#doug renetti x tina lewis

[soft-persephone]

Fuck You

// .97k // angst // masterlist // more minx fics

Because I miss watching these two fight.

“I’m done.” Tina fought to keep every tear in her eyes, refusing one drop to fall and the urge to wipe her eye with a hand. “Fuck you.”

She grabbed her things, not bothering to sort or put anything away as she had routinely done over the past two years or so.

How could she have been so stupid?

“I’m not going to say I don’t deserve that.” Doug briskly walked after her, quickly catching up, almost tripping them both with how close he was stepping next her. Crowing into her side as if to knock her off her path in the process. He wanted to jump in front of her, but she was just a tad bit faster. She put her hand on the door and started to open it. He slammed it shut.

“I heard you say—“

“— I was talking shit!” He raised his voice and she gave him a look, moving once more to open the door, but he sidestepped in front of her again, blocking the way. “You know I have to do things I don’t always want to do.” He moved his head to look into her eyes and she side eyed him each time, crossing her arms and refusing to look at him.”

“You know me.” He pleaded, “you know I didn't mean any of that.”

Tina nodded and pursed her lips.

“You. Promised.” He opened his mouth and she raised a hand to his face. “And you didn’t deliver. . .

“. . . So fuck you.” She sucked her teeth..

“Fuck me?” He huffed. “FUCK ME?!”

“Yeah, fuck you Doug.”

“I’m done!”

“The hell you are!”

“What the fuck did you just say to me!”

“I said!” He waved his hands for emphasis, THE HELL! YOU ARE!”

She turned to open the door and he slammed it again.

“So what, you uh. . .” He shook his head in disbelief. A smile formed on his face, but it was far from kind. “You wanna go back to your family’s paper shop and meander around for the rest of your life until you're forgotten.” He shook his head.

“. . .that ain’t you.”

“Oh so you know me?”

“Yeah,” he scoffed. “I fucking know you.” He paused for a moment, licking his lips absentmindedly. He ran a hand through his hair for good measure. His nerves caught up with him when she didn’t budge.

Fuck him.

His bravado faded, and she saw him for how sad and desperate he really was. Something tugged within her, and she fought against that too. If she let him get away with it now, she wouldn’t be able to know.

She won’t know.

“What’s nothin compared to nothing!” She yelled back.

“It’s one promise after the other! You said you’d promote me by now and I don’t have shit! How am I better off with you now compared to where I would have been in that fucking stationary store!”

“The difference is you’re in it now. . .” He looked into her eyes. “You care— fuck. . .you. . . He snapped his fingers to hide the way his voice was breaking.

The sound of it thudding around in her ears and bouncing around the building. Their first real officer building aside of his fucking garage. Not some lousy laundromat without the sound of washers and dryers whirling around behind the nearest wall.

“I’m walking out that fucking door! her chest was heaving now, her cheeks puffy, one of the tears falling, refusing to listen to her and stay in her eyes, “and don’t you dare stop me! Not again!”

She opened the door and he stopped her.

He took a step into her space. Squeezing her against the door as he held onto the knob with one hand until his knuckles were white. His other hand banging against the door as he stopped into her face.

“You are the only reason we made into this fucking building.” He dropped his voice low. His tone was as hard as his eyes as he stared down at her.

That was the thing about Doug. He ran hot and he was loud and let out a lot of steam, but when he really meant something, he was almost quiet.

“You helped me make this place what it was, and you know for a fact, it won’t go anywhere without you, “ his voice was hot and heavy. He was standing so close they brushed against her eyelashes, “you wouldn’t be able to watch Bottom Dollar go anywhere without you in it.

Tina didn’t say anything.

She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into a kiss. He immediately brought his hands to her sides, sliding them up her body before settling them at the nape of her neck, trapping her face against his.

Slipping his tongue into her mouth one more time, he broke the kiss.

“Fuck you,” she panted in his face.

“Okay,” he panted back before nothing along her neck. His mouth was searing and hot against her skin.

She pulled him by his hair and crashed her lips against his again.

“I want my own office.”

He kissed her again, pulling her up by her legs and placing her on the nearest desk.

“I’ll give you the biggest desk with no one around it.”

He moved to kiss her again and she pulled her head back out of reach. His eyebrows scrunched together along his forehead.

“I want better.”

“I’ll give you a raise.” He blurted before closing his eyes as if in pain.

Tina smiled and patted him on the cheek before pushing his shoulder and hopping off the desk.

“That wasn’t so hard, now was it.”

The sound of Tina’s heels clacking as she walked to the door was the only sound in the room.

“Fuck you!” Doug called out as she walked out the door and laughed.

[aflawedfashion]

Doug & Tina | Minx 1x07

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

+Bonus

[kendall-coded]

let me take you down

doug renetti/tina lewis, m, 2.6k

additional tags: doug renetti & joyce prigger, finale-centric, apologies

-

He slides off the seat to get on his knees by the tub. Propping his elbows on the lip, he cushions his chin in his hands. “I totally fucked it, huh.”

“Well…” Tina brings her hand up from beneath the water and delicately smears bubble foam on the tip of his nose, hot water droplets sliding from the bridge and trailing through his beard. “You’re a lucky man, Mr Renetti,” she tells him softly.

“Mmm. How so?” He murmurs back, quickly leaning forward to pretend he’s going to bite her finger.

She pulls back and smiles with all her teeth. “You’ve got me.”

[soft-persephone]

One Lazy Morning: Doug Renetti x Tina Lewis

Step By Step Ch. 2 

// WC .95k // Warning: Almost nude character. Watching someone sleep // Masterlist

Tina did her best to ignore him. 

She had things she needed to do around her house anyway. She was definitely behind on laundry, she should probably go through her fridge and make sure nothings spoiled, and maybe finally set aside those dresses and skirt sets she needed to take to the dry cleaners. 

But there was something about the way he was spread on the bed in her guest room. 

She had opened the blinds in an effort to wake him up, but that did little to stir him from his slumber. His hair shined in the sunlight, making it look even softer and glossier than it normally would. 

He was so tired last night that he fell asleep as soon as his body touched the bed. 

She remembers easing his medallion off his neck and taking his shirt off his shoulders which was not hard since he barely used any of the buttons. 

However, she did not remember going anywhere near his belt or his pants.

But there he was, laying in the sunlight. His hair formed a raven halo around his face. His cheeks a soft red that matched the color of his chest as it unassumingly rose and fell. The sheet was still intact, only keeping him barely modest as his legs lazed behind him, sparsely less hairy than his chest. 

She was encroaching on a private moment witnessed fewer than one hand could count. 

Perhaps rarer than that. 

She turned to go do her laundry. 

Two loads done, she walked by the door once more to find him still soundly asleep. He had moved from his side onto his stomach. His arm supporting his head underneath the pillow at his head, showing off his broad shoulders and expansive back. The new position led his hair to fawn over his face. The stray curls that laid over his nose moved back and forth with each exhale. 

Now was a good time to go through all her clothes and give away what she hasn’t worn in three years. Why just pull aside the dry cleaning? She could multitask. 

It took her surprisingly two hours. It used to at least take up four, and if it wasn’t done by then, she would usually leave everything where it was and just handle it later when she felt like it. 

Today was not her day. 

She mentally pinched herself. 

She had to wake him up. 

He was usually an early riser, and if she let him sleep this much, he might get upset. Since she was the only other person around, he would take it out on her, and she did not feel like getting fussed at. Not after yesterday.

It was the hottest day of the year, and it might have actually broken a record. 

On top of that, their new distributors were trying to fuck them over because of how new their company was. On a normal day when it wasn’t so hot, Tina would have convinced him to cut their losses and just move onto someone else, but he wanted to take things to a different level, so they ‘would learn not to fuck with us’. Which ultimately led to the worst case of fighting fire with fire in an actual fire that was yesterday's heatwave. 

They were running around all day in the sun blackmailing, threatening, and bartering other people to leave or fight this one trucking company.

It may or not have been a mob, and the mob may or may not be their new distributors. 

She sat on the corner of the bed. He was back on his side. The afternoon sun left him in an equally ethereal glow as the morning. One of his arms dangled lazily over the edge of the bed, the other cuddled into his side.

She brushed her hand up and down his chest in slow motions. A groan rumbled in his chest, making the hair on his skin tickle her fingers, but he didn't rise.

She brushed her hand through his hair, surprisingly dry after the day that was yesterday, and softer than it usually was and equally as fluffy. She fanned his hair out of her face with one hand, moving to draw a finger faintly over his lips with the other. Slightly chapped, but otherwise soft. She moved her hand across his cheek, lightly brushing at his eyebrows. 

They furrowed in response, but otherwise, he did not move. 

Going back to running her hand on the expanse of his chest. She eventually resulted in drawing circular movements along his back. 

He was so warm. She mused to herself. 

There were no lines of worry or anger on his forehead. His brows relaxed and even. 

Tina longed to see him like this more. One day when their hard work pays off, he'd look like this forever. The money would flow in constantly and easily. They wouldn't have to worry about appeasing or mob or anybody fuck them over just because they can.

“Tina.” Low and horse. He moved to sit up, keeping a hand at his waist so not to expose himself.

With one movement of his arm, he grabbed her with one large hand and pulled at her shirt. His other hand grabbed her leg, and pulled it around his, so she could straddle his lap. 

Once he had her where he wanted, he buried his face in the crook of her neck. 

The warmth from his skin radiated off of him. Filling every pore and sense she had. His smell, his touch. . . he was overwhelming her senses.

“How long was I asleep?’

“Long enough.” she huffed softly. “Get the fuck of me so I can finish my chores.”

“Fuck chores.” He laughed lowly in her ear.

[soft-persephone]

Viva Las Vegas! • Doug x Tina

Just a lil blurb.

“Don’t you got somewhere to be?”

Doug rolled over in bed to face Tina with a frown.

The long lines of his mouth were pulling down at the sides in such a way it was almost comical.

It made him look like an anamorphic realistic drawing of a child’s frowny face.

Tina thought of the time Richie called him a turtle and she smiled.

“Oh, so my pain is funny to you now.” Doug almsot smiled.

“Yes,” she smiled back. “It’s hilarious.”

He pushed himself into her and wrapped his arms around her. His head buried into her chest as he sighed.

It was low and heavy.

It was the weariest most defeated sigh she’d ever heard from any human being. As scary as it sounded on its own, the sound coming from Doug felt much worse.

“Look you’ll find an in or an out or whatever you need.”

“I don’t want that. . . It’s probably time I hang it up.”

Tina pulled back too look at his face.

Her brows pulling up as her mouth drew into a line.

“I’m tired.” He smiled a bit.

It was a little funny to him.

Doug considered himself the cockroach under peoples feet that wouldn’t die. When this whole thing started out, he knew he would get under Constance’s feet and maybe her skin. He was crawling around doing whatever the fuck he condo think of. Hopping one out of the endless others who do stick, and he’d somehow get back in top.

It was who he was, it was what he did.

Tina didn’t smile…. But she didn’t frown either.

She pushed his hair out of his face in thought.

She was worried. More important, she was worried about him. That was enough. The sign that his heart of hearts still cared about him. That they were still on the same team, working it out and facing it together.

“I still have you.” He looked up into her eyes. His thumb tracing at her side through the old family Regi ion tshirt she insisted on calling pajamas. “And these days.. I think it’s enough.”

“Joyce and Constance can have it. . .God bless ‘em .

Tina didn’t say anything and kissed him on the forehead before pulling him closer into a more comfortable position as they settled back into the sheets.

The silence was comfortable and affirming.

“You still need to go Vegas.”

He sighed.

“I was hoping you’d forget and let me ditch it.”

“You know Joyce is fucked without you and the people there are only waiting to speak to you! They won’t survive a conversation with her!”

“Alright, alright. .” His eyes brows scrunched in amusement, “I was only half kidding, Tins. Calm down. . .I’m going.”

“I know,” she smiled. “I’m just fucking with you.”

[soft-persephone]

Minx Season 2 Epjsode 6???

I am.. gagged. I truly am speechless (but also kinda not because here I am making this post).

Joyce and Shelly? That was truly brilliant. Joyce is a lil bit selfish by nature of her attention seeking and other validating tendencies, but to learn that their mother walked out on them and Shelly is kind of like her mother figure as well as her sister?? That changes so much of how I view them in season 1!

Shelly is so right about Joyce! I am so glad she’s taking more time and agency for herself as well as in terms of her sexuality! I am so glad she’s able to explore that with other woman other than Bambi! Shelly is so smart and capable, it was amazing to see the more personally side of her and how she may navigate herself through certain professional as well as relationship field!

Open marriage?!?!!

This show does character so well. And they just keep so much shit to themselves that they’ll give us all the answers to our questions with one little line, but it still makes so much sense! It still feels very true to the character and executed perfectly!

How is this show this good?

I am yelling at the sun at this point!

And TINA?!?! DOUG?!?!

That could have went either way!

This show and the way it build suspense and plays with your expectations. I was more nervous than they were about this dinner! Like yay proposal! But the more they brought up the family business it was obvious what they wanted you to think about it in terms of Tins, Doug, and what they have at bottom Dollar.

But they don’t do that! Like any of it!

Tina and everyone in the family hates that fucking stationary company💀

I’m still laughing at how she told her mom she needs to sell it and stop passing it around like a cursed hot potato!

The conversation Doug has with her brother Marvin? How they all claimed he stole Tina away and charmed her into being his secretary? And like talked her out of her family?

That is a serious conversation, but on the other hand funny as hell. Because that the first thing black family will say when you leave home supposedly with a new partner!

Like the snake charmer comment made at Doug had me rolling!

But they wrap it all up with Doug defending himself but just giving her some speech probably about how she has potential and how amazing she is, and giving her the courage to leave herself!

And then her brother is automatically convinced to just leave! Doesn’t even have a passion! Just goes with trucking and tells everyone deuces!!

Funny and heartwarming.. have I mentioned how much I love this show?

And we learn in real form with Doug that Tina is supposedly going to be the head of Minx International!

And we like Tins, have no idea what that’s going to be.

But he’s not even mad or sad. He just wanted her to tell him. Because he tells her everything! Good or bad.

And Now we don’t even know if they are on the same page relationship wise!

I am pulling out my hair at the roots!! Like I am relived but my hearts still broken! What happens now? Is she taking Doug with her? What the fuck does he even do anymore?!?!

Constance better count her mother f’n days!

I think she’s tryna keep him at bottom Dollar and out it out of business. I mean he own 49%, but he doesn’t have a day on anything but merch at this point. And now Tina is over international.

So where does Doug go?

What is Constance planning? Whatever it is, she wants him out the picture and I am terrified!

So far no one but Bambi is noticing how scattered they all are!

……down to the C plot with Richie and Bambi on drugs, this show does a lot!

Bambi thinks of everyone as a little found family and not the “co workers” that they are as Richie points out!

Which is very ironic because he calls Doug and Tina Mom and Dad in that one episode during season 1 (callback bitch! I am smart!)

And Richie is very much a mood in that regard. However they do have a bond. They’ve all been with each other at their lowest, and Bambi just wants to make sure their together at their highs too!

And Richie is very in tune with his own career and artistic voice! There’s a lot of demand but Joyce isn’t letting him flurish on Minx!! And he’s also very concerned about his BAG! As he mf should!

But he is very obviously (or should be obviously) queer!

And the journey to his self portrait is as funny as it is heartwarming!

This episode ended kinda heavy.

I think it’s about Joyce now fully hating her success. Or just being a it embarrassed by what she just did.

If that was me I would have just jumped off the plane.

In conclusion, I still have an unhealthy relationship to this show and it’s fictional characters. I might need serious help, but this is a fandom space on tumblr, so I’m just a “super fan” that makes “fan related content.”

[soft-persephone]

Minx Season 2!!!! (Mild Spoilers???)

I mean.. if it counts? Does a show like this have spoilers?

It feels so new and different but it’s the same! It feels bigger and better than ever!

This episodes very shortly and sweetly explains why Joyce and Doug work as business partners. And it really explained how she kinda needs him in the best way possible.

I just love how they tied up the Tina and The business school thing! I also loved how she never outright said Doug was being pathetic, but it’s clear she felt it… just a tad. You just can’t hurt your soulmates feelings like that, so she held it in.

Bambi and Shelly are so amazing! I just love seeing them together!

This season also gives us more Richie, more Bambi, and more Shelly in a way that’s so perfect. They heavily add so much to the show and it wouldn’t be the same without them!

This show is such a joy! I feel so spoiled! No matter how these characters turn out or how their story ends, it’ll feel like the audience is truly getting everything it could want!!!

Just good fucking food!

Ellen Rapoport deserves a yes fucking chef!!!

[soft-persephone]

When somone mentions Tina and Doug after Season 2 episode 6…

I wonder what happened after they talked in the car and Tina found that ring????🧐

[soft-persephone]

Hear me out! Just hear me out first! I took some time to myself and thoroughly thought about what could make me feel better about how Doug and Tina’s relationship ended in Minx S2, and I believe the most logical next step is for Tina to kiss another man in front of Doug.

[soft-persephone]

Same Page Pt 2

- Again, thank you again to the lovely gif makers and keeping this fandom alive in some type of way and fueling my insanity over this show.

Imagine my surprise when they show up in season two dressed like this!

I mean, Tina has a few specks of navy blue on her dress and he’s wearing like a baby or cerulean blue but that’s too much of a stretch for me…..

My subconscious was screaming and crying, but at this point I didn’t know why.

But then Tina makes this face after he says something about loving her forever and how they are in it together.

This look is unreassuring as fuck!

Doug is stronger than me because if someone made this face at me after I proclaimed my love to them, I would have cried or ate my own shirt.

He’s either really strong or super dense, after season two I am in favor of dense. He gets so rapped up in his own shit, that he starts taking Tina for granted.

I’m not gonna lie, I was so wrapped up in this idea of them always matching. That in this episode I took her wearing yellow and him this pinkish color as them dressed up in sunset colors.

I wanted them to match so bad, I forced commections that were not there at all. I can see that now.

But I believe this is a sign! It is a subtle sign about where they are in their relationship.

The more different their clothes got, the more scared I became and the more each fight started to hurt. Because it was building up to something. It was building up to how the writers wanted to end it, but my brain was ignoring all the signs and compared to season 1, their wardrobe was the first sign.

Another instance of yellow and him wearing some other color.

My heart of hearts wants to believe it’s them dressed like a sunset. Because that’s very cozy and sunsets make everything romantic and sweet just like this little moment.

And the hair kinda matches too!

This scene gave me so much hope.

And the writers then decided to crush what little hope I had left in episode 7&8.

In this scene she’s wearing this deep red/wine color and he’s wearing a long brown coat with a fur color.

- how different could that be! And then there was a fight on top of that!

My little heart couldn’t handle it.

I had to physically not think about this fight or I’d get emotional. It was too sudden and too much to fast. Tina just found out about the ring and all of that and then getting this right after just makes me so sad!

And then the end of episode 8 made me so physically sick. I wanted to throw up!

I can barely think about it now.

Tina is strong and she’s over it! Even though they had that final conversation and she almost cried. She ended up with he rest of the “Minx Family” as they took their final stand and said their last Fuck You!

Me?

I don’t call myself softie for no reason.

I was such a mess! I’m literally just now over it! It’s the only reason I was able to make this post and not get over ally emotional.

Did that one joke about Doug Letting Constance take him away if she was three years older make me laugh? Did it make me in a joking way think about it?

Yeah….

I really thought, if Tina didn’t exist, him and Constance would be kinda fun. They had a fun dynamic.

But seeing it made me want to rip my own heart out.

My soul left my body and I was feeling that weird emotion where you don’t wanna cry but your just feeling so intensely disturbed.

It’s like a morbid bastardization of grief and fear.

Anyway……..if you made it this far, your just as insane as I am and we are in this together!

We gotta have each others back. Because if season three happens I know Tina and Doug can not get back together.

But if this show does that funny subverting expectation thing it does? I might be okay, but they wouldn’t be able to just get back together like nothing happened.

But for some reason, I don’t think that’s happening.

I think the show wants to break them up for good.

I will need emotional support and for someone to hold my hand the entire time because I think this hypothetical season three plot that only exists in my head right now, will break me.

I could barely handle this break up in season 2, but if it gets worse then this I might sob….

[soft-persephone]

The emotional roller coaster that episode two put Tina through is absolutely insane! Like they really went there with the writing!!! They’re trying to break our hearts aren’t they? But all that aside. . . was it kinda sexy or is that just me?

[soft-persephone]

Small Spaces

DOUG RENETTI X OC X TINA LEWIS

18+

AO3 Link

She placed her hands on his chest, slipping them beneath the silk of his shirt. She moved her hands along the exposed expanse of his skin. Solidifying the memory of his skin into her mind, so she could always remember this moment. 

He moaned lowly. The sound of it reverberated through his chest, vibrating on her hands while she explored his skin as she had done too many times to count, making her feel much warmer in the small space. 

He wasted no time.

He slipped his hand up her thigh. 

The massive things they were, smooth and callused.

She adored his hands. She would have to paint them. Or sculpt them one day to immortalize the tools made for her very destruction. As a warning, a sign, a gift.

[soft-persephone]

Doug was definitely jealous when Tina was seeing that accountant

[soft-persephone]

I really woke up and wrote a mini essay about Doug and Tina in one single scene of minx at 5am before work…..

[soft-persephone]

Captured by the Storm

Doug Renetti x Black!Female OC x Tina Lewis

Word Count: 1k

Warnings/Mini Summery: Melancholy, soft angst. Loss. Sad but not too sad. Funeral. Mourning. Grief. Light comfort. Tiny bit of longing.

Angel shifted on top of  the quilt that stayed with her through her youngest years of childhood. The heavily floral pattern worn with age brought back memories as stuffy as the room she was in. The good and the bad.  .  . . her mother. She could smell them all on the quilt, in this room, in the air, humid as it was.

The humidity captured her, holding her hostage to the little girl she used to be. To the time she spent in this town. It tortured her, leaving behind its evidence with a thin but growing sheen of sweat on her skin. The cup of ice water on her old nightstand was melting away into condensation within minutes. No matter how much she drank of the warm water, her tongue stayed thick and heavy in her mouth.

Her only comfort was the sound of the rain. The smell of it. 

It enraptured her in the  swaddling nostalgia that was home. Reminding her of the good, but left her equally as forlorn. Her comfort soon became another enemy. Torturing her along with the  humidity. Helping it rise higher and higher into the night. 

The moon itself was not in the sky, keeping itself scarce, leaving her in the dark with her capturers.

Everyone else was asleep. 

She would be too if it wasn’t the only time she could talk to Doug and Tina without being disturbed. 

She turned her head to face the clock. It was barely midknight. 

Tina said they would be working late tonight. They might be home around 20 past midnight or something like that. She couldn’t really remember. She tuned out after Tina said midknight. 

It was too long.

It was too long to go without talking to Tina or Doug. 

She was used to not being around them when they were all in the same city, but now, she was across the entire country without them. Her time zone was  an even two hours ahead. She was used to waiting hours upon hours until she saw them again, but now being so far away. .. made it completely unbearable. 

She never would have said it back in California, but she hated the high stakes reward nature of their job. 

Everything was a gamble with few guarantees. That meant an irregular unpredictable work schedule. She could go from seeing them everyday to not at all in such a short span of time. The rollercoaster of time they had to spend together was a nightmare for her clingy at heart nature. 

She was comfortable laughing it off with a joke about her mom passing away when she was young, but they didn't find it as funny as she did. 

She couldn't pretend it didn't bother her anymore. 

Licking her lips, she picked up the phone and dialed their number.

“Angel?” Doug's voice was warm and thick, adding to the unbearable humidity. Her skin felt stickier than it already was a moment ago, “Why are you still up? Are you okay? Did you want to talk about your aunt?”

“N- no. . .” That's why she was here wasn’t it? Her Mom’s sister had passed. The last of her grandmother’s children. They were all together now. That gave her some comfort. “I. . .I just miss you and Tina so much.”

“What about your family? It's been a while since they've seen you! All the way from California!”

“Yeah.” she replied weakly, not really sure what else to say. 

“That has to be exciting!” 

His voice washed over her in waves. Not loud, not a shout, he was mellow and refreshing. She  talked just enough. Saying the minimum polite requirement of words to carry a conversion, so she’d have the courtesy of just laying in the dark, listening to him. 

“Wh– What– what did you wear today?” she croaked out. 

He paused, but she could hear his smile. The sound of it brightened the room around her. It was her saving grace away from her captures in the night.

“The two piece blush pink suit.” He sounded a little deadpan but still utterly amused. “Sorry I didn't have time to find something sexier before you called.” he laughed, making the room grow that much brighter, making her feel less alone, “I thought I had more time.”

She laughed with him.

The heat and the memories fading away into the background. . .into a different reality.

“What about Tina? Angel smiled, pretty dumbly too if anyone made her admit it. The anticipation left her senses fumbling into stupidity. 

“Uhm,” his falter gave her pause, “A red dress. I think it's new?’

The darkness of the room was back, and she snapped back into reality. 

She was still far away.

Angel’s tongue darted along her lips and her eyes frantically searched in the dark. She already knew every little object in the room, but she needed to look at them all again. 

Words came tumbling out of her mouth, asking, begging, and pleading for the details, but her tongue felt thick and unfamiliar. It was hot and sticky in her mouth as her skin was from the humidity and sweat. 

“Woah woah, slow down.” Doug chuckled. “You're talking too fast and your accent sounds like it's gotten thicker since you’ve been home. I can't understand you.”

“Can you put Tina on?” 

Angel grabbed the glass for another sip of warm water before laying back down.

“Hey,” Tina said softly. Her voice was sultry and seductive. It was soothing. . . warm, “it's funny how lonely it feels over here when you're all the way over there.” She paused, “It's crazy to think how one person makes such a big  difference in our lives.”

Angel’s body was overwhelmed with heat. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything sentimental or sweet. It was breaking her, and it would only get worse when the sun came up. 

“Why. . .” Angel inhaled sharply, “did you wear it today? You know I'm not there?” 

Tina didn’t say anything and she started to feel a little agitated. 

“You know I wanted to see you in it first.”

"Maybe I wanted to hear you get upset,” Tina teased.

Angel laughed. Despite the hot humid room, it was cold, rueful, and dry. 

“Fine!” she managed to spit out, “Just wait till I get home! I’m not bringing you a surprise gift either.”

“Then I'd say. . .it was worth it.’

Angel huffed.

“I don't wanna hear you complain when Doug gets the biggest, most awesome gift.”