Volunteering Your Heart

by Lo'Ren A Mayler

  There were no flames showing, no smoke. Kids could be seen in various stages of evacuation. Littering the lawn as they checked in with teachers and congregated with their friends. Vaughn grabbed the mic to check in with dispatch.

  “Truck One Dispatch”

  “Truck One,” came the response.

  “Arriving on the Alpha side. School evacuated, no smoke or flames showing. Out investigating.”

  Jak switched her radio to operations. No one was hooking up a hydrant on this call. First due in, truck, would search the building. Second would check in with the officer on scene, Mike, for instructions. She grabbed the married couple and proceeded into the building. They broke off into two teams once inside. Jak with Stewart and Mike with Ted and Elijah. It was better this way, Mike didn’t need Stewy’s attitude.

  They were always broken into pairs when entering a structure. While she didn’t like Stew, she trusted him to watch her back and he did her. They had to. It was the nature of the beast. That was the person that was going to hall your ass out if things went horribly wrong.

  Red lights flashed. Noise reverberated through the empty halls. After about ten minutes, the pulled alarm had been located. There was no smell of smoke. Nothing on the thermal imaging camera to indicate a fire in the walls. Guess someone didn’t want a pop quiz. Mike reset the alarm and notified the Principal it was safe to reenter. She watched as the students began to enter the building. Jak hung back, waiting for Mike and his crew to exit as well. There was a fleck, a spot of sunlight in the corner of her eye. She blinked, trying to clear her vision of the speckles. After it didn’t go away, Jak turned towards the offending light to find Samantha walking up the hallway. Thank you, she mouthed towards the ceiling.

  “Hey there, do you know if anyone set the alarm off or if there had been a small fire.”

  Sam froze in place at the sound of her voice, turning to look directly at Jak. She wasn’t sure, in that moment, if Sam even remembered her. The stare she received was blank, devoid of emotion. Much like the first couple minutes of their brief encounter.

  “If you missed me, you didn’t have to pull the alarm. You could have just gotten my number the other night.”

  A dim light seemed to go off in her eyes.

  “Sorry, I cannot talk about this here.”

  Sam’s stride picked up as she continued up the hall, presumably towards her classroom.

  Jak easily kept pace with her, “Then go out with me.”

  “Jak,” she said in irritation.

  “So, you do remember me.” That tidbit gave Jaky all the incentive she needed to push on.

  “Please I have to get back to class and do a head count.”

  “Nope. Not until you agree to see me again.”

  Jaky’s mind had been plagued with images since last week. The lips. The curves. Her hair. Her memory had been playing tricks. Telling her that it was just the bar lighting. The glow of the moon that cast a spell. Nothing was as it had seemed. Her mind lied!

  She couldn’t let the dream escape, let her get away without some assurance that they would be together again. And to her surprise, Sam stopped and pulled out her phone.

  “What is your number?”

  It was Jak’s turn to stare as she rattled off the numbers. She had forgotten how gorgeous Samantha was. Her flawless skin, the glowing blue eyes and radiant smile. The memories couldn’t hold a candle to the real-life version. Jak’s phone went off in her bunker pants.

  “There. Now will you go?”

  Jak flashed a victorious smile and watched her walk down the hall.

  “What are you doing hanging out in the hall?” Mike said as he walked up beside her. “Why are you smiling?”

  “Sam,” she stated simply.

  “Dude let it go. It has been a week.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not? Yea. She was pretty, but you’re probably better off...”

  “I just got her number” Jak interrupted with a dreamy smile.

  “Wait, you did what?”

  Jak stared after Samantha as she opened the classroom. Students flooded the doorway and for just a second, Sam looked back in her direction. The briefest contact that told her, she had not been far from the teacher’s mind as well. Still feeling the aftereffects in her belly well after the door closed.

  “Seriously, she works here? All this time you’ve been complaining and she was just up the road?”

  Sam looked outside and all she could see was Jak. Her black and yellow uniform hanging from her body, the coat hiding the muscular frame she had felt, not so long ago. Her confident strides, as she packed up the truck and climbed aboard. The rear window was open and she could see the determined eyes staring back at the building. It felt as if she was looking right into her classroom and directly into Sam’s soul.

  Logic told her that was impossible. Nonetheless, was it conceivable that she could pick out just one window in the building? She knew, from standing on the lawn, that an individual couldn’t be made out. Not without being directly in front of the window.

  The fact remained; she could feel eyes on her. The eyes of a persistent woman. Someone that would not take “No” for an answer. A woman she had hoped to put behind her. A reminder of one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. The side of the truck was hard to read. There was an emblem on the door, illegible at this distance.

  Sam tore her eyes away and counted the students in the classroom.

  “Michelle. Read as Beatrice.”

  Why he is a Prince’s jester, a very dull fool.

  As she read, Sam’s gaze returned to the window to watch the truck pull away. Why did I give her my number? Why does her stare make me feel exposed? Most of all, Sam wondered why she was looking forward to the call.

  …for he both pleases men and angers them, and then they laugh at him and beat him.

  VI

  Sam sat at an empty lunch table, lost in thought. She wanted, needed, a moment of peace to think about Jak. To explain away the musing that continued long after the truck had pulled away.

  What is it about her? Jak threatened everything she ever knew. All the safety and stability she had worked so hard to bring back to her life. There was a pin stuck in her, nagging day in and day out. Trying to weasel its way in. It had taken days to try to erase the initial interaction from existence. Now, instead of a memory, it was a living breathing woman. A woman that turned her upside down. An abstract painting that made her look at the world in a way she had never seen before. What was she going to do?

  Of course, Britney, another English teacher, would never let her have a moment’s peace. Before she could take a bite, Britney was dragging her over to another table. The same one she had sat at for the last few years.

  Maggie Cook, art, and Eric Sherman, social studies, were already there waiting for her. Maggie had long almost black hair and brown mischievous eyes. She had married her college sweetheart and enjoyed every day that she got to pass on her love of art to the next generation. Eric’s dark blonde hair was receding. His too small eyes overpowered by a large nose. Watching his crooked smile, Sam often wondered how he was married. His wife was the complete opposite of him. An adorable brunette with a winning smile. How did he keep such a woman? Better yet, how did he land her to begin with?

  The pair said hello in unison as she sat down.

  “Honey, what were you doing sitting all alone?” Britney sounded concerned.

  “Just thinking. I didn’t really pay attention to if anyone was here yet.”

  “What about?” Eric asked. “Is everything alright?”

  “I’m fine, really. Just wondering about the fire department that was here today. I think I saw someone I know.”

  “Oh, well the firehouse is right up the street. Who was it? Maybe I know him.”

  “On this road? I’ve never seen it.” She was trying to get away from telling this straight married Midwest group that she was looking for the hot lesbian firefighter. It wasn’t like she w
as in the closet, but she just hated “the look”. That stare she got, as if she had lost her mind, coupled with the shock of finding out she was one of “them”. Why would she want to be with another woman when she could have any man she wanted?

  “Yea,” Maggie piped in, “at the end of Jefferson, if you made a left out at the front of the school.”

  “It’s nice that they are so close if there is a problem. I go out the back way. So, what is to the right then? I haven’t actually explored. I just know how to get home from here.”

  The conversation successfully steered away from her life and onto important places to visit in town. Of course, that took Eric on a trip down memory lane and the town history. All three had grown up in the area and knew where everything was within a thirty-mile radius. Sam only had to nod and smile, no one even considered that she was no longer listening.

  Pulling out her cell, Sam typed ‘Washington Fire Department, IL’ into the search bar. Maybe she could find pictures of the Firemen or the news could have taken action shots at a fire. There was a piece of her that wanted to see Jak again and some unforeseen later date wasn’t soon enough.

  Clicking the first page to come up, led her to the Washington Fire Department website. Why was she searching at all? Wasn’t she just trying to find a way out of this? Looking at the options at the top of the page and the statistics, as Sam tried to make sense of her chaotic mind. Unsure where to click; choosing to scroll down the page. She reached the bottom and froze. You’ve got to be kidding me. How dare she lie to me?

  At the bottom, after monthly call statistics, the site had the company listed. Washington Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad. She is a Volunteer! So, she is unemployed and thought I wouldn’t find out. Well she has got another thing coming.

  Jak was going to text, she really was. She sat, phone in hand, for over an hour. Had written and erased nearly twenty messages. In the end, she didn’t send a word. Didn’t call. Because she didn’t want to. How could she possibly say everything she was thinking in a text? This was something she needed to do in person. She had to have faith, once they were standing face to face, the words would flow out. She had to see Samantha, even if it was just for a few seconds. Since it was her day off, Jaky headed back to the school. Hoping to catch the teacher after the bell.

  As the last bell rang, she stood in the hall outside the classroom she had seen Samantha disappear into earlier today. There she was, standing behind the desk, stuffing papers into her bag. Flecks of light shimmered along her curvaceous edges, as they had earlier. Once the stream of students stopped funneling through, Jak entered, knocking on the door before closing it. Her head snapping up, presumably expecting a student.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Okay, so much for her being pleased to see me.

  “I thought it would be easier to talk in person.”

  Sam pulled her towards the back of the room, away from the windows and doors. Majority of the blinds were already drawn. Perhaps she was concerned about their voices carrying into the hall. Releasing her arm, Samantha sat on a desk and crossed her legs.

  “You want to talk. Alright. Let’s start with you lied to me.”

  “Me? Lying?” Jaky was sure she looked as lost as she felt.

  “When I asked what you did, you said you were a firefighter.”

  “I am a firefighter,” Jak rushed to defend herself. “You saw me…here…today…for a fire alarm.”

  “Volunteer! You are a Volunteer Firefighter! I was asking what you did for a living. To earn money.”

  “Okay, okay. You’re right” Jaky said with a sigh. “I work at Caterpillar, in the foundry.” She continued, the blank stare telling her Sam was not following. “In a factory, making parts.”

  “Why didn’t you just say that?”

  “I wanted to impress you. Women tend to respond better to firefighter than foundry worker. I am trying to get hired fulltime but, until then, I gotta pay the bills. I’m sorry if I misled you. Is that the only reason you let me stay that night?”

  Sam was trying to calm herself. She was not an over emotional person. Something about Jak’s omission nagged at her. Or was it the physical response from their proximity that bothered her. No one, not even Nikki had gotten her so keyed up. Nikki had been a dull heat compared to the roaring flame that threatened to overtake her every time she was near Jak. She had thought it was a fluke. A byproduct of the alcohol.

  “No. Most any job would have been fine. I was just asking if you were unemployed.”

  “Oh, sorry. I work overnights at the factory. When I’m off, I work at the firehouse. I do the same job as if I were paid. I run into burning buildings, save damsels in distress… and rescue kittens from a tree.”

  As soon as she said kitten, there was a ghost of a smile.

  “Fine,” came the response. Sam was clearly trying to hide that she was imaging Jak saving a kitten in a tree. “What did you want to talk about?”

  “You kind of disappeared on me.”

  “There was a cop. I didn’t want to risk my career.”

  “I get that. I could have lost any chance of getting hired full time if we were caught. It isn’t something I would normally do. I mean, there was a hotel across the street.”

  Tendrils of electricity returned, threatening to deflect Jak’s thoughts. She tried to calm the agitation growing within her, “I handled the situation and he left. I went looking for you, but you didn’t stick around. You didn’t go back to the bar or wait around the corner. I had hoped…” She took a breath to get back on track, “I tried to find you after. Even if only to get your number. I wanted to see you again.”

  She scoffed at the answer, “You mean, you wanted another chance to try to sleep with me.”

  Jak couldn’t deny that she wanted the enchantress standing before her. The mention of it sending her mind into a downward spiral.

  “Well that would be good too, but I do want to know more about you. Where you’re from, how you ended up here, is the spark real.”

  Sam’s gaze traveled over her body. The intense focus causing Jak’s pulse to skyrocket. She didn’t move, waiting for the eyes to travel the same trail, but they settled on her mouth instead. Why does it always feel like she is measuring me up?

  Sam licked, then lightly bit the edge of her lips. Watching as she pushed off the desk and close the distance between them. Hands grabbed at her face and pulled her down to the warmth of Sam’s waiting mouth. Jaky knew it would happen. The shock delivered from Sam’s touch took her breath away, just as it had before. They moved in unison, walking back to the wall for support. As Sam reached for her belt buckle, Jak pulled away.

  What is wrong with you? Don’t pull away! How could you let her go? She couldn’t catch her breath and was sure she had died. She gave me a heart attack and now I’m in heaven. Is this heaven or hell? She couldn’t tell as she was experiencing both pleasurable and torturous moments, one after another.

  “I should go before we…Can I call you?” Please say yes.

  Sam was still collecting herself. Staring at Jak like a steak and she was a hungry dog. It was aggressive and violent and sexy as hell. She ran her fingers down Jak’s stomach and latched onto the belt. Staring at her with defiance, daring Jak to stop the hands again.

  “You can pick me up at eight.”

  “Dinner or dancing?”

  It was the only question she could form with their bodies so close. Images of their figures rubbing together and sweating filled her mind. Dancing with Sam would be intense, provocative and absolutely delicious.

  “Dancing,” she looked Jak over as if to confirm her decision, “Definitely dancing.”

  VII

  “Are you picking her up at home?” Mike asked.

  “Yea. She lives at Twin Towers. I’m going to park there and walk.”

  “Wow. Does she rent? What floor is she on?”

  “I don’t know. Twenty-fifth, I think. I’m just ringing the buzzer and she is coming
down.”

  “Twenty-fifth! You’re kidding. Don’t ever take her to your place.” Mike sounded in awe.

  Of course, someone like Sam would live in a luxurious building. It really wasn’t a surprise. It also explained where she went the other night. If she had just gone one more block. Yea right. Like it would have helped. She stared at the last names on the list. There was only one name for the twenty-fifth floor, S. Porter. There would have been no way to know which one was hers. Besides, the building is locked.

  “Yea, I know. I’m sure it is very nice. I’ll let you know if I ever get invited up.”

  “Where are you taking her?”

  “Saddle up. She wanted to go dancing.”

  Jak wasn’t certain about her choice in venue. With where Sam lived, Jaky was sure she had never been in such a place. Either it would be a nice surprise or an epic failure. Pressing end on her cell, Jak took a deep breath to calm her nerves and pressed the call button.

  ***

  I can’t believe it! How is Jak with her again? Didn’t I already take care of this? He knew all about Jak finding the mystery woman at the High School. That she had forced Sam’s hand. Only getting her number by jeopardizing her employment.

  What he hadn’t counted on, was Samantha ever answering the call. Her claws must be in deeper than I thought. And they are going to Saddle Up. How dare she violate my bar! Think, think. He started slapping the side of his head. The strength of the blow grew with each new contact. Pain forcing his thoughts to focus solely on the task at hand. Then it came to him like two tons of brick to the skull. I know exactly what to do.

  ***

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, it’s Jak,” came the response through the wall.

  “I’ll be right down.”

  The intercom kicked off ending the conversation. Sam turned sideways in the mirror to take one last look at her outfit. She wore low heels since they would be dancing, Dolce & Gabbana blue denim ripped pants and a blue cold shoulder eyelet lace-up top. The shirt kept her shoulders bare and revealed ample bosom. Her mother referred to it as bait. She checked her teeth and lipstick. Confirmed that her hair was still enacted. Everything in place.