should tell her that?" Chris asked, he reached over to grab her hands to keep her from signaling a member of wait staff. "You know, instead of giving yourself alcohol poisoning?"
"I can't tell her!" Tina gasped, absolutely horrified by that suggestion. "Are you crazy?!" She then giggled as she batted Chris' hands away from hers before waving over one of the bar's servers, ordering herself another round of drinks.
"Wasn't that the goal, initially?" Gavin asked. "Otherwise known as 'Tina's really bad idea of the night'?" He added. Tina simply replied with an indignant raspberry noise in his direction.
Tina hadn't come to the bar with the intent on getting in such a state. In fact, the aim had originally been a few celebratory drinks with Chris after she and Gavin--well, she and a reluctantly dragged along Gavin--had helped Chris pick out a ring for his soon-to-be-fiance. The night had begun with the standard congratulations shared, Chris' bringing the ring box out every so often as doubts began to creep into him. Tina had been patting his arm, reassuring him as any good friend would, when her attention had been snatched away by the 'just so....pretty' lawyer walking into the bar. She had caught Tina's gaze, given her a smile and small wave in greeting, before joining some coworkers at a table across the room. Suddenly, Chris' relationship milestone took a backseat to Tina's crush.
She stared. Fretted and looked away for fear she'd be caught staring. She pinned. She vacillated between going over to talk to her and staying where she was for at least a half hour before having the bright idea to source some "liquid courage" to finally make a move on the woman she'd been head over heels over for the last six months. Unfortunately, whatever 'buzzed enough to take a chance, sober enough to keep her wits about her' window there had been at one point had been filled with more drinking as Tina still didn't feel ready to approach Valerie.
"Like I'd just go up to her and say 'gee Morales, you're pretty'," Tina snorted and rolled her eyes.
"At this point, I think it might be best if you don't say anything to her tonight," Gavin advised.
"Okay, yeah, he's right," Chris agreed. "But, how about we switch you to water, huh?" Chris went to pry the latest shot glass out of Tina's hand.
"I'm fiiiiine," Tina insisted, shifting away from Chris with a small 'oops' and giggle as some of her drink spilled on her top.
"Classy," Gavin remarked. Tina frowned, a brief solemn moment piercing through her drunken haze.
"Chris," she said, setting her glass down and leaning to her side, her head on Chris' shoulder. "I'm sorry, I'm such a bad friend! Tonight was supposed to be about you!"
"Oh great, we're at the part of the night," Chris muttered to himself. He sighed and placed his around around Tina's shoulders. "You're not a bad friend," he reassured her, while giving Gavin a pointed look over Tina's head, trying to get him to move the abandoned glass away from Tina to keep her from going back to the drink.
"It's just that....she's so pretty!" Tina said, her tone a mix of a desperate sob and gushing over the woman in question.
"Uh huh, I know," Chris nodded along with a mild put upon sigh.
"Okay, so....I was the stereotypical annoying drunk girl?" Tina asked, Gavin's retelling of the previous night's events slowly clearing up some of the fog in her brain. "That..that doesn't sound so bad." She made a mental note to seriously apologize to Chris right away, once the advil had kicked in and she was no longer feeling like death.
"Hm," was all Gavin said, as he warred with himself whether or not to tell her the rest of the night's occurrences.
"That's not all I did, is it?" Tina reluctantly asked, catching the true meaning of his noncommittal response.
"It was karaoke night at Burn's last night," Gavin reminded her.
"So?" Tina asked. She gave a small laugh and shook her head. "I mean, obviously you and Chris were there to...you know, keep me from doing something truly stupid, right?" Gavin's lack of reassurance gave Tina a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Reed," she begged, "please tell me you kept me from doing something truly stupid." Gavin winced and looked away. She forced out a desperate laugh and shook her head again. "No, no, of course....of course you guys kept me from....I mean, that's so...." Her heart hammered in her chest as she pieced together what Gavin was implying.
She was drunk.
She was going on and on about her crush on Valerie.
She was drunk.
There was karaoke.
She was drunk.
Valerie was possibly there...
with the karaoke....
and Tina being drunk...
"It wasn't so bad," Gavin commented with a shrug. "I mean, a little-on-the-nose song choice aside, it-"
"Oh my god!" Tina exclaimed. She covered her face with her hands, the now empty--save for a few droplets--bottle of water falling onto her comforter. "No, no, no, no," she muttered into her hands in a mortified mantra.
"Up next, Tina Chen singing 'Valerie'!" The bartender had called out over the microphone.
"Oh no," Chris muttered, horrified as they watched Tina approach the small makeshift stage area by the bar, giggling to herself as she stumbled slightly. They thought she had begun to sober up. She had barely sipped her last round, and was seeming a little less drunk and silly. So much so that they had thought nothing of her walking off with the claim she was going to use the ladies' room.
"This one goes out to a special someone!" Tina announced as she took hold of the microphone in one hand, and stretched her free arm out in front of her with a grand flourish. She winked and giggled as she pointed to a table across the room.
"Ah hell," Gavin sighed, covering his face in second hand embarrassment as Tina began to sing.
"Friends don't let friends drunkenly serenade their crushes!" Tina exclaimed, smacking Gavin's arm a few times.
"Hey—ow!—hey!" Gavin shied away from Tina and tried to block her blows. "What were we supposed to do? Tackle you?"
"Yes!"
"Oh, right, because that wouldn't have raised some questions....or concerns."
"I can't believe this," Tina muttered. She shook her head and ran her hands through her hair, waiting--hoping--for Gavin to yell "gotcha!" at any moment. That hope crumbled as the booze-induced amnesia continued to fade away, and she had hazy first hand memories of what Gavin had just told her.
She was beginning to remember singing the song. Her only saving grace being that she'd--in private, at home--sung along to it quite frequently in the past few months, she managed to get through the song relatively alright even with her inebriation. She muttered another 'oh god' as she covered her face again, now also remembering the horrible dancing she'd done.
"Hey, at least you didn't fall or anything?" Gavin offered, only to be met with a muffled groan from Tina. More memories slowly formed in her head. She could see Valerie's face as she sang, eyebrows raised, shocked face. She'd had a hand over her mouth, laughing as she watched Tina ironically make a fool of herself whilst singing-demanding
"Stop making a fool out of me
Why don't you come on over
Valerie"
Tina remembered somehow managing to stay standing as she gave an exaggerated bow, the bartender accepting the handed off microphone with one hand while his other shot out to steady Tina as she stumbled climbing off the stage. Gavin had come up to meet her, taking her by the arm to whisk her back to their table before she embarrassed herself further. After that, the next thing she remembered was being hunched over by the dumpster outside as her earlier dinner made a reapearance, Gavin telling Chris to grab her coat, it was time to take her home. She remembered puking again in Chris' car--though, luckily(?) she'd just managed to be sick on herself. The interior of her friend's car had remained safe. Chris and Gavin had gotten her up to her apartment and she somehow had been steady(ish?) enough on her feet to break away from her two pillars and make it to her bathroom as another round of vomit was rising up her throat.
"You're such a good friend, Gav!" Tina had drunkenly declared as Gavin cleaned her up and helped her change out of her puke covered clothing and into some pajamas he’d found for her. He had sent Chris home and took it upon himself to stay and care for her.
"Thanks for staying with me," Tina said, resting her head on Gavin's shoulder.
"Hm, well someone had to."
The two sat in silence as Tina let the memories of her drunken antics play out in her mind, growing more and more mortified with each replay of Valerie's laughing face. Gavin stayed silent, waiting for Tina to break the silence in whatever way she'd need to once she was ready.
"I should probably give Chris a call," Tina finally said after some time. "Where's my phone?" She asked as she saw the space she'd usually keep it on her nightstand was empty.
"I'll get it," Gavin offered as he climbed out of Tina's bed and left the room. He had just reappeared in the bedroom's doorway, cell phone in hand, when a knock on the front door stopped him. "That's probably Chris right now." Tina gave him a small 'go ahead' wave, wordlessly giving him permission to open her door.
"Detective Reed," Tina heard a voice say at Gavin opening her door. A familiar voice. A very-not-Chris voice. "Surprised to see you here."
"Likewise, Morales..." Tina heard Gavin cagily reply.
Oh no.
Tina was hoping Valerie had the decency to just...'forget' the previous night had happened.
Pretend it didn't happen. They'd avoid each other, maintain a professional 'smile and wave' air of civility with each other for the rest of their parallel careers. It'd be hard to do that if Valerie insisted upon showing up at Tina's apartment the morning after.
"Is Officer Chen available?"
Tina felt herself start to panic as she heard Valerie's footsteps enter the apartment, the door shutting behind her. She scrambled out of bed, though with no plan of what to do, just as Gavin was slipping back into her bedroom.
"Valerie's here," he informed her, having enough discretion to close the door behind him.
"I heard," Tina replied. "What does she want?"
"Gee, what do you think? To see you." Gavin answered with a roll of his eyes.
"Why?"
"Fuck if I know."
"That's not helpful!" Tina hissed. She nervously patted at her hair, combing it behind her ears in hopes that would be enough to combat whatever drunken bedhead she was dealing with. She glanced around her room in a frenzy, though she wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for.
Valerie was in her apartment.
After last night.
Valerie was just outside Tina's bedroom.
After Tina made an absolute idiot out of herself last night.
Valerie was-
How did Valerie even know where she lived?
"Do you want me to get rid of her?" Gavin asked, cracking through Tina's merry-go-round thought process.
"I..." Tina began, only to pause. "I don't know? Should....should I see her?" Gavin simply shrugged.
"Up to you."
"Always such a fount of guidance, Gavin," Tina sighed as she rubbed her forehead, trying to figure out what to do.
"Well, if you are going to talk to her, you might want to deal with your breath first," Gavin offered as he took Tina by the shoulders and guided her towards her small ensuite half bathroom.
"Right...puke and morning breath....not good," Tina murmured to herself as she followed Gavin's advice.
Valerie looked up from the seat she had taken in Tina's kitchen when she heard the bedroom door open. She watched as Gavin walked out, followed by Tina. Unlike Gavin, who Valerie noticed was still dressed in the same clothes she'd seen him in at the bar the night before, Tina wore a pair of pajama pants and a hastily thrown on DPD Academy sweatshirt that she was still adjusting as she came into Valerie's view.
"Hm, make yourself at home, I guess," Gavin huffed at how forward Valerie had been at taking a seat after he'd left her standing by the door. Tina lightly nudged his side in a warning to be nice.
"Glad to see you're no worse for wear after last night," Valerie commented as she looked at Tina.
"Ha, looks can be deceiving," Tina replied. The smile on Valerie's face somehow managed to ease some of Tina's anxiety. "Coffee?" She offered as she stepped away from Gavin and joined Valerie in the kitchen.
"I brought some, actually," Valerie pointed out. Now that Tina was closer to her, and the kitchen table, she could see a carrier tray with two take-out cups of coffee and three bags from the nearby bakery. "Officer Miller said you might be in need of some hangover comforts."
"Chris? You talked to him?" Tina asked, blinking a few times in confusion.
"Mhhm," Valerie nodded. "How else do you think I got your address?" She asked, a light teasing tone in her voice. Tina filed that piece of knowledge into her mind for later use. Whether it would be to send her friend the biggest of thank yous or to kill him, had yet to be determined.
"And....you wanted my address to....bring me pastries?" Tina asked, trying to follow along with what was going on.
"No, the pastries were Miller's suggestion," Valerie reminded her, "I wanted your address because you invited me over."
"I....did?" Tina asked, searching her foggy recollections of the previous night for any indication that she'd actually talked to Valerie. At finding nothing she cast a look in Gavin's direction, only to see he was just as lost as she was.
"So, there was another Valerie you wanted to stop making a fool out of you, and come on over?" Valerie asked, a grin stretching across her face. Tina's heart stopped.
"Oh...haha....about that....I mean....that was just...a joke. You know? I liked the song....I just happen to know someone named Valerie....it wasn't...." Tina sputtered and stammered. Her voice trailed off and she cleared her throat nervously.
"Really?" Valerie asked, her grin morphing into a mock-frown. "That's disappointing.”
"Oh....?" Tina awkwardly breathed out, certainly not expecting that. She figured Valerie--no doubt here to have some sort of 'I'm not into you, but I want to keep you as a friend' sort of conversation--would take that easy out and let it go. This? This wasn't what Tina was expecting.
"I think I'll leave you two to hash this out," Tina heard Gavin comment behind her. She turned to see he'd out his shoes on and grabbed his jacket while she hand been focused on Valerie. She gave him an apprehensive wide eyed stare, unsure what to do if left alone with the object of her affection. Gavin rolled his eyes at her needlessly panicking. 'Relax' he quietly mouthed to her. He bid a quick casual goodbye to Valerie before leaving.
"Alone at last,” Tina heard Valerie lightly joke. Tina took a deep breath and tried her best to remain calm, cool, and collected as she went about playing hungover hostess to her surprise guest.
“Guess so,” Tina awkwardly agreed, her back to Valerie as she found a couple of small plates for the treats Valerie had brought. Tina thanked the heavens for time and the water she’d gulped down having settled her stomach. Otherwise, the mere thought of eating anything would’ve made Tina’s gut churn.
”So, are you okay?” Valerie asked. “You seemed kind of….well-served….last night.”
”Over-served, more like it,” Tina replied. She walked back over to the table—deliberately setting herself across from where Valerie stood—and set down the plates. “I’m really embarrassed,” she admitted, figuring they’d get to the heart of things eventually. She might as well make the first move, so to speak. “I’m usually not that….” She waved a hand aimlessly as she tried to find the right word to apologize for her behavior.
”Musical?” Valerie offered, a fresh grin gracing her features. She walked around the table and—just as deliberately as Tina had tried to put distance between them—sat down on the chair right beside where Tina still stood.
”Sure, that works,” Tina muttered. In lieu of not having a quick excuse or reason to move away, Tina simply sat down on the chair by her, very close to Valerie.
She was suddenly very grateful to Gavin and his oral hygiene guidance.
“So, you didn’t answer my question,” Valerie stated as she slid the two coffees and bakery bags closer to them. “Are you okay?”
”If ‘mortified’ counts as okay, then yeah.”
”Oh stop it,” Valerie admonished with a roll of her eyes. “It wasn’t that bad.”
”You’re just being kind,” Tina argued. Valerie set one of the coffees in front of Tina before focusing on one of the bags she’s brought.
”I’m flattered you think I’d go this far for ‘kind’, Chen,” Valerie chuckled. “Kind would’ve been…I don’t know, a call or text after a few days to joke about it. It is not logging onto my work email on a Saturday morning, going back months until I found Miller’s contact information from a case, calling him for some information gathering, hunting down the—as he put it—‘flakiest, most buttery croissant’ from some bakery across town, and dragging my ass here to see Reed’s charming face.” Tina raised her eyebrows as she took in everything Valerie had said, only after which she noticed a croissant set on the plate in front of her. A particularly familiar flakey buttery croissant that had often been practically ambrosial to Tina after a night of drinking back when she was in the academy with Chris.
”Information gathering,” Tina repeated as she continued to process everything.
”Well, of course,” Tina replied as she grabbed her cup of coffee and took a sip. “Any good lawyer needs all the information she can get to build her case,” she added with a cheeky smile.
“Uh huh,” Tina warily mumbled as she grabbed her own cup. She sipped and was pleasantly surprised to taste one of her favorite latte flavors. “So, uh, what other information did Officer Miller provide?” She asked, a blush coloring her cheeks. She did her best to hide it behind taking another sip of her drink.
“That you have a crush on me,” Valerie plainly stated. Tina lurched forward in her seat, only barely stopping herself from spitting out her latte.
Looks like she’d be killing Chris.
“To be fair, I was kind of already figuring that after last night,” Valerie added. “But it’s always good to build a case on solid irrefutable evidence.”
“Okay, enough with the lawyer humor,” Tina groaned. She broke off a piece of the croissant and stuffed it into her mouth. If she was going to be made the butt of Valerie’s joke, she was at least going to slip into the comforting flavor of the pastry in front of her.
”Objection sustained,” Valerie joked. Tina narrowed her eyes.
”Oh hey look, that crush? All gone.”
”Don’t be mean,” Valerie laughed, her knee playfully nudging Tina’s. “I brought some danishes too—you know, just in case you wanted options,” she idly added as she pulled a cruller out for herself and set it on the remaining plate.
”Look, Valerie,” Tina began as she swallowed down another piece of her croissant. “This is all really fun, but can you get to the point? Why are you here? And don’t be cute and say I ‘invited’ you.”
”So, you think I’m cute?” Valerie teased. Tina glared at her, reaching the very end of her patience. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” Valerie quickly apologized as Tina moved to get up from the table. “I’m sorry,” she repeated, more sincerely. “Bad humor’s just my…horrendous way of, I don’t know? Flirting, I guess? We can’t all knock back enough shots to put a frat house to shame, and still be upright enough to do some killer karaoke.”
”Don’t make fun of me,” Tina requested, slumping in her seat.
”I’m not,” Valerie insisted. “Did you miss the part where I said that I’m flirting with you? Because….that’s….that was in there,” she pointed out.
“I….” Tina began, before shutting her mouth. At first she had missed it in all her annoyance and losing her patience. There was no missing it now.
Valerie was flirting with her.
Valerie had shown up to Tina’s apartment, to flirt with her.
Valerie had questioned one of Tina’s friends to get information—like her favorite latte flavor, and her hangover croissant—and her address, to come to Tina’s apartment, to flirt with her.
”You okay?” Valerie asked after letting Tina sit in silence for a few moments.
“No,” Tina replied. Valerie’s brows furrowed at that. “I just found out my crush is absolutely terrible at flirting,” Tina concluded with a smirk. Valerie’s eyes widened as she let out an offended noise.
“Oh, so now you’ve got jokes huh?” Valerie laughed, nudging her knee against Tina again. “Some of us are just more subtle in our flirting. But, okay, next karaoke night I’ll be sure to sing ‘Tina’ and send it out to a special someone,” she concluded with stretching her arm out and pointing to Tina, adding in a wink to complete the impression.
”Ugh,” Tina groaned, covering her face with her hand as she was hit with a drunken flashback. “Can we just….forget about all that, please?” She requested. She felt Valerie put her arms around her waist and carefully pull her closer.
”Aw come on, I liked it,” she playfully insisted. “I…like you,” she sincerely amended. Tina let her hand fall away from her face at that, her cheeks sporting a fresh blush at Valerie’s words and their proximity.
She was suddenly immensely grateful for Gavin’s oral hygiene advice, and would be sending Chris the biggest of thank yous.
….Later.
Much, much later.