Work Text:
“Are you nervous?” Celina asks Lucy as she runs her hands down her minidress, flattening the spandex underneath.
“Yes, but I’m also excited,” Lucy responds, though there is a certain shakiness behind her tone. She was about to embark on her first date with Tim. Well, second first date, technically. After a rather rash (and honestly, drunken) conversation, they had agreed that going on a date wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world.
And while she didn’t exactly want for it to happen while she was drunk, she was glad it happened. Because today, they were on the same page about expectation, meaning this date wasn’t going to full of awkward small talk and random gaps of silence.
“I have really high hopes for this date,” Celina announces sweetly, admiring as Lucy fluffs her hair in the mirror.
“It’s just lunch” Lucy shakes her head. Internally, she also hopes for a little bit of the rom-com magic that had been lacking recently, but she wouldn’t admit it.
“I know, but you’ve been talking about the spark for weeks! I think I might be more excited that you,” Celina exclaims. She was right, Lucy just couldn’t seem to keep her mouth shut. Every little flirty message or late night phone call, Celina knows about it. “Oh, I hope he brings you flowers!”
“I- I don't think he’s going to,” Lucy sighs. Truthfully, a small part of her is expecting flowers, if not another personal gesture on his end. But she also knows that is a very logical thinker, and he surely would consider the fact that without a proper vase, flowers would die out before she got home.
Nonetheless, she keeps her hopes low so that she’s not disappointed by the outcome.
___
Once she’s finished getting ready, she takes a seat on the couch, anxiously awaiting Tim’s arrival. Celina effectively distracts her by reading Smitty’s station gossip blog.
Just as they reach the end of the column, the doorbell rings; they know exactly who it is, and Celina practically flies off of the couch to answer it.
“Hello Tim,” she greets him slyly, slowly opening the door for dramatic effect.
“Hi Celina, how are you?” He's respectful and attentive, but she can immediately tell that he wants to get out of there as quickly as possible.
“I’m great,” the younger officer smirks. Lucy walks up behind her and thanks her quietly.
“Hey,” she smiles. She debates inviting him in, but then remembers that Celina is home, and ultimately decides against it. “Should we get going?”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go,” Tim smiles. Lucy opens the door wider and slides past Celina, joining Tim in the hallway.
“Have fun you crazy kids, return her in one piece!” Celina makes sure to yell as she closes the door, and Lucy shoots her an annoyed look before turning around and following Tim.
____
”Are you hungry?” Tim asks once they reach the shopping plaza, a cute little collection of shops and restaurants.
“Sure,” Lucy responds, though she isn’t the least pit hungry; partly because of nerves, and partly because of the big lunch her and Celina had a few hours ago. Between the meal and the alcohol, she couldn’t stomach the thought of food.
She isn’t sure why she says yes, but it’s too late, so Tim suggests a sandwich shop not too far.
”I think it’s… this way,” he points to the right. Lucy is 99% sure that it’s in the complete opposite direction, but she nods and lets him take the lead. The last thing she wants to do is sucker punch his manly ego.
Sure enough, he takes them in the wrong direction for 20 minutes. By the time they reach the shop, Lucy has sweat all of the way through her minidress.
“I’m so sorry for making you walk in the heat,” Tim apologizes sincerely once they take shelter in the air conditioning.
“No, it’s okay, really,” she reassures. They head inside, and her nightmare continues when she looks at the menu.
There is no line in front of her, and about 600 options for her to choose from. She’s trying to remember what she’s eaten recently to ensure diversity for her stomach, but the reaches the front of the line too fast. She doesn’t even realize that Tim has already ordered, and is currently paying, for her food.
Ouch.
She ends up ordering the first thing that sounds somewhat appealing - a chicken Caesar wrap - and follows Tim to the checkout counter. Lucy holds her breath as she awkwardly pulls out her credit card, and doesn’t let it go until the transaction is complete.
It’s not that she needs to be paid for; it’s more the principal of it. She doesn’t know why it bothers her. Truth be told, she had gotten used to the princess treatment he gave her before.
For the first time in her life, she had the fairytale relationship that every little girl wished for growing up. And then it shattered one night, with no warning signs. It warped her whole outlook, and she worries she’s never going to be satisfied.
But she puts it in the back of her mind, because she isn’t one to reinforce the patriarchy. Everything doesn’t need to be perfect right away; it’s going to take time to fall back into a comfortable rhythm.
____
Lucy gets her food right away, but it takes 10 awkward minutes of standing around for Tim’s sandwich to be ready. They find a table near the back of the restaurant and take seats across from each other, pulling their packed food out of the bags.
“So…” Tim begins, but he isn’t exactly sure what to say. There was so much to say, and he didn’t really know how to bring it up. In the end, he lands on a simple “how was your day?”
“Honestly? I barely slept,” she admits. “The hangover was… brutal.”
“I can imagine,” he chuckles. His vision begins to drift behind Lucy, becoming fixed at another table nearby. Lucy looks back quickly, but she fails to spot what has transfixed him.
“There is a lady staring at us over at that table,” he signals subtlety, but she’s still not seeing what he’s seeing.
“Why is she staring?” Lucy worries that her dress has untied, or her hair is out of place.
“I don’t know,” Tim shakes his head, but it’s clear that he’s deeply unsettled.
“Smile!” She blurts out randomly, attempting to divert his attention by holding out her phone. Slightly shocked, he leans forward and rests his head in his hand, giving an award smile.
He looks, well, he looks like he wants to go home. But there is something about the faint smile across his lips, like a beacon of hope.
“Are you going to eat?” Tim eventually asks, pointing to the still-wrapped sandwich before Lucy. She had been playing with the seal for the past twenty minutes, but refrained from opening it. Tim didn’t seem to have any interest in his food either, and she didn’t want to force herself to eat alone.
“Maybe later,” she shrugs, shoving it back into the bag.
“Yeah, same,” Tim sighs. “Do you wanna just… drive around?”
“Yes!” Lucy agrees excitedly; she’s worried that she’ll combust if she has to sit in this sad, quiet restaurant any longer.
Taking the correct route this time, Tim leads Lucy back to his car. He opens the door for her as she climbs it; it’s impeccably clean, cleaner than it ever was when they were together.
Lucy missed the passenger seat of Tim’s car. She couldn’t even count the number of times the charger revived her severely dead phone, or the number of naps she’d taken after the night shift. Though, the sudden cleanliness was throwing her off.
She missed the fact that her relationship had gotten to the point where they didn’t need to put in so much effort. It was as if she was starting all over again, but with extra baggage this time.
“You can play any music you want,” Tim offers, but Lucy politely declines. Their music tastes were awfully similar, she quite liked the music that was already playing. But music isn’t enough to fill the silence, and she knows she has to bring up last night.
“So… we should probably talk about last night.”
“Uh,” Tim scratches his head, “yeah, i agree.”
“I think I should start by apologizing. I didn’t mean to push you to admit something you weren’t ready to admit, and I-” she begins, but Tim quickly cuts her off.
“You don’t need to apologize. It was a much needed conversation. It just happened in an expected way,” he chuckles dryly. Lucy can tell that he’s sincere, but the guilt is still weighing on her. She knew that getting drunk the day before their “friendly outing” wasn’t the best idea. But she couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t glad it happened.
“I really felt like it took the pressure off of today, you know?” Tim continues. “We got to skip all of the awkward stages of a first date.”
But Lucy could not disagree more. This feels even more awkward than their date getting interrupted by a fight in the kitchen again. But instead, she mutters a quick “yeah,” and continues to look out the window.
“So, did you mean what you said last night?” Tim asks, his tone the slightest bit shaky. He was referring to the fact that Lucy agreed that she wanted to re-enter a serious relationship with him. Somehow, the 4 shots of vodka didn’t take away her ability to extremely accurately convey her feelings.
“Yes, yes I meant it,” she admits, a little bit embarrassed. It was obviously not how. She expected their relationship to rekindle, but at least they didn’t have to beat around the bush anymore. “But, we should take it slow.”
”I totally agree,” Tim smiles, and Lucy’s should fall a little bit, the anxiety finally beginning to wear off. “We should take it slow, spend some more time together before we starting anything crazy.”
Lucy nods with a faint smile on her lips; this is exactly how she fantasized this day going. A (somewhat) mature conversation and a plan for the future.
“You know…” Tim begins, tapping his finger against the steering wheel, “I was really nervous about this.”
”You could not have been more nervous than me,” Lucy scoffs. “I had eight people vote on an outfit, and I ended up wearing something completely different.”
“I got my haircut, just for today,” Tim laughs.
“WOW, I think you win,” Lucy giggles. Tim has an irrational fear of haircuts, ever since his barber royally fucked up his hair a couple of years ago. To get his hair cut for a single occasion was truly impressive.
“I’m having a great time with you, Lucy,” Tim announces as the buzz of excitement begins to wear off, and things start to feel a little bit normal again.
“Me too,” she agrees wholeheartedly.
There is so much she wants to say, so much lost time to make up for. But before they know it, Tim has pulled back into Lucy’s apartment complex.
“Well, thanks for taking me out today,” she sighs, disappointed that their date finished so quickly. But she was working an evening shift, and unfortunately didn’t have any time to spare.
”Of course, I’ll see you soon.”
Lucy gazes at him as she fiddles with the lock and opens the car door. She desperately wants him to walk her up, or at least get out of the car to say goodbye. But he doesn’t.
She can tell that he’s contemplating it, but she isn’t the type of person to beg for things like that, so she waves goodbye and heads up, alone.
While it didn’t go exactly how she would have liked, it was an accurate reflection of what was to come. Weirdly, it put her mind to ease to know that they weren’t just picking up where they left off.
This path was new and exciting; there is a lot of opportunity for exploration and growth. She smiles giddily as she heads back into her apartment. She couldn’t wait to see him again.