Leroyhead

Adding To The Mix

   Leroy san on the railing of his tower balcony, as the harsh breeze played with his loose man bun and tugged at his scarf. It was early fall, but it was already getting colder out. But that didn't mean his work was done as a park ranger. Even in the coldest winters there was always still a chance of fires, and many people enjoyed camping in the cold. He could never understand how that could be fun, Leroy thought as he pulled his coat tighter around him.

     Sirenhead stood next to him, barely moving as usual. Leroy's noise cancelling headphones doubled as earmuffs, which he didn't complain about. Two necessities for the price of one, he liked to think. There was a soft buzz from inside his coat pocket. Leroy rolled his eyes and nestled his back up against Sirenhead's long, lanky, rusted arm and closed his eyes, taking in the crisp air around him. Buzz buzz. Leroy opened his eyes again, now annoyed. It was probably just some stupid notification from one of his apps, he thought. He lazily pulled his phone out and glanced at the locked screen 'Two missed messages from: Julia.' a notification read. 

      "What does Julia want?" he muttered to himself, opening his phone to the messages app. Julia worked at the next firetower over, the one closest to his own. Since the towers were so spread out through the giant park, they really had no choice other than becoming friends to escape the endless boredom and loneliness that came with being a park ranger. Well, he was never as lonely as Julia was, Leroy smiled as he placed his hand on Sirenhead's arm. The two would text and call each other, but they barely ever actually visited each other in person. 

     "I'm about to leave," said the first message. "I'm leaving now," read the next, sent a while after the first. "What does she mean by that..." Leroy muttered.

Suddenly, his eyes widened and she shot up off the railing. "Oh no oh no oh no..." Leroy said, pacing back and forth looking at his phone, rereading the messages over and over again. With spending time with Sirenhead it had completely slipped his mind that he and Julia had been planning to meet that exact day. To make matters worse, she had no idea he was in love with Sirenhead, let alone that Sirenhead even existed. Leroy climbed up on the balcony and shoved his back against Sirenhead, trying to shove them away. 

     "Go, you gotta leave now!" Leroy cried, despite knowing Sirenhead had no idea that he was even making noise. It was hard to get Sirenhead to leave when they weren't ready yet, since they would usually just wander off on his own. Suddenly, and very luckily, he got a report that new campers were entering the campsite to stay. Sirenhead turned and lumbered off into the distance to go greet them, which they did with campers sometimes when they were feeling friendly. The alarm sound faded as they got farther away, and Leroy breathed a sigh of relief, letting out the air he didn't know he was holding.

     Leroy went inside and picked up a random book, and began mindlessly scanning the pages to kill the time between then and Julia's arrival. About an hour and a half later, Leroy heard tires roll to a stop in the dirt road as he put down his book, signaling Julia's arrival. 

     "Hey, Leo!" Julia called up from her Jeep, hopping out of the carseat and slamming the door behind her. "I told you not to call me Leo, I'm not a Leo kind of guy," Leroy replied as he made his way down the long flight of wooden stairs of the tower.

     Julia wrapped her arms around Leroy in a tight hug, and he felt the coolness of sunscreen on her arms. Leroy let go after a second, but Julia held onto the hug ever so slightly longer than normal. 

     "Well, come on in," Leroy said once the embrace ended, and the two made their way up the long flight of stairs what wrapped around the wooden beams of the tower. Julia flopped herself down on the small sofa, and put her legs up on the coffee table.