Fire!

"Well, renting an apartment without knowing what it looks like might not have been the best idea", Sarah mutters to herself after opening the bathroom door. "Who the hell puts carpet in a bathroom anyway?" Luckily the rest of the apartment looks good enough, just a little empty. And with her single suitcase and a backpack, that's not going to change anytime soon. Sarah clears away the few things she has with her, flops on the couch en promptly falls asleep.

*

The next day Sarah decides to hit the gym early. She specifically chose this apartment because of the on-site gym.

She pays little attention to the only other occupant as she prepares for her workout. She's totally focused on her exercises, until someone taps her on her shoulder. "Hi, sorry, you're the only one here and I was wondering if you'd mind spotting my bench press." It's the same woman Sarah saw at the beginning of her workout. She shoves her headphones down around her neck. "Sure, not problem!" "I've never seen you before, are you new? I'm Abby." the woman says. "Yeah, I just moved in yesterday, I'm Sarah." "Really? You should come by for a drink today then! I live in 134." Abby proposes. "Well", Sarah thinks to herself, "I wish making friends was always this easy."

*

"So, what brought you to Los Angeles?" Abby asks Sarah when she's over that afternoon." "I needed a change." Sarah answers. "I was born in The Netherlands and lived there basically my whole life, but since my father is an American citizen I also an American passport. I spent a semester in Chicago during college, but this time I wanted more sun, haha." "Well, I can understand that." Abby says. "What kind of work do you do?" "I'm a paramedic, but since I got my degree in The Netherlands I need to do mandatory courses before I'm allowed to work here. Which is ridiculous in my opinion, but necessary anyway." "Yeah, it's ridiculous" Abby agrees. "I'm sure the quality of your degree is much better than ours, we mostly learn in the field, through trial and error. Our educational system needs to change. How long do those courses take?" "For whatever reason they organized them in the most impractical way ever, so its two evenings per week for eight weeks before I get my certificate. I think I'll go look for somewhere to volunteer or something in the meantime, otherwise I'll go stir crazy." "Oh man, that sucks!" Abby exclaims. "Any ideas about what you're going to do?" Sarah sighs. "Not yet...I was thinking maybe something in a retirement home or a youth facility. Do you have any ideas?" Abby thinks for a minute. "If you'd like, you can come over to my work tomorrow. We might have something for you to do." she says. Sarah smiles excitedly. "Really? That would be great, what do you do?" "I'm a firefighter" Abby replies. "and we need someone to man the front desk and do some odd jobs sometimes. I know my captain prefers someone with a background in firefighting, but you're a paramedic, so I'll bully him into hiring you."

Sarah laughs. "Just make sure he still likes me after that." "Oh, don't worry, I'm not even sure he actually likes anybody." Abby laughs. Sarah raises her eyebrows. "God, if it's that bad, I might need some more info to prepare myself." Abby grabs her tea. "There isn't really that much to tell. He's been captain with us for about a year now and it still feels like he's not really a part of us. He's a great captain, really, but as you may know, firefighting is like being a family, especially within a station. And that's what we are, but he isn't really part of that. It almost seems like he doesn't even want that. He's alawys so stoic, almost grumpy. Maybe he's scared we won't take him seriously otherwise, since he's young, but yeah..."

Sarah looks serious for a moment. "Well, I'd still like to stop by tomorrow to see if it's a possibility. I hope to go work at a fire station once I have my certificate, so that would be a great way to slide in."

They arrange for Sarah to come by at 10 o'clock the next morning, halfway through Abby's shift. "You'll fit right in, I'm sure of that." Abby says. "Well, except with the captain." Sarah deadpans, and they both giggle.