Chapter 8 Private Life

Even when she's by herself Tina is never really alone. 

"Why are we outside?" Tammi scrunches her nose with distaste. 

"I thought it might be a nice change of pace? Haaa, nah, the ice cream truck that comes by everyday freaks me out. I thought we could chase it away." 

"Run after an ice cream truck? Then people will definitely think we're crazy."

"You know what is crazy? How that truck stakes out our house for hours nearly every day. Doesn't the thought of people you don't know just lurking outside of where we live make you...uncomfortable?" 

Tammi scratches her head, "Yeah, it does..." 

"What bothers me more, though," Tammi looks behind Tammi, "Is that tacky lawn ornament...thing. Why is there so much fog coming out of it?" 

Ti looks at the "lawn ornament", then back at Tammi, "Seriously? You're worried about a sculpture when there is definitely a weirdo who watches us?" 

Tammi sticks her chin out proudly, "He's probably just here to see me. I was a fantastic singer before coming here, you know." 

Ti pinches the bridge of her nose. They're getting nowhere. 

This place sucks. I want to go home. 

Tina shakes her head then deletes the sentence. 

Everyone here's a massive weirdo. 

Delete. 

I'd feel better if you came to visit. 

Delete, delete, delete. 

I'm doing ok. Monte Vista's weird- too sunny, too "charming"- but it's bearable. You're not missing much. Thanks for the pictures of home. I liked looking at them. 

Tina stares hard at the message. 

Then Tammi teleports behind her, chatting away inanely. Tina hits a bunch of keys trying to exit her email account, desperate to keep her personal messages away from Tammi's prying eyes. She glances at the screen as Tammi blathers on about something- a fan of hers in a truck?- and sighs. Message sent. 

Stupid Tammi. 

"Look, I er, have to use the bathroom. Nice that you have a fan or whatever," Tina mumbles, speed walking away. 

"Yeah, it is pretty nice," Tammi beams. She waves at Tina's retreating form. 

Tina flinches when she finds the bathroom occupied. Great. Now she can't really hide away in here. 

"I'm just here to uh...clean the bathtub," she lies. 

Guy grunts, trying to manoeuvre his body so that he can fix the sink without his face being splashed with water. He's not having much luck. 

Tina half-heartedly and hurriedly scrubs at the bathtub with a dry sponge. Guy somehow finishes repairing the sink. The fountain of water ebbs away until not a single drop leaks out of the handles. 

"Hey, Guy," Tina stops him on his way to his room, "Can you...not tell anyone you saw me in the bathroom?" 

Guy shrugs, "Sure." 

Guy's phone suddenly vibrates in his pocket. He looks at the caller ID. 

"I'm, uh, not trying to hide anything, just so you know." 

"Yeah, I get it." 

Florence? Why is she calling me? Florence is the lab tech who's constantly making minor repairs when Guy screws up with a piece of equipment in the lab. 

Did he break something? "Hi Florence, is something wrong?" 

"What are you trying not to hide?" Dove asks casually. 

"Shut up," Tina sulks. 

"Hi Guy! You forgot to take one of your lab reports home. I found it in my tool box." 

Guy smacks his forehead. In his rush to get home, he stuck his work into what he thought was his briefcase. 

"Sorry about that. Can you leave it on Kaela's desk?" Kaela is Guy's partner (more like supervisor, if he's honest). All of his paperwork goes through her desk. 

"I'm sorry, the office is locked right now and I don't have a key. Can I drop it off at your place?" 

"Uhhhh, sure!" Guy is caught off guard. 

"Great, you live in the green house by the pool, right? I'll be down in a jiffy!" she hangs up before he can respond. 

"This is why I don't tell people my personal business!" Tina bellows behind Guy, "You all are so damn nosey!" 

Guy makes a face. Seeing work outside of work rarely puts anyone in a good mood. Plus there is no way he could have Florence inside. 

They don't have enough chairs! 

Florence arrives a few hours later, no longer in her work outfit. She hands Guy his forgotten lab report. 

Without thinking he says, "Wow, you look really nice. Like a butterfly!" then he blushes. That must have sounded stupid, "Sorry... I um... don't compliment people...that much." 

Florence smiles at him in a way that makes him blush even more, "No it was very sweet. You don't compliment people a lot? Don't you have a girlfriend or something?" 

Guy shakes his head, "Never had one before." 

Florence laughs lightly. "Sorry, that was rude. That's really cute. So I guess you've never kissed anyone either?"

Guy shakes his head.

Florence melts inside at the inquisitive look in Guy's eyes and his red blush. It's been so long since anyone's looked at her this way, like she gives them butterflies. 

And he even said I looked like one. That must be a sign, right? 

"Would you like to kiss me?" Florence asks shyly. 

Clumsily and too softly Guy pecks Florence on the lips. 

When he tries to deepen the kiss, Florence backs away. 

"Wait, no, Guy this is wrong. I'm sorry- I-I'm married!" 

"...married?" 

"To Giacomo, the town thief," she says bitterly. "I'm sorry, again... I shouldn't let my personal problems come out like this. I-I'm so sorry, Guy."

"I hope you find a nice girl someday," she says. Then she darts away into the night, leaving Guy with a sour taste in his mouth. 

He opens the front door suddenly. The tension from what they've just witnessed coupled with Dove's bladder on the verge of exploding causes her to wet herself. 

She tries to hide behind her hands, "I'm sorry Guy, we weren't trying to spy on you..." 

"You were there the whole time?" Guy is mortified. 

"Guy, I'm sor-," 

"Yeah whatever," Guy says, his voice choked with unshed tears, "Just leave it." 

"Whoa there buddy, what's with the black storm cloud hanging over your head?" Lincoln's alarm at Guy's incredibly downcast expression shows. 

"It's nothing," Guy obviously lies, "...I don't want to talk about it." 

"Look, you can have my bed tonight. You need to sleep off...whatever it is," Lincoln offers. 

Guy nods glumly, strangely both touched and annoyed by Lincoln's kindness. 

Seeing Dove brings the annoyance out full force. 

"Telling more people about my private life?" he asks bitterly, "Asking Jinenji if he can still read thoughts?" 

"Guy, I-," 

Guy doesn't give Dove a chance to answer and slams his bedroom door behind him. 

The next morning finds Guy feeling not much better, but less irritable. He goes to the bathroom ready to shoo out Tammi when his phone rings. 

Seeing that it's from an unknown number causes him to raise an eyebrow. 

"Florence? What is it? Another forgotten lab report?" he answers, so upset that he forgets that Tammi is next to him. 

"What? You want to meet? F...Fine, where? Ok sure, I'll be there soon. In a jiffy." He hangs up the phone and wipes his eyes. 

"Guy, where are you going?" Tammi demands, "And why the hell are you crying?" 

"I'm going to meet up with my co-worker, Florence. It's...uh, work related." Guy's lie is clumsy, but he's out the door too fast for Tammi to ask him anything else. 

She narrows her eyes, and then shrugs. His weirdo secrets aren't important enough for her to skip her singing session in the shower, after all. 

"Hi Florence. How are you?" Guy's words are hollow sounding, wiping Florence's feeble grin right off of her face. 

"Look Guy, I just wanted to apologise. Things in my marriage have been...rocky. I was angry at my husband so I took it out by flirting with someone else. It was wrong and awful of me, I'm sorry I hurt you." 

"Why...how...why would you kiss me just because you were mad at Giacomo?" 

Florence smiles sadly, "It would take a really long time to explain, Guy. More time than I have. I'm actually going to a doctor's appointment right now. I just wanted to clear the air between us before I stop coming to work." 

"Stop coming? Are you quitting? Did you find a new job?" 

Florence folds her hands over her belly, "I'm pregnant, Guy." 

"...Congratulations, I guess," Guy forces himself to mumble. 

Florence's smile falls again at Guy's expression. 

"I have to go. Thanks for meeting me. And again, I'm so sorry about...everything. I really do hope you find someone who deserves you." 

With that, Florence turns on her heel and walks away. She needs to move past this, for the sake of her marriage and her soon-to-be family. 

A stray dog stands at Guy's side, looking up at him questioningly. Guy pats its head. 

"I think I'll be ok," he says to the dog, as much to it as to himself, "Everything will be alright, right?" 

The dog nuzzles into his hand, though Guy can't tell to seek or to provide comfort. 

Either way, only time will tell if his words are true. 

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AN: :( 

Guy rolled a wish to kiss Florence, which she allowed, but then rejected all of his subsequent advances and then I realized she was married. And then she invited him out for a date, only for me to see that she's pregnant.