crash & burn - e. buckley

011

02x01

Jamie was not okay.

The revelation that she had feelings for Evan Buckley paired with her breakup with Collin caused her to become a bit depressed.

She was dead set on getting over Buck, but that proved to be easier said than done when she had to see him every day at work. For the first time since she met him, she wished she wasn't so close to him. If they were just casual friends, it would be a lot easier, but of course, he had to snake his way into her heart first as a great friend and then as something...more.

Luckily, she could blame her acting weird on her breakup. Nobody questions someone who's grieving a relationship. They didn't have to know that the thing she was most upset about was that if she couldn't get over her feelings for Buck, she would probably lose him as a friend.

She needed a distraction. A new hobby to occupy all of her free time. Maybe she would take up a sport, or start dancing again. Maybe she would just simply bury herself in alcohol and meaningless hook-ups. That seemed like the more likely choice. 

It was a crazy day to be a firefighter in Los Angeles. A tour bus ran off the road and into the roof of a house, a man got a fork through his hand, another a bottle of hot sauce in his neck, and they fished an arm out of a swimming pool. 

Back at the station, Captain Bobby Nash was complimenting everyone on their work. It was weird. 

"You are cheery," Hen commented.

"Why shouldn't I be?" He asked. 

"Cause it's weird, what happened to Captain Grumpy?" Jamie joked.

"You've been like this for weeks and it's starting to get on my nerves," Hen said. Jamie nodded in agreement. 

"Seriously, what's going on with you?" The younger woman asked. 

"I got another DXA scan," Buck announced as he walked over to the three firefighters. "Guess who dropped another half percent." 

"What?" Hen asked. 

"A DXA scan measures your body fat. You can see your percentage in every part of your body," he told her. 

"Oh yeah? They measure the fat in your head?" Chimney asked, now joining them too, and Jamie snorted and high-fived him. 

"Ah, see that would be funny, but we're about a week away from submissions being due for the Hot Days, Smoldering Nights: Men of the LAFD wall calendar, and I'm already at my goal weight, so it seems like my head is clearly working perfectly," Buck said, gesturing wildly while he spoke. 

"Do you really need to use that whole title?" Hen asked. She was more than against the idea of the calendar. "You could just say 'that idiotic, reductive, sexist calendar that insults the dignity of this organization and furthers the myth that all firefighters are male'." 

"Yeah, that's not any less words." 

"Hen, come on, it's for charity," Bobby said. 

"No, Bobby, you too?" 

"Well, why not? They say that a man is at his sexiest when he reaches 50." 

"Mm, amen," Jamie agreed, taking a sip of her water bottle. They all stared at her in amusement. "What? Sue me," she shrugged. 

"Okay, you're both wrong," Chimney chimed in, taking the attention off of Jamie. "I think sorority houses all across this great nation are ready for a new Asian sex symbol. It's our time." 

"I think it's great. You know? I like that you're both going up for it," Buck encouraged them. 

"Oh, because you don't think we stand a chance," Bobby argued.