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Lucy is mad at him. He has no idea why, but he is absolutely certain that she is. All he knows is that one minute they were laughing together as he put Kojo away and she finished her makeup, and the next she was glaring at him as she pointedly put on her comfiest pair of underwear.
She’s been teasing him all week about how she’s picked the perfect dress to wear to Angela’s birthday dinner. Short, but tight enough that she could get away with wearing nothing underneath. So if she was making a point to stare him down while putting on panties? Yeah he has fucked up. He just has no idea how.
“If we don’t leave now we’ll be late” Lucy says as she smooths her dress down, reaching down to grab her shoes before walking out of the bedroom.
By the time Tim has shaken off his confusion and moved to follow Lucy out of the house, she’s already in the truck. Tim climbs into the driver's seat and realizes Lucy has put the Dodger’s game on the radio. A relieved breath escapes him, if she was willingly putting on the game for him, then she must not be that mad at him.
The bases are loaded, and Ohanti is up to bat. Tim’s grip on the steering wheel gets tighter as he listens to the announcers describe in excitement about what’s happening on the field. The Dodgers have two outs and the pitcher is just winding up for a third pitch to Ohanti. It’s either the end of the inning, or the Dodgers are about to get a grandslam.
Out of the corner of his eye, Tim sees Lucy’s hand move toward the radio dial. Suddenly, instead of the exciting sounds of the ballgame, the opening notes of All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version)(From the Vault) [Sad Girl Autumn Version] fill the car. Tim opens his mouth to comment on the sudden change, but the glare Lucy is directing at him, snaps it shut before he says anything. Instead of questioning her, he focuses on the road, occasionally glancing at Lucy out of the corner of his eye. Her face is giving nothing away, not a single hint that she’s even angry at him, as she quietly sings along to the Jake Gyllenhall induced heartbreak.
She’s managed to time it perfectly, the final notes of the song fading out just as Tim pulls into an open parking space of the bar Angela has chosen. The earlier sense of relief he felt was gone. She wasn’t just mad at him, she was pissed, and he still has no idea what he did to cause it.
Once they’re in the bar, Lucy is again acting like everything is normal, but Tim knows better. He’s on edge, waiting for Lucy’s next anger induced payback, as he watches her go around and greet their friends.
Angela accepts Lucy’s hug and happy birthday wishes, before walking over to Tim. “So what’d you do?” She asks, “Because I know a pissed off Lucy Chen when I see one. She may be an undercover prodigy, but I’m still the best detective we have”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Tim shrugs, “One second we were fine, and the next she’s pissed at me.”
“Well good luck figuring it out,” Angela laughs, patting his shoulder, “because I can‘t think of much scarier than an angry Lucy.”
Lucy comes over and joins them then, wrapping her arms around him just a little too tightly to be affectionate.
“Can I grab you both something to drink?” Lucy asks, focusing mainly on Angela, “Margarita for you, Ang? And Whiskey for you, right Tim?”
Angela nods enthusiastically, but Tim narrows his eyes skeptically as he nods his confirmation. Lucy knows what he likes to drink, so if she’s asking she must be up to something.
Lucy quickly flags down the bartender and is Quickly back with the promised drinks. Angela happily accepts her, taking a sip, before excusing herself to go back to Wesley. Tim eyes his drink before accepting it out of Lucy’s hand. He takes a sip, and has to stop himself from immediately spitting it back out. She’d gotten him the cheapest whiskey the bar has to offer instead of the usual top shelf stuff he usually chose.
Lucy raises her eyebrow at him, silently daring him to say anything about her drink offering. Biting his tongue, he does his best to smile at her, a grimace forming on his face instead, “thanks babe,” he says, bringing the glass to his mouth for another painful sip.
Lucy grins at him victoriously, before taking her own drink and leaving him alone to go talk to Celina and Aaron. Several times throughout the night, he can feel Lucy’s eyes, and smirk, focused on him as they both socialize with their friends.
A few hours later, everyone is saying their goodbyes and heading home. The ride home is silent, Lucy content to scroll through her phone as he drives. Leaving Tim to stew over what he could possibly have done.
Wordlessly, Lucy hops out of the truck and hurries into the house. She’s already gotten Kojo out of the crate and is on the ground scratching his ears and peppering his face with kisses, when Tim makes it into the house.
“Okay,” Tim huffs, the second the front door is closed behind him, “what did I do? I have been racking my brain all night, but can’t figure it out“
Lucy looks up and glares at him, pulling Kojo closer to her, “You lied to my baby.”
Tim’s eyebrows scrunch in confusion, “You’re mad at me because I lied? To Kojo? How can I even lie to our dog?”
“Yes,” Lucy nods angrily , “You tricked him! You told him there was someone at the door just to get him into the living room so you could put him in his crate. He was so excited! Then when he realized no one was there he got sad ears, Tim! Sad ears!”
“He’s a dog! He forgot about it and moved on the second after it happened.”
“Sad ears, Tim!”
“So you’re telling me that you put on underwear, switched from the game, and gave me rail whiskey to teach me a lesson about our dogs point of view?,” Tim asks, voice indignant.
“Yes,” she admits, shrugging her shoulders.
“We were running late Lucy! He wasn’t budging and we needed to leave!”
“I don’t care, you still lied to my baby,” Lucy huffs, “and now you know what it feels like to be super excited about something and then let down.”
Tim rolls his eyes and holds up his hands in surrender, “Okay, you’re right I shouldn’t have lied to Kojo. If I promise to never do it again, and just focus a little extra time on crate training instead, do you think you can both forgive me?”
Lucy turns back to Kojo, pretending to consult with him about Tim’s proposal. After a few seconds she nods her head and then stands up, facing Tim.
“We accept your offer,” she states, holding out her hand to seal the deal. Tim uses her outreached hand to pull her in for a kiss instead, which she gladly accepts.
Pulling back, Lucy looks to where Kojo is patiently sitting on the floor staring at them, “You have to shake on it with Kojo too” she declares.
“Lucy...” Tim starts, eyes halfway toward a roll before he thinks better of it and just does as she asks. Kneeling down to accept a paw from Kojo and give him some scratches behind his ears. He hears Lucy’s satisfied hum of approval and stands up to let Kojo have some time outside before they all go to bed.
They both go through their respective nighttime routines before climbing into bed. Tim leans over to kiss Lucy goodnight, but she pulls him in and deepens the kiss. His hand is just starting to creep up her shirt, when Lucy abruptly pulls back. A smirk crosses her face as she angles herself to turn off the light, rolls over, and snuggles into her pillow.
“Now you really know how it feels,” she murmurs, and Tim can hear the self satisfaction in her voice. Tim sighs heavily, and collapses onto his pillow, resigned to his fate.