Tawny opened her eyes to see that she was in an unfamiliar room. She sat up, yawning and rubbing her eyes. She could see the hall light on outside of her door and smelt toast. She reluctantly got up and put her hair in a messy bun and put on her knitted poncho over her pajamas before trudging into the kitchen.
"G'mornin." Nick said, acknowledging her presence. He was spreading butter and jam on his toast.
"Morning." She replied.
"I'm going to be heading out to the gym. Want any breakfast?" He asked.
"No thanks, I don't eat breakfast." Tawny said, sitting on a stool by the counter. She gazed at the calendar posted on the wall. "I forget. What day is it again?"
"Thursday." Nick said. She sighed.
"I want it to be Friday so I can see my lovechild." Tawny said. Nick was about to put the cap on the butter and froze at that last word. He looked up at her with this freaked out look.
"Hm?" He uttered softly.
"I call my car my lovechild because my boyfriend pitched in some of his money so that I could have it." Tawny said.
"Oh." Nick said, relieved. "So your boyfriend's coming tomorrow? Does he know where you are?"
"Yeah, I gave him the directions before I left. I had to leave my baby with him because Mrs. Taylor didn't want me driving alone the whole way. Had me fly here." Tawny said. The phone rang and Nick answered,
"Stokes…Uh-huh…You've gotta be kidding me…no way…" He smiled at whatever the conversation was about. "Greg...it's not gonna happen. Bye." He hung up and chuckled a bit. "Talk about video game fanatics."
"Oh, I know. My boyfriend is hooked on those Halo games." Tawny said.
"That's exactly what Greg was calling me about. He wanted to use my internet to find cheat codes."
"That sums up boys for ya." Tawny said, rolling her eyes. Nick checked his watch and then picked up a sports bag off the floor.
"I'm heading out for a few. My cell phone number's by the phone if you need to call me. Are you gonna be okay?" Nick said. Tawny nodded.
"I'll try not to invite too many people to the party." She said. Nick laughed as he walked out the door.
"Seeya later." He said. Tawny went to her room and listened to her headphones.
"Chow chow chow chow chow chow chow chow chow chow chow chow!" She chanted along with the music, imitating a Nick Zinner guitar solo.
"Ew! It's too pink! Get it away!" Tawny yelled, tossing something away from her. She had been sitting in the break room going through newspapers and had come across a JC Penny ad that was advertising little girl's clothing. Fortunately, no one was in there at the moment to see her little outburst.
"Tawny?" The secretary said, poking her head into the room.
"Yes?" Tawny said, looking up.
"Someone up front is here to see you."
"Okay. Thanks." Tawny got up and hurried after the secretary to the front desk. Sure enough, a tall boy with spiky hair, a Ramones shirt, and baggy blue jeans was waiting for her.
"Tawny!" He exclaimed.
"Robbie!" Tawny exclaimed. She jumped into his arms and kissed him. "I missed you! It's been so long!"
"It's only been two days!" Robbie said, laughing. She gave him a pouty face and he couldn't help but kiss her. He hugged her and put his head on her shoulder so he could whisper in her ear. "You wanna go somewhere with me for lunch? I'm leaving out at six and I wanna spend time with you alone."
"Alright. I just have to check in with Nick. Come on, I want you to meet him!" Tawny took him by the hand and led him back to the break room. Across the hall, Nick was just walking out the DNA lab with Greg. They spotted her with Robbie and stopped so that they could talk.
"Guys, this is Robbie. He's my boyfriend." Tawny said, smiling.
"Hey there Robbie. I'm Nick, Tawny's cousin." Nick said, shaking Robbie's hand.
"And I'm Greg." Greg said, giving a little wave to Robbie.
"Nick, is it alright if I go with Robbie to lunch? He's heading back home at six." Tawny asked.
"I promise I'll return her." Robbie added.
"Sure, go ahead. Nice meeting you, Robbie." Nick said. Robbie barely had time to nod when Tawny was pulling him towards the parking lot.
"My car!" Tawny said, putting her arms across the hood of her old Mustang. Robbie came up behind her bent figure and smacked her behind. "Whoa, cowboy!" She turned around and kissed him, putting her arms around his neck.
"How's about going back to my RV?" Robbie asked. Tawny looked at him curiously.
"You drove your RV here?" Tawny asked. He nodded. "Awesome."
"I've got DiGiorno's." He said. Tawny grinned. "But I'm driving."
"Nooo!" She whined. "Tell me the directions and I'll drive there." She gave him the puppy face and he sighed.
"You can drive on the way back." He said. She puckered up her bottom lip. He kissed it, and then opened up the passenger door. "Ladies first?"
"Fine." Tawny said, rolling her eyes at him in mock annoyance. He smiled at her and then made his way over to the driver's side. He saw Tawny try to climb into the driver's seat, so he flung open the door and sat down as quick as he could. Tawny grinned innocently with one leg draped over the ashtray.
"Nice try." Robbie said, and kissed her while placing a hand on the knee of her jeans. He started to inch it upwards, but Tawny stopped him and pulled her leg back into her side of the car. He broke the kiss, looking at her.
"So where's the RV park at?" Tawny asked, avoiding his eyes. Robbie cranked up the car and pulled out of the parking lot.
"Are you sure you should've done that?" Greg muttered to Nick as Tawny dragged Robbie towards the parking lot. Nick frowned a little.
"What's the harm in letting her go out for lunch?" Nick asked.
"Well, you know how guys can get when they're alone with a pretty girl." Greg said.
"Tawny's a big girl. She can take care of herself." Nick said. "Besides, it's only lunch." Greg looked like he wanted to say more, and then shrugged and went on with informing him about how DNA gets extracted from bubble gum.
"Paris Hilton is not cool! She's freaky!" Tawny said, hitting Robbie in the chest with a pizza box.
"Well, she's hot." Robbie said. He loved teasing her. She glared at him.
"Well, you know what? That British dude from 'Lost' has a nice ass." Tawny declared.
"What? And I don't have a nice ass?" Robbie said, standing up and feeling his rear end.
"Well…yours is so-so." Tawny said, taking a bite of pizza. She didn't see him smile mischievously and start to move towards her.
"Mine might not be great, but yours is just fine." He said, sitting close to her. He leaned in and began kissing her neck. Tawny shifted uncomfortably.
"Yeah, well can you at least wait until I'm finished eating? You have pepperoni in your hair." Robbie sighed and turned away from her.
"Why do you always do that?" Robbie asked, annoyed with her.
"I told you before, Robbie. I told you a long time ago that I'm not ready to go that far!" Tawny said, throwing the crust into the trash.
"When will you be? It's time to grow up, Tawny." Robbie said. He stood abruptly and went to get a soda from the cooler.
"Growing up has nothing to do with it. I don't know what's gotten into you. I'm not some sort of harlot." Tawny said furiously.
"Yeah, well you sure dress like one!" Robbie yelled. Tawny looked at him, her jaw dropped. Robbie seemed to realize what he had just said and cursed. "Tawny—"
"Oh no, Robbie. I'm not going to sit here and let you talk to me like this! If you want a whore, you can find plenty here in those casinos!" She yelled at him. She grabbed her keys off the counter and charged out of the RV. Robbie tried to go after her, but she slammed the door in his face and ran over to her car. By the time Robbie had the door open, Tawny was already speeding off.
Tawny walked into the break room and sat down quietly. Catherine had been eating an orange and reading some case files. She looked up when Tawny had sat down without a word or greeting. Tawny had her head down and when Catherine looked closer, she saw the girl's shoulders were shaking.
"Tawny?" Catherine said quietly, abandoning her orange and going to her side. "What's wrong?" Tawny sniffled and made several muffled noises, none of which Catherine could understand.
"He…h-h-he was such a jerk." Tawny said in a voice deep with sorrow. Catherine frowned.
"Who was a jerk?" She asked.
"My boyfriend Robbie…" Tawny said, lifting her head and trying to dry her eyes. Catherine patted her on the back.
"Well, did he hit you?" She asked. Tawny shook her head. "Did he yell?" She nodded and burst into a fresh wave of tears. Nick and Warrick walked in joking about something and stopped when they saw Tawny in such a state.
"What happened?" Nick said, crossing behind Catherine sit on the other side of Tawny. Catherine was about to speak for her, but Tawny did it herself.
"Robbie and I yelled at each other. He called me a whore. I left right after that." Tawny mumbled. Catherine handed her tissues from her purse and she wiped her eyes. "He was acting like such a jerk." The room was quiet for a few moments as Tawny calmed down, sniffling every now and then.
"Are you gonna be alright now?" Catherine asked and Tawny nodded slowly. Catherine checked her watch and then hugged Tawny. "I've gotta get back to work, okay? Feel better." Tawny gave a small smile as Catherine stood up and grabbed the rest of her orange before heading out.
"Are you going to be alright for the rest of the day?" Nick asked. "Do you want to go back to the apartment?" Tawny shook her head and insisted that she was fine. He touched her shoulder in sympathy and stood up to get coffee. Warrick, who was standing silently next to the door the whole time, spoke up.
"Hey, Tawny." She looked up at him shyly. "If any guy ever calls you names like that again, dump him. He ain't worth your time." She smiled. "And if he gives you anymore trouble, tell me or Nick and we'll take care of him for you." She giggled and wiped the last of her tears away. Greg walked in to refill on coffee, and looked at Tawny, concerned.
"I heard what happened. Are you alright?" He asked. Tawny flushed red and nodded.
"I'm okay now. God, I feel stupid." Tawny said, hiding her face again.
"Don't feel stupid. It's alright to let it out." Nick said, taking a seat at the table.
"I know what you need." Greg said, grinning. "You need a Greg hug."
"Man, are you trying to make her feel worse?" Warrick joked. "Stop scaring her like that."
"Ha ha, very funny." Greg said. "She needs a Greg hug."
"No, she needs a Warrick hug." Warrick said in mock anger. Nick raised his eyebrow at the very unusual argument going on.
"A Greg hug."
"A Warrick hug."
"I'm going to hug both of you if you don't shut up." Nick said. The two men stopped immediately. Tawny was smiling now.
"You wouldn't really do that, would you?" Greg asked, looking freaked out. Nick just smiled. Tawny stood up.
"Aw, what the heck. Come here you guys." She said, going to hug Greg and Warrick. "I owe y'all one."
"For what?"
"Just for cheering me up." Tawny let go of them and laughed.
"What's so funny?" Greg said, feeling behind him for a "kick me" sign or something.
"It's just—nothing. I gotta get back to those Classifieds." Tawny said with a hint of a blush on her face as she sat down and pulled the newspapers toward her. The three men exchanged glances and shrugged. Eventually, their break was over and they headed back to work, leaving Tawny alone in the break room.
"Got a date with the niiiiiight…"
That's the end for now! I know, what a crappy ending for a chapter! More to come!