Fireproof

I sat in my truck in the parking lot of the fire department I worked for, tears rolling down my face and onto my jeans. I was fighting them so bad and trying to stop crying, but the tears kept coming which only made me mad at myself. I hated crying and it took it a lot to make me cry. I suppose walking in on your fiance’ of two weeks cheating on you with your best friend was a good enough excuse to shed a few tears. I wasn’t sure which hurt worse, the fact that Eric was cheating on me or the fact that my best friend was in the bed with him.

I finally composed myself enough and grabbed my uniform and gear bag out of the back of my truck and made my way into the firehouse trying to avoid whoever I could. I ran into Criss as I passed the kitchen. He turned to speak to me, but stopped when he realized that I wasn’t going to stop to speak to him. Criss and I were extremely close friends and had been since my early days at the department. He knew when to try to make me smile and when to just to leave me alone and he definitely picked up quickly that this was one of those times to just leave me alone. I was thankful that he didn’t follow me and make a scene through the rest of the house. I managed to make it to the bathroom without running into anyone else. That bought me whatever amount of time I decided to stay in the shower to try and pull myself together some.

After about ten minutes of letting the water run over me I managed to stop crying but decided that the shower wouldn’t make me feel any better otherwise. I finished cleaning up and got out to get dressed for work even though I wasn’t on the schedule for today. The last thing I wanted to do was go home and have to deal with all of this mess right now. To top everything else off, now that Eric and me would be no more, that meant I would have to go back to living in my dad’s house which I wasn’t too crazy about. My Dad had been killed three years ago in a plane crash leaving his newly built house out in the country to me and my twin brother, Asher. The house was huge and beautiful and it had been his dream house for most of his life, but it was hard to stay there by myself without my Dad there with me. Eric and I had started dating right before my dad died and when he died Eric had opened up his apartment to me so that I wouldn’t have to be alone. That’s where I had been staying ever since.

“Parker, are you dressed?”

The sound of Jep’s voice made me chuckle. I’m sure Criss had went and told him that I was here and clearly upset about something. Jep was the captain of the firehouse and he had become a huge father figure to me since my dad had died. He was a very stern man of few words, but he was also the most kind hearted, wise and caring man I had ever met next to my Dad. He was very vigilant and very seldom ever missed any detail, no matter how small. Whether Criss had tipped him or not, he would have picked up on the fact that something was going on.

I unlocked the bathroom door and Jep let himself in, closing the door behind him and locking it. He propped up against the marble counter and crossed his arms.

“Alright. What’s going on?”

“What makes you think something is wrong? I was bored and just wanted to come in today.”

I knew he was going to see right through me. I was half joking, half hoping it would work so I wouldn’t have to explain why I was really here.

His eyes narrowed as he remained motionless propped up on the sink. Yeah he definitely wasn’t falling for it.

“I got back early from my training class in Dallas and I went home and walked in on Eric and my best friend in bed together, missing their clothes and shocked to see me walking in the room.”

I looked away from him and finished buttoning up my uniform shirt over my undershirt, thinking I would start crying again, but surprisingly I didn’t. When I was sure that I wasn’t going to start crying again I looked back up at him. His eyes were still narrowed and his face was very firm. That look and silence we had come to know meant he was not happy at the second and we did what we could to avoid being the reason he that look on his face.

“He cheated on you, huh?”

“Yep. Nice to know I’m not good enough, huh?”

“Hey, “ His narrowed even more. “Do not ever let anybody make you feel like you are not good enough. Do you understand me, Lieutenant?”

“Yes sir.”

“Eric is an idiot and does not deserve to spend the rest of his life with you. I know that is not what you want to hear right now because your heart is broken and I have felt that pain before. A man does not do that sort of thing just once whether he’s already been doing it or this was the first time with more to follow. You deserve so much better than that, Parker. Don’t you let this get you down. You are a strong, beautiful woman and you will make some great guy very happy one day. Eric was not privileged enough to be that guy. And as for the so called best friend, well, I really have no advice for that.”

I chuckled. “No advice needed, Captain. They can have each other because neither of them will have me anymore. Anyway, that’s why I’m here right now and I would very much like permission to stay to keep my mind off of things and try to start moving on from three wasted years of my life in the relationship department.”

“I have no problem with that.”

“Thanks. Oh, Eric has a shift in two hours. I may run go collect my stuff if we aren’t on a call.”

“That’s fine too. Take Criss with you. Come here.”

He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight which was a side of him that he very rarely showed. I returned the hug to let him know I appreciated his advice and for being there for me.

“Thanks, Jep.”

“Anytime. Keep your head up, kid.”

The afternoon passed uneventfully and I decided that I should go get my stuff while Eric was out of the apartment. He had been calling my phone non-stop and after stopping me from throwing it out of the window, Jep answered and told him that I was conducting a training session and was tied up. That wasn’t true of course but Jep made it sound pretty official. He then resorted to sending text messages that I just deleted without even reading them.

“I knew there was something funny about this guy.” Criss said as I hurriedly threw my stuff into trash bags.

“Oh whatever. You two were best buddies.”

“Yeah, not anymore. I don’t get the whole cheating thing. It’s just not cool. And it’s one thing to cheat with someone you don’t know, but with your best friend? That’s low.”

“Oh well. His loss. I have a house full of guys who have my back. I don’t need him.” I said as I took my engagement ring off and left it on Eric’s night stand.

“That’s right.”

“I’m done. Let’s go. I can do without the rest of this mess.”

I was glad that I had been able to get my stuff and avoid seeing Eric again. I honestly didn’t care if I ever saw him again. The more I thought about him the madder I got. Criss went with me to drop my bagged up stuff back at my Dad’s house which looked as if someone had been living there regularly thanks to the guys who kept the grounds neat and cleaned up. The pool was just begging to be jumped into and the grass was neatly cut. The huge hangar and shed sat off to the side of the house next to a concrete runway and taxiway for mine and my dad’s airplanes that he owned. I hadn’t flown any of the planes since he had been killed and he would have been very disappointed about that. We used to fly almost every day unless I was working or he was off with his aerial stunt team doing an air show. While I wasn’t looking forward to having the huge three story house all to myself, I had a very calming feeling that I was home.

“You know I would be glad to come occupy a bedroom if you ever don’t want to be by yourself. This place is freaking amazing.” Criss said.

“Pack your crap and come on then. Because I definitely don’t want to be here by myself.”

“I’m going to take you up on that. The sky is getting dark. The weather is supposed to be hell this afternoon and tonight. We should get back before the madness starts.”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

Summer weather in Oklahoma was about as bipolar as weather could get. We were no stranger to tornadoes and had already had our small share of smaller ones. Unfortunately the weather was something that couldn’t be stopped or prevented so all we could do was be ready for whatever came our way. I had a nagging feeling as we headed back to the station and the skies continued to darken that this wasn’t going to be a lazy afternoon for us. Staying busy after what I had been through today probably wasn’t such a bad idea though. We didn’t even get out of the truck and into the station before the rain started and as soon as we walked into the station the alarms started going off. The day had officially begun.