A Fireman's Love

Between a Rock and a Soft Spot

We wandered back into the day room and Dylan proceeded back to the bunk room to sleep. Ana lingered behind with me. I threw myself down into the tough, brown couch and laid still with my face plastered into the seat.

"Well then, Hayley...." Ana commented as she sat down in one of the chairs, "Are you comfortable?"

I groaned irritably into the chair.

"You know I had this weird dream last night..." she trails off and I lift my head with curiosity, "you and I were sitting in the back of the ambulance when my brother climbed up in and slapped me across the face," she continues, "you turned around and yelled 'Fucking no!' and ran to get Dylan and he beat his ass," she stopped and smiled at me.

See, there's only a few things that can really get to her and one of those is her family. They're rude and I could even call them cruel- her brother being the worst...—

BAM! My thoughts are interrupted as the door is kicked in by the one and only stranger yelling, "What's going on in here, girlies?!"

"Meatball! Dylan's trying to sleep!" Ana calls to him as he runs and attempts to tackle her. "No! Stop!" she shouts running around the room, shoving chairs in between her and her attacker. I had sat up on the couch and began laughing at her trials.

"Oh you wanna laugh?" he looked over and smirked before pacing towards me.

"No!" I shout, scrambling up from the couch, but before I could get away, he had his large hands grasped around my sides once again and pulled me down onto the couch on top of him. He flipped me over so that we were face to face, looking into each others eyes. We sat there for a moment before I came back to reality and quickly pried myself off of him.

He sat there for a minute, still dazed, before relaxing back into the chair. I glanced over at Ana and she was smiling. 

"Shut up!" I shouted at her and she shook her head, looking towards a now confused Meatball.

"So really, what're you guys doing?" he asked, curiousity in his voice.

"I was actually just about to go back to sleep," Ana yawned before turning and walking towards the bunk room where Dylan slept.

"Well fine then! Go to sleep!" Meatball snapped at her. "I hope you're staying up," he glanced at me. I nodded and sat down on the couch a safe distance from him.

"Relax, I'm not going to bite."

"Well I don't know that," I sneered at him and he scooted closer. I was already at the end of the couch so there was really nowhere to go. I was stuck outside of my comfort zone.

I glanced up at the tv, which was still on, to see cartoons playing across the screen.

"Let's get out of here and socialize," he stood up from the chair and turned to look at me. I shook my head. "Come on, it's no big deal!" he outstretched a hand and I stared at it for a minute before taking it. He pulled me up out of the chair and we walked out into the bay.

I rubbed my upper arm tentatively while following him to the fire side day room. He held the door open with his body and I skulked into the room.

"It's okay," he whispered to me, lightly edging me forward with his hand on my back.

"Hi!" one of the girls among the group of men on the couch waved to me. She was very beautiful. Older, but gorgeous with her hair tied up in a smooth ponytail. "I'm Sherry," she smiled towards me and I waved weakly. The men followed her actions with many different greetings and another one reacted the same as when I first met Meatball; "Howdy stranger," and I blushed at him. He was just as cute as Meatball, but tall and slender with beautiful brown eyes and an angel as a voice. 

"You can sit down if you want..." I was pulled back to earth by Meatball's voice. I glimpsed at the room and saw only an empty love seat. I walked over and sat down in it. Meatball followed and plopped into the seat, squishing himself up against me. The room was engulfed in everyone's chatter.

"You can relax, you know," he murmed to me and I nodded but didn't oblige. I instead focused my attention on the individual conversations, laughing and smiling at some of them. I didn't say much, but I was always listening. Eventually I let out a yawn and began to doze off.

"You tired?" Meatball whispered the question to me. I nodded and he pulled himself up off of the chair. "Do you want to sleep here or back in your bunks?"

"It's lonely in my bunks..." I said softly, looking up into his eyes. He nodded and took my hand, leading me to their bunk rooms.

"You get some, Meatball!" one of the men called. I scoffed and turned to give him a death glare.

"Ignore him, he's the idiot of the bunch," Meatball whispered into my ear as we walked into one of the bunk rooms and sealed the door behind us. "Well... There's a bed here," he said motioning to the left side of the room, "And there's beds everywhere else in the room. However, this is my bed," he pointed to the larger tempurpedic in the back corner of the room. "You're also welcome to join me there, but you might fall out!"

I glanced around the room at the beds as he turned the lights out and climbed onto his and underneath of the dark blue blanket. I waltzed over to one of the empty beds and kicked my shoes and work pants off, revealing my black exercising shorts. I climbed up into the tougher bed and snuggled up against the pillow. Meatball was facing me and I could see his eyes staring at me in the shadows. I shivered a little with slight discomfort, then shut my eyes and dozed off into sleep.