Undercover once Again

Chapter 3: The Whispers

Next morning, Tim is still thinking about last night. It can't be a dream, right? Did she really do that? He goes silent, thinking. He just sits there as still as a statue. Lopez walks in and drops some files on his desk about a homicide.

'You okay?' She stares at Tim who is currently out of this world.

He snaps out of it. 'I'm feeling peachy.' He looks up and blankly stares at her, he takes a deep breath. 'Is, uh, Lucy doing alright?'

'Haven't seen her yet, why?' She asks confusedly, tilting her head. Angela leans on his desk. 'Did something happen to her?'

'No, nothing happened. Just worried.' He takes a look at the files, flipping the papers one by one.

'Timothy...' She smirks. 'I'm pretty sure you have some sort of feelings for her...' Angela quietly taps her index finger on the desk.

He takes a quick glance at her then back down. 'I heard it was good to look after someone.' He turns silent again.

'Yeah, someone you care about...' She giggles a bit. 'I'll leave and see how your little crush is doing.' She leaves with a bright smile on her face.

Tim is genuinely worried about Lucy. He takes a deep breath again, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. He couldn't help but still think about her. Suddenly, he heard a knock on his door. 'Come in,' he says out loud. It was Lucy.

'Oh, Luce,' His voice has changed: It's more high-pitched than usual. 'What brings you here?' He questions and puts the file down, bringing his attention to her.

"I heard you... needed me here?" She sounded confused and slightly tired, as if she hadn't gotten her beauty sleep.

"Oh, right." He paused. "About last night... It was just... I mean, it wasn't a romantic kiss?"

She fidgeted with her thumb. "I was just saying thanks. It didn't mean anything, right?" Anxiously looking around, she continued, "I don't know. It... it... I can't think right now. It was just a friend kiss. Nothing more." She ended her stuttering.

Tim held his hands together. "Okay, so it didn't mean anything at all?" he questioned one more time.

"Yeah... Yeah, nothing," Lucy rubbed her neck. "You know... I've got to go." Awkwardly pointing to the door, she walked towards it, keeping her hands together.

"Lucy, don't forget that undercover is tomorrow," he stopped her before she left. Lucy nodded.

Tim massaged the side of his head, feeling stupid. He looked visibly stressed out because he was. "When is the day that I can confess?" he kept repeating those words in his head, over and over again. He realized he still needed to look at the files.

Shift was over, and Tim was ready to go home, but he was stopped by Angela.

"Tim, how's it going with you and Lucy?" She slightly nodded, waiting for an answer. "It's okay, she seemed tired. Probably didn't get much sleep." Tim replied. "What's her birthday?!" she suddenly shouted. Tim shouted back with her birth date and year, as if it was an instant response.

"Haha! Gotcha!" she exclaimed, taking a step back just like she did a couple of days ago.

Tim let out a sigh, feeling ready to head home. As soon as he walked through his front door, he made a beeline for his bedroom and plopped down on the bed, ready to catch some Z's.

"You know, there's nothing really special about Lucy. She's just my old boot, a true friend, and the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on. Cross out the last part."

Tim is gaslighting himself into thinking he doesn't like Lucy in that way.

As Tim stared at his ceiling for a good 20 minutes, he started hearing voices in his head. They were urging him to spill his feelings for Lucy tomorrow night. He felt a mix of uncertainty and excitement, but he was willing to take that leap because he wanted to take the risk.

Tim Bradford confessing his feelings to Lucy Chen tomorrow night... There's a chance she might not feel the same way, but he's willing to find out.