crash & burn - e. buckley

001

01x01

Life is unpredictable. A fact that Jamie Hayes can't deny. You never quite know what to expect from it, or if it will be bad or good. One day, you might win the lottery, and the next, your partner might break up with you. You might break your back, but fall in love with the doctor treating it. Or, your parents might kick you out at seventeen. This was the thing that eventually led to Jamie becoming a firefighter.

A loud knock on the bedroom door woke Jamie from her slumber. The black-out curtains in her room didn't do their job well enough, and she cursed at the sun for being so bright so early. Groaning, she got up from the bed, rubbing her eyes and stifling a yawn while opening the door. She was greeted by one of her roommates, Angel.

"Rise and shine, sweetheart," Angel greeted the tired girl.

"What the hell, Angel, I worked a 12-hour shift yesterday and you wake me up at ass-crack of dawn why?" she cursed at her.

She was not a nice person if she was woken up, a fact that was known by most people who knew her, so they never took offence if she said something mean in the morning.

"Me and Jordie made breakfast," she smiled.

Jordie, or Jordan, was the third roommate and Angel's on-again-off-again girlfriend. Jamie was pretty sure that they were broken up right now but she could never be sure.

She walked out to the kitchen and saw a stack of blueberry pancakes. She ate a few while chatting to her friends.
——

"You look really good today," Evan Buckley, or Buck as everyone called him, told her when they were in the truck on the way to their first call of the day. "I mean, you always do, but especially today."

The girl had actually had time to do her makeup today, since her roommate woke her up so early, so she was sporting a thick winged eyeliner with false lashes. Her long black hair was in her signature hairstyle, two dutch braids.

"Thanks, my love," Jamie replied sarcastically. Evan and Jamie had met in the academy, and starting off as rivals, they quickly became friends instead, and when they got put in the same firehouse they grew even closer, being both the two youngest and the newest, they became best friends as well.

The call was about a teenager who hit his head on a diving board. Jamie and the rest of the 118 were working to save him. Buck was doing chest compressions and Hen was bagging him. Captain Nash and Jamie were talking to the mother, asking her questions but mostly trying to keep her out of the way so that their team could do what they needed to without her being in the way. After a while he started spitting water. The mother had started CPR before they got there and Jamie was thanking the heavens for that right now. She hated losing people. Especially kids.

The second call of the day was a jumper. They couldn't save her. It was part of the job, Jamie knew that, and the woman was sick, but it still felt heavy. Like she was using a rain cloud as a blanket.

— —

"I know exactly what that polite, distant smile means, she's bored!" Howie, or Chimney as everyone called him, was complaining about his date last night while the Captain, Bobby Nash, was making lunch.

"One foot out the door. That woman's so far out of my league, but she's just once-in-a-lifetime, I can't let her go."

"Lots of fish in the sea," Bobby tried to console him.

"Not with the bait he's using," Hen commented, earning a laugh and a high five from Jamie.

"Cruel but true," Chimney agreed, "I met her on this new dating site, just for cops and firefighters, RomancingTheUniform.com. She's an adrenaline junkie, so foreplay is me telling her stories about running into burning buildings and jumping into icy lakes,"