Safe Place to Hide || Chenford / The Rookie

Chapter 13

TW: Brief mentions of suicide and bullying

***

Lucy has plans to meet Adam at a restaurant near her apartment after her shift. Despite the long and emotionally charged day, she's surprised to find that she's actually looking forward to it. Even though her primary motive for going on the date is to hopefully gather more information that may help with the investigation into Tamara's shooting, it also feels like a welcome distraction from everything that's happened this week.

Lucy takes her time getting ready. Though it's been a while since she's been on an actual date, the act of getting dressed up for a night out somehow makes her feel more normal than she has in days. She chooses an outfit that makes her feel both confident and alluring — peep-toe heels, a deep red pencil skirt, and a matching high-necked crop top — and takes time to perfect her make-up and hair before heading out.

Adam is waiting for her at the front of the restaurant and his response to her is all she needs to know she's selected the right outfit.

"Lucy. You look incredible," he compliments her as he leans in to greet her with a quick kiss on the cheek. And Adam looks just as handsome as Lucy remembers from their abbreviated first meeting.

The evening passes quickly, and Lucy and Adam get to know each other and exchange stories about Tamara that make Lucy want to laugh and cry at the same time.

"So yeah... she let him know flat out that she'd rather be homeless than rich and an imponent dickhead, and I don't think he was expecting her to stand up to him. He walked away from her so fast..." Adam laughs as he finishes his story.

Lucy smiles before her expression becomes more serious, "Good for her. Honestly, I knew things were probably pretty tough, but looking into all of this, I'm just realizing how bad it really is. This is going to make me sound really old, but have kids always been this awful?"

Adam nods slowly, "I mean, you're right. It can be pretty brutal. As a teacher, I see a lot of the good, and there is plenty of good, but also... kids are capable of unimaginable cruelty. That actually reminds me... there was an incident the other day at school, with one of Tamara's friends, Marissa."

Lucy lifts an eyebrow in surprise, having fully expected that any 'incident' would have involved Jenna and her award-winning attitude. "Oh? What happened?"

"Another teacher mentioned there was some kind of altercation. What you were saying actually reminded me of it, because the comment that started the whole thing was pretty awful. Apparently, Marissa's brother committed suicide earlier this year. I guess it's part of the reason she transferred, to begin with. And I guess someone decided to use it against her and things got violent. I think she said something along the lines of, 'Why don't you just go kill yourself like your brother?'"

Lucy's jaw drops open, "I mean, I don't condone violence, but I hope Marissa punched whoever said that right in the face. My god. How awful."

She's still shaking her head moments later when she changes the subject, remembering one last thing she wanted to ask Adam about. "So I wanted to ask, have you heard anything about a company called Beyond Crystals at school? Or girls making quick money by posting ads online?"

Adam shrugs, shaking his head, "Beyond Crystals doesn't ring any bells. And honestly, the whole social media influencing thing is kind of beyond me, but, sure, a lot of kids talk about stuff like that, but nothing particularly nefarious that I can recall." His eyes crinkle as he smiles, "Now I'm the one that sounds really old."

***

Objectively, Tim knows it's not the best idea to show up at her door after 9 PM, unannounced and uninvited. Objectively, he knows it's probably sending all the wrong messages and tempting fate in all the wrong ways. But he's hardly objective when it comes to Lucy. And since the second note and the run-in with Half-Life, he hasn't been able to turn off his concern for her. He knows she is more than capable of handling herself, but he needs to see that she's okay. Not to mention that he's been agonizing over that kiss and the look on her face when he pulled away from her almost every moment he hasn't been actively worrying about her.