one
"first day"

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—

"EVELYNN, IF YOU DON'T GET up now, you're gonna be late for your first day!"

Evelynn groaned loudly as she threw the comfortable pillow she was just using to soundly sleep, over her head. Mostly to shield her ocean blue eyes from the bright sunlight that was now flooding her bedroom due to her older sister sliding the dark curtains wide open. Her brunette strands of hair seemingly stuck to the pillow as she did so, making her already birds nest hair even worse.

"Lizzy, leave me alone!"

I present you; Evelynn Kennedy. The twenty four year old paramedic for the past two years, however there was a new change, she was now a qualified firefighter. And there was her older sister, Elizabeth Kennedy, proudly standing over her as she awoke the sleeping beauty.

The young brunette had dreamed of becoming a firefighter since she was a kid, just like every other nine year old, but she was much more determined. She had more to prove being a woman in the field, along with the fact she was smaller too. She had to fight her way through all the tests and physicals, it was hard, but she got through it. But the most influential thing for choosing this job?

Her father.

Evelynn's father died when she was sixteen, in a huge factory fire which claimed three firefighters lives that day. It seemed like ever since that day, something inside of her mother died alongside her father. She wasn't the same afterwards, so it often left Lynn and Lizzy to fend for themselves. It wasn't a terrible time, it just made the sisters grow more closely, but they missed their mother.

The two moved out as soon as Lizzy turned eighteen, done with dealing with the drama they faced with their absent mother, and Lynn was grateful her sister didn't just leave her behind.

They moved out of Long Beach county and headed to Lancaster, where Lynn was assigned in arson for a year, followed by being a paramedic for two, and then she finally took her fire academy class. Lizzy was aiming to be an shimmering actress. She got hired for a short movie that was actually decently good when they went to see the reveal in theaters, but had been looking for work ever since it ended two years back.

"Lynn, do you really wanna be late for your first day?"

Lynn let out another round of groans, mostly because she didn't want to deal with the anxiety growing in her stomach due to meeting all her new coworkers today. It would be her first time at a fire station as an actual firefighter, not just a qualified paramedic, and she was nervous, to say the least.

"What if they don't like me?" Lynn questioned, raising the pillow to show just above her eyes so she could make contact with Lizzy's.

"I'm sure once they get past that hardass exterior of yours, they'll love you, sis," Lizzy smiled nicely towards her troubled sister, but that was short lasted as she pulled the soft blankets off Lynn's body, exposing her skin to the coldness of the air.

"Ugh!" Lynn whined, finally able to pull herself out of bed, but not before flicking her sister's ear as she walked towards her wooden nightstand to pick up her phone and watch. "You're a pain in my ass, Lizzy."

"Oh, where would you be without me?" Lizzy grinned, jokingly pushing her sharp elbow into Lynn's shoulder blade.

That was when Lynn's tired eyes landed on the alarm sitting on her nightstand, and then she let out a loud gasp as her eyes then turned wide.

"Oh my God, I'm gonna be so late!"

•••

"Shit."

Lynn dreadfully pulled herself from her small car as she glanced down to the silver watch she had wrapped around her small wrist earlier; she had two minutes to spare before her shift started. She hadn't expected so much traffic on this side of LA, but then again, she should've at least thought of it. She let out a little breath of relief as she raced past her car to make sure she would still arrive on time.

Before leaving the apartment, Lynn had quickly calmed down the lions den that had taken hold on her head. She tied her long brunette streaks into a high, neat ponytail so it wouldn't get in the way of the shift. She really was contemplating whether or not to just go short, mostly because consistently paying for new ponytails was getting expensive along with the fact shifts would go a lot easier. But she'd been growing out her hair since late college, so it was a troubled decision.

She had already changed into her tidy uniform for work, but while overlooking the transfer file she read there were locker rooms at the fire station she could use herself. When Lynn was starting off as a paramedic, the firemen were strictly against having her use the men's locker room since she would be the first woman addition to the team. She was used to being dressed in the somewhat uncomfortable uniform at her own apartment, so this would be a change for her.

Lynn skipped through the parking lot and then swung open the big glass doors to reveal the station. She almost stared in awe at how much bigger it seemed than her paramedic one, but then again, it was a bigger city. There were three or four firetrucks, and it seemed just as soon as she had walked in one in the middle was being shut off.

And as she walked past that same truck to head to the office of her new captain, she was crudely interrupted when her chest slammed into something hard.

Lynn dropped her transfer file in the middle of the traffic jam, and swore a bit under her breath as she saw her papers fly across the floor. Lynn gazed up to see who exactly she had just ran into, and her angry expression almost instantly faded as she saw the quite attractive man that was staring down at her.

He was much taller than Lynn's 5'7 body, and she guessed he was a few inches over six foot. He had short sandy brown hair, that was neatly cut on the edges but not nicely combed. He was in the same uniform as Lynn, and she swallowed some anxiety in her throat as she could easily see his strong muscles poking through the sleeves of his shirt. Lynn's eyes rose form scanning the mans face towards his right eyebrow, seeing two pinkish marks both under and above it. But the most prominent thing of this man was his piercing blue eyes, there was something magnetic about them, like Lynn couldn't even gaze away if she wanted too.

"I'm—" Lynn trailed for a second in her apology, completely distracted by how attractive the man in front of her was. Once she realized how she never finished her sentence, due to her unconscious daze, she quickly snapped out of it. "—Sorry, uh, I'm sorry."

"No, no, totally my fault," the man rose his arms in defense, shrugging slightly, and then he knelt down to start picking up the scattered papers on the shining floor.

Lynn instantly did the same thing, falling on her knees to pick up one of two papers that were by her feet. Then, as the two firefighters rose up at the same time, their foreheads bounced off each other like a bullet ricocheting off a treetrunk.

"Sorry!" Lynn exclaimed, gripping her forehead as a slight pain rippled through, and she saw that the man did the same thing. "God, I know I'm clumsy but I'm usually not this bad."

"Don't worry about it," the man chuckled, flashing a quick, toothy smile towards the girl as he held out his hand for him to take, which she did within a second. "Bobby was talking about a new candidate, is that you?"

"Yeah, afraid so," Lynn joked softly, releasing her hand from being intertwined with the mans soft ones. "I'm Evelynn Kennedy."

"Buck," the man stated, and Lynn tilted her head to the side a bit in confusion. Who in the hell would name their kid, Buck? Seemingly reading how confused the girl was, he continued. "Sorry, my full name is Evan Buckley, but I just go by Buck."

"That's a, unique, nickname," Lynn chuckled, and when the boy, Buck, followed her same response, she suddenly felt like her cheeks were getting warmer by the second.

She wasn't sure what this mans aromatic self was, or why his smile could quite literally bring butterflies to her stomach, but she wasn't herself. Lynn wasn't ever the type of girl to melt into goo at the words of a boy, so this was a new feeling for her.

"Yeah, I guess, I mean I've always went by Buck since I was a kid," Buck shrugged, and Lynn hoped he hadn't taken her teasing the wrong way.

Five seconds into meeting someone at her new job and he probably already had a bad impression of the brunette.

"Uh, I got to go," Buck spoke up, and Lynn followed his blue eyes as they met a somewhat stern man who was upstairs on the next level, overlooking the balcony. "Bobby's upstairs, if that's who you were looking for."

"You read my mind, thanks."

"Yeah, no problem, I'll see you around, Eve," Buck announced, sending her a quick wave as he started to back up a foot or so.

"Oh, I just go by Lynn," she explained, flashing a polite smile in hopes of salvaging some kind of nice personality.

Buck walked a few feet away by the time she finished her sentence, but then turned on his heels while still moving backwards, with a grin was riddled on his lips, "I like Eve more."

"Okay, Evan," Lynn replied sarcastically, and she selfconsciously was scolding herself for the small flirtation that was going on between her and Buck.

She watched the man as he started jumping up the stairs that led to the next level, and Lynn took a second to gather herself back together. She sucked in a huge breath of air as she tried her best to relax her aching bones that were now thumping in anxiety.

After finally feeling more confident than before, Lynn started to make her way towards where the stairway was, and she felt a few stares from a few firemen who were scattered across the main floor. Some were working out in the small gym area, where as a few were by the firetrucks spiffing and cleaning.

Lynn slowly climbed up the stairs and find herself glancing at what looked like the dining room and kitchen, and there were about four other people up there, including Buck, who was now digging his hands into a plate of asparagus.

Just as soon as Lynn placed her feet on the wooden level, it seemed like everyone's eyes were stuck to her like she was some carnival clown.

"You must be the new recruit," an older man stated, the same one that was staring down Buck from the level, and he gently placed a bowl of salad on the table as he headed towards her direction.

"Yes, sir, I'm Evelynn Kennedy," Lynn smiled politely, and as she was about to hold out her hand the man beat her too it, so she kindly took his shake and then smiled towards the rest of the ground that were sitting at the table. "But you can just call me Lynn."

"Oh, please, call me Bobby, no need for sir," the man, Bobby, replied nicely, and then he signaled towards the rest of the crew that were apparently just starting dinner. "Everyone, meet our newest recruit, Evelynn Kennedy."

"Hi," an Asian man grinned, wiping his hands that he had just used to eat a roll with on his uniform, and Lynn would've laughed at it if he wasn't a complete stranger. "I'm Howie, but everyone just calls me Chimney."

Lynn slightly chuckled at hearing the mans nickname, and she questioned if everyone here would have a somewhat crazy one.

"Nice to meet you," Lynn continued, trying her best to hold back her laughs, and the two took a second to shake.

"And I'm Henrietta, but you can call me Hen," an African American woman stood up, and suddenly Lynn felt much more relieved to know she wouldn't be the only woman in the house.

She'd heard stories about some god awful some of the men are towards the women firefighters. Hell, she went through the same problem with her last station, and she wasn't even a firefighter back then. She just hoped she wouldn't have to be under the command of another misogynistic pig again.

"And lastly, this is Buck—"

"—Oh, we already met," Buck interrupted Bobby before he could continue, with a mouth full of the green vegetable. Lynn tilted her head a bit, shocked that the young man could be so rude as to cut his captain off. She was new, sure, but even she knew better than to be so cocky.

"Oh, dear Lord, please tell me you aren't one of the many girls Firehose met with," Hen sighed, rolling her eyes seemingly to the back of her head.

"I'm not quite sure what Firehose means, but Evan and I just met at the door," Lynn laughed, and her eyes switched over to Buck as he was leaning against the corner, and he sent a wink over in her direction. "Although, I'm sure he wishes."

Everyone at the table all let out 'oh's' and scoffs at the snappy comeback of the new girl, and Lynn felt even more confident in her shoes than before. She made them laugh!

"I like her already!" Chimney exclaimed happily, and his fist slightly hit the table as he leaned backwards to let out another laugh.

The cheers were all interrupted, however, when a loud ring echoed throughout the firehouse, and Lynn almost flinched at not expecting the sound to be so loud.

"Well, candidate, you ready for your first call?"

Lynn's laidback grin disappeared instantly, and her blue eyes turned wide, she certainly wasn't expecting to go on any calls since she still had her transfer file in hand and had yet to be officially listed as a firefighter at station 118.

After realizing that everyone was staring at her for her response, her grin returned but it was much more excited than before, and she threw down her file onto the dinning table.

"Why the hell not?"

a/n: hi everyone!! thank you for choosing to read this book🥺hope you enjoy!! <3 don't forget to check out my other books if you want!
fyi this is for sureee gonna be a slow burn, so if you don't like those then you might not enjoy this story😌