AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Shelly was amazing. I knew that I was falling for her already. We had the most wonderful time together. It was like we were supposed to find each other and be there for one another, but the stupid bureaucrats at the top who ran our unit had seen fit in their infinite wisdom to ban such a thing. It sounded like some crazy, dystopian future world at times. Who were they to tell people who they could and could not be with?
It was their company and we just worked there, so technically they could do what they wanted, but it was absurd. I was sure that there were other relationships going on, but no one was going to come forward and talk about it, even in a hush-hush way if you asked them. They were all too scared. The only reason I was keeping my feelings about Shelly a secret was for her, to protect her. She wanted to keep her new job and she was just trying to get established.
I had the feeling that Shelly was running from something. I wasn’t sure what, but I could tell that there was something disturbing in her past that scared her. I wished I could find out more, but as of now I had to take things slow with her. I didn’t know if she’d ever let me get close enough for us to really be together, but maybe we might get close enough to be good friends at least.
No, that wasn’t right. I didn’t think I could ever be just friends with her. The more time I spent around her, the crazier I became to touch her and hold her in my arms. I longed so badly for her lips to touch mine. Just one kiss… that was all I needed to get me through this day.
I took a deep breath and tried to get myself under control as I entere
d the fire station. I greeted a few members of the crew and headed to my locker to set some stuff down. This was going to be a long day. I knew it. There was just something in the air as I entered the building that made everything seem different.
Maybe it was because Shelly and I had almost kissed. But more importantly, we had basically agreed that there was a strong attraction between us. Shelly said “We can’t”. She did not say, “No. I don’t feel that way.”
I could tell she had almost allowed it to happen. She was leaning in during that kiss. It was only at the last second that she pulled back and told me that we couldn’t do it.
“Hey, man,” Max said as I entered the breakroom. I grabbed a cup and filled it with some coffee. I sipped it slowly, enjoying the aroma and flavor of the bitter, black liquid. I loved my morning coffee and for whatever reason the coffee at the station was the best coffee I could find.
“Hey,” I replied as I sat down. “How’s it going?”
“Great,” he replied. “You bowled awesome last night, by the way. That was an epic win.”
“Yeah, we all had a pretty good night.”
“Did you stay after or something?”
I was confused by the question. What was he getting at? “Why?”
“Well, I was in the parking lot on the phone with Erica for a few minutes while I had a smoke and I didn’t see you come out of the bowling alley. I was going to ask you if you could help me out this coming weekend.”
“Oh. Yeah, I stayed behind to have another beer. I saw an old friend of mine at the bar and we caught up for a bit. What do you need my help with?”
“I’m cleaning out the garage for a sale. That’s what Erica was harping at me about on the phone. She wants everything set up for Saturday morning, so we can get the early bird yard sale shoppers.”
I laughed. “Ok. So, you need me to help out with that on Friday? No problem. I can help you get set up Friday after work.”
“Sweet,” he said. “Thanks.”
“But you owe me a pizza and a six pack.”
“What? You do nothing for free, do you?”
“No, I don’t,” I laughed.
“Fine. I’ll hook you up.”
“Thanks.”
I sighed easy. I had dodged a bit of a bullet. If any of the guys had come back inside for any reason they would have seen me and Shelly getting very friendly with each other. That was not going to go over well. I was pretty sure I could trust Max and Richie, but some of the other guys I wasn’t so sure about. You never knew who would keep something like that in their back pocket until it served their needs and then they would slam that card down.
I couldn’t let something like that happen to Shelly. I would never have let anything hurt her. I was getting so attached to her. I needed her. But at the same time I had to respect her wishes and realize that this was all new for her and that if I did anything to make her uncomfortable or add stress to her plate I would hate myself.
I needed to smooth things over with her and make sure that she was ok and that we were still good. I wasn’t sure if she’d even thought about the bowling alley or the fact I’d almost kissed her. I’d made a move and that had indicated I had some feelings for her.
The morning went by fairly normally. No calls came in. The team was in good spirits and we for the most part sat around playing cards, watching some television, and then before lunch we got in a nice game of basketball. It was important for us to have something physical to do besides boring workouts in the gym, to keep our blood pumping and make sure we didn’t turn in to couch potatoes.
I happened to run into Shelly as I was coming out of the men’s room during a break in our basketball game. She was exiting the break room and she almost ran right into me. I held up at the last moment to narrowly avoid the collision.
“Oh,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
