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Tim Bradford would not consider himself a materialistic man; he barely bought anything for himself, and he hardly ever kept things, because he did not like clutter in his house. So, if he DID keep something, it was because it meant a lot to him. But, Tim might not admit that depending on the item of sentimental value.
Like a white t shirt with a screen printed picture at the bottom of one of his dresser drawers.
Ashley walked into his kitchen holding up the shirt she found, “Uh…Tim? Why do you have a t shirt with Lucy’s face on it?”
He glanced at her and did a double take when he took in the sight of the shirt in his girlfriend’s hands. Tim remembered designing that shirt years ago. During Lucy’s first midnight shift, she nodded off, and he woke her up while laughing with some other officers. To her horror, he snapped a few photos of the look of shock on Lucy’s face when she woke up to find her coworkers laughing at her. The best wide eyed picture of her was too priceless that Tim had shirts printed for everyone to wear.
He kept his. At first, because it was one of his funniest pranks, but then…Tim could not even admit to himself why he held onto the shirt for years, but it meant something more to him. “It was a prank when Lucy was my rookie. It was funny,” he shrugged as he explained the reason for the creation of the shirt.
“I don’t think it’s funny,” Ashley crossed her arms.
“You weren’t there, Ash, but believe me, you would’ve laughed. You see, I told Lucy to nap before her first night shift, but she didn’t, so she nodded off in the shop. I called a bunch of guys who were patrolling in the area, and we all watched her sleep for a few minutes. She actually looked really…” He cut himself off before he called her “cute”. Tim cleared his throat and continued, “Anyways, I woke her up in front of everyone and took a picture of the look on her face. It was PRICELESS! I had t shirts made so everyone could make fun of her,” he chuckled.
“That really doesn’t sound funny at all.”
“Everyone at the station found it hilarious, and Lucy learned a valuable lesson to nap before reporting for night shift.”
Ashley paused before awkwardly asking, “Okay, so why do you still have the shirt?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you still have this shirt from so long ago?”
Tim frowned as if he had to think about it, but he knew why. He knew he could not part with a shirt that had her face on it; the dumb prank t shirt turned into something as precious as Lucy. “I have an old Army shirt, too. There’s nothing wrong with keeping it.”
“This is different. It has HER face on it.” There was a twinge of jealousy in her voice when she said “her”. Ashley always found herself being a little jealous of Lucy. “I don’t like that you kept it, and honestly, Tim, I want you to get rid of it.”
He set the last dish down that he had just finished drying to give Ashley his full attention. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Don’t you think you’re being ridiculous? It’s just a shirt,” Tim thought Ashley was being unreasonable.
“I’m being ridiculous? Tim, you’re the one holding onto a shirt with Lucy’s face on it. You don’t keep anything, but you kept this,” she shook the tee in her hands.
Tim did not like the way she was handling the t shirt and stepped closer to take it from her hands.
Ashley let the shirt go but did not like the look in his eye as he folded it gingerly. “You know what? I’m tired, so I don’t think I’m gonna stay tonight.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I just need to go home,” she swallowed hard.
“Ash…”
She shook her head and reached for her shoes. “Good night, Tim,” Ashley said sharply and stormed out of his house.
Tim felt guilty that his girlfriend left his house upset, but as he smoothed a hand over the picture of Lucy’s face, he knew that he could not get rid of the shirt no matter how silly it was to want to keep it. Since Tim knew that he was going to hold on to the shirt but did not want to further upset Ashley, he hid it underneath his dresser where he knew Kojo could not get to it and no one would see it.
When he got in bed, Tim looked down at the floor beneath his dresser and knew that the shirt with Lucy’s face was there. Suddenly in need of another dose of her, he started scrolling through his photos to find more pictures he had taken of Lucy over the years. He realized that he was smiling within seconds simply by looking at her. Tim fell asleep with his phone in his hand and her grinning face on his screen.
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Hearing the sound of Lucy’s laughter was music to Tim’s ears, and he was happy to be the one to put that smile on her face as they walked into his house after shift. Instead of taking off his shoes, he drew her into his arms and kissed her forehead just because he could.
“You know, I’m really not that hungry,” Lucy smirked and reached under the hem of his shirt to ghost her fingers across his stomach.
“But, we picked up burgers from your favorite place,” he took the bag of takeout out of his girlfriend’s hand.
“Mhm,” she hummed. “But, I’d rather take you into your bedroom.”
“Lucy, I’m starving,” Tim groaned.
“You’re picking a burger over me?”
“I’m picking to fuel up before I take you into my bedroom. Promise.”
She sighed and withdrew her hands from under his shirt before removing her shoes. As much as Lucy wanted to argue and have her way with her boyfriend, she had to admit that she was hungry, too.
They ate together where they continued to talk and laugh; Tim was grateful that he had endless meals with Lucy to look forward to…along with endless opportunities to get her into bed with him, which is exactly what he wanted to do right now.
Lucy was on the same page, so she surged up and kissed Tim before backing him into his bedroom. She felt his eager hand try to tangle in her hair and accidentally tugged her hoop earring making her wince. “Baby, one sec,” Lucy breathed and struggled to take her earrings off to prevent them from getting in the way. Tim was distracting her by sucking on her neck, so she dropped one of her hoops on the ground. “Damn,” she swore and tore away from Tim to bend down and retrieve the earring on the ground. Lucy felt around for the hoop that partially fell under his dresser, and her hand grazed something else, so she reached for the item along with her earring and pulled them both out. “What is this?”
Tim watched her inspect what was in her hands. He had completely forgotten that he had stored the t shirt with her face underneath his dresser. Now that he had all of her, Tim did not need a piece of clothing to remember her by any more.
“Is this…is this the shirt you made when you busted me for sleeping on my first night shift?” She asked with awe; Lucy had not seen the shirt in a long while.
“Yeah,” he replied feebly and scratched his neck.
“You kept it?”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“I just did,” Tim shrugged.
Lucy shook her head and wrapped her arms around his midsection. “I think there’s more to the story here, babe. See, I think you kept this, because you’re a little sentimental and wanted to keep a little memory of the best rookie you ever trained.”
Tim knew it was impossible to keep secrets from her; she knows him too well. He stayed silent instead of admitting that maybe that was why he initially wanted to keep the shirt.
“Wait, is there more to the story?” She teased based on the glint in his eye.
He smiled nervously and exhaled. “I…I did want to remember my best rookie, but…I also liked having a part of you.”
Lucy’s mouth fell open. “You kept this shirt because you had a crush on me?” She swooned as Tim blushed, so she set the earrings on the dresser and let the shirt fall to the floor before cupping his face. “It’s sweet.”
Tim rolled his eyes and leaned down to pick up the shirt, since he did not want it to stay on the floor. “You probably think it’s dumb.”
“No, I mean it. It’s sweet. Jackson and I might have set ours on fire ceremonially, but I want to keep this one.”
“Are you kidding? This is MY shirt!” He shot back.
“I’m your girlfriend now. You’re supposed to share your clothes with me.”
“Guess I’m never seeing this shirt again,” Tim chuckled.
Lucy tossed the t shirt onto the chair in the corner of his room before tugging her blouse over her head and throwing it to join the other top. “I don’t want to see another shirt for the rest of the night,” she flirted.
“Okay,” Tim agreed and took his own shirt off, too.
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The next morning, Lucy opted to stay in bed with Tim for a little longer, so they had to rush to get ready. She quickly dressed in a t shirt and one of Tim’s flannel button downs with a pair of jeans before hurrying behind him to leave his house.
Lucy’s mischievous smile was hard to ignore.
“Baby? What’s with the look on your face?” He asked as they started to drive to the station.
“Nothing,” she tried to say as casually as possible.
Tim scoffed. “I know that look, and that’s not your ‘nothing’ look.” He stopped at a red light before turning towards her.
She unbuttoned the flannel shirt to reveal the t shirt that she was wearing underneath- the one with her shocked face printed on the front.
“You’re wearing the shirt?” He asked in disbelief.
“I’m wearing the shirt.”
“You didn’t even wear it when I got you one as a rookie.”
“I know, but now that I know that it’s the shirt my boyfriend kept ‘cause he had a crush on me, well, it’s too special to keep hidden under your dresser. Wanted to wear it and show it off.”
“You’re being ridiculous.” Tim felt his cheeks pink up.
“I love it, and I’ll love it even more when you take me home and take it off of me tonight.”
“Alright.”
Lucy grinned and leaned over the console to kiss his cheek. Angela eyed her curiously in the locker room, but Lucy only shrugged. She did not care if anyone judged her choice in shirt, since it now had sentimental value to her, and secretly, Lucy was already looking forward to Tim taking it off of her later.