Pen to Paper
Chapter Seven
Summary: A simple thesis on a simple book she’d read. That’s all she needed to do. She knew it would be at least a little bit arduous but she didn’t think it would cause this much trouble.
Pairing: Tim Murphy x original female character
Words: 1,511
A/N: i wrote part of this chapter on the same day i wrote chapter one. i’ve been waiting to post it for so long, i hope you enjoy<3
//
“It was a mistake,” Julie said, voice full of regret, trying not to cry. “I shouldn’t have done it, it was a mistake--” Tim stepped forward, hand on his chin, staring down at the mess Julie had made. He took a breath in, opened his mouth, and then closed it shut. “I’m dead. I’m dead. This is it, Americans still have the death penalty, right? I’m dead.”
Tim sighed. “You’re being dramatic. It’s not that bad--” he paused and then looked back at her, scrunching his face. “Okay, it’s kinda bad, but you’ll be fine, I’m sure it’s happened before.”
Julie gave him the deadest look she could muster. “Have you ever printed seven hundred pages of porn from a company printer?” Julie pointed at the printer (which was still going) and the paper spewed out on the floor, showing some very graphic images. “Not only is this a disgrace but I have managed to singlehandedly kill the environment,” she fell into a chair and dropped her face in her hands. Tim held back a giggle as he walked to the back of the printer and unplugged it.
He sat next to her with a grin on his face. “So you clicked on a link from a spam email. Lots of baby boomers have done that--” Julie looked up and hit his arm. Tim started laughing, that most comfortable she’d ever seen him, basking in her embarrassment.
“It’s not funny!” She hit him again.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He giggled. “I just can’t believe you didn’t think about unplugging it in the first place,” he smiled at her so you could see all of his teeth. I could punch him right now-- or kiss him, I could do that too-- she stopped that thought right in its tracks. They hadn’t talked about that night, not one word, and Julie was lowkey glad. She couldn’t handle rejection and she definitely couldn’t handle a relationship, or worse, she was shit scared she was going to end up being a casual love affair-- that would be worse than rejection. So she ignored the fact that it even happened.
“I froze, okay? I freaked out!”
Tim picked up the pages and looked at them, tilting his head. Julie knotted her eyebrows and then hit him again. “Stop hitting me!” There was laughter in his voice but his face was pensive. “What if we give it to the homeless? I’m sure they aren’t getting any--” he dodged another hit. “Alright fine, what do you wanna do with these?”
Julie hung her head in shame. “I don’t know! Shred them, forget this day ever happened,” she sighed. Tim shrugged.
“Alright, whatever you say,” he started collecting the sheets from the ground. “It’s a shame we can’t even use it as scrap paper.”
“Haha, very funny, Timothy,” she rolled her eyes and begun picking things up.
They shredded every bit of paper they’d printed and strangely enough, what she felt most guilty about was the waste of paper. Oh environment Gods, please don’t kill me. She didn’t say this to Tim, he would’ve just made fun of her and she couldn’t handle that right now.
It took two hours.
“What’s the time?” Julie asked, fanning herself with her hand. The heating was too far up and she was wearing a wooly jumper. Tim came up from behind her and patted her hair, an action that felt so intimate somehow. She bit her lip to stop herself saying anything stupid.
“It’s almost four,” he said, walking around her towards his desk. He wasn’t looking at her. “Hey, do you wanna go get ice cream or something?”
“It’s November,” she brushed a hand through her fringe to get it out of her eyes, it flicked back as soon as she let go.
“So?” He turned around and leaned back on his desk, playing with a ball of rubber bands, his auburn hair glistening in the dim lighting of the room, his eyes screaming trouble.
“Isn’t that against the rules?”
“When have we ever followed the rules?”
~+~
Julie spoke through a mouthful of ice cream, a smile taking up most of her face, desperately trying to put it away so she could swallow her food. “You’re the worst when it comes to detail, you speak in generalizations only,” she chuckled. Tim gave her a playful gasp with a hand over his chest. “It’s true!” she shut her eyes. “I bet you don’t even know what color my eyes are.”
Tim was silent. Blue, he wanted to say, of course, they’re blue. They’re as blue as the cleanest ocean and the clearest sky. They’re crystal clear and they give everything away. Every glint of excitement, every annoying thought, everything. How could I ever miss the color of your eyes, the depth of your stares, the warmth of your thoughts? How could I ever? Instead, with a sad smile on his face, he said, “I dunno, green? A hazel-y color?”
She opened her eyes with a loud laugh pointing at her eyes and twisting her face. “Come on, Tim, they’re blue, the easiest color to remember!” She took another spoonful of her ice cream. “I guess I was right, you’re not that observant after all,” she smiled.
The past week had been torture for Tim Murphy. He saw Julie every day, he watched her as she awkwardly stumbled past his office, as she took everyone’s coffee order, as she laughed at the librarian’s unfunny jokes and as she pretended nothing happened between the two of them. He wanted to say something, every day he built himself up to talk to her and ask her what it all meant, if it meant anything at all, if he wasn’t the only one to feel all those squirmy feelings every time he saw her, only to then crumble at the sight of her.
He watched her tuck her hair behind her ear as she licked some ice cream from the corner of her mouth, his stomach flipped. He swallowed, pulling his eyes away from her and back to his little cone. He cleared his throat. “So have you figured out your financial situation, yet?” He asked as kindly as he could but he was sure that somehow it came out wrong. “I mean-- if you’re okay with sharing, I just wanted to make sure that, um...”
She put her hand on his shoulder. God, he was being so awkward. “You’re fine,” she grinned. “My dad transferred me some money that should help till the end of the month, but I have to go back to England for Christmas-- those were his terms,” she shrugged. He tried not to look disappointed. Not because he wasn’t happy about her being back on her feet and being able to eat a full meal but-- he didn’t know why.
“That’s good,” he said passively, with the fakest smile on his face.
She tilted her head with a confused look on her face. “Are you sure bout that, buddy?” She teased. His face flushed. “But thank you for asking. It’s good to have a friend here, you had me scared at the beginning, I thought you didn’t like me,” Julie did that thing where she bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from feeling awkward.
Friend.
Friend.
F r i e n d.
Tim took a half breath in and laughed. “Hang on, hang on, who said we were friends? Who told you I liked you?”
“Oh? Oh my gosh, I must’ve gotten you confused with--” she paused. “Shit! Are you not Bill Nye the Science Guy? I thought I was hanging with him! I’m so sorry to bother you, sir,” they both burst out laughing at how stupid that was.
“My, oh my, that was tragic,” he wiped a fake tear. Just like that, she made him feel so light and--
She looked at her phone. “Holy shit, is that the time?” Her eyes were wide. “Tim you have a meeting in six minutes! The head of the department is coming in just for this!” Tim dropped his spoon just as his stomach dropped-- he didn’t know if it was nerves or if it was because their hang out was being cut short.
Julie picked up her bag, and pulled Tim’s arm. “Come on, man, we gotta go!” She tugged at him as he picked up his jacket and then they were off.
Tim and Julie ran a ten-minute walk in under six minutes.
They got to the conference room meeting just as they were about to shut the door. Dr Connors was already in there, eyeing the two of them and she mouthed ‘hurry up’ as she saw Tim.
He was about to go in when Julie stopped him by grabbing his sleeve. “Look at me,” she said, a very serious look on her face. She licked her thumb and wiped the corner of his mouth. “There ya go, perfect.”
Tim walked into the conference room, his heart beating faster than he ever thought it could.
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