Normal POV
Holly heard a knock and looked up from the evidence delivered by Gail.
"Hey." Said Chris.
"Officer Diaz. What can I do for you?" Holly replied as she stands up straighter.
"I'm here for the result on the evidence delivered by Gail."
"I'm still working on it." It was the only reply he got as she starts working on the evidence again.
An awkward silence suddenly fell inside the room. The noise coming from outside the lab was the only sound that echoed through the room. The heavy tension surrounds them. It's like a battle of endurance of who can last this uneasy feeling longer. It didn't take long for Chris to give in.
"Uh…so how are you?" Chris seems to hate this kind of atmosphere.
"Good." Holly replied not looking up.
"Good. That's good." Chris nodded uncomfortably. Another silence.
"Seriously, Holly. How are you?" Holly still didn't look up but sighed.
"Officer, I'm trying to work here. I appreciate your effort for small talks but it won't be necessary. If you feel the need for it you're free to take a coffee break. I won't rat you out to your superiors."
"Holly…"
"Officer. Diaz." This time Holly looked up. She eyed Chris like she was challenging him to continue. Chris was offended by her cutting him off.
"What's going on with you? 4 years was a long time and you change, a lot. What happened to you?"
"I suggest that you take up my offer and have that coffee break." Holly was about to go back to work when Chris speak up again but this time with concern.
"What happened, Holly? You could have been away for a long time but it's still me. You could still talk to me."
"Officer, I want to finish this fast and I know you do too, so please take a break and allow me to go back to work." It's evident that Holly is trying to keep a straight face and went back to work.
"Holly…I don't know what happened between you and Gail that made you…do what you do but this. This is not you. You're not…" Holly suddenly dropped everything and glared at him.
"Not what?! Sweet? Optimistic? Pitiful?" She scoffed.
"Oh, sorry. Do miss the sweet, optimistic, pitiful, naïve, Holly?" She continued full of sarcasm.
"What are you talking about?! Where's all this hate coming from? Why are you being so hard and horrible? It's like we've never been friends." Chris said matching Holly's anger. Holly flinched at the last comment.
"Friends." Holly said like she's tasting the word on her mouth. She then shakes her head and sighed, trying to calm her nerves.
"I don't have time for this drama. I do my job, you do yours. Let's keep things professional, Officer Diaz." They seem to silently agree that it was the end of their conversation as he walked out of the lab and Holly finally went back to work.
Gail's POV
Getting drunk, that's what you're supposed to do in a day like this and that's exactly what you're gonna do. Your friends watch you with horrified looks as you down shot after shot. Who cares about what they're thinking? They wouldn't understand you anyway. People said that drinking doesn't solve anything, yeah right. To you it does. It solves your problem in thinking too much about Holly and her new girlfriend.
'Is she new or are they together for a long time already?' You shake the thought away and continue drinking.
You can see them nudge each other, pushing one another to talk to you. Losers.
"Gail, I think you need to slow down there." Andy said, cautiously.
"Fuck off, McNally." You retort back before you down another shot.
"We know that something is wrong with you today. You can talk to us you know. We're your friends."
"The only thing wrong is me choosing the wrong people to hang out with." Another shot. Andy just sighed. They all seem to get the message and left you alone to play Get Drunk and Drop. When all shots were gone you look at the bar, judging if you should buy your next batch of shots or make someone buy it for you, then you saw Chris approach the bar.
'Now that's the person I'm waiting to see.' You stood up, easily. The alcoholic haven't kicked in yet.
"Chris!" That came out louder than you intended. He's eyes scanned the room searching for the source then stopped on you.
"Hey." He awkwardly looked away.
"Don't hey me. Start talking." You sat on the stool next to him and order another set of shots.
"Sorry for not telling you. I was just trying to protect you." You raised your eyebrows at this.
"Protect me. How is not telling me and making me jump head first without me knowing what's waiting for me protecting me?"
"Protecting you from this. I don't like seeing you like this, drinking until you're knocked out. Please stop it Gail." He looked at her pleading and worried.
"Does Steve know?" Keeping you face straight and not meeting his eyes. You don't know why you ask when it is so obvious that he does. Maybe you were hoping that he knew better, that he won't keep something this important from you. You see Chris nod from the corner of your eyes, breaking your hope. Anger bubbling inside you.
"I can handle myself." And you start drowning yourself with shots.
"Gail." You ignored him and carried on.
Normal POV
Gail woke up with a terrible headache. She feels like someone hit her with a ton of brick. The bright shine of sunlight illuminating the room made things worse. She grab a pillow and used it to block the light.
"Hey there gorgeous. Not so good morning I assume. Hope you remember last night 'cause we had a lot of fun." Gail stiffen.
'What the fuck! Who is that?' She didn't move and pretended to still be asleep.
When she heard footsteps and closing of the door, she immediately sat up and looked around. Wrong move. As the light hit her eyes again, a sharp pain run through her head that made her hissed. She tried to look around and found herself in a somehow familiar place. She doesn't know why but she is pretty sure she's been here before. With the feeling of hammer hitting her head, she was having a hard time remembering, not only the place but also last night. She remembered singing karaoke and some dancing and Holly, but everything else is a blur. She search for her phone and pat the bed. That's when she noticed that she's only in her underwear.
'Shit! Shit! Shit! This is not happening. Oh, god.'
She hurriedly stood up and search for her clothes. When she was a shirt away from getting dress, the door flew open.
"Oh, shot! I'm sorry. I thought you were still asleep."
Gail turned to see a woman holding a tray of breakfast, with her eyes closed. She's totally screwed. The woman looks a lot like Holly. Not totally a look-alike but similar features, brunette, tan skinned, glasses, well-built. Damn!
'Why am I always running into Holly look-alike's. Totally screwed.' You breathe in and out, calming yourself.
"You close your eyes like you've haven't seen me naked." She opened her eyes and placed the tray on the desk
"As expected, you don't remember anything." She offered a plate of omelet and a toast of bread. Gail cringed at the sight of eggs.
"I don't eat eggs."
"Oh. Ok. More for me then. This is the only thing I could offer you aside from coffee. Sorry." And she starts to dig in. Gail just shrugged and took the coffee.
"So what exactly happened?" Gail asked warily.
"First, I want to assure you that nothing happened last night. I mean nothing happened in that bed last night." She seem to noticed Gail's relief at the revelation and chuckled.
"But hey, your loss not mine." And she smiled smugly at Gail. Gail rolled her eyes. Big mistake as it trigger another shot of pain to her head.
"There is also a pill there on the tray, for your hangover."
"Thanks." Gail took the pill and pop it in her mouth.
"What's up with you and drinking. Whenever we meet you were always drunk. Not that I'm complaining, after last night, totally not complaining"
"Wait what? Whenever we meet? You mean we met before?" Gail's frowned in confusion.
"You don't remember me? Wow. Am I not that worth remembering? That hurts you know." Gail just eyed her, trying her best to remember.
"Seriously? After you ruined my date and official broke my relationship that I was, quote and quote with all caps and bold letters, trying to save on that day. You really are something else." Gail's eyes widen as she remembered that very embarrassing scene.
"Remember me now?" The woman nodded approvingly.
"Yeah. Sorry about that." Gail felt more foolish now.
The woman smiled at her. She can't help but compare it to Holly's. Her one-sided mischievous smile has a hint of amusement but not teasing and it made Gail feel, weirdly, at ease. As for Holly, almost every smile has a touch of warmth that covers her heart and slowly flows throughout her body.
"Nah. I'm cool. Besides, I think last night was enough compensation for it." Gail eyed her, knowing that there are still things she haven't told her.
"Let's just cut this introduction and tell me what exactly happened last night, and don't miss any detail." She chuckled, amused by Gail bossy attitude.
"Ok. I was bored and lonely so I thought since you owe me big time I decided that I should make use of it and mess with you. Surprisingly, you answered it quite immediately and you just told me to pick you up at the black penny. It is harder to find than how you made it sound on the phone, like it was a landmark out on display" And that one-sided smile was back on her face and Gail can't help but smile back.
She told her how Gail rock the dance floor at a gay bar and dance with almost everyone but each and every one of them back off as she starts spewing stuff about the do's and don'ts in dating her like a job description with a long list of requirements. When no one else wants to dance with Gail anymore, she dragged her to the dance floor and, both intoxicated, it didn't take long for them to start making out which led them to the woman's apartment.
"It wasn't all clear to me too but we somehow make it to my room and started removing each other's clothes. Everything is going great and amazing until…" She paused and watched Gail.
"…you call someone else name, Harry or something."
'Holly.' Gail kept a straight face as she carry on with the story.
"You may be hot and I'm lonely and down to a one night stand but I'm not that desperate to sleep with someone who's imagining someone else. I won't let someone else take credit to all my bed skills." She grinned at Gail. Gail was grateful for this woman's effort to make this awkward conversation lighter.
"Fair enough, but hey, your loss not mine." Gail jabbed back that made the woman laugh heartily.
"You're waiting for an opportunity to throw that back at me, don't you?" The woman said, still laughing.
"You, not remembering anything from last night, I'm guessing you also don't remember my name. Ann. Ann Maxwell." She offered her hand to Gail waiting to be acknowledged.
"Ann Maxwell? As in the drunk that pass out in her sister's car, in front of another person's house?" Gail's eyebrows rose to her hairline. Now the familiar room makes sense to her. She definitely looks better than the wrecked version of her, no wonder she didn't recognized her.
"How did you know that? Who are you?" Ann took back her hand, suddenly alarmed by this, so Gail immediately explained.
"I'm a police officer. My partner and I brought you here when we found you knock out in your car out of nowhere." Gail watch as her face changed from alarmed, to confused, and then relief.
"Thank you for that. Hmm…are you sure you didn't just stalk me?" She joked and eyed Gail teasing.
"And you're the one who called me and brought me into your apartment." Laughter filled the room.
Gail is starting to like this woman. After all the coincidence meetings, she feels like it was not just sheer luck and she's sure this won't be the last time moment they'll share together.