The Rival

Part 3

The team slowly approached the kitchen. Esmerelda was no longer crying, she appeared to be inspecting her nails oblivious to Penny as she was trying to dry what looked like tea from the front of her uniform. 

"Oh Sam!" she said jumping to her feet and running towards him. "Can you please give me another chance? I know I will do better on our next drill" she pouted her lips and fluttered her eyes at him. 

"Of course Esmerelda, as I said before everyone makes mistakes." he attempted to look past her to check on Penny, but the young woman blocked his view. Ellie swept past them and approached Penny. "What happened?" she asked passing some paper towels to her.

"Just a slight accident" Penny said drying herself. "It wasn't MY fault" Esmerelda exclaimed in what sounded like a mocking tone. "Right..." Ellie responded in turn. "Ellie it's fine" Penny replied softly ending the conversation. 

****

 What a day Sam thought, for the first time in his career he wished for nothing more than his shift to end. He had done his best to avoid Esmerelda with every chance he could, but every time he turned around there she was. She did not seem to want to leave him alone, and he couldn't help but wonder if there was some animosity between her and Penny. Although he couldn't figure out why.

He was thankful for the few calls where he was able to leave to help the people of Pontypandy and he was grateful for Norman's antics for once. Poor Penny had be regulated to watching Esmerelda thanks to Steele's orders after their failed practice session. She had to do an extra training with the new recruit and he wondered how she faired. The moment he returned Esmerelda had been at his side. 

He was actually on his way to their office to check on her at that very moment. Ellie and Arnold were attempting to keep Esmerelda busy for a minute so he could sneak away. He opened the door to see Penny staring outside the window eating a chocolate bar. Not a good sign he thought. "Hey Penny, how are you doing?" he asked as he approached her.

Penny looked back at him briefly before resuming her task on the almost eaten candy bar. "Sam. I swear I am a patient person most days" she responded, "But I may lose it. We did three additional trainings and I can't help but wonder how she graduated from the fire academy. She's making dangerous mistakes that even the Pontypandy Pioneers know better." 

"I know Pen." Sam said standing next to the woman and gazing down at her. "I appreciate that you took over today. I know that wasn't fair of me." he said running his hand awkwardly through his hair. 

"It's fine. You can pay me back in chocolate" Penny said smiling as she elbowed him gently in his side before tossing her wrapper in the trash. "Of course" Sam replied with a smile "I will shower you with chocolate" he said bowing. Penny just laughed and rolled her eyes. Man I love her laugh Sam thought as his heart swelled, I'm glad she seems back to herself. 

"Do I get chocolate too?" a voice came from the doorway and Sam cringed. He turned and found Esmerelda once again trailing after him standing in the door. Arnold and Ellie appeared shortly after. "Sorry Sam" they both cried out. "Oh it's ok" Esmerelda said to them "Sam is going to bring me chocolate tomorrow. I'm so excited!" she said dancing around. "What a wonderful first day!" 

Sam said nothing. It was Penny who broke the awkwardness as she looked at him and whispered, "Aren't you heading out? Your shifts over." Unfortunately someone else heard her. "Ooooh yes you can show me around town now that our shifts are over." Esmerelda exclaimed. "Actually you still have another hour" Arnold said looking over at the posted time sheet. "Oh I'm sure it will be ok for me to leave with Sam so I can learn the town. After all how can I help out if I don't know where anything is?" Esmerelda said with a hint of disdain in her voice.