Chenford-The Bar

2

Once Lucy finally made it to the bar, she realized that Tim was the only one there. Of course. She thought, thinking back to the conversation with Tamara. She sat down next to him at the bar. She was trying not to let Tamara's words get to her when she realized how weird it actually was that nobody else was there.

"Hey, where is everyone?" She asked, tapping Tim on the back to get his attention. Tim looked up from his glass. "Bailed." Lucy was confused and tried to read the emotion on Tim's face, which was a difficult pastime. The emotion of tonight was decidedly quiet discontent.

Lucy looked down at her phone and realized that Nyla had texted the group and said she couldn't make it, Nolan texted something about his half-brother Pete. Then, a final text coming from Angela saying Jackson had a fever finally came through. "Oh crap. I didn't even see that." She sighed and looked to Tim, who was just staring off into space, not even acknowledging Lucy.

"You can just go home, ya know." Tim finally said after a few too many minutes of awkward silence had passed. Lucy looked at the drink she had already been sipping on for a bit and then thought about a few days prior.

"Is this the first time you've been out since the breakup?" She asked, which made Tim choke on his drink. It was far from where he thought the conversation was going to go, considering what he had led with. "Excuse me?"

He said through coughs. Lucy went into defensive mode. "Well, I just mean. With Ashley dumping you-" She stopped in the middle of her sentence after seeing Tim glaring at her. "Sorry." She said after a few seconds.

"It is." Tim responded after taking a few seconds himself. The awkward silence made a reentry when neither cop wanted to talk further about Tim's dating life. Or lack thereof.

After a few more beers were ordered and drinken, Tim walked to the bathroom. Telling Lucy what he was doing before getting up. It had been 43 minutes since they had said a word to each other.

Lucy face palmed herself and ordered another shot of tequila from the bar. "Rough day?" A voice behind her spoke, which then moved to the side of her and took the seat where Tim had just been. Lucy looked up to see a guy sitting down and ordering a drink.

"Rough hour," She responded. The shot came out, and she slammed it back into her mouth. "Jeez," the guy chuckled, "That bad, huh?" Lucy nodded and sipped on the mixed drink in front of her. "I'm Lewis." Lucy looked over to see the guy extending his hand out. Lucy smiled and shook the strangers hand. "Lucy."