BURNOUT! ━ 911.

three.

      The minute Ollie got home from her first twenty-four hour shift, she let out a loud groan, slamming herself down on the couch. From the kitchen, Ellis poked her head out, eyebrows raising. "Long shift?" She then stepped out to lean in the doorway, donned in her baby blue scrubs, ready to start her own first shift as a surgical resident at the hospital.

   The fact that Ellis wouldn't be home when she would made Ollie frown. The one thing she needed in a time like this was some reassurance from her best friend, but she decided to let things work itself out. In response to her friend's question, the brunette snorted, starting to pull off her work boots. "It actually wasn't that bad. A pretty normal shift. The shift isn't the part that's all stressful, though." She admitted, setting her shoes down and pushing her hair out of the way to look up at her best friend.

   Ellis' eyebrows raised, and she moved to flop down next to Ollie before checking her watch."I have about twenty minutes until I have to leave for my shift. Spill." She crossed her legs, leaning back against the arm of the couch and completely opening up her ears to whatever problems Ollie had.

   That was one of the things that had made Ollie love Ellis so much, ever since they had first met at the hospital in San Diego. Ollie had been bringing in a patient and Ellis had helped take the call as a surgical intern, and they later ended up at the same bar, where Ollie had asked about the patient and Ellis had been happy to report that they were perfectly okay. From there, they had hit it off easily, resulting in them moving out of San Diego and moving in together in Los Angeles, where Ollie would join the 118 and Ellis would become a surgical resident at the hospital closest to the station so that they'd still see each other occasionally.

   Ellis had become the only person Ollie had confided in since her horrible teenage years, and had broken through every barrier Ollie set up with a skip in her step. She was sunlight, radiating warmth on everything around her. She had her bad days, but she always made sure to make a good situation out of it, even if it was muttering to herself about how 'it is what it is' or stress-eating until she was bloated for a good two weeks.

   Ellis was her best, and only, friend, and nothing could come between that.

   Which is why Ollie wasted no time in spilling everything. About how she had just seen Evan for the first time since breaking his heart ten years ago, about how she worked with Eddie after amicably leaving him behind a couple years before, about how it seemed like every part of her life was meeting together in one poorly drawn circle that she didn't want to be caught in the middle in.

   Her roommate was especially intrigued about the Eddie part. "Eddie? Like the one that genderswaps your name every time you see him or sends you pictures of his son, Eddie?" She questioned, raising her eyebrows. One thing about Ellis is that she never forgot any small details, only big ones. She could tell you all about every scrape on their apartment door and yet not be able to describe the steps on how to get to said door.

   Ollie raised her thumb to her mouth, chewing on her cuticles and muttering over them. "The one I slept with in El Paso and then befriended, Eddie."

   The gasp that came out of her best friend was almost   inhuman, and Ellis immediately slapped her hand over her mouth. "Two ex-lovers as coworkers? You are living a romance book, Olivia!"

   In response, Ollie cringed. "Don't call me Olivia. And it's not a romance book. As far as I know, Eddie still has a divorce and a child under his belt. And I don't want to start anything up with Evan again. That'd just bring me back to bad places. As far as I'm concerned, he is a big-headed coworker that I want to do nothing but stray away from." And when Ellis didn't speak and yet Ollie still felt her pointed gaze on her, she looked up to meet her deep, doe eyes, she raised a single brow. "What?"

   Ellis shrugged, waving her hands up in the air to wave off the subject before standing up, planting a solid kiss on Ollie's head. "Nothing. I got to go, but I'll see you later. I promise to see you during our shift change." She swore, not even giving her a chance to respond before grabbing her bag and slipping out of the apartment door, leaving Ollie to lock the door behind her in her rush to leave.

   Ollie let out a large sigh, slumping down against the couch and not even registering that she was yet to change out of her uniform. Her phone buzzed against her leg and she sighed again as she pulled it out of her pocket, lighting up the screen to read whatever had just come in and smiling when she saw that it was Ellis texting her a proper 'goodbye.'

   She had just sent a response before another text came through, and her brow furrowed at the unknown number.

UNKNOWN: Heard you were in town! Would love to meet up with you and catch up!

UNKNOWN: It's Maddie, by the way. Lol.

   Ollie's eyebrows raised as the second text came through, eyes widening slightly. Now, as much as she didn't want to see Evan, she definitely didn't want to see Maddie even more.

   Ollie and Evan had met in high school, their sophomore year. As a rambunctious teenager, Evan had never been good at focusing in class, and therefore his grades had started to tank. It was only a little later that she knew it was due to his parental issues, but she still had taken some pity on him and therefore offered to tutor him. Despite her good girl attitude and his bad boy one, they became quick friends and, soon, started dating.

   They never called it love, but it was close enough. Ollie met Evan's family, although it was much to his dismay. She became close friends with his sister, Maddie, despite the latter being years older than her. It was a good deal – one that she had given up when her parents and sister had passed, causing her to drop out of high school to complete her education online until she moved to Texas to train to be a firefighter. All of this had to happen without Evan, she knew it — but he didn't.

   Ollie knew that she had hurt him. She had stared outside the window as he had walked up to her front door multiple times, knocking and calling her name into the door of the empty house, apologizing for how he had hurt her, even though he never had. But she knew it was best. Can't suddenly lose someone that you walk away from first.

   Unfortunately, while losing Evan sucked, so did losing Maddie. She had become like another sister to her, motherly and caring, always giving her answers to problems that possibly couldn't be solved. No one was like Maddie, so gentle and caring, until she met Ellis.

   With a soft sigh, Ollie turned on her phone from where it had gone to sleep in her mental absence, quickly typing out another text.

OLLIE: Would love to meet up with you, too. I'm free until my next shift. Let me know.

   The response came almost instantly.

MADDIE: Yeah! I'll reach out to you whenever I'm free and done packing.

Sending a message that she'd answer whenever she called, Olivia finally threw her phone to the side, leaning her back onto the couch until her eyes drifted close, not even worrying about still being in her uniform still.