all of the girls | e. buckley

prologue

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

°•. ┊ All Of The Girls┊.•°
✧ ˚ ━ fell from the pedestal, act one

— prologue

✧

Chewing the skin off of my bottom lip, as Thea rambles about her last failed dating experience and I zone out; my gaze on the small scar that stains my left hand, a constant reminder of the friend I lost. "Hey, wanna help me and Bobby make lunch?"

"Not today. I'm just gonna finish doing inventory on the truck." I tell her, as she gives me a comforting smile and hesitates, before giving my shoulder a squeeze and leaving me on the ground floor. After about ten minutes of re-stocking the rig, a tall blonde wanders into the firehouse, the expression on his face is that of a lost puppy. Dropping the gauze packets on the gurney, I hop out of the truck, plaster a smile on my face and approach him. "Hi! Can I help you?"

"Uh, I hope so." He smiles down at me, making me very aware of my own height and looks me up and down. The smile on his face changes from friendly to cocky in a split second, as I silently will him to not say something stupid. "I'm looking for Captain Nash, although I am not complaining about finding you first."

"Wish I could say the same." I tease with a smirk, crossing my arms over my chest, as he smiles widely, before pretending as though he's been shot in the chest.

"Vanni! Chow time!" Chimney calls out over the balcony and I wave him off, before returning my attention to the man in front of me. I gesture for him to follow, pointing out the various rooms in view of our path to the staircase and leading him up. "What happened to the other guy? What's his face? Flannel guy?"

"Silas. And nothing happened. We're still very happy together." I laugh awkwardly at the personal information I just offered up, before gesturing towards the new guy. "This is...I am now realizing that I never got his name, but he's joining us at 118. I'm assuming because he was looking for Bobby."

"Oh, maybe he's a secret kid some ex-girlfriend never told you about!" Thea taps her uncle on the shoulder, as she suggests that all too enthusiastically. She turns to look at the unnamed flirt and he gives her a tight-lipped smile, before shaking his head. "Damn. That would've been some good drama, which we are in dire need of. The last major debate this group had was whether or not Bobby should let Vanni get a dog for the house."

"Which I haven't given up on." I add, pointing at Cap, causing the man to patronizingly nod his head with a slight smile. "Anyways, you gotta name blue eyes or should we give you a new one?"

"Evan Buckley." He smiles, the pep in his tone increasing, as he glances over the people at the table. "But everyone calls me Buck."

"Wow, he's like a labrador." Thea remarks, referring to the man's bubbly personality, as the two of us take a seat at the table. "The only difference between him and an actual dog is that he has a higher chance of being house broken."

"Welcome to the 118, Buck." Bobby greets and the man beside me thanks him. "Don't let these two scare you off." The man gestures to Thea and I.

"You'll learn to ignore them, as we did." Chim remarks, causing Dottie to throw something at him and Cap to scold her for the childish antics. Chim fills mine and Buck's plates, as the recruit looks over the spread in slight shock.

"Wow, this is amazing." The blonde compliments. "Is it always like this?"

"All the time." Hen responds, leaning around me.

"Well, when Bobby's in the Captain's chair anyway." Chim adds.

"I think I might be in the right place." The Buckley man smiles. Once everyone's finished eating, Hen and Chim start cleaning up, leaving the rest of us to continue chatting. "So, what's the weirdest call you guys have responded to?"

"There's too many to choose from." Thea states, causing Bobby and I to laugh in agreement. "Didn't you respond to a stabbing that happened to be some guy who got attacked by his own chicken?" The girl looks at her uncle and the man nods with a smile, as Chim reminds her that it also happened to be Cap's first day at the 118.

"V! It's four." Hen calls out from the kitchen, as the laughter subsides and I quickly rise to my feet, my sidekick following in suit. We bid everyone ado, grab our radios and get into the truck, heading down a very familiar route.

"I shouldn't be long."

"You say that every shift that falls on the same day as your session." Thea shakes her head with a smile. "I'll see you in an hour, unless we get a call." I enter the building, awkwardly adjusting the radio on my shoulder and greet the receptionist, before sitting on one of the waiting room chairs. After about ten minutes, a door swings open and two people exit the room; one stopping in the doorway and the other continues out of the building.

"Come on in, Vanni." Dr. Wells says and I follow her into the room, taking a seat on the couch. "So, how are you doing today?"

"You know, you ask me that question every session and I always give you the same response, then we dance around how I'm actually feeling for nearly the entire session, so I was thinking this time we just talk about you instead." The woman gives me a disapproving look, before asking me about the events of my work day. "Uh, not much." I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees and fiddling with the rings on my fingers. "We got a new truck member, I restocked the rig and went on a couple standard calls. That's about it."

"New colleague? Do you like them?"

"Sure." I shrug. "He seems like a good guy. Bit of a flirt, but surely harmless."

"A flirt, huh?"

"Yeah, it's actually refreshing." I smile slightly. "I like having someone who doesn't look at me like I'm wounded. Plus, it's always nice to be flirted with."

"I bet." She smiles. "Speaking of wounds...how are you coping with everything?"

"I'm fine. The random waves of grief suck, but I'm handling it." I lean back into the couch, wrapping my arms around my body. "The worst part is the fact that I'm getting tiptoed around, while Thea is being treated normally. Jess may have been my friend, but she and Thea were going out. Sure, it was only a few dates, but still. I am so tired of being treated like I'm made of glass."

"They're just worried about you." The woman's words are wildly unconvincing and I nod my head slightly, pretending to agree. "Alright, seeing as we are clearly not gonna get anywhere on the grief front today; let's go back to the flirty coworker. He seems to be your chosen topic of the day, why?"

"I don't know. There's just something about him..." I continue toying with the jewelry on my hands, a smile tugging at my lips. "He's different."

[word count: 1201]

lexi's letters; i wrote the words; waiting room and my mind went to the phoebe song—