One Foot In & One Foot Out

Chapter 39

As the years went by after Kostas and Jael's wedding day, things for the newlywed couple and their friends couldn't have been better. It hasn't been too long since the characters were last seen, but it's been long enough for some major changes to have happened.

LUCIA

Lucia Flowers' life may have changed but her personality did not. She is still the same goofy, jaunty, and spunky best friend to Jael.

She gained her Master's degree in Criminology with a focus in Psychology. Mainly studying the minds of criminals and why they do what they do. Lucia has always had a fascination with the criminal mind since, well, the tv show Criminal Minds. There was just something about Shemar Moore and that silky-smooth milk chocolate bald head of his that kept her glued to the tv and paying attention to every word that came out of his mouth.

For now, Lucia was teaching a class at the University of Memphis called "Crazy101: A Look Into the Criminal Mind". This was her third year teaching the class and every semester the class is full. Students loved Lucia and her goofy teaching style. She kept her students engaged and excited to learn. They worked on crime scenes, studied real cases, watched stuff in class, and did projects that they actually didn't mind doing. Who would have thought that Lucia would make such a great teacher?

She didn't want to stay a teacher for the rest of her days, however. She had aspirations of being a criminal profiler for the government one day and is working on getting to that point, but for now, teaching is where her heart settled.

Unfortunately, Lucia and Dominican Bruce are not married or dating anymore. They mutually went their way after being together for four years. Both of their careers were calling them in different directions, and they agreed to go their separate ways. They still keep in touch with each other, don't worry. They are best friends and even made one of those pacts that if neither of them was married by thirty-five, they would marry each other. However, two years ago, Lucia met the sweetest, and sexiest, firefighter.

She had been at home cooking for she and her brother when she received a phone call to hurry to the hospital. When the two of them left the house, neither turned off the oven so the delectable lasagna burned. Imagine the surprise when they made it back to Lucia's place to find a firetruck and a crew of firefighters putting their equipment away.

Apparently, because she had the oven on and because of the news of needing to rush to the hospital, Lucia's kitchen had been smoking. One of her next-door neighbors saw and smelled the smoke coming from her apartment and called the department. Thankfully the apartment was still intact, and nothing burned. Well, except the lasagna.

Lucia and Byron explained to the fire captain why the oven was still on and proceeded to walk away so they could head over to their parent's house to stay for the night, when one of the firefighters, Jason, walked up to Lucia and told her he would go inside of the apartment with her so she could grab some belongings to take. There was too much smoke in the apartment for her to stay there for the night and he wanted to make sure she was alright going in and out.

Somehow within that time span of going inside, gathering clothes and toiletries, and coming back outside, Jason asked out Lucia. Their conversation and vibes must've been pretty great because they've been going strong ever since.

So, the likelihood of Lucia and Bruce marrying each other by thirty-five doesn't seem so likely anymore.

BYRON

Baby Boy Byron.

Unlike his sister and friends, Byron was not tied down yet. He wasn't too sure if he ever would be for too long. For a while, Byron dated a girl he knew from college, the girl from the club downtown, but they didn't stay together past a year. He enjoyed dating and liked the thrill of it, but his life was just too busy to settle down just yet. Maybe in the coming years he would meet someone nice and be ready for it, but as of right now, he enjoys being single.