Jolene
I sat outside of Deja Brew watching Cassie through the front window. She looked nervous, her hand coming up every so often to spin her earring.
Go see what she has to say, Lena.
Carefully avoiding the traffic on the main street, I hopped out of my car. The coffee shop’s door alarm jingle-jangled as I pulled it open and stepped inside. Regretting my decision already, I walked over to the table where Cassie was waiting. Without a word, I sat down, the tension so thick, you could cut it with a knife. A smiling server made her way over to us.
“I see your friend made it! Would you like to order now?”
Friend…yeah, right.
I spoke up first, “I’ll take a large cappuccino.”
Cassie nodded. “I’ll have what she’s having.” The server scurried off to make our drinks.
Not for the first time, apparently.
“Interesting choice of words,” I pointed out dryly.
“What?”
“That you’ll have what I’m havin’.”
She turned beet red. “I…I didn’t even think about it when I said it.”
I sighed loudly. “What do you need to say, Cassie?”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know where to begin,” she admitted.
“Start with when you started sleepin’ with my fiancé.” The server appeared at the table the moment I finished the sentence, her mouth dropping open in shock. She sat our drinks down and hurried off without a word.
I stared at Cassie. “Well? When did it start?”
She hung her head. “Three years ago.”
I know you fuckin’ lyin’.
I felt the air seeping out of my lungs. “Who initiated it?”
She took a sip of her cappuccino. “I’m not sure, honestly. We were both drunk the first time.”
When have you and Jace ever been drunk…wait a fuckin’ minute.
“Drunk together… that means that Dakota and I were there.”
She nodded.
I took a deep breath. “Why, Cassie?”
She folded her hands on the table. “The first time… like I said, we were drunk, so I don’t know… but it continued because…because it wasn’t supposed to. It was new. Dakota wasn’t touching me, you weren’t touching Jace. We used each other as an outlet for what we were missing.”
I had to give it to her. The bitch had some balls to sit across from me, telling me all of this.
“Why the engagements and the wedding planning then?
“Because we love y’all.”
Bullshit.
“Try again.”
“I know it doesn’t make sense, but we love y’all. I love you and Dak more than I can explain.”
I felt a lump forming in the back of my throat.
Of all the shit she’s divulged, is this what’s going to make me cry?
“It’s also because…” she trailed off.
“Because, what?” I prompted.
“Because we got off on making each other jealous.”
So, my entire future was being planned because jealousy made the sex between the two of you hotter?
I felt like I was going to be sick.
“I’m going to sit here for sixty more seconds, Cassie. Say what you came here to say.”
“I love Dakota, and I want to be with him. I don’t want him feelin’ like he has to choose between our relationship and your friendship. I think he already does so I would like for us to call a truce.”
If this is the issue, we’ve got no issue.
“A truce? You want to call a truce over you fuckin’ my fiancé inside the church, five minutes before my wedding was supposed to start?”
She hung her head.
“I want you to hear me clearly when I say this, Cass.”
She looked me in the eyes.
“Fuck you,” I told her.
With nothing else to say, I walked out of the café.
Dakota
Any man that tells you that the Top Gun scene where Goose dies – doesn’t get to him a little bit –is either lying to you or has no soul.
The six of us were hanging out in the station’s living room, watching the eighties classic and snacking on a vegetable tray.
“Wait, how did he die?” Dedric asked.
“His head hit the canopy when he ejected and it broke his neck,” I explained.
“Nah, man, fuck this movie.” He responded bitterly. “Y’all had me watchin’ this whole damn movie for that shit!”
Everyone except him laughed.
“One of the best parts of this movie is — riiiiiiing!
We all leapt to our feet.
“Battalion 1, engine 11 – respond to 4447 Waverly Mills Road – 4447 Waverly Mills Road in reference to a structure fire.
Goddamnit!
We dressed out and loaded up – Jace, Dedric, and I in one truck, Ben, Carter and Zeke in another.
Jace, who was driving our engine, laid on the horn at folks that wouldn’t pull over to make room for us to get through. “Move the fuck out the way!” he screamed.
Dedric grabbed ahold of the front seat, holding on as if his life depended on it.
“Easy, Jace,” I muttered. “Get us there alive, bud.”
“This is gonna be a bitch!” Jace yelled looking over at me. I nodded; my eyes fixed on the road ahead.
The air grew hazy as we neared the old papermill.
“Aight, Rook, this will be your biggest one yet so keep your eyes open and remember what you know!” I hollered over the siren.
He nodded; his eyes glazed over in fear.
We pulled up to the mill, the flames already blowing out of the side.
“Goddamn…”
We piled out in unison with the rest of our guys. “Zeke, hydrant, Rook, nozzle, the rest of you, primary. Everybody is goin’ home, repeat it!”
“Everybody is goin’ home!”
A group of teenagers were gathered near the entrance to the building, hollering and acting a fool. “Anybody inside?!”
One of the girls turned to us, screaming, “There’s five of our friends in there! Go get them!”
Grabbing my mic, I locked eyes with Jace.
“Battalion 1, engine 11 – on scene – working structure fire – five possible entrapment – establishing primary search – 1211 requesting mutual aid.”
“Command – 1211 – toning mutual aid.”
Jace, Carter, Ben and I began our primary search.
Carter got the first rescue, a teenage girl around the age of fifteen. I grabbed the second, a seventeen-year-old boy. Jace was right behind me with a third, a fourteen-year-old boy.
With two unaccounted for, we went back in just as mutual aid showed up on scene.
I was midway through the warehouse when the ceiling started to creak, a sure sign it was time to pull out of the search.
“1211 to Command – be advised – primary search is being terminated. Any active search there was about sixty yards before I was out. I watched as Jace or maybe, it was Carter, exited the building, a small bit of relief flooding my veins. The ceiling panels were falling all around me, igniting flames where there originally were none. A flaming portion of the wall collapsed in front of me, the door no longer in sight. I scanned my surroundings for a way around the blaze, but there didn’t seem to be one for me to find. The fire was spreading quickly, engulfing another wall nearby.
“Command – 1211 – requesting status of S&R”
I crawled over the smoldering debris, doing my best to stay low with my head down.
“1211 to Command. I’m tryin’!”
An interior wall fell against me, knocking my oxygen tank loose on my back.
“Battalion Chief to S&R – get the fuck out!”
I’m tryin’, Chief.
Using my axe, I cleared a path, suddenly able to see the flicker of emergency light. The fire rippled above my head, but I still felt nothing but exhaustion and relief.
Almost there, Dak.
My oxygen mask felt like it was starting to malfunction, the air getting harder and harder to breathe. I forced myself to crawl a few more feet, but then, I just couldn’t go anymore. I closed my eyes for what felt like, years.
“Chief! DK! Right here!” I felt someone grab the top of my coat. All at once, I felt stronger than ever, that strength fueled by the determination of my team. The flashing lights were the first thing I saw as Carter and Zeke guided me over to the truck.
Fuck, that was close.
I removed my useless air mask and did a once over of all of my guys.
Zeke, Carter, Ben, Dedric… where’s Jace?
“Chief! Where’s Jace?!”
He and I locked eyes as he realized what I’d asked him.
I snatched the radio off the tailboard of the truck.
“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! We have a firefighter down!”
Throwing down the radio, I took off towards the warehouse.
“Clayton, get back here!” Chief Hennessy hollered. “Dakota!!”
Dropping to my knees, I crawled back inside the inferno, screaming out for my oldest friend in the world.
My lungs burned without my mask on, the pain making it harder to breathe. I crawled across the warehouse, doing my best to keep my distance from the waves of fire that were dancing over my head.
I screamed his name as hard as my chest would allow.
After shoving a table out of the way, I paused to listen out for his PASS alarm.
It’s not beeping so he’s moving.
Ignoring the pain, I kept on crawling, the panic starting to set in. A crash behind me confirmed the worst of my fears – the ceiling at the entrance had collapsed. With a terror in my voice that even I didn’t recognize, I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Jace!! We gotta get outta here!” As I inched my way, propped up on my elbows, I heard a beeping sound from somewhere nearby. The fire was behind me, but it was walking my way and taking away precious time with every inch that it spread.
“Jace! Stay with me, brother, I’m comin’!!”
I’ve got to find him. Not just for him and for me, but for Lena. That’s the love of her life.
His alarm grew louder, both a blessing and a curse, until I finally caught the reflectives on his coat with my flashlight.
Thank you, Lord.
“Jace! C’mon brother, we’re goin’!” I snatched him to his feet were he collapsed against me. Through his mask, I could see his eyes were closed. “Wake up, Jace. Everybody goin’ home, remember! We goin’ home!”
I dragged both of us towards what, I prayed, was a window since everything behind us was on fire.
Please, God, let it be a window.
Relief overtook me as I saw that it was, knowing we would make it out of the building.
“Almost there, buddy, stay with me!” I gasped, my lungs damn near close to giving up. “Tell me what you got me for Christmas!”
The fire was starting to roll over us, the sound of portions of the ceiling coming down all around us. With my elbow, I knocked the glass out of the frame. With what felt like the last bit of strength that I had left, I shoved him out the window.
He landed with a thud about four feet down. My lungs decided it was the end of the line as I went out the window behind him.
With what seemed like the last breath in my body, I used his mic to call out. “We out.”
Lying next to my buddy, I closed my eyes and gave in to the sweet darkness.