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| REACHING OUT BY TIMA |
CHAPTER 40 |
PREVIOUSLY: Minutes later, Tea hears the loud voices of Del and Todd, as they briefly share the same room, while Del is being led toward the room Tea is in. She had hoped that they would find a way to get along, for her sake, but is quickly losing hope of that ever happening. Even though she still doesn't know the details of what happened, their yelling at each other now, convinces her that it must have been something severe and not easily forgivable.]
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chapter 40:
[Del and Tea enter the main room of the police station. Todd's eyes are locked on Tea as he watches her move her wheelchair toward an officer. Even though he doesn't understand what's being said, Todd listens intently as she speaks to the officer in Spanish for a few minutes.
As the officer begins speaking to Del, Todd's eyes remain on Tea. She glances toward him and is met with a gaze so intense, she has to look away.
The officer next turns to Todd. As Todd converses with the officer, his gaze remains on only Tea.]
Officer: No more trouble?
Todd: Yeah...sure...whatever. (to Tea) Can we go now? You look tired.
Del: You should have thought about that before you dragged her down here.
Todd: Shut up, Del!
Del: You shut up! You...
[Tea quickly moves between them, before they have a chance to escalate into another fight.]
Tea: Both of you, shut up! There will be no more fighting. Is that understood? If fighting with each other is more important to you than I am, you can both go off and beat each other to a pulp, but don't expect me to come after you again. Right now, we are going to leave here, without any more fights occurring. Del needs to get his car, assuming that it's still working after whatever damage the two of you did to it.
Todd: I didn't do anything to his car. He's the one who slammed on the brakes, like an idiot, and caused that accident.
Del: You're the one who was performing lewd acts while I was driving.
Todd: I was just kidding around. You have no sense of humor.
Del: When it comes to someone simulating lewd acts with my sister, no I don't.
[Tea looks at Todd with surprise.]
Tea: I'll deal with you later.
Todd: You're just going to believe whatever he told you?
Tea: It would be best for you if you stopped talking right now.
Todd: I need to defend myself against whatever lies he's been telling you about me.
[Tea speaks to Del and the officer in Spanish for a moment. They leave to retrieve Del's rental car.]
Tea (to Todd): Let's go.
Todd: You're leaving with me?
Tea: We're going outside to talk.
Todd: So, you are ditching me?
Tea: Let's do this outside.
Todd: If you're going to dump me, do it here.
Tea: I wasn't planning to dump you, but you are irritating me to the point that I am extremely tempted to reconsider that decision.
Todd: So, I still get to move into the clinic with you?
[Tea turns her wheelchair away from Todd and moves toward the front entrance of the police station. Todd follows her.]
Todd: You know, it's rude to turn and leave the room while someone's talking to you.
Tea: I learned from the master.
[Todd smiles, taking her words as a compliment. After they're outside the police station, Tea stops and takes a deep breath. She knows that convincing him to stay away from her tonight won't be easy.]
Todd: Is this the part where you say we can still be friends? Or, is this the part where you mention the restraining order?
[Tea smiles at him, melting his heart, like she's always been able to do with just a look.]
Tea: No restraining orders. You will be staying away from me without one.
Todd: No way.
Tea: Just for tonight.
Todd: So your brother can talk you into going back with him, and leaving me behind?
Tea: My brother is going back tomorrow. I'm staying here. If you'd like to, you could continue to visit me. But, you need to stay away tonight.
Todd: Why?
Tea: I want to spend some time with my brother before he leaves. Clearly, the two of you are unable to be in the same room together without getting into a fight right now.
Todd: I won't fight with him anymore, no matter what he does. Do I get to spend the night with you now?
Tea: Del hasn't specified exactly what happened between you two.
Todd: Really? It was nothing.
Tea: From what I've pieced together, I think I have a basic idea of what you did.
Todd: I was just kidding.
Tea: Del has always been overly protective of me. You can't make comments about sexual activities involving me.
Todd: Now you tell me!
Tea: It would be great if, when Del comes for another visit, you could manage to get along.
Todd: He's not an easy guy to get along with.
Tea: He is when you're not actively trying to set him off. If you can't be civil, you'll have to move out when he comes.
Todd (smiling): So, he couldn't talk you out of moving in with me?
Tea: No.
Todd: You're not going to play any more games with me, pretending you don't want to live with me?
Tea: I haven't been pretending. I don't think it's a good idea. I know that it won't work between us. I don't know if you're really prepared for what living with me will entail this time.
Todd: It entails keeping my toes out of the way so you don't run them over. I can do that.
Tea: I'm not ready for everything yet. You'll need to be patient.
Todd: Which I always am.
Tea: You haven't been very patient so far.
Todd: Because you didn't want me to be. You wanted me to come here. You wanted me to be with you every second. You wanted to live with me again. I was just trying to give you everything you want.
Tea: Try giving me less of what you think I want.
Todd: You don't want me to spoil you?
Tea: No.
Todd: Because you don't think you deserve to have what you want?
Tea: I want you to stay away tonight. After Del leaves tomorrow, we'll spend time together.
Todd: You'll move in with me?
Tea: Yes.
Todd: What time is my favorite brother-in-law leaving tomorrow?
Tea: We don't know yet.
Todd: How am I supposed to know when to show up?
Tea: Knowing you, you'd show up early anyway.
Todd: I don't like being away from you.
Tea: You don't like missing an opportunity to rile people up.
Todd: Me? Rile people up?
Tea: Just do what I'm asking you to do, this one time. Can you do that?
Todd: Did Del tell you that we looked at a few houses today?
Tea: Why are you changing the subject?
Todd: I thought you'd want to know that I haven't found us a place yet, but I'm still looking.
Tea: I don't want anything too big.
Todd: If we're going to get a mansion, why get a small one?
Tea: No mansions.
Todd: What do you have against mansions?
Tea: I'd rather have a small, cozy place.
Todd: Cozy?
Tea: Todd Manning doesn't do cozy?
Todd: No real man does cozy. Your brother probably does cozy.
Tea: I thought you were going to stop insulting him?
Todd: He's not here. I have to get the insults out before he shows up again. I don't want him to cause an accident while your in the car with us.
Tea: You won't be driving back with us.
Todd: You're leaving me out here, in the middle of nowhere, in a foreign country?
Tea: This isn't the middle of nowhere. You could rent a car, or...
Todd: Or...I could ride with my family.
Tea: I'm not in the mood to put up with any more fighting.
Todd: If your brother tries to start a fight with me again, I'll just ignore him.
Tea: I'll see you tomorrow, okay? You can bring dinner.
Todd: You're really going to ditch me here?
Tea: I think it would be for the best.
Todd: If I have to rent another vehicle. I could rent another van, and you could ride back with me. Your brother's not a very good driver. I don't trust him driving you.
Tea: But, you would trust him if you were in the car with us?
Todd: I could keep an eye on him...and on you.
[Todd's intense eye contact again forces Tea to look away. Neither speaks for several minutes as Todd stares at Tea while she tries to ignore the fact that he's staring at her, while they both wait for her brother's return.]
to be continued...
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2001 COPYRIGHT BY TIMA
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