CHAPTER SIX:
my disastrous valentine's weekend,
part one: magnet for awkward situations.

   The buzzer from the booth Aster was working at today, rang continuously as it announced a winner.

"Congrats!" Aster cheers at the small little girl sitting on her dad's lap, ignoring the vibration of her phone. "What prize can I get you? You can pick from any of the two bottom rows."

The blonde little girl smiles shyly as she points at the pink t-rex hanging in the middle row on the wall next to Aster.

"Honey, you have to pick from the bottom rows," the dad softly tells his daughter.

"But I really want the dinosaur," the little girl pouts.

The dad looks up at Aster, "How do we win the dinosaur?"

Aster smiles awkwardly. "Um, you have to win five times."

The dad sighs before looks back at his daughter, "How about we pick from the bottom row and then we can get an ice cream?"

"Okay," the little girl mumbles. "I want the blue fish."

Aster nods before turning to get the stuffed fish. Her hands reach for it but change their course and reach upwards to the pink dinosaur. She swiftly unhooks it before hanging it to the little girl with a wink. "It will be our little secret," she whispers with a smile.

The little girl's hands quickly grab the plushy before squeezing it into a hug. "Thank you," smiles brightly towards the red head.

"Thank you," the dad says gratefully, Aster giving him a small smile and nod in reply.

As soon as the duo leave Aster pulls out her phone from her back pocket, her breath hitching as she sees a text.

Evan: Can we talk?

Aster opens the message, the cursor blinking as she watches the text in astonishment. Talk? He wants to talk? What is there to even talk about? He is her ex, and he has something going on with her aunt of all people, case closed. Talk over.

Aster begins to think of what to say but gets saved by her aunt Abby calling her. She quickly clicks the accept button before putting the phone to her ear. "Hey," she greets.

"Hey Aster, I was just wondering what time you'll be getting home?" Abby's voice filtrates through the speaker.

"Um, I'm off in hour so depending on traffic I'll probably be there within the next two or three hours. Why? Is everything okay?"

"Oh no, no everything is fine," Abby quickly tells her. "Its just Buck invited me to this little party at the firehouse that they're having for their co-worker..."

"Oh okay, so did you need me to watch Grandma?" Aster asks lightly, putting the phone on speaker as she checks her group chat.

everybody in this group chat is either depressed or gay 🤕💅🏼.
Nala: tell your friend that carnations are a funeral flower, and it would be bad luck to have them at our wedding.
Emily: they!! are!! pretty!! flowers!! 😡😡
Aster: ... i'm kinda with emily on this one, carnations are pretty besides you make your own luck???
Nala: nobody asked you cheeto head 😤.
Emily: 🚨 wee woo we woo bridezilla alert 🚨.

Aster scoffs before getting distracted by Abby calling her name. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"I was just wondering, well, if you wanted to join me?"

"Join you?" Aster repeats in confusion.

"Yeah, to Buck's co-workers party. Buck suggested I bring you and I don't really know how this is going to go so I could use you as an excuse to leave if it doesn't go well."

"Oh, um," Aster stalls, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. "Well... uh, what about grandma?"

"Carla says she has it and I know this is probably awkward. know Athena is going to be there and I just thought it might also be a nice way to thank her again..."

"Um," Aster says nervously, her mind racing with a million reasons on why she most definitely should not go. Normally when in a sticky situation she would make a pros and cons list-- but the red-head didn't even have to think about it to know the cons would severely outnumber the pros.

"Oh please, Aster? I feel like it's going to be a little awkward after our first meeting being so hectic and I think maybe having you there would really help."

It probably would do the exact opposite, Aster thought to herself. "Yeah, yeah I guess I could come with you," the younger red-head sighs, which seems to go unnoticed by her aunt who's chipper voice blares through the phone.

"Great! After you come home from work, I'll give you time to get ready and then we can head out!"

"Okay cool! I'll talk to you later," Aster tells her aunt before hanging up. She leans her elbows on the booth before blowing her hair out of her face in exhaustion.

She really needs to learn how to start saying no to people she loved.

   Aster slams her car door shut. The young redhead looks at her aunt who is gazing up at the firehouse.

"You nervous?" She asks.

"No, no just thinking," Abby sighs, her fingers gripping the plate of cookies in her hands.

"Good, because you don't have any reason to be nervous, you're a catch."

Abby chuckles. "Thank you, now come on," she says, leading her niece into the fire house.

The two red heads slowly walk in, unfamiliar with the layout of the place and where exactly they were supposed to go.

"Hi?" An older man greets the two.

"Hi," the aunt and niece chorus back at the same time, before following with nervous chuckles.

The man gives them a cautious smile. "Can I help you?"

Aster looks around at the fireplace in amazement, as the two older people conversate. She follows behind them awkwardly as they walk towards the stairs.

"Hey Abby!" Buck jogs down the stairs before wrapping his arms around Abby's waist.

"Hi," Aster's aunt greets back shyly.

Buck turns his attention to the younger redhead. "Hey Aster."

"Hi," she greets back flatly, her eyes shifting everywhere but towards him.

Buck's smile falters. "Uh, come on up. I want you guys to meet everyone," he says with excitement, while running up the stairs.

"Uh, so, everyone, this is Abby Clark," Buck proudly announces to the firefighters while Abby stands next to him. "She's L. A's fiercest 9-1-1 operator."

Aster awkwardly stands behind the two, the plate of cookies held tightly in front of her like a shield. She shuffles, catching Buck's attention, "And this is her... niece Aster," he adds on, his eyes trying to meet hers but yet again she refuses.

"Hi," Aster says quickly before raising up the plate of cookies in her hand. "I brought cookies!" She says enlightening a cheer within the firehouse.

Aster watches as Buck walks her aunt around introducing her to everyone, an uncomfortable smile makes its way onto her face. "This was such a bad idea," she whispers to herself through her clenched teeth.

Her blue eyes meet warm brown ones hidden behind thick black glasses. She watches as the owner of the brown eyes walks towards her. "I heard you brought biscuits," a London accent softly filtrates through thin pink lips.

"British," Aster embarrassingly spits out.

"No, Owen," the guy jokes.

Aster chuckles. "Sorry, I'm... not myself today," the young adult apologizes, her head falling down in slight shame.

"Not good with meeting new people?" Owen offers.

Aster shrugs. "Sure, we could go with that," she smiles.

Owen picks up a cookie and shoves the whole thing into his mouth.

"Oh, um..." Aster stutters out, her eyes wide. "You...uh, the whole thing??"

Owen puts his finger up in a 'one second' type motion. "Mm," he hums, chewing the cookie. "This is a pretty damn good biscuit; did you make these?"

Aster snorts. "Please, I burn water, but I have gotten pretty good at pressing checkout on door dash if I do say so myself," she jokes. She shifts the plate of cookies between her hands, something that Owen immediately takes note of.

The brunet gently takes the plate from the girl's hands. "Let's put these down, why don't we," he tells her, motioning for her to follow him.

Aster quietly follows behind him, her anxiety spiking as she realizes that she's head towards Buck, Abby, Athena, and an unknown woman who she assumes is Buck's coworker considering their matching uniforms.

Owen scoots his way in-between, the women and Buck. "Try the biscuits, they're delicious!" He told the group with a big smile, taking another one and biting it.

Aster accidentally makes eye contact with the women next to her.

"Hi, I'm Hen," she greets, a kind smile on her face completely contrast to her intimidating aura.

"Aster," she greets back shyly, taking note of the surprised look Hen gave her. The women's eyes shifting towards Buck, who looks down.

Hen raises an eyebrow, her brown eyes jumping from the two youngest people in the room. "Well, it's good to meet you," she greets, a shit-eating grin on her face.

"That it is," Owen throws his arm over the girl.

Aster widely smiles at him. Although he comes off slightly obnoxious, his energy was welcoming, and it helped cool her nerves.

"So, Valentine's Day tomorrow," Hen mentions, her smile still very smug. "Where's Buck taking you?" She asks, leaning forward.

The four other people watch as Buck and Abby both stutter out responses. Buck mentioning how he works that day.

"Your shift ends at 2," Hen points out. "So does mine, I'm going home to my wife."

Aster chuckles softly, putting her hand up to cover her smile. She shares a look with Owen, who also seems to be enjoying the spotlight Hen is shining on Buck.

"It's no big deal," Abby excuses, attempting to take the pressure off of Buck. "It's just... a day."

Athena hums. "The only day he's obligated to show you a good time," she says with a smirk, Abby chuckling in reply.

"So, what are you doing for Valentine's Day?" The older red head changes the subject.

Athena snorts. "Me?" She scoffs. "Hell, I put in for an extra shift. I'm doing whatever I can to
get my mind off romance for the night," she answers honestly before shifting the focus back onto Buck.

"So, where you taking her? And it better not be a salad bar," she laughs.

"Woah," Buck says defensively, his hands up. "No, you know, it'll be someplace, uh, really nice?"

"Okay," Abby shrugs. "Great, yeah."

"Getting kinda late for a rezzy," Hen pipes up.

"Well, I know people," Buck tells her unconvincingly.

The alarm blares throughout the firehouse letting the workers on duty know they have to go. Aster watches as every quickly heads out the door but Owen stays unabashedly shoving cookies into his mouth, not showing any sign of noticing the fire alarm go off.

It was then that Aster notice he didn't have on a uniform. She furrows her eyebrows. "Are you a firefighter?" She asks.

Owen's eyes widen. "Me?" He asks, crumbs falling out of his mouth which he tries to catch with his hand. "Oh no," he mumbles.

"So, you don't work here?"

Owen swallows his food. "No, no I do... kind of... sort of... I'm a fire alarm foreman. So, I make sure fire alarms are up to date and all that, but I'm employed by this fire station. It's kind of complicated."

"Oh," Aster says.

"Yeah," Owen awkwardly mumbles, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's not really saving lives," he shrugs. "But it's a job so..."

Aster smiles. "Well, fire alarms are pretty important so I wouldn't say you're not saving lives."

Owen doesn't say anything but simply grins back and takes another bite of his cookie.

NOTES.
hey guys i hate this chapter. not to mention it was supposed to be out three months ago (!!) but when buck begins came out it kind of threw my entire timeline for him and aster off completely. i'm trying to figure out what i'm gonna have to rework to make it more fitting.
also i was rereading my plans for this book and i hella forgot owen was a huge part of the plot yikes. idk if y'all are gonna love him or hate him i guess we'll see lmfao i know i casted him as jack but all i could see while writing him was dylan o'brien lol
anyways leave any thoughts, comments, or feedback you might have. i truly wanna hear what y'all think and it also helps motivate me!!