Logan

146. I'm Not Over Natalie

*Natalie's POV, current day*

Rhodes handed me her hair dryer "I hope your date goes well."

I smiled, "I hope so too, I mean, we don't really know where this is going to go. I hope if it doesn't go well we can still be friends."

Xiomara laughed, "Try to relax, Huxey is one of the sweetest guys in the company on A shift." She smoothed out her hair with a fine comb and saw me watching. "Sorry, habit from my army days." One of the other firefighters walked in and whispered something in Xiomara's ear, then shot me an apologetic glance, then shrugged. Xiomara sighed and then looked at me "Listen, you're in for a long ass day. Giordano went crying to her daddy that she wanted to help our station out with the soup drive so he sent her over with supplies."

My stomach lurched after her words at The Iris. "Fantastic." I said, rolling my eyes.

"I swear if she says another thing about you, I am throwing hands." Xiomara groaned in frustration, her fist colliding with her palm.

I put a hand over her fist, "No, I can't let you risk your chance at promotion. I'm perfectly capable of throwing my own hands."

We laughed and I threw my bag into the empty locker Ripley let me have, almost with a look of pride on his face yesterday.

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We walked into the kitchen and I saw Desmond eating eggs and toast with Elena sitting right next to him, wearing her station's uniform. Identical, yet this company wore dark blue under their shirts while she wore red. She looked up at me and placed her hand on Desmond's arm, the eggs on his fork scattering back onto his plate.

He looked up at me, was he blushing? Uh, bud you're staring a little too long there.

"Nora! Good to see you, Desi was just telling me such a funny joke." I knew she was being typical mean girl passive aggressive. Ten bucks she was going to shoot below the belt. Desmond was still looking at me, all the while she was talking.

I just looked back at her, "Sorry, I didn't realize you were talking to me since my name is actually Natalie. Funny you didn't get that." I watched Desmond squirm as she leaned against him, trying to hide her discomfort with a laugh.

"Ooh, my bad, didn't know you were going to be so fussy about it. Anyway, you should get some breakfast, maybe. An apple perhaps?" I could see her lips upturn into a smirk, "Oh hun, you sure you want to wear those yoga pants?"

Elena trying so hard to insult me was almost hilarious, but Desmond taking no action was what hurt the most. Instead, I looked to the guys, Parker, Conrad and Clemons, "Guys, be honest? Are these pants too slutty? Or do I look fat in them?"

Parker snorted through his glass as he looked up at me, "Pardon me for saying, but you look fine as hell in those, honestly if there weren't two guys from this firehouse gunning for you already I'd put my hat in the ring, Elena's just being a brat, ignore her." He looked at her, "She wouldn't know her ass from her elbow. All talk, really."

Clemons stood up and guided me to sit down, "Sit down kid, I'm gonna get you something to eat. If Ripley knew you were starving yourself by just eating an apple for breakfast we're gonna suffer for it and I am too damn old to be on all fours scrubbing the floor with toothbrushes again." He walked around the stable, passing Desmond and smacking him upside the head.

"Looks like you're the only one with the problem." I said, looking at her face of disbelief at Clemons and then sympathetic to Desmond. Clemons sat the plate in front of me, a full display of french toast with powdered sugar sprinkled on, bacon, eggs, and a cup of coffee. He put some creamer next to me and placed the sugar on the table. "Clemons, this is so sweet, thank you so much." I beamed, looking up at him, he simply shrugged and sat back down next to Desmond. "I don't think he'd actually make you scrub the floor with a toothbrush." Elena huffed and started texting on her phone, seemingly dropping the conversation