Friends
“Excuse me, Captain Schemmenti.” the probie said “There’s a man downstairs, he’s asking for you.”
“Thank you, Dave. Tell him I’ll be right out.” Melissa replied, getting up from her chair.
It was a slow morning, and she needed a break from all that boring paperwork, but she didn’t like having unexpected visitors in the workplace. Not that she wasn’t used to it: being a firefighter meant receiving a lot of unwanted attention from grateful people, especially as a woman.
“Joe, what are you doing here?” Melissa asked with an upset tone.
“Hey, babe. I’m taking my wonderful wife out for lunch.” Joe said, holding a red rose in his right hand.
“I thought we agreed on this: I’m not your wife anymore.” the redhead stated, trying to keep her voice down “Please, go home.”
“Come on, hon. You know I still love you.” the man begged.
Melissa and her ex-husband Joe had been separated for more than five years, but they had never made it official by signing the divorce papers. After the accident, her vulnerability made her let him back into her life for a short time: a mistake which only confirmed the fact that he wasn’t the right man for her, and that he had never been. He was just a nice Italian guy her parents liked because he got a real job straight out of highschool, nothing more.
“I know I don’t, as I’ve already told you many times. Anyway, this is no place to talk about it.” the firefighter explained, her palms sweating.
She could feel the whole station staring at her, and even though it was an exaggeration, she wasn’t completely wrong: someone was keeping an eye on them. Barbara was busy cleaning up the ambulance with her team, and she couldn’t help but listen to the conversation that was taking place just a few meters away from her. At first, the eavesdrop was unintentional, but after figuring out what was going on, she decided to stick around in case things went south.
“Hey, Janine!” the brunette whispered, looking at the unhappy couple “Has that man ever been here before?”
“I don’t think so. Is it her boyfriend or something?” Janine replied with a shrug.
“Captain! I didn’t take you for the nosey kind.” Jacob exclaimed, catching his superior red-handed.
Barbara wasn’t really doing anything wrong, but the realization of being all up in Melissa’s business so explicitly made her feel guilty. After all, Jacob was right: she had never really cared about other people’s romantic lives, especially her coworkers’.
“Joe, you gotta leave. I can’t afford you causing a scene here, I’m a captain now.” the firefighter explained. The situation was getting tense.
“I keep forgetting you’re married to that damn uniform.” he angrily replied, crushing the flower in his fist.
“This damn uniform’s no cheater, Joseph. Get out of here.” Melissa insisted, crossing her arms close to her chest.
“You’re coming with me.” the man ordered, roughly grabbing her waist “This shitty place is making you say things you don’t mean.”
Melissa knew that Joe wasn’t a violent man. Although he wasn’t cut for married life, he had never touched her, not even after having a few too many drinks. She believed he was a good man, and he had been a great friend to her on more than one occasion, but there was no excuse for his behavior. He was crossing a line, and she couldn’t allow it: her healing process was at stake. Plus, they were giving an embarrassing show to more than a dozen people.
“Sir, let her go.” Barbara said. A perk of her job was knowing when to step up. “Please, don’t make me call the police.”
“Who’s this woman? Is she a new little friend of yours, Red?” Joe asked with a malicious look.
“I’m Captain Howard to you.” the paramedic replied, giving the man a cold stare.
“And she sure as hell ain’t my friend.” Melissa added, remembering what she had promised herself a few nights before “I can handle this, Captain.”
“Hey, can we talk?” Melissa asked, gently tapping on Barbara’s desk “I come in peace.”
“You know you’re supposed to knock before you enter a room, right?” the brunette joked, taking her reading glasses off.
“I can walk out and try again, if you want...” the redhead said with a smile, playing along.
“You’re good.” Barbara replied, chuckling “Please, take a seat.”
Despite Barbara’s intrusion in her private life, Melissa was fully aware that rejecting her support in such an unkind manner had been a terribly poor decision, and she expected the other woman to be mad at her because of it. All things considered, her colleague had no way of knowing what Joe’s real intentions were: she was simply reaching out to someone in need.
“I want to go straight to the point.” Melissa admitted, nervously fidgeting “I shouldn’t have treated you like that in front of everyone, I’m sorry."
”As much as I appreciate it, there’s no need to apologize. I overstepped, and you were already pretty upset by the conversation you were having.“ Barbara reassured with gentle eyes.
“You were just trying to help a…” the firefighter replied, struggling to finish her sentence.
“The word you’re looking for is not “friend”, I presume.” the paramedic remarked.
Someone had finally decided to address the elephant in the room.
“I guess it doesn’t really fit our dynamic, does it?” Melissa carefully suggested.
“God no, we’re far too complicated.” Barbara explained “I wouldn’t mind it, though.”
“You truly mean it?” the younger woman asked with a surprised look.
Melissa had raised a wall so high between the two of them that it was impossible for her to see what things were really like. Truth is, she found comfort in her blindness, because the thought of building a deeper connection with someone felt too inconvenient. She had witnessed all her relationships fall apart somehow, hurting all parties involved, and she blamed herself for it.
“Of course I mean it.” the older woman confirmed “Our job is not exactly a walk in the park…I figure it would be nice to have someone to talk to, someone who can truly understand.”
“I suppose there’s no harm in trying.” the redhead commented, trying to suppress a smile.
It was easier for Melissa to stick to her belief, constantly telling herself that the other woman hated her, but her colleague knew better. In that moment, Barbara was taking a chance on her, showing her how wrong she had been all along: what they shared actually meant something, she was just too scared to admit it. As her instinct had tried to tell her: things were going to get better.
“Time to get back to work.” Barbara said, looking at her ringing phone.
“Sure.” Melissa replied, getting up from her seat.
“I’m not kicking you out, Captain.” the brunette politely added “I need to get this call, it's from the headquarters.”
As much as they were enjoying their conversation, the city of Philadelphia was still in need of assistance, and it was always their duty to provide it.
“Uh-oh, someone’s in trouble.” the firefighter joked on her way out “Also, let’s leave the “captain” thing to the kids downstairs. Please, cut the formalities.”
“See? We’re already making progress here, Melissa.” the paramedic observed, watching her new friend leave.