"The things I do for you Tin-Tin." Alan said as he grimaced while walking with Tin-Tin down the grocery aisle meant for babies and feminine products. Averting his gaze, Alan tried to hide a blush from the matronly women who tittered at him – no doubt muttering to each other how Alan was such a good boyfriend to accompany his girlfriend…er…female friend on a 'supply run'.
"Hey Alan…can you reach those for me?" Tin-Tin pointed at a package of all places – on the top shelf. Heaving a sigh, Alan stood on the tips of his toes to reach the package for Tin-Tin and he tossed them in the grocery cart like he'd been burnt by them. Looking around, Alan tried to hide his self-consciousness from anyone that may see them looking at female products. This was so not Alan's thing and he hated that he got stuck with the duty of supply run while Virgil sat in the car.
"Okay, now we need to look for shampoo for Virgil, Scott, and Gordon, your dad, you and my family." Tin-Tin crossed off the items they'd already retrieved. Glancing at Alan, Tin-Tin heaved a sigh. "Oh come on Alan…you have to admit – me picking up my own items has to be better than that time I asked you to pick them up for me when Lady P was bringing you home."
"I still don't understand why Lady P didn't get them for you…she's a girl she knows what to look for – me I had to ask someone to show me where they were. Asking alone was embarrassing enough." Alan groaned.
"I'm pretty sure Parker buys those things for Lady P Alan, I just can't see Lady P going into a store." Tin-Tin replied as they left the feminine aisle and went to the soap aisle.
"He's brave if he can do that." Alan rubbed the back of his neck as he felt the heat creeping up to his face.
"You bought them for me when I asked you to." Tin-Tin grinned at Alan. "Thank you by the way."
"I risked what little masculinity I had the moment I asked the clerk where they were." Alan moved his hand from his neck to his face as he felt his face heat up further. "Please don't make me do that again."
"Um…newsflash…in the event that you have any daughters you'll need to buy them then too." Tin-Tin remarked with a sing-song tone.
"No I won't…my wife can buy them." Alan stated as he placed a mental barrier up on the traumatizing incident of buying feminine products for Tin-Tin the one time she couldn't do it herself.
"Right…we'll see about that." Tin-Tin said as she and Alan moved further through the soap aisle – selecting the scents that everybody favored over others.
Alan knocked on Tin-Tin's bedroom door lightly. He didn't want to bother her if she was sleeping; she'd gone to bed early last night and he could see on her face what was going on. It concerned him to see the pained grimace on her face, but despite how uncomfortable it made him…he still wanted to check on her. It bummed him out to see her in such pain, I mean…she was still his friend, lady problems or not.
Hearing the soft answer, Alan opened Tin-Tin's bedroom door to peek inside and saw a lump under the blankets on the bed. Entering the room, Alan softly shut her bedroom door despite the requested open door policy their parents had in place.
"Are you okay Tin?" Alan perched on Tin-Tin's bed and stared at her back. She was curled into a ball with her knees to her chest.
"Not right now Alan…what do you want?" Tin-Tin answered softly.
"Just wanted to check on you, you never came down for breakfast." Alan kept his hands to himself – having heard somewhere that some girls were anti-touch when experiencing their 'thing'.
"Please don't mention food." Tin-Tin groaned as she curled into a tighter ball if that was possible. She emitted a pained whimper and remained curled up for several minutes before she slowly uncurled.
"Is there anything I can do for you Tin-Tin?" Alan asked – unsure if he might be crossing a boundary.
"I can't think of anything right now." Tin-Tin curled back up into another ball with another whimper and suddenly Alan felt his hands moving on their own and he flipped the bed covers at Tin-Tin's feet and began to massage her feet like he did whenever he gave her a pedicure like he'd done several months ago when he'd been home sick. Tin-Tin gave a soft moan when Alan hit a spot in her foot and Alan continued to knead that spot.
When Tin-Tin relaxed enough once more, she gave a sniffle.
"What's wrong Tin-Tin?" Alan asked as he continued to rub Tin-Tin's feet.
"I'm just surprised that you're here with me and doing this for me. I appreciate it." Tin-Tin scrubbed at her eyes. "Nobody has ever done this for me before."
"I just wanted to do something for you; I couldn't stand seeing you in pain." Alan replied as he looked at Tin-Tin. "Let me know if there's anything I can do for you Tin."
Tin-Tin bit her lip from beneath her blankets. She was moved to tears that despite Alan's obvious discomfort with even being in the same room with her during that time of the month, he seemed to be sticking around and willing to do practically anything for her.
"Al?" Tin-Tin wrapped her arms around her midsection as she felt another cramp coming on.
"Yeah Tin?" Alan gently kneaded the arch of Tin-Tin's left foot.
"Can you do me a favor?" Tin-Tin gently removed her blankets from the top of her head as she peeked at her friend.
"What, it's not something weird is it?" Alan gave Tin-Tin a strange look as if he anticipated Tin-Tin asking him to go on another one of those dreaded supply runs.
"No…could you draw me up a hot bath? The hotter…the better." Tin-Tin gazed at Alan with a pout.
"Sure." Alan pulled the bed covers back down over Tin-Tin's feet before he went into her bathroom to fill her bathtub. Wanting to make the bath as relaxing and soothing as was possible, Alan whipped out his phone to do a little research as he looked through her array of bath salts that she kept in a basket beside her tub. He wanted her to be able to relax as much as possible and he selected a rose scented bath salt. Scrolling through his phone, Alan read through a guide for guy's titled: How to help your Girlfriend during That Special Time. It was basically a crash course for guys who had no clue how to help their girlfriends/wives or in Alan's case – his friend who just happened to be a girl. "Okay Tin, your bath is ready."
"Thanks Alan." Tin-Tin replied softly from her bedroom. Alan dropped the bath salt in the water to give it adequate time to dissolve before he moved back into Tin-Tin's bedroom. Going over, Alan let Tin-Tin hold his arm as a wave of dizziness swept over her. Noticing her long hair was going to be a bit of a problem, Alan grabbed a scrunchie from her vanity and pulled her hair up into a loose bun. Tin-Tin paused as she felt Alan pulling her hair up from her shoulders. "Alan, where did you learn to make a bun?"
Alan blushed as he tried to decide if he wanted to tell Tin-Tin that during that short period that he lived with his grandma that he had a female friend then too. Page always…always asked Alan to braid her hair for her since he was her only friend and she was his.
"When I lived with grandma back in Kansas – before the two of us came to live here. I had a friend - Page, she was constantly asking me to do her hair for her so I just learned how to do girl's hair. Then we moved back here and I haven't heard from Page since." Alan felt slightly sad as Page was his first friend. In a brief fleeting thought, Alan wondered if he should look her up online, but filed it away to do at another time. Right now Tin-Tin was his main focus. "I hope you don't mind."
"No Alan, I don't mind. Thanks." Tin-Tin leaned her head on Alan's shoulder in a moment of intimate appreciation and she let Alan give her the smallest of hugs.
"Better get on to your bath, before the water cools down." Alan ushered Tin-Tin on as he tried to hide his blush at being embraced by Tin-Tin. Alan looked Tin-Tin up and down and took in her wardrobe of baggy sweats and hoodie. Of course they were the articles of clothing that he'd loaned her – the few times that she stayed at his house when he, Fermat and Tin-Tin had their Friday movie nights in the lounge. Tin-Tin kept a lingering hand on Alan's arm before moving to her dresser and grabbing some new pajamas before slipping into her bathroom – closing the door with a soft click.
Inhaling deeply, Tin-Tin felt tears spring to her eyes as she took in that Alan had gone the extra mile to help her feel better. He'd set out her little bath pillow on the edge of the bathtub, pulled out one of her fluffiest towels and set it on the lid of her toilet and if she was not mistaken he'd put bath salts in the water for her judging on the pinkish tint to the water, that and the sweet smell of the atmosphere in the room. Looking around, Tin-Tin set her small pile of clothes on the sink counter before undressing. Slipping into the water with a sigh, Tin-Tin closed her eyes and actually felt the tension melt away.
Reclining her head back against the bath pillow, Tin-Tin closed her eyes as she allowed the hot water to work its magic. Despite how bad she felt, Alan had been able to make her feel a small semblance of normalcy with his gentle ministrations. Like how she'd treated him when he'd been sick, he'd treated her equally as good.
The next time she opened her eyes, Tin-Tin noticed the water had cooled to room temperature and had chilled considerably. Feeling more relaxed than she'd been previously – she decided it'd probably be best that she go ahead and get out. Pulling the plug from the drain, Tin-Tin watched as the water was sucked away. Standing up, Tin-Tin dried off before putting her pajamas on, Tin-Tin grabbed a couple Ibuprofen before opening her bedroom door. What she found brought tears to her eyes again.
Alan sat in her window seat with a tray in front of him. A tea kettle and a bowl of fruit were placed on the tray and Alan looked out the window as birds flew about, building nests in the eaves of the villa just above Tin-Tin's window. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she stepped forward.
"What are you still doing here?" Tin-Tin wasn't mad…far from it in fact. She was deeply moved at how far Alan was going to make her feel better and she could never even begin to thank him enough for all he was doing. He didn't have to do this, but he seemed to be doing it not out of duty or obligation – but because he wanted to.
"I…I know you didn't want me to mention food – so I went to ask your mom if there was anything you'd eat and she gave me some mangos and papaya. Said that you like these when you weren't feeling well. And she gave me some peppermint tea for you." Alan looked away with a bashful blush. "I hope you don't mind."
"Thank you Alan." Tin-Tin simply smiled at Alan – feeling better than she had all day with Alan's careful nurturing. Sitting on her bed, she pulled her blankets up and sat against the headboard before patting a spot beside her on the bed. Alan slid from his perch before bringing the tray to Tin-Tin's bedside and sitting in the spot Tin-Tin patted. Playing her personal butler, Alan poured her a cup of the still warm tea – having listened to Onaha's suggestion of using the electric kettle rather than a conventional one. Tin-Tin took a sip with a sigh as the tea vapors helped to relax her further.
"What made you want to help me Alan?" Tin-Tin laid her head on Alan's shoulder again as she cradled the mug between her hands.
"Do you want the truth?" Alan asked uncertainly.
"That depends…is it bad?" Tin-Tin picked up her television remote and turned on the television – muting it before flipping channels.
"No, at least I don't think so." Alan stilled Tin-Tin's channel surfing with a gentle hand on top of hers – he'd stopped the surfing on 'Selena'. Little Selena was being taught how to dance the 'washing machine' on the boardwalk with her brother and sister by their mother.
"Sure." Tin-Tin granted as she turned her attention to the movie – turning on the subtitles so they could watch it without having to listen.
"Because I don't like to see you in pain. I…I care for you and it hurts me to see you in such pain." Alan glanced down at Tin-Tin's hand – where he still held her hand gently. Tin-Tin looked down at their hands and she rotated her hand slightly so that their palms touched. Flexing her fingers, Tin-Tin interlocked their fingers together. "I…I like you Tin…more than I probably should and you'll probably laugh at me but I think I l-love you."
Tin-Tin's breath caught in her throat at Alan's confession before turning shining eyes to Alan's.
"Do you really mean that? That you love me?" Tin-Tin smiled hopefully.
"Yeah, it's something that I've wondered about for a while now. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say…that I've fallen for you." Alan admitted as he resisted the urge to separate his hand from Tin-Tin's. He was sure that if he could feel his palms sweating, surely she could too.
"I love you too Alan." Tin-Tin snuggled into Alan's shoulder, settling down to watch the movie…they allowed the silence to fall as they turned up the volume to the film and watched it through to the end, listening to Selena sing Dreaming of You softly in the background..
"…So I wait for the day and the courage to say how much I love you."
Wrapping his arms around Tin-Tin, Alan allowed her to snuggle into him. She laid her head on his chest, listening to the rhythmic 'lub-dub' of his calmly beating heart. Closing her eyes, Tin-Tin snuggled deeper into Alan's arms as she fell asleep. Resting his head on top of hers, Alan pecked a light kiss on her forehead before succumbing to the fatigue. Working up the courage to tell the girl you loved took a lot of energy.
A/N: So this chapter was kind of TMI, but this is how I'd see Alan and Tin-Tin's relationship beginning to blossom. Generally this is how I'd view most guys that are not just trying to sweep a girl off her feet to act...loving, caring - despite their discomfort with the situation. And since this is just kind of dreamed up (never actually experienced this before...ever) I just wrote something fluffy and corny.
Hope you all like and soon - I say this with a broad smile, I should be posting another chapter or two to Rising from the Ashes. Currently working on the sequel to Never Stop Looking and it is looking like it may be longer than the first story ever was. Yay! =)
And I want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes. September 30 was in fact my b-day. It really brightened my day as your reviews were my only presents this year (sad I know). Living several hours away from family and my only close proximity family (brother) was working late so there sadly wasn't a celebration as I don't have any friends in this town(dang not even a boyfriend). But I'll count ya'll's reviews and birthday wishes as my presents and I want to thank you all immensely for making my day something to look forward to.
Hugs to you all and just a little blurb to say you all rock!
~Angel~