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Everybody has quirks; Aaron doesn’t recognize his privilege, Celina relies a little too heavily on birth charts, Angela can’t help but keep her nose in other people’s business.
But these qualities are what make each person unique, and Lucy loves that about all of her friends. She appreciates how each of them have a different defining characteristic, one that allows her to show interest and form connections with those around her. It gives her something to ask and talk about, showing her loved ones how much she cares about their personal lives.
But she’s come to learn that dealing with these quirks outside of the station prove to be a little bit difficult. Especially if you’re dating the person.
______
Tim Bradford has a pretty messed up sleep schedule, as do many who come from a similar background. The inconsistent nights on military tours, which eventually turned into overtime on shifts, did a number on his circadian rhythms, and he never seemed to recover.
Lucy, on the other hand, sleeps like a baby most nights. Unless there is something utterly bothering her, it’s “lights out” as soon as she’s finished with her tasks for the day. She’s very good about setting alarms and making sure she gets her eight hours when possible, which is rare in her line of work.
At first, the difference in sleep schedules was cute. Lucy, who fell asleep 3 hours before Tim, would wake up to strings of loving messages he sent in the middle of the night.
“You’re so cute.”
“I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”
“I want to take you out for a nice dinner this week.”
It became part of her daily routine, and she looked forward to the messages every single morning. If Tim was quiet one night, she had a pit in her stomach for the rest of the day, which was only absolved when she saw him and confirmed that he wasn’t mad at her, and rather occupied his night with a task, such as cleaning.
But once their relationship became more serious and they started spending the night together, it became a little irritating.
Tim would lay in bed with Lucy as she slept, but he would scroll on his phone or read a book until he was tired. She tried to get used to the lights and sounds, she really did. But she just couldn’t sleep with the distractions.
Of course, she never voiced this disturbance, and simply pretended to sleep while he snickered at YouTube videos. She felt that it wasn’t his place to question his lifestyle choices, and thought she needed to adapt to it. And because of this, she has become noticeably irritable and short.
“Chen, you’re riding with Aaron,” Grey tells her one morning during roll call. She doesn’t seem to mind; even though she’s grown used to riding alone, she doesn’t mind having a partner at times.
Though, Aaron seems to be in an unusually chipper mood, unlike Lucy, who couldn’t sleep last night (thanks to Tim, of course).
Aaron gets the war bags and sets up the shop as Lucy gets them both a much needed cup of coffee.
“So, what did you do last night?” Lucy asks Aaron as she pulls out of the station.
“I actually went on a date!” Aaron tells her excitedly.
“Oh my gosh, why did you tell me?!” Lucy exclaims. This was the “wake-me-up” she’d been needing.
“It all kind of happened at the last minute. We met at the grocery store; we clashed while reaching for a bag of chips,” Aaron shakes his head, recalling the awkwardness of the encounter. “Anyway, we got to talking and I asked her if she wanted to join me at this art gallery I had been wanting to go to. She is the only person I’ve met who’s heard of the artist, so I figured she would be company.”
Lucy wasn’t expecting him to go into such detail, but she feels as if it’s common courtesy to ask how the date went, so she does. “And… how was it?”
”It. Was. Amazing,” Aaron enunciates. “We have so much in common, I think she’s my soulmate!”
If she was speaking to literally anybody else in the station, she would be much more engrossed in this exciting conversation. But Aaron seems to meet a new soulmate every other week, he’s a repeat offender. And of course Lucy cares about her close friends' love life, but it can get boring and repetitive.
“That’s great to hear,” she says apathetically, hoping Aaron catches onto her tone and ends the conversation. But this is Aaron, and he has a tendency to be the slightest bit tone deaf.
”Yeah, she’s actually a veterinarian and has 3 dogs! It’s really sweet,” he gushes.
”Aaron, you hate dogs.” Lucy shakes her head, steadying her eyes on the road. Between the lack of sleep and tedious conversation, her eyes seem to be fighting to stay open and attentive.
“I don’t hate dogs,” he defends, though his tone is the least bit convincing.
“Tim brought Kojo to dinner last week and you made him move seats away from you…”
“That was different!” he defends, and quickly changes the subject. “Speaking of Tim, how is that going?”
Lucy can’t count the number of times she’s been asked that question. Since reentering her relationship, everybody seems to be extra concerned about their wellbeing. And while it’s sweet in theory, it has gotten invasive and frustrating.
“Good, we’re fine,” Lucy responds dryly, focusing all of her attention onto the road in front of her. She doesn’t know why, but the question seems to have set her off.
She feels her face get hot so she turns up the air conditioning, but it doesn’t seem to help.
“ Good? Is something wrong? You usually cannot shut up about him,” Aaron points out, which suddenly pushes Lucy off of the edge.
“We’re fine, okay?! Just stay out of it!” she erupts unkindly, which quickly shuts Aaron up.
“Okay, sorry,” he apologizes, sinking into the passenger seat of the shop.
Her intention was not to humiliate or hurt Aaron, of course not. But she didn’t have enough energy to put up with the interrogation, and she sure as hell wasn’t in the mood to hash out all of her reservations right now.
______
Unfortunately, their shift is awfully quiet, meaning Lucy as to find a way to keep herself awake and busy without over exerting herself. Her and Aaron decide to stop for lunch early, both of them hoping it calms Lucy down a little bit.
Now that they are in a controlled setting (where Lucy couldn’t injure him), Aaron decides to pry a little bit more, hoping to help his friend out of her mood.
“Hey, are you sure everything is okay? You’ve just seemed a little off recently,” Aaron asks compassionately.
Lucy takes a deep breath; she feels bad for yelling at him earlier. She knows he was simply trying to show interest in her life. “Honestly, I’m just tired. I haven’t been sleeping much.”
“Really? You’re usually really good about schedules. What’s going on?”
“If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell Tim about this, okay?” Aaron nods, and Lucy continues. “Tim sleeps late. Like, really late. I’m talking… 3 a.m. on a normal night. Which is fine when we’re not spending the night together, but when we are, I just can’t sleep when he’s awake. He’s always shining some light from a lamp, or his phone, and it really bothers me.”
“Oh, well… have you tried talking to him about it?” Aaron suggests.
“Not exactly…” Truthfully, Lucy has been walking on eggshells around Tim. She’s trying her best not to disrupt his life with her burdens; she’s worried he’ll run again.
“Why not? I’m sure he’ll be more mindful if you bring it to his attention.”
“I just don’t want to be annoying! I don’t want him to go up of his way for me; I just wish I wasn’t bothered so easily,” she sighs. She has been struggling with guilt for a while now, and it has been eating her up inside. It felt great to finally get it out, even thought it sounded ridiculous as it came out of her mouth.
“But you are bothered by it, and that’s not something you can change,” Aaron reminds her. “You both need to compromise in a relationship, and this is something that Tim can easily fix for you. It’s clearly having a toll on you, and it’ll weight down your relationship if you don’t bring it up. You’ll always resent him for it, and he won’t understand why you get frustrated. You shouldn’t be walking on eggshells around someone you want to spend the rest of your life with.”
Wow Lucy thinks to herself. Surprisingly, Aaron is right. If she didn’t voice her concerns, she would inevitably hold it against Tim, even though he was bothering her without realizing it. And the deception is that got them here in the first place.
”You know, Aaron, I think people misjudge you,” Lucy admits, patting him on the shoulder.
“I think we established that when I was found guilty for a murder I didn’t commit,” he jokes. And Lucy laughs genuinely, feeling a little bit lighter than she did this morning.
_____
Tim gets to her apartment before her, already waiting in the living room with 2 bottles of beer.
”Hey babe, how was work?” he asks as she comes in.
“It was good,” she responds, sliding next to him on the couch and grabbing a bottle of beer. Though, the hesitance is quite apparent on her face.
“What’s wrong, did something happen?” Tim asks, a little bit alarmed by her blatant uneasiness.
“No- no, I just… can we talk about something really quick?” she asks awkwardly, slightly stuttering over her words.
“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Tim assures her, turning to fully face her. His heart rate increases slightly; he worries that he’s done something wrong.
“So, you obviously go to bed a lot later than I do,” Lucy begins nervously, Tim nodding his head. “Well… sometimes your phone light is really bright, or your volume is a little too loud. It’s just really hard to sleep, and I’m sorry but-” she rambles, but Tim cuts her off.
“Hey, it’s okay. You should have told me that I was bothering you sooner,” he remarks sincerely, grabbing her hands. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was keeping you up all night.”
”I know, I just,” Lucy pauses, biting her lip, “didn’t want to annoy you. I don’t want to seem high-maintenance.”
“Lucy, you are not high maintenance!” Tim affirms. “This is something that is absolutely not a big deal at all, and I’m happy to be quieter at night.”
”It’s stupid, I know.” Lucy rubs her temple, relaxing back onto the couch. “I don’t want to be the typical annoying girlfriend who always needs something, you know?”
“You are the farthest thing from that. You are kind, understanding, and patient. I have never once felt annoyed by you, I promise.” Tim runs his thumb along her cheek, which causes her to silently giggle. “Plus, I would change the world for you, Lucy Chen.”
”You’re sweet,” she grins giddily.
“I know.”
“Okay, well you weren’t supposed to agree,” she rolls her eyes jokingly.
”Alright alright,” Tim concedes. “What movie should we watch tonight?”
“Well, I heard you listening to the trailer of a really interesting documentary last night,” Lucy recalls. “I think it was called… American Nightmare?”
“Gosh, you really do hear everything at night don’t you?”
“Yep.”