One Wild Night

As Lucy and Tom lay on the bed watching a romcom on his laptop, Lucy tapped on the pause button when it suddenly occurred to her that this was the first time they were actually doing this.

"What is wrong?" Tom asked as he turned to her when she paused the movie.

"Do you realize that this is the first time we are seeing a movie together this way? I mean just lying down idly on the bed and seeing a movie on a laptop?" She asked, and Tom considered it for a moment.

"I guess it is," he said and she smiled.

"There are a lot of things we haven't done together, you know?" She said and he raised a brow.

"Like?"

"Taking selfies, going on normal dates, taking strolls together. We haven't even swam together yet you have a pool," she said and Tom nodded.

"Why don't we make a list of everything we haven't done together so we can tick them one after the other?" He asked, and Lucy nodded as she reached for her journal by the bedside.

"What? Don't tell me you want to do that now. C'mon, we can always do that after we are done with the movie," Tom said but she shook her head.

"We might forget about it. Just give me a moment. It won't take long," Lucy promised as she picked up her journal and pen, while he picked up his phone.

As she quickly penned down all they had mentioned, her head snapped up when she heard the camera shutter sound of Tom's phone, and she saw him grinning as he took pictures of her.

"What are you doing?" She asked even though she knew he had just taken a photo.

"Making memories," he said as he took some more pictures, and he chuckled when she covered her face with both hands.

"I don't think I look good enough right now. My hair is rough and my face is bare," she complained.

"You always look great. And don't think your hand is going to stop me from taking the pictures," Tom said as he continued snapping some more photos and he laughed when Lucy picked up the pillow to cover her face.

"Are you done writing?" He asked, and she bobbed her head.

"Let's take a couple of selfies before resuming the movie," Tom suggested, and grabbed her hand before she could get off the bed.

"I need a minute to brush my hair," she said but he shook his head.

"I don't look my best either…."

"It hardly matters. You're a man," Lucy said matter of factly.

"And that means I am not supposed to look my best?" He asked in amusement.

"It means you look good whichever way you are. Take for instance, even though you haven't shaved since we got here, you still look sexy with those 5 0'clock shadows," she said and he grinned.

"Is that a subtle way of telling me I need to shave?" He asked and she giggled.

"Not at all. If I could stand you with that awful moustache and beard disguise you wore back then, trust me, this is nothing," she said and he howled with laughter.

"Did you never find me sexy for a minute?" He asked and she shook her head.

"Nope. You looked weird and hideous," she said and Tom nodded thoughtfully.

"I guess that's why you didn't hesitate in turning me down," he said and she shook her head

"Maybe one of the reasons. But it was more because I was in love with my driver and plumber," she said with a wink and Tom chuckled as he pulled her closer to himself and quickly took a picture of them both before she could resist.

"Tom!" She hissed as she glared at him, and he chuckled.

"You look sexy, trust me," he assured her as he took some more shots not minding that she was glaring.

Lucy leaned closer and bit his ear, making him yelp, "That's for having ears you don't make use of," she snarled and he chuckled as he rubbed his ear.

"Well, now that I've gotten a couple of natural shots, you can go fix your hair if you want to," Tom suggested and she scowled.

"No, I'm not doing that anymore. I wanted to look my best for your phone, but now that you've captured those, who cares?" Lucy asked, and Tom grinned.

"Exactly. You should know that I love you whichever way you look, you know? Be it in the morning when you are just waking up from sleep, or after you're beautifully dressed for work, or when you look exhausted after a tiresome work day, or last thing at night before you go to bed," Tom said and she rolled her eyes.

"Doesn't mean I shouldn't make an effort to look good all the type. If someone was to steal your phone or hack into your phone, I don't want them seeing any unpleasant pictures of me," Lucy said and Tom chuckled.

"I didn't think you were so concerned about your appearance," he said and before she could respond her phone beeped with a message notification and she picked it up.

Seeing it was an Instagram message notification she moved away from Tom, knowing it was Kimberly who had texted her.

She wasn't really a social media person so no one else could be sending her a DM on Instagram.

"Give me a minute," she told Tom, and he gave her a nod as he directed his attention to the pictures he had just captured, while she responded to Kimberly's message.

[Hello, Lucy! I'm sorry it took so long to reach out to you. I've been busy since I arrived and the only time I could call was late due to the time difference.]

Although Lucy had sent Kimberly a text the previous day to find out if she arrived safely and to assure her that Dawn was doing good and she didn't have to worry herself, it was the first time she was hearing from Kimberly since the last time they talked when Kimberly asked her to watch over Dawn, and that was two days ago.

[It's fine. I figured you had a lot to handle. How are you doing?] Lucy texted back.

[Great! You're online. Can I call you right now?] Kimberly texted and Lucy glanced at Tom.

She knew it wouldn't make sense to excuse herself to go talk to Kimberly outside since that would only make Tom suspicious, and if she kept chatting as well, Tom would also get suspicious since he knew very well that she wasn't exactly the texting type and the only people she exchanged texts with were Sonia, Candace, and Jade.

She didn't want to have to lie to him. Perhaps she could tell him she was chatting with Kimberly?

"Are you done?" Tom asked when he caught Lucy staring at him.

"Not exactly," she said and he raised a brow.

"Is there a problem?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"Do you mind if I give Kimberly a call?" She asked, and his brow rose.

"Why would you want to do that?" He asked, and she shrugged.

"To let her know how Dawn is doing and also find out how she is doing," Lucy said and he shook his head.

"Why would you concern yourself with that when she didn't ask you to? It's not like you're both friends. It's one thing for you to get close to the kid, but I don't want you becoming friendly with Kimberly," Tom said and Lucy sighed.

Of course, that was the exact reaction she had been expecting from him, "Why don't you call her then? Are you not curious to know if she has spoken with her parents…"

"No, I'm not. Why should I be? That is their family business not mine," Tom cut in before she could finish.

"Well, that family business determines how long Dawn will be here," Lucy pointed out.

"And why should that be my problem? I wasn't the one who offered to keep the child, my parents did. If anyone should be speaking with Kimberly, it should be them and not either of us. Lucy, please, do not get any more involved than you already are," Tom said with a very serious expression and she sighed.

"What if I'm involved already?" Lucy asked, and he frowned.

"What do you mean?" Tom asked and Lucy looked away guiltily as she set aside her phone.

"I spoke with Kimberly after she left Dawn…"

"If I remember correctly you said it was your therapist," Tom said in a controlled voice.

"Yes. It was my therapist who called, and then Kimberly texted me and I called her," Lucy explained.

"You lied to me," Tom said simply.

"No, I didn't lie. I just didn't say the whole truth," Lucy said and Tom raised a brow.

"Really? Is that what we do now?" He asked and she shook her head.

"No, I'm sorry. I figured it was going to get you upset, and I didn't want that. Not after we already had a misunderstanding. I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth," she said, and Tom held her gaze for a moment.

"So, she asked you to take care of her daughter…"

"Tom, please. I meant all I said about Dawn. Kimberly might have asked me to keep an eye on Dawn, but I'm not doing this for her sake. It's for Dawn," Lucy said as she touched his arm.

"I suppose she is the one you were chatting with just now?" Tom asked and Lucy sighed as she gave him a nod.

"She wants to call," Lucy said and Tom shook his head.

"Why can't you just block her? You can take care of the kid until we leave if that's what you want. But I don't want you interacting with Kimberly in anyway. I don't want you being friends or whatever with her. I'm not comfortable with it," Tom insisted.

"What if I let you listen in our calls whenever we talk and you go through our texts? It's really not a big deal. She just needs a friend right now," Lucy pleaded.

"And I don't want you to be that friend. How would you feel about me being friends with a guy you've been involved with in the past and who played such a prank on us?" Tom asked and Lucy nodded.

"Yes, I understand where you're coming from. But shouldn't I be the one feeling awkward about this?" Lucy asked, and Tom shook his head.

"The fact that you're not feeling that way is also making me worried," Tom said and Lucy sighed.

"So, you want me to ignore her?" She asked and Tom nodded.

"Yes, Lucy. Please do. Stop responding to her texts. Let her deal directly with my parents and leave us alone. I don't want any form of connection to her, especially not through you," Tom said, and Lucy sighed when she remembered how he had also been adamant about her not being friends with Anita.

"Alright. If that's what you want, I will stop," Lucy said, thinking that maybe she could ask either Sonia or Jade to reach out to Kimberly instead.

If she couldn't be friends with her for Tom's sake, the least she could was to at least offer her other friends while she kept taking care of Dawn. Even Kimberly could understand that.

"Thanks," Tom said as he raised her hand to her his lips.

"Anything for you. Let's go back to seeing our movie then," Lucy said as she got back in position with Tom.

Tom groaned when a knock sounded on the door followed by Dawn's voice calling out to Lucy, "Lucy? I'm up!"

"You see what you caused? We could have finished the movie had you not decided to jot stuff down," Tom said accusingly, and Lucy giggled.

"Don't be so surly. We can always finish the movie later at night. But don't worry, I will take her to Evelyn and Desmond. We should all take turns in spending time with her, especially Evelyn and Desmond since they will be the ones looking after her if Kimberly doesn't come for her soon," Lucy said placatingly.

"Lucy? Are you in there?" Dawn called again as she knocked on the door.

"I'm coming darling," Lucy called back to Dawn as she got off the bed.

"Got to attend to the little Angel," Lucy said and Tom shook his head as he rested his head on the pillow and shut his eyes.