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Angela is happy for her best friend. Of course she is. Seeing the happy love sick puppy that he currently is makes her smile, he deserves it. However when she’s trying to have a conversation with him but all he does is look past her at his girlfriend it does get kind of annoying.
“ Stop undressing Lucy with your eyes” she says mid sentence when she noticed he wasn’t paying attention.
“ We are at work, how should I undress her? with my teeth?” Tim retorts back.
She won’t tell him but she’s actually really proud of that comeback. Tim Bradford 3 years ago would never say something like that out loud. But now he’s so loved up he doesn’t care to admit he was admitting his girlfriend from afar.
But even if she was proud of the comment she would not let him get away with it.
“ Listen here pretty boy- “ she begins to say shortly but he cuts her off
“ You think I’m pretty? ” He smirks now, turning his attention to Angela. She assumes Lucy has left.
“ It’s an insult you idiot! ” Angela retorts with a roll of her eyes.
“ Nope, you still think I’m pretty!” He smirks. “I’m going to get an ego now. Angela Lopez has finally admitted my beauty.” He says a little louder as if addressing everyone around him.
She stares at him annoyed. “Oh hi Lucy” She says looking next to him.
Tim instantly turns ready to greet his girlfriend. Only to find the space behind him unoccupied. With a furrowed brow he turns towards Angela only to find she’s already begun to walk away. “That's mean” he calls after her.
~~~~~
Tim lightly slams his head against the headrest behind him, eyes still focusing on the road “ ok s top! I can’t take this any more. You need to be quiet. no more talking about reality tv. No more talking at all”
Lucy looks over at him shocked. A raised brown She retorts back “but you told me to get it out of my system”
There is no bite to his words like they would have been back when she was his rookie. Now she can tell he’s just fed up and tired and probably confused at all these names she’s throwing around.
Lucy knows that he isn’t actually mad at her. That if she really asked he’d cave and let her talk about Below Deck for the rest of the shift
“ yes, but I didn’t realize how much you had in your system” Tim chuckles slightly, he knew. He really did deep down that when Lucy is hooked on something and gets enthusiastic there is no stopping her. It’s one of the things he loves about her
“Ok I’ll stop IF you watch an episode with me later. I bet you’ll get hooked” she says confidently
“Oh you bet I Will?” He says with a smirk.
“Yep” Lucy says, popping the P. See this is 100% hee game now. Either Tim is going to love the show and watch with her. Or she’s going to lose this bet that no doubt he wants something not appropriate to be discussed in the shop in return.
“Ok if I don’t like it then we are recreating last Tuesday but at my place so you can be as loud as you want”
Lucy blushes at the thought of their Tuesday activity, and the feel of his hand covering her mouth to try and conceal the noises he was pulling from her.
“Deal” she smirks. It’s a win-win situation for her, she’d be crazy to say no.
~~~~~
Tonight was Lucy’s turn to choose their date night location. A new seafood joint has opened downtown and she’s been dying to try it. Tim had agreed, happily expanding his eating habits as Lucy introduced him to new foods. Well really he just loves seeing her happy so was willing to go anywhere she wanted.
“ It’s very morbid. The methods in which we use to eat crabs… imagine having your legs ripped open and somebody eating your insides” Tim says offhandedly as he eats his food.
Lucy however is stunned into silence for a few moments. Shocked, he has no idea what he’s even just said. After a second she shakes herself back to reality and decides on a little payback for hun making her squirm in her seat without even realizing.
“Ripping legs open and devouring insides, Doesn’t sound so bad to me” she replies in a tone lower than usual. One her used to hearing, one nobody but him ever hears. And he’s looking at her with wide eyes in an instant. Knowing exactly what’s on her mind.
“I can think of better things to do that to than crabs though” Tim surprises himself with how fast he comes up with a witty reply after she makes his trousers tighter in a second from her words
“Care to demonstrate?” Yep they are definitely playing this game now. Seeing who can go further, who can make the other squirm in their seat more.
But you see Lucy just offered Tim one of his favorite things to do. So really he doesn’t care if he loses or not. He’s getting her out of her and somewhere he can give her exactly what she wants, what they both want.
“Cheque please”
~~~~~
“Might want to get ready to leave. Some guy just hit on Lucy at the bar so Tim is going all PB&J ” Aaron says as he rejoins the table handing Angela and Nyla their drinks.
“ he’s going what?” Angela is too confused to even reach for her drink.
“ Petty, Bitter and Jealous” he explains like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
That’s when Angela looks up to see Lucy kiss Tim on the cheek before walking towards the bathroom.
Tim heads back to the table with the rest of the drinks and places them down before sitting next to Angela with a huff.
“Are you grumpy cause your super hot girlfriend got hit on right in front of you” Angela teases earning laughs from everyone around the table but Tim who just rolls his eyes and sips his drink.
The rest of the table go back to their previous conversations as Tim speaks up again loud enough for only Angela to hear.
“I’m putting a ring on her finger. That’s not happening again” Tim replies matter of factly.
“I want to tell you that it won’t stop people I get hit on all the time. But who cares! you’re gonna propose ? Can I help you pick out a ring? Please please” Angela begs getting all kinds of excited
“I already have one” he says like he should add a ‘duh’ at the end. Why wouldn’t he?
“WHAT?” Angela says in shock “you already have a ring and you haven't even told me? My best friend. My man of honor. My son's godfather. How dare you” she says, clutching her heart.
“Oh stop it or I won’t let you help with the proposal” he says with a raised brow.
Angela instantly closes her mouth and pretends to zip it shut. Earning a laugh from her best friend.
However, just as she’s about to say something else Lucy approaches the table again and Tim kicks Angela’s shin to get her to shut up.
With a wink in his direction she turns to Lucy “so who was the hunk at the bar?”
Tim groans and rolls his eyes. But smiles slightly at his girlfriend's chuckle as she tells Angela.
~~~~~
Tim has been very adamant about going on this hike at sunrise, on thi specific day. He’s tried to keep himself cool and collected since he mentioned it a few days ago. But Lucy could see right through him.
He was nervous and constantly double checking she still wanted to go.
So every time Lucy would remind him she will never turn down walking Kojo and watching the sunrise with the man she loves. Each time she reminds him he smiles happily and sighs relieved she still wants to go.
So when Sunday morning rolls around and Kojo is eagerly sniffing the ground as they climb for their hike, Tim’s nerves seem to be off the charts.
He thinks she doesn’t notice. Thinks he’s hiding it well. Thinks she doesn’t notice when he keeps fussing his pocket. But she does. She sees it all.
Truthfully it’s really sweet seeing how he reacts and how much this matters to him. But seeing him suffer, seeing him doubt what her answer would be. It hurts a little.
“You know I love you right?” She asks as they reach the spot they intended.
“Of course. I love you too” he says as if it’s obvious as he pulls out some water to pour into Kojo’s collapsible bowl.
“So you know you don’t have to be nervous. I want forever with you Tim, I don’t want you to doubt that. I’m going to say yes. "She knows she’s ruined his surprise and proposal, But she just needs him to know.
Tim swivels on the spot, almost falling on his ass from where he was kneeling next to Kojo. “H- how .. how did you know I was going to propose?”
Lucy chuckles “ Angela hasn’t been able to look at me all week without bursting into tears ”
Tim can’t help his own chuckle at that, of course his best friend - who he’d shown the ring to last week - couldn’t keep it together.
Take a deep breath Tim changes his posture and gets down onto one knee properly. “Lucy” he started as he reached for the sunshine yellow velvet box in his pocket.
A gasp escaped her lips. This was really happening. She knew he was going to propose and she knew he had the ring. But seeing him on his knee in front of her, propping open a box to reveal the most beautiful diamond ring hugged by two moonstones makes her heart jump.
She goes to open her mouth to speak but Tim cuts her off.
“Please just let me say this. I’ve been practicing for weeks ” he smiles, seeing how she’s already fidgeting and vibrating wanting to reach out and touch him. With tears in her eyes and a smile on her lips she nods. The thought of hun wanting the words to be perfect warms her heart.
“I love you. So much, more than I ever knew it was possible to love somebody. And you have shown more love. I never knew I was even capable of being given. You fixed me up and made me better than I ever could have been. I don’t believe in Celina's Drabble about soulmates but I know that if I did we’d be it. You complete me, as cheesy as that sounds, I couldn’t imagine my life without you in it, and I really don’t want to. I’d say I want you forever with you but even that wouldn’t be long enough. But I’m hoping I can spend the rest of my life with you. And you will want to spend the rest of yours with me. Lucy Chen, will you marry me?”
By this point Lucy has full tears streaming down her face. “Yes” she says between sobs then collapses into his arms, not even giving him a chance to put the ring on her finger before she is crushing her lips to his.
Instantly Tim wraps his arms around her and kisses her back just as enthusiastically. Tears in his own eyes.
It isn’t that Kojo is pushing his nose between them then that pulls them apart. A laugh leaving both of them at the pups instincts.
“It’s ok buddy mama is fine. These are happy tears” Lucy says as she strikes the dog. Then smiles back at Tim.
He loves to re open the ring box and pull out the ring. Holding his hand out towards her she places her left into his right. Then he gently sliced the band onto her finger.
“It’s beautiful” She says without even realizing
“So are you.” Tim retorts. He’s always such a soft cheese ball around her.
Even with red puppy eyes from crying and Kojo slobbering all over her face as she sits in the dirt admiring her new ring, Tim thinks she’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen.
“Sorry for ruining your proposal” Lucy says softly as Tim moves closer to pull her back against his chest so they can watch the sunrise over the hills.
“You didn’t ruin anything Luce. You made it even more perfect. It’s so us.. and a better story to tell the grandkids” he smirks kissing the side of her head
Lucy chuckles at his words “yeah. Yeah it is” pulling his arms tighter around her as Kojo rests his head on her knee.
She doesn’t think she’s ever been happier