Flames & Firehoses (Arsonist X Firefighter)

Chapter 8

"A little bit of Henry in my life, a little bit of Danny by my side, a little bit of Mike is all I need; worrying that I'm a dyke, my parents will not be!" I sang along to the tune of Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5" at the top of my lungs with a grin, while I put clean dishes away into my kitchen cabinets above the sink.

My parody of the song made me chortle - especially the last line I had improvised - until I was laughing out loud and wheezing for air! Usually, I created all the noise I needed; but, today was different! For the first time in a while, I heard the silence around me: I was aware that I was alone...and it sucked! There was no witty comeback or dirty insinuation, in return! I was free from having to converse with anyone, so the only input of thought in my brain came from ideas I designed myself. The solitude that had once been desirable was, now, disappointing!

I snatched my phone off the kitchen counter and paused the happy mambo, playing in the background. Hitting the calendar icon, I scrutinized my schedule for set dates. I praised myself for remembering to color code all of my entries as "work", "personal interests", a "date" (or, on the rare occasion, a "doctor's appointment")! It appeared that I had nothing lined up with any of the three men in my rolodex, so I scrolled through the board of my previous text messages. Henry's correspondence with me was at the top, Danny's just below and Mike's was separated by Danny's with a thread from Joe.

"Ugh! My boss texted and called me on the day I was late to check up on me!" I groaned. "I can't stand that micro-managing bastard!"

The order of the text messages interested me, however! Henry and Danny were close competitors, in my mind! Mike was a coworker I wanted to ignore...as much as Joe, at this point! I didn't have to choose between Henry and Danny...at least, not for a little while.

"Until one of them cops an attitude about the arrangement...sort of like Danny did, when I stayed with him for a couple of days!" I thought sourly.

Going to work today was the last thing I wanted to do - especially because I was in a relatively happy mood and I didn't want to ruin it! I sighed and slung the clean dish-drying rag over my shoulder. I couldn't lose my job, no matter how much I hated it!

Dressing in a plum-purple, short-sleeved blouse; plain, black, comfortably-loose, cotton pants and simple, black, horizontally strapped heels, I examined myself in the mirror with a scrutinous glare; then, took a little extra time on my makeup, using colors I hadn't touched in a while. As I rummaged through my cosmetics, my fingers found a tube of bright-red and I instantly felt a surge of energy flow through me! Since I had finished my ensemble already, however, I would wait until tomorrow to use the forgotten treasure! I set the tube on the bathroom counter, deliberately placing it in the center of a bare spot, where I couldn't miss it the next day.

Having completed my morning regimen, I hopped down the stairs from my apartment to the parking lot with a confident smile. It was a rare moment - when I felt that I truly had all my shit together and was ready to face the day! I drove to work - without cussing at nearby traffic and without passing slow drivers, who normally inflicted so much rage in me that I (eventually) started clawing my hair out and punching the car horn. Allowing my inner autopilot to take over, I arrived just in time...and slightly baffled by how I got to my destination: I barely remembered the drive! For some, strange reason, I shrugged off the lapse of memory as a pleasant skip in my brain's recorder and walked into the lobby.

"Good morning, Karen!" I greeted the receptionist, when I was about halfway across the floor to her. "How was last night?" I beamed with a soft tone of voice, keeping the volume nearly as low as a whisper.