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That’s it.
He couldn’t take it any longer.
That was the moment that broke his hard-won control he’s been desperately trying to hold on to for longer than he’d like to admit.
it was right after a shift, one where Lucy had run him all around town, going to all his favorite spots trying to find his damn radio, when she’s had it all along. All to try to get him to tell her what’s been weighing on him.
She hands him his radio, “I should know better than trying to get into your personal business” she says. Little did she know he craved it, her care, her noticing him. It was becoming pathetic.
That moment, he decided. “Ashley and I broke up... actually, she broke up with me” Tim says.
He didn’t know why he’d kept it from her, embarrassment maybe, or maybe it made him realize and finally accept the depth of his emotions for Lucy.
In that moment, with her looking at him, everything became crystal clear.
Tim Bradford was in love with Lucy Chen, and he had to tell her.
Right when he felt a shift between them, Chris shows up all charming, asking lucy what she wants for dinner. And Lucy of course had asked Tim to join, feeling bad about his breakup. Ha.
He’d rather stab a knife thru his thigh then spend his afternoon third wheeling lucy and her boyfriend.
heading to his car, frustrated and jealous, Tim takes another look at the woman, accepting his defeat.
he’d felt it though. That tension between them that couldn’t be nothing. Could it?
Tim drove home that night intending on drowning his sorrows with a cold beer and some football, but all he could do was think about Lucy.
Her beautiful hazel eyes, that gorgeous smile, and God, those curves.
He’d been dreaming about those for too long.
What a fool he’d been, dragging Ashley along, knowing full well he had an undeniable pull to Lucy, since their first kiss, that practice kiss, hell. Long before that.
He tried to sleep, he really did, trying everything to rid his thought of the beautiful, wonderful, taken woman, he was so completely and irrevocably in love with.
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense to him. She was his best friend and had seen him at his worst and had been able to break down his walls piece by piece until he was left bare and real in front of her.
No one knew Tim Bradford better than Lucy Chen.
It was reckless and completely stupid and completely against the rules, but it was stronger than him, way stronger. Tim reached over to his phone, his heartbeat speeding up so stupidly. he opened his text thread with Lucy. After too many write and deletes, he got over his nerves and sent a simple text.
00:34 am
Tim: “Can we talk?”
Lucy: “hey everything ok?”
Tim: “Yeah… actually no. Are you still with Chris?”
Lucy: “Nope, he dropped me off after dinner a few hours ago. Do you want to come over?”
Tim: “On my way.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
20 minutes later
Lucy hears a knock on her door, expecting a brooding, sad Tim who had just been broken up with and needed his friends company.
Oh, how wrong had she been.
Tim was indeed brooding as ever, but what she found instead startled her a bit.
Tim was looking at her with the same look he had when they had shared their first kiss in her apartment months ago, the same kiss that had shook her to her core, then blocked out completely to not over complicate an already complicated situation.
And of course, was the matter of her relationship with Tim which she cherished too much to let her stupid fleeting feeling get in the way of.
The question was why had he suddenly started looking at her like that now?
“hi”, he says, with a gentle defeated voice.
“hey, what’s going on with you Tim?”, Lucy says, trying to understand why he’s at her apartment so late at night, what couldn’t wait for them to talk tomorrow at the station.
Tim stands there in silence for a few seconds, realizing he didn’t really have a plan going into this. He just knew he had to see her, more than anything.
Lucy tries, asking him if he’d like something to drink. To which he declined.
“listen Lucy, I don’t quite know how to say this and do be honest I’m kind of terrified right now, but I just couldn’t sleep. I can’t stop thinking about you, about us”. Tim says.
Lucy looks at him shocked for a second, trying to comprehend what he’s trying to say.
“what-”, she mutters out.
“Wait let me get all of this out. I know things are complicated and have been weird ever since we found Chris in your apartment, but I can’t help it. Lucy I can’t even begin to explain how important you are to me, and I need you to tell me if I’m way out of line here, but I want you. I have wanted you for so long but have been entirely too scared to say anything because I don’t want to ruin what we do have. I-” Lucy cuts him off. “Why are you telling me all of this now?”
“I don’t know if it was Ashley breaking up with me or just you showing me time and time again you care, but I finally realized I can’t go another day without you knowing.” Tim says.
before he can say another thing lucy blurts out “but Tim I’m with Chris. Don’t you think it’s a bit too late for that?”
“if you can tell me right now, staring into my eyes that you don’t feel something here, that your completely happy with Chris and you see your future with him, I’ll head out that door and pretend to have never said these things to you, I’ll be ok one day just knowing you’re happy, even though it’s not with me. but Lucy, God I hope that’s not the case.”
Lucy staggers back, at a loss for words. “Tim, you know I can’t say that. But I’m scared, what if this doesn’t work, what if we break apart and start hating each other, what if-”
Tim steps closer till he’s a breath away from her, he can feel her breath coming in faster until he can’t just stand still anymore.
Tim is so close he can count her eyelashes, that’s when he decides to put his lips to hers.
It’s as if fireworks explode behind his eyes, he’s kissing her and she’s kissing him back and it’s the best thing he’s ever experienced in his life, this moment.
That’s when Lucy’s brain catches up, understanding what just happened. “Tim-”
“Lucy I’m done holding back. I’m sick of having these feeling and not being able to do anything about them.
“You drive me crazy. I’m so in love with you it’s driving me crazy!”, Tim says loudly.
“Wait you love me?”, Lucy starts saying with tears in her eyes.
“Yeah, have for a while now.”, Tim says with a shy smile on his lips.
This time it’s lucy who takes his face in her hands and pulls his lips to hers.
The kiss starting gentle and sweet, too fast becomes all passion and them both pouring all the emotions they have into it, until lucy abruptly pulls away from him.
“Wait – Tim. I love you too. I love you so much, God, I’ve loved you for longer than I’d like to admit. But for me to be able to love you the way I want to, I’m going to have to break up with Chris first.”
“You love me?”, Tim says with the most stupidly charming smile Lucy had ever seen and she swoons on the spot.
“Yeah, I do”, Lucy says with the same giddy smile on her face.
God, he wanted to keep kissing her in that moment, more than anything he’d ever wanted, but he understood that she owed it to Chris to be honest with him. Being honest with himself, it wouldn’t sit right with him either if anything further had happened between them while she was still in a relationship with another guy.
instead, Tim wraps his arms around her and pulls her as close to him as possible, kissing her on the top of her head. “I’ll wait, whatever you need, Lucy.” Tim whispers in her ear, not wanting to break the moment. They stand there in a calm peaceful sense of quite for what feels like hours, just savoring each other’s closeness.
in that moment both knew everything was going to be ok, that they had something together, it was worth it and that it was just the beginning of more, so much more.