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“You Tim’s girlfriend?” This weird, unnerving stranger who’s just walked right into her home asks.
Lucy stares at the man for a second, then glances at Tamara, who looks just as puzzled as she feels. “Who are you?” She asks, crossing her arms. Why does he have to bring up Tim when they’re in the middle of this mess, with him being so cagey and avoidant?
“He hasn’t mentioned me?” The guy asks, cracking an eerie smile.
Lucy has a bad, bad feeling in her gut. “I think you need to leave,” she asserts firmly, taking a step towards him. She’s not afraid to physically throw the guy out if she has to.
“Woah, wait. I’m not here to do anything to you. I just wanna talk,” he says with charm that Lucy sees right through, holding his hands up as if he’s surrendering.
“You should listen to her,” Tamara says, a notable waver in her voice as she walks over. Lucy tugs on the younger woman’s arm, pulling her behind herself.
“I just wanna fill in some gaps. If Tim hasn’t told you about me, then–” he starts.
“LEAVE!” Tamara yells, pushing past Lucy and getting up in his face, pointing at the door.
“Don’t interrupt me, you little–” he says, reaching out to push Tamara back.
Lucy steps in, forcefully shoving the man back before he has a chance to touch Tamara. She grabs him by the arm, dragging him to the door. Right as she has her hand on the handle to twist it open, he talks.
“I’m sure you’re thinking about calling the police after I leave, which will be soon. You should know that if you do, I’ll have no problem spilling everything that can destroy Tim’s career.”
That one moment of hesitation is all, he who Lucy will later learn is named Ray, needs to grab her by the arm and reverse their positions. He shoves her against the wall, right next to the door, and grabs her roughly by the jaw. Tamara gasps shrilly in the background.
“There’s a lot of things he’s not telling you,” Ray says gleefully. “You should ask about Mozel. It’s quite a story.”
Lucy trembles – not with fear, but anger. At Tim. At this asshole. At herself, for wanting to ask him to tell her everything Tim won’t say.
“You think you can just come into someone’s house and do this?” She asks, glaring daggers at him.
“I just need you to deliver a message that I haven’t been able to get through to him. Let him know that, as long as he takes a goddamn knee, I’ll be out of here in a few days. He can’t stop running around frantically, trying to catch me in something I won’t do. It’s really simple, but he’s quite pig-headed and stubborn about things he can’t control, don’t you agree?” Ray says, pressing her hard into the wall.
The two stare at each other. Lucy so badly wants to clock him in the face.
“It was nice to meet you,” Ray says, smiling. He lets her go and walks out of the apartment.
Tamara runs to lock the door behind him while Lucy spirals.
She feels sick for a multitude of reasons, but the worst reason is that he’s . . . kind of right. Tim couldn’t deal when she refused to be kept in the dark. Her reaction wasn’t what he wanted, wasn’t what he could control, and he walked away. He didn’t answer her calls or her texts.
Shaking her head, Lucy makes a decision. It’s a painful one, but these past few days have been excruciating. She refuses to be put through this anymore. She refuses to let Tim put her through this. She wants to believe that he’ll come around, and she still hopes he will, but the waiting and the wishing isn’t worth the agony or the fear or anything else she’s had to deal with. Lucy should be crying about the results of her Detective’s exam, instead she’s crying like she’s in high school because her boyfriend won’t answer his phone. It’s unacceptable.
She can hear Tamara calling her name but instead of answering, she grabs her phone from her pocket. Lucy texts him angrily, in all caps, to get his attention. ‘9-1-1’ ‘EMERGENCY’ ‘ANSWER ME’.
Lucy calls him and demands to know where he is. Thankfully, he doesn’t argue.
When he gives Angela’s address . . . the decision is solidified. He can’t tell her but he can tell Lopez? After not even 24 hours of her being looped in?
She storms over, Tamara in tow, and knocks on Angela’s door like she’s the big bad wolf and it's the pig’s house she’s blowing down. Angela answers, but Lucy hardly pays her any mind.
“I had a little visit from your friend today,” she sneers at Tim.
“Let’s give them a second,” Angela murmurs, ushering Tamara into the other room.
“Who?” Tim asks, utterly perplexed.
Lucy shakes her head at him. “Some guy who told me to ask you about Mozel. He said to give you a message, that you should take a knee. What the hell is going on here, Tim?!” She yells, letting loose.
Realization dons on Tim. “Oh my god, are you okay?” He asks, scanning her for any injuries.
“Do I look okay?” Lucy retorts, her chest heaving with every word. She can’t keep the tears out of her eyes, which breaks Tim’s heart. “I really don’t understand. You say you can’t tell me because my career could be put in jeopardy but you go off and tell Angela? What the FUCK, Tim?”
“She has less to lose than you do,” he says immediately, defending herself.
Lucy takes in a sharp breath, forces her voice to be low and as calm as can be. “I don’t even care anymore. I’m done. You can’t do this and expect us to be okay. I’m done wondering and worrying and exhausting myself over this. I have my own job and my own life, both of which have been affected by you making a decision about what I should and should not know and refusing to listen or hear me out. We’re–we’re done, Tim,” she says, tears cascading like a waterfall down her cheeks.
She can’t even wait for his reaction because she knows that the heartbroken look on his face will make her take back her words in a flash. Lucy turns around and sets one foot in front of the other, leaving while her world ends. She breaks down in the passenger’s seat of her car, sobbing and holding herself. It’s all too much, but she knows it’s what needs to happen so that she can continue living her life in a healthy way.
She wishes things were different, that Tim felt comfortable and secure enough to let her in, to talk. She knows that he must be scared, and not wanting to endanger her, but she’s scared too. She loves him and she misses him – the real him, not this twisted version that has left her heartbroken every second the past few days. It’s not the Tim she fell in love with, it’s not the Tim that’s worth forcing herself to tolerate. Things need to change. He needs to change. And so does she.