Chapter 4 #2
He shook his head before moving out of the entrance. He sat down on the edge of a concrete planter and lifted his phone to type out his reply.
KK: 4 big nopes
The three little dots appeared.
Stopped.
Appeared again.
Sitting back, he looked up at the ceiling of the main floor and shook his head.
The place was nice, but in his experience, nice meant expensive.
He was going to mark this one off, too.
PING
He looked down at the screen and smiled.
LEXIE: Do you want to drown your sorrows in some ice cream? I can treat you to ice cream.
LEXIE: It helps me when I'm down.
How could he turn that down?
His phone rang.
He picked it up immediately when he saw that it was Lexie's caller ID.
He was smiling even before he spoke. "Hey. What's up?"
"I thought it would be faster to talk than to text."
His grin stretched. "That, and I like the sound of your voice."
There was a pause on the other end of the call.
"Hope that wasn't too... something."
He rolled his eyes at himself.
'Real smooth, man. Real smooth.'
"No, it wasn't 'too' something. It was nice. I like your voice, too." She laughed softly. "I'm at the school right now and the place I'm thinking of is in town around the Station House where you'll be working. Well, actually, it's closer to CCFD Headquarters! Oh, that reminds me-"
"I've got an idea-"
Their words came out almost at the same time and then they laughed at it.
"What's your idea, Kaleo?"
He shouldn't have that big of a reaction when she said his name, but he did.
His heart pounded against his ribs and the fact that she'd pronounced his name the right way made it even better.
"You mentioned Center City Fire Department headquarters."
"Mmhmm..."
"I was thinking I should go down there and see if they have some kind of a... a... what's it called?"
"Bulletin Board?"
He nodded. "Yes. That. Thanks." He exhaled, smiling from ear to ear. "Something where people post if they have room for a roommate."
"Yeah."
He tried to imagine her expression.
He'd basically memorized the look of her face the first time he saw her and after that he liked how easily it was to bring up her image in his head.
He liked it a lot.
"I'm near that area now. Where's the ice cream place?"
A message pinged on his phone.
"I just sent you a pin on a map app. How about we meet there?"
He nodded and then remembered that they weren't face to face. "Sounds great. If you get there before me, grab a table."
"Gotcha!" Her voice was warm, excited. He felt the same way. "Same if you beat me there. At this time of time the buses might get a little slow."
"I like riding TheBus back in Hawaii. When I find a place to live, I'll probably get a bus pass and use that."
He heard a chuckle through the phone.
"The Bus? Isn't there a name for it?"
Kaleo barely contained a laugh. "That is the name. 'TheBus.' No spaces. Two capital letters. Simple. Cheezy."
"Sounds like a good idea. No one has to really work to remember what it's called. Like," she sighed softly, "I can't remember what our buses are called. I'll think about it at some random moment in the next day or so."
"I'm the same with things like that. I can memorize a map for work with hardly any issues, but things like the name of movies? Or entertainers? I don't remember those all that well. I don't worry about it too much, it'll usually come to me in a few hours."
"Now that," she giggled a little, "I want to hear more about it. See you at Kandi's Cones?"
"Perfect." His stomach growled. "I'm getting hungry."
"Me, too." She sighed and Kaleo found that he liked the sound of her voice even more. "See you soon."
She hung up before him, and he was left looking at the screen of his phone.
A moment later he was up and on his feet, heading toward the headquarters of the CCFD. If he could find another firefighter as a roommate, that would be ideal. Even better if they worked some opposite shifts. He'd have some time to breathe and be alone.
Walk around barefeet, if that was even a thing here in Center City.
He had a feeling the floors might get a little too cold for him in the winter months.
Smiling, he followed the directions on his phone to the CCFD Headquarters and found that halfway there, he remembered the directions on his own.
Thank goodness he wasn't driving the rig anytime soon. He'd need to learn the streets of Center City like the back of his hand first.
It didn't take more than a few minutes for him to reach the main entrance of the Fire Department Headquarters.
He'd know how big of a city Center City was, but seeing the administration building that was over twenty stories tall really drove it home.
He let out a low whistle at the huge floor to ceiling glass windowpanes and jogged up the steps to the front door and opened it, feeling the cold chill of the air conditioner on his face.
It was almost like a blast of arctic air.
He shook his head. It was going to take him a while to get used to this city, but he was looking forward to the challenge.
It might be good not to spend most of the year sweating in the hot sun.
He'd have to wait and see.