"CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT" • CHENFORD IMAGINES

"𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚒𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎..."

Tim Bradford has always been a playboy. Never really having the urge to settle down, he's always been known for I his enjoyment of one night stands. Sure, he's taken girls out on dates, but none of them have kept his interest long enough for a second or third.

Until her...

Despite the chill in the usually warm Los Angeles air, sweat pricks the back of his neck. Tim's never been nervous over a girl before. He's never had the dire urge to make sure everything is perfect. But everything is seemingly starting to go wrong, his anxiety growing by the second.

The once bright and sunny sky has since darkened and opened up in a downpour. Rain drops hammer against the windshield of his truck, making it difficult to see as he pulls into the parking lot of the grocery store.

The one day you need it to not rain in LA...

He had been excited to take her and Kojo hiking. He had been planning it for weeks, and here he was back to the drawing board trying to figure out how to give her the best first date of her life.

Across town, Lucy Chen paced back and forth in her apartment, rattled by her nerves. Why was she so nervous? It's Tim, for God's sake. There's nothing to be nervous about when it comes to him. She knows him like the back of her hand.

He was coming to her apartment, and he was making her dinner. Jackson was spending the night with his boyfriend, so it would just be the two of them. She didn't know if that was exciting or terrifying. Tim and her are together basically all day every day, but this is different.

It's a date. A romantic evening. With her training officer.

She decided to wear something simple and comfortable. Black cotton shorts and her favorite LAPD hoodie. It was her favorite because technically, it wasn't hers. It was his, and even after washing it, it still smelled like him. He had given it to her a few weeks ago after she had gotten puked on by someone who swallowed drugs. He had yet to ask for it back, and she wasn't giving it up willingly. Sure, it swallowed her whole, but that's what she loved about it.

A loud boom of thunder rang out, shaking her apartment just as a knock sounded at her door. She hated that the stormy weather had cancelled their afternoon hike, but she's always liked staying in just as much as going out. She took a steadying breath as she approached the door. This was Tim; the only person she's ever really felt safe with. She had no reason to be nervous.

She opened the door and instantly, her heart melted. Tim stood on the other side grinning from ear to ear, holding three different bouquets of flowers.

"I didn't know which ones you'd like," he held the flowers out to her, stepping into her apartment. "So I got three."

Nobody had ever bought her flowers before, and Tim had bought her three different kinds. Her friends always tell her if he wanted to he would, and for the first time in her life, she finally understood the meaning behind it.

She took the flowers and brought them up to her nose. White roses, yellow sunflowers, and pink peonies.

"Thank you, Tim," Lucy stared up at him, adoration in her eyes. "This means... it means the world."

And it did, bringing the flowers up to her nose, she stared at Tim as she inhaled their sweet, floral scents. He looked so happy. He was beaming, his dimples more prominent than ever.

Tim had stood at the grocery store flower stand for upwards of twenty minutes, unable to decide which flowers Lucy would like to most. Seeing her reaction had been worth it all.

She was so pretty. Her hair fell in soft waves past her shoulders, her face free of any makeup although she never wears much anyway. He immediately noticed she was wearing his hoodie, and it made his heart do a weird little dance in his chest.