The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
| REACHING OUT BY TIMA |
CHAPTER 43 |
PREVIOUSLY: [Del speaks to Tea in Spanish for several moments as they discuss what they'll have for dinner. He soon returns to his rental car and drives away, leaving the former spouses alone in front of the rehabilitation clinic, staring at each other.]
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chapter 43:
[Tea moves her wheelchair toward the entrance of the building.]
Tea: Let's go.
Todd: I knew you'd let me spend the night with you.
Tea: You are only going to my room with me to get your things. You're taking them and leaving.
Todd: Absolutely...just as soon as you're ready to get out of this place and move in with me.
Tea: In case you're confused, I'm not a thing. I don't belong to you.
Todd: You could, if you wanted to.
Tea: I have no desire to be owned by anyone.
Todd: I owned you before.
Tea: You purchased my legal services, for a specified period of time, for a mutually agreed upon fee. You did not own me.
Todd: I'll purchase you again. How much do you cost, this time?
Tea: You cannot buy me. I will, however, send you a bill for the work I did for you today.
Todd: That wasn't work for you. You were having fun. I don't think you should charge me for that. You should charge your brother, though, to teach him a lesson.
Tea: What lesson is that?
Todd: Not to be such a jerk.
Tea: I think he views you as the jerk.
Todd: He views me as your bastard. That's what he keeps calling me. The only reason I haven't beat him up for it is because I know that every time you speak Spanish to him you're defending me and telling him to stop insulting me.
Tea: Not quite.
Todd: Every other time?
[They arrive in her room. Tea moves toward the small closet and opens it. Todd immediately approaches Tea's bed and lies down.
Tea removes Todd's suitcase from her closet and places it on the floor. She turns her chair and finds Todd lounging on her bed with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed.]
Tea: It's time for you to leave.
Todd: I haven't even had dinner yet. It's bad enough that you're sending away a homeless man, you're going to force me out into the mean, lonely world hungry, too?
Tea: It's not my fault that you checked out of your hotel.
Todd: Yes, it is.
Tea: How?
Todd: You said you would live with me. I'm here. I'm ready to shack up.
Tea: I'm not ready.
Todd: What difference will one night make?
Tea: It will make the difference between whether I move in with you when I leave here, or not.
[Todd opens his eyes and looks at Tea.]
Todd: You're going to back out of our agreement if I don't do what you want right now?
Tea: I'll consider it.
[Todd closes his eyes again as a smile appears on his face.]
Todd: You're moving in with me.
Tea: Just give me one night.
[Todd opens his eyes again and rolls onto his side, a serious expression on his face.]
Todd: Tell me the truth. Why do you want to get rid of me?
Tea: I need some time to think.
Todd: To think about whether you should live with me, or not? Because, if that's what you're thinking about, you have a better chance of making the right decision if I stick around tonight.
Tea: So you can make that decision for me?
Todd: You're going through a lot right now. I can help you with some of the burden.
Tea: The burden of thinking for myself?
Todd: If that's a burden for you, I can definitely take over that task.
Tea: No, you can't. Beside, we both already know that I will end up living with you. It won't be because you make the decision for me, though.
Todd: It will be because you want to?
Tea: Yes.
Todd: So, why have you been trying to get rid of me? We both also know that you don't want to be alone tonight, or any night.
Tea: I do. Just for tonight.
Todd: Why? What do you need to think about that you can't think about when I'm with you?
Tea: Tomas.
Todd: Do you still feel guilty about loving me when you couldn't love him?
Tea: Yes.
Todd: So, that means you love me, right?
Tea: Yes.
[Tea takes a deep breath. Todd can see that it's painful for Tea to admit her feelings for him right now.]
Todd: My taking off and staying gone until the sun comes up will help you?
Tea: Yes.
Todd: If I stay away this one night, you'll stop pushing me away?
Tea: Yes.
Todd: You won't hurt yourself?
Tea: I told Del that I wouldn't.
Todd: Did you mean it?
Tea: I don't know. I want to.
Todd: But, you definitely won't do anything to yourself if I stay away tonight?
Tea: I promise.
Todd: You keep your promises, right? Because, you did promise me that you'd love me forever.
Tea: I'll keep that promise.
Todd: No matter what?
Tea: No matter what.
Todd: Love...people lie about that more than anything else.
Tea: I'm not lying.
[Tea takes a deep breath, and her eyes fill with tears, as she allows the painful emotion to rise in her, despite her self-protective instinct to try to suppress it and keep it hidden.]
Tea: I love you.
[Tea quickly lowers her gaze and moves her wheelchair toward the window, not wanting to look into Todd's eyes right now. She doesn't trust herself to not fall apart in this moment. Even more, she doesn't expect to see love for her in his eyes, despite the fact that he has told her that he still loves her, in recent days.
Todd waits for almost a minute, uncertain how to handle this moment. He knows that she needs reassurances but he doesn't feel that he could possibly give her what she needs right now, or what she deserves.
Slowly, he removes himself from her bed. He cautiously approaches her and kneels down next to her wheelchair.]
Todd: It's okay for you to feel that way. No one who has ever really cared about you would want you not to have that feeling. No one will ever understand why you're with me. People will always think that you made a stupid choice. But, no one that cares about you would want you to keep feeling as lousy as you have. They wouldn't want you to feel so alone.
Tea: I know. It still feels...
Todd: Disloyal?
Tea: Something like that.
[Tea closes her eyes at the wonderful sensation of Todd's hand gently touching the side of her face.]
Todd: You think you were supposed to die with them, but you weren't.
[Tea opens her eyes again and looks at him, pain evident in her eyes.]
Tea: I should have.
Todd: No. You could have, and that scares the hell out of me. I count on you to keep giving me more chances every time I blow it. Just like you count on me to give you another chance when you blow it. If that crash had taken you out, there wouldn't be any more second chances.
Tea: Maybe there shouldn't be. Maybe there's a reason we've failed, every time we've tried to be together.
Todd: Because, you're stubborn and too demanding. You need to work on that.
[Todd feels relief as he watches Tea's facial features soften as she melts into laughter.]
Tea: Seriously, Todd, if we do this, we'll both need to work on what kept us from making this work before. I don't want temporary bandages that only cover up our wounds. This time, I want both of us to really heal.
Todd: You've been hanging out in hospitals too long.
Tea: You know what I mean.
Todd: What if I said that this is only temporary? Would you still want me to stick around and help you through this.
Tea: I shouldn't.
Todd: But, would you?
Tea: Yes.
Todd: But, you want that forever thing that no one ever gets?
Tea: What if we could get it this time?
Todd: It's not possible.
Tea: Because, you don't want it?
Todd: It doesn't exist.
Tea: If it did, would you want it?
Todd: I can't stay around here chatting all night. I don't want to tick off the woman who loves me.
Tea: I thought you enjoyed ticking off the woman you love?
Todd: I do. You want one night when I'm not around to tick you off. I'll give it to you. After tonight, you won't be able to get rid of me anymore.
Tea: Not until the next time you leave me.
Todd: Don't you mean the next time you leave me?
Tea: I mean...
[Tea's thoughts disappear as Todd stands up and leans over her. He brings his mouth to hers and kisses her gently on the lips.
After a few moments of mutual pleasure, he pulls away from her, picks up his suitcase and leaves her room.]
to be continued...
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2001 COPYRIGHT BY TIMA
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