A Fireman's Love

Ride Home

"...those deep blue, need you eyes..." There was a shuffling of the body near me and I peeled my eyes awake to see Meatball climbing off of his bed. I laid there for a moment, my eyelids low and my eyes sparkling.

"Ugh," I groaned as he reached to turn the light on.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," he teased me. I glared at him, then shoved my face into the cheap white pillow. "Now, you don't want me to wake you up. You won't like it."

I groaned again. He shuffled over to the edge of the bed and yanked the covers off, so that my body was revealed and no longer wrapped in warmth. "Why?!" I whined, looking up at him with pleading eyes.

"Because career will keep you awake if you stay here. Believe me, I would stay if I could, too!" He placed the blanket back onto the bed and yanked the pillow from under my head. "Do you need a ride home?"

I yawned, "Ana usually takes me home... I wouldn't ask you to travel so far out into the middle of nowhere..." I began sliding off of the bed intentionally like a blob of jell-o.

"It really wouldn't be a problem for me," he said, laughing at my waking up strategy.

"Well that, my dear friend, is between you and Ana. I don't mind either way." I stood up, putting the rest of my clothes back on and wobbling around like a drunkard.

"Well, let's go see what Ana has to say about this, huh?"

We walked back to the other side of company 8, into the EMT day room. "So that's where you were hiding!" Ana called to me and I half laughed. Dylan gave me a strange look and continued chatting with one of the career EMTs.

"So miss Ana, do you mind if I take this one home?" Meatball asked, motioning towards me.

"Uh, not at all if she doesn't mind. The sooner I get home, the better. I'll pass right back out." She laughed and reached for her helmet and vest before walking out of the door.

Meatball turned towards me and smiled, "Looks like you're stuck with me!"

"It seems I am. But you sir, I do not know your real name, and I am very curious. What is it?"

"Ivan," he answered simply. "Happy?"

I nodded.

"Are you ready to leave, now?"

"Yes, I'm ready. Bye Dylan, bye Ana!" I waved to them.

I grabbed my own helmet and vest as we exited through the same door as Ana. We walked up to a kodiak brown, Ford Super Duty truck and Ivan opened the door for me. I threw the helmet and vest into the back seat before climbing up into the rugged seats. He climbed into his side and we shot out of the driveway and headed towards my house.

It was silent in the car, almost awkward. I gazed out of the window, watching the plenthora of trees pass by at a rapid pace. It was four-thirty in the morning, there was only a tiny line of blue light at the base of the sky.

Curiosity blossomed in my mind and I spoke before thinking, "So what's with all the touching?"

"What?" He was clearly confused by my inquiry.

"Since the night I met you—last night—you've been touching me and it's a little weird."

"I'm sorry, does it bother you? I'll stop if you'd like. I usually do it with every female I meet, honestly. You can ask Ana."

"Oh." I interlocked my fingers in my lap, sighing.

"Well, it looks like we're here." He motioned towards the road and I looked up.

"Yep, that's my driveway. Ana usually just pulls next to the mailbox."

"No, I'll pull down the driveway. It looks creepy out there." I was comforted by his choice. Someone had recently broken into my father's car and stolen some of his equipment, so I was on edge.

Ivan climbed out of his side of the car and opened my door before I could do so myself. I grabbed my things from the back and hopped out of the truck.

"Thank you," I smiled towards him.

"No problem at all." He climbed back into his truck and watched me enter the house before pulling out of the driveway.

"Get any calls?" My dad was awake and already asking questions. It was too early for that.

"Yeah, just a frequent flyer. Thought she broke her butt," I laughed a little and walked into my room to pass out.

                                                                                ****

Saturday morning I arrived at the station about a half an hour early with my father. I was going to be there with a different group of people for a few hours. An aggressive middle-aged woman with blonde hair that could beat the sense out of you, and her son. My father had ran with the woman before and told me her name was Kristine.

We entered the empty room and plopped down into separate chairs. He played around on his iPad, while I watched tv. I wasn't ever comfortable around my father anymore. Anything he said could easily irritate me and I'm not sure why. Then again, he did share something he shouldn't have. Just the other day, Ana shared what he said to her. He said that I didn't do well keeping things to myself and I always told my mom everything until my mom started bugging out because of my weight. (I'm not anorexic, I just have a difficult time gaining weight.) Personal, family things I would have told her when I was ready. I was even more pissed that my mom had shared the secrets I had told her with him. Rage burned deep in my heart and I haven't shared with either of them since.

I heard what sounded like the ambulance in the bay.

They must've just gotten back from the hospital.

The door was pushed in and in came Kristine with her son behind her. My jaw dropped. He was tall and slender, with a baby face.

"Hi! I'm Josh." He reached a hand out to shake after pulling his sunglasses off, revealing his pierce blue eyes.

"Hey," I smiled, feeling my face fill with warmth as I shook his hand.

"So we're hungry," Kristine mentioned, "I think we should go to Cracker Barrel."

My dad nodded, "Sure, let's go."

I just love Cracker Barrel.

We all headed towards the ambulance to leave, but before I got to the ambulance, I was stopped by Ivan and one of his friends.

"Where are you guys going?" He teased.

"Cracker Barrel," I clapped my hands excitedly and he laughed at me.

"Well, you're not going without us!" He smiled and called the rest of the firemen onto their truck before winking at me and climbing in. I got into the back of the ambulance and both of us pulled out for Cracker Barrel.