5. Lochlan
CHAPTER 5
Lochlan
It’s not like I don’t already have a lot of friends. The One-Thirteen are more like family than buddies, but then I also see my bros from high school kinda regularly and a few of the guys from the academy. I always seem to have a birthday or a cookout coming up, and if I want to watch a game or shoot some shit, there’s always a bunch of people I can hit up.
So I’m not sure why I’m this excited to see Dario again, but I am. We agreed to meet after he finishes work, which leaves me at a loose end for most of the day. Normally I have plenty of stuff to get on with after I’ve been on for twenty-four hours, like chores and going to the gym. Except I’ve been useless since I got off shift this morning. We didn’t get any major calls last night, so I actually slept at the station, and that means I couldn’t even waste time napping the hours away today.
There’s something about Dario that I find fascinating. I guess most of my friends are loud mouths, like myself. Dario is quiet, but when he does talk, he’s so smart and funny. I dunno, man. I just want to see him again so bad.
I decide to head over to the beach early with Rocky and get some fish tacos. He’s still sleeping a lot, so I figure he can get excited on the ride over there, sniff and run around for a bit, then chill out while I have my food.
Once I’m in motion, I feel better. I’m mad I’ve wasted the day and regret not doing the laundry like I should have, but I can make up for it tomorrow. Maybe I’m just excited about sharing my new pet parent era with someone going through the same sort of thing. The guys at work are already kinda over me quoting puppy training books at them all shift. Dario gets it, though.
We had so much fun at the class on Saturday. Cuz of my shift pattern, I’ll have to miss next week, but Dario already promised me he’d take notes and meet with me to go over what Rocky and I are gonna miss. See? That’s another reason to like the guy. He’s kind, and people aren’t always kind these days. My momma taught me that was the most important thing you could be in life. People are born smart or rich or whatever. But anyone can choose to be nice if they want to be, and that’s important.
I park my truck and make sure Rocky’s leash is secure before getting out at the seafront. Even though I’ve lived my whole life in Redwood Bay, the sight of the greeny-blue Pacific Ocean still gets me all the time. It’s just so frigging beautiful. I inhale the salt air deeply, feeling the afternoon sun on my skin and warm breeze through my air, grateful that this is the place I get to call home.
The taco stand is always busy, but I manage to snag a picnic table for Rocky and I. With a few crunchy, tasty tacos in my belly, I relax. Dario texted to say he was leaving work, so he should be here soon with his big mutt, Queenie. I like her a lot, too. She’s a real boss lady and doesn’t take any shit from my poorly mannered son. I love that Dario rescued her as well. Not quite the same way I got Rocky, but a rescue nonetheless.
“Oh my god!” a young woman cries. I look up to see her and her friend pointing at Rocky. “Is that your puppy?”
“Sure is!” I tell them proudly. “You wanna pet him? He’s real friendly.”
I notice the women are both really cute, and I like how careful they are when crouching down and fussing over my little man. He’s straining on his leash and doing his best to escape, but I’ve got a tight hold of the other end. The ladies coo over him, calling him adorable and precious and asking me questions about him.
I’m not that dumb. I can tell the first gal in particular is flirting with me. Body language is like fire to me. I might not be able to always explain it, but I can usually read it no trouble. Usually, I’d be excited and maybe ask for her number. But instead, I find my attention drifting back toward the small parking lot, watching out for Dario.
I guess it would be rude, right? If we agreed to meet up and he found me paying attention to some girls. They are very nice and there’s two of them, so in theory we could have made a foursome of it. But my body language skills include a damn good gaydar, as they used to say back in the nineties. I’m almost certain that Dario’s queer in some way, so for whatever reason it just doesn’t feel right for me to try and score a date when we’re supposed to be hanging. I’d be upset if he was looking all starry-eyed at some guy when I arrived, I reckon.
“Oh, there’s my buddy!” I say excitedly as soon as I see Dario pull into the parking lot in a dark blue Toyota Corolla.
The ladies seem to get the hint without any hard feelings. “Enjoy your evening,” the first gal says with a wink. They tell Rocky goodbye and walk on their way.
I gather my trash to dump in the can, then stroll over to meet Dario as he and Queenie are walking over. “You made it!” I say, even though it’s obvious that he did.
I’m just happy he’s here. Maybe a part of me was worried that he wouldn’t show. It’s funny how I’m worried about impressing him, like he’s one of the cool kids from school. He’s got that ‘I have my shit together in life’ vibe that I’m still working toward.
“I’m starting to find my way about,” Dario says with a little smile, glancing down as Queenie and Rocky sniff each other’s butts with wagging tails.
It’s probably weird of me and this is something I’d never admit out loud in case it made anyone else feel weird…but Dario is like kinda really pretty. Is it okay to say a dude is pretty? He has these sharp cheekbones and super long eyelashes. His smile is shy, but it’s so nice. Pretty just feels like the right word.
Rather than say any of that, though, I indicate the beach and grin. “You’ll be a local in no time. Redwood Bay is the best. So chill, but not snooty like other towns round here. And slap bang in between LA and San Diego. Actually, scratch that. Way more important is that it’s equal distance between Disneyland and Legoland!”
Dario chuckles, and we naturally start walking together. The taco truck and parking lot are up higher than the beach, like most of the coastline around here. So we head down the steps set in the grassy verge.
“Isn’t there a small amusement park around here as well?” Dario asks.
I nod, keeping my focus on the wooden boards. My feet are like boats and I don’t wanna slip in front of my new friend and embarrass myself. “Critter Canyon Park. It’s got this cute frontier vibe to it. Technically closer to San Clemente, but it doesn’t really fit with their upmarket scene, so they let us claim it.”
“Sounds fun,” Dario says as we reach the sand.
“It is,” I agree, watching as he lets Queenie off her leash. Rocky’s not old enough to trust him like that yet, but she’s a good girl. After just one class together I can tell she’s not the kind to bolt off. “I haven’t been in forever. Hey! If you felt like checking it out, I’d totally be up for going with.”
He blinks at me. “Really?”
I shrug. “Absolutely. Oh, only if you’d want to, though. Sorry, I keep barging my way into your life,” I say a little sheepishly. I don’t want him to feel like he has to put up with me.
But he shakes his head with that small but pretty smile again. “Honestly, I think if you don’t bully me into being friends, I’ll never make any. So, um, thank you.”
I puff out my chest, so happy he’s okay with me being a pain in his ass. “Awesome. Maybe we can go when it’s a little closer to the holidays. Obviously, we don’t get snow around here, but they decorate it all for Christmas and that at least looks cold. A lot of the rides are a few decades old now, but they have this damn cool runaway train coaster if you’re into that sort of thing.”
He gives me a look I can’t quite read. But before I can worry about it, he nods. “I love that sort of thing, actually. If you don’t think it’s, um, too childish or anything.”
I frown, wondering why he’d be worried about something like that. “I think if you enjoy something and it’s not hurting nobody else, who cares if other people think it’s childish or dumb? Life’s too short, man. We have to live in the moment. Catch that fish.”
“Hm?” He raises his eyebrows questioningly at me.
“You know,” I say as we idle along the beach. “Seize the day. Carp diem.”
His smile goes from shy to kilowatt in a second. “Carp…carpe,” he says with a laugh. “Clever.”
I thought it was a particularly stupid joke, so the fact that he thinks it’s smart makes me beam.
“So did you know much about Redwood Bay before you moved here?” I ask, curious to hear an outsider’s perspective on the town I’ve lived my whole life in.
“I’d never heard of it until I got the job interview,” Dario admits with a gentle laugh. “I was back living with my folks in San Diego, so it was nice to see how easy the drive between the two was right away. But when I got here, I just felt sort of immediately relaxed. It’s peaceful, but there’s still a thrum of liveliness running through it.”
“I’ve never lived in a city,” I say. “I don’t know if it would be my jam. I create enough of my own chaos to be surrounded by it as well.” He laughs at my silly joke again. I don’t know why his opinion is so important to me, but I love cracking that shy exterior and seeing him happy. “Plus,” I continue, “I don’t think I could ever move somewhere the ocean wasn’t on my doorstep, so I guess I never even tried anywhere else. Is that lame?”
Dario quickly shakes his head. “I love traveling and I do think it’s great to experience other cultures and ways of living if you’re fortunate enough to have the means to do so. But home is where the heart is. If your heart is happy, why leave your home?”
“That’s some deep philosophical shit right there, dude,” I say in awe, shaking my head and grinning.
Damn. This guy could be friends with anyone, yet he was worried he was putting a meathead like me out of my way. I’m the lucky one here.
“How long were you in San Diego?” I ask. I hope I’m not bugging him, but I want to find out what makes him tick.
He chews his lip, and his shoulders hunch very slightly. Huh. I’ve definitely touched a nerve. Damn it, that’s the last thing I want to do. I’m about to tell him he doesn’t have to answer any of my dumb questions if he doesn’t want to, when he starts talking.
“I grew up there. Well, in the suburbs, so I think I’m probably more of a small-town guy in my soul as well. That’s why I like it here. But I went to college in Arizona and lived in Phoenix for a few years.”
I’m about to ask what prompted the change, but I don’t like the tension he’s carrying. Something tells me Phoenix wasn’t the best place for him.
Thankfully, he gives me an opportunity to change the subject and hopefully bring back that big smile again. “Did you always want to be a firefighter?”
“Oh, hell no,” I inform him with a wink. “I was gonna be Batman. When my pa told me that probably wasn’t gonna happen, I sulked for like a month. Then I was gonna be an astronaut, until I realized it’s mostly about math, and Martians aren’t real. Then I was gonna be an archeologist, but I figured Indiana Jones probably found all the cool booby-trapped places already. Finally, in high school, I seriously committed to becoming a Charger. Worked my ass off on that field for it.”
“What happened?” Dario asks.
I shrug. “I wasn’t good enough.”
“To be Batman?”
I drop my head back and laugh so hard it makes Rocky and Queenie come running to my feet so they can bark at me. When I look back down, Dario is grinning at me. Damn, I love that.
“To be fair,” I say once I stop wheezing, “Batman is mostly about all his fancy toys, and considering my family aren’t billionaires, that would have always put a dent in that particular plan.” I shake my head. “I really loved football, but I had a couple of close calls with injuries that already rattled me and scared the shit out of my mom. We had a college scout come watch us, but it was mostly to see this other kid, Cassius Garda, who really did go off and play for the Seahawks for like a decade. When the scout wasn’t interested in me, that was basically the end of the line.”
“I’m sorry,” Dario says sympathetically, but I shake my head.
“You know, I wasn’t as heartbroken as I thought I was going to be. Yeah, I was kinda lost for a while. I had okay grades, but I wasn’t sure if college was going to be right for me, especially after my folks had already helped pay for my sister. She got a partial scholarship and worked jobs alongside studying, but still. They said they’d do whatever they could, but I wasn’t convinced enough to get into all that debt. Then we had this career fair at school, and as soon as I saw the firefighter’s booth, it was like a lightbulb went off in my head.”
“That’s amazing,” Dario says, sounding totally sincere. “Were your parents okay with that?”
“Well, my momma still loves to fret,” I say with a laugh. “But her and Pa are damn proud, yeah. They like to tell stories about some of the crazy shit I’ve done. But the truth is, we rescue a lot of cats out of trees and clean up after a lot of fender benders.”
Dario shrugs. “I bet the cats and their owners are still very grateful.”
“Yeah, they are,” I say warmly. “How about you? You always know you wanted to work in IT?”
He scoffs. “After the second family computer I pulled apart then couldn’t put back together, my dad gave in and bought me my own one to mess around with. I broke it a lot still, but I learned a hell of a lot at the same time. So yeah, when it came to college, I knew I wanted to keep studying coding and all that. I figured I’d end up in Silicon Valley, but…”
He’s thoughtful for a few seconds, and I can feel the weight of Arizona on him again. But then he shakes himself.
“I’m actually glad to be down south, closer to home. The start-up I’m working for is really exciting. It’s nice to be on the ground level while the company is just beginning to spread its wings.”
I love the way his eyes shine when he talks about his job. It’s how I feel about the One-Thirteen. Even when I’m bone tired and stink of soot, even when it’s been a bad call where we weren’t able to save everyone, I know that I was put on this earth to help people.
Dario looks like he feels the same way about making computers run. And—hey—everyone uses computers. So he’s also helping people in a way, right?
We arrive at the small pier and turn around. I could have walked all the way down to Mexico, but the sun is already going down, and besides, Rocky can’t go too far before it wipes him out.
We talk more about work. I tell Dario about some of the more unusual calls we been on, and he tries to explain what it is he actually does with computers. I don’t really follow it other than he speaks a couple of different coding languages and that his company provides some kind of data storage solutions…or something. Hell, I barely passed Spanish even though I knew it was really important to try, so if he can understand not one but two different languages, color me impressed.
As we get closer to the parking lot, though, I can feel myself getting distracted. It seems like we only just got here, and I’m not ready for it to be over yet. I don’t have any plans tonight. I suppose I could do that laundry, but…
“Have you eaten?” I blurt out.
He blinks at me, probably confused as we were just talking about how paperwork is annoying in any job. “Uh, no, actually. I picked Queenie up straight from the office.”
“Would you wanna grab something together?” I ask.
I know I just had those tacos, but they barely touched the sides. I’d have no problem with more food if it meant our time together doesn’t have to end so soon.
And there I go again, barging in his life. “Unless you have plans or whatever.”
He swallows and looks away, and I’m absolutely certain I’ve overstepped this time. But then he takes a breath and smiles back at me. “Would you want to be my first houseguest? I was going to make pizza.”
“Make it?” I ask.
He shrugs one arm, and I can’t quite tell if he’s embarrassed or proud. “I prepare the dough in batches to freeze and got some out this morning to defrost. If that’s too much effort, though?—”
“Are you kidding?” I can’t stop myself from interrupting. “So we can stretch it ourselves and you’ve got toppings and stuff?”
“That’s the idea,” he says, his smile growing.
“Dude, that sounds so fun!” I cry.
I’m aware I’m probably acting like a kindergartener right now, but I don’t care. I can’t say I’m particularly talented, but I’ve always had a blast getting messy with arts and crafts. My sister has a toddler that I can sometimes join in with baking and painting eggs and anything involving glitter. But I’ve always thought that would be fun to do with buddies or on a date.
“Do you have beer?” I ask, thinking I can stop by the store if not.
But he nods. “And wine and spirits. My tias’ idea of housewarming gifts was to stock up my non-existent bar for my non-existent friends.”
I slap his shoulder, careful that it’s not so hard I knock him over. “I exist!” I remind him happily. “And I’d be proud to be your first visitor. And Rocky, too, if he’s invited?”
“Of course,” he says, reaching down to pet my tired-out puppy. “They can play in the yard.”
He has a yard. See? I knew he had his shit together. My apartment is tiny. “Damn, he’ll love that,” I say genuinely.
For a second, we just smile at each other. His dark eyes are so warm, and I’ve definitely not changed my mind about the long lashes that frame them being pretty.
Then I realize I’m being weird again, and laugh. We’ve stopped by the parking lot, so I jut my chin toward my truck. “Shall I just follow you there?”
“Yeah, sure,” he says. “It’s not far.”
Nowhere in this town is. Heck, if I have one too many beers, Rocky and I could probably walk home if necessary.
“All right, bro. See you there!”
I’m so excited you’d think this was a date. Except I can’t remember the last time I looked forward to seeing a girl compared to how hyped I am to be the first person to visit Dario’s place. Even if I wasn’t the first, I still want to check out where he lives and get to know him better.
Making new friends is awesome.