Cherry - S01 E03

Story 2 years ago

Cherry - S01 E03

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 3

Not ten minutes went by and, sure enough, we were called out on a structural fire. As soon as we heard the first part of the street address, we knew where we were going. It was a local restaurant with a 'gimmick'-it had an actual clay oven that they used for all of their cooking. The only problem was the damn thing was always catching the roof on fire-we had been there MANY times, but never to eat. No, every time we went to this particular restaurant, it was on 'business'.

We rolled up and saw immediately that this call was going to be a little different. The place was fully involved. Usually we'd get there and there would be a ton of smoke billowing out of the one end of the roof near the oven. But this time, the flames could be seen through the windows as we rounded the corner. We were all a little surprised to see it going up like it was, but we had our game faces on and got to work. It took a while to get it under control and the place (what was left of it) was still smoking in the morning. The owner said it got out of control this time because the insurance company said that if there was another fire they would cancel his insurance, so they tried to put it out on their own first. Chief just shook his head and said, "Damn insurance companies..." However, once we left the owner of the pile of ashes to clean up his mess, Chief 'changed his position' and said, "What an idiot: trying to put out a roof fire with a garden hose and a couple of CO2 bottles- What'd he think was going to happen?" We had a pretty good laugh at that, but mostly because we executed our job perfectly and nobody got hurt.

We got back to the firehouse and went through the routine of prepping all of our gear for the next call before getting a much needed shower and even more needed sleep. The rest of that Friday was quiet and my shift ended without another callout.

I went home and couldn't wait to call Cherry. It was around noon when I tried to call her, but she didn't answer. Instead, I got a text from her that said she couldn't talk at the moment, but she would call in a few hours.

True to her word, she called me back just before 3:00. We finalized our plans to meet at the mall the next morning and decided to keep the conversation short so we wouldn't end up talking all night and be too tired to actually meet!

That night was one of the longest nights ever for me. I wasn't

nervous about meeting Cherry, I was overly excited. We had not even met face to face yet and already I felt some kind of strong connection to her we just seemed to 'click'. I forced myself to go to bed early, but everything kept me awake a dog barking; the refrigerator running, the whir of the ceiling fan, the constant thumping of my heart....

I got up early and took another shower, just in case there was still any residual smell of smoke on me. I barely noticed it anymore, but sometimes others could tell if I'd been to a fire recently, so it didn't hurt to shower again. When I got out of the shower, i saw that I had only killed 30 minutes and it was still hours before I was to meet Cherry. But knew that sitting around my place was going to drive me crazy, so I headed to the mall.

When I got there, it was still so early that the mall wasn't even open yet and, other than people that actually worked there I was probably the first customer to show up. I circled around to find the food court since we had agreed to meet there and parked. Soon enough, others started to show up and a small crowd of about a dozen people gathered outside the doors. I just sat in the car, waiting for them to go inside.

After an eternity, the doors opened and everyone started filing in, so I got out and 'Joined' them. I looked at the time and saw that it was going to be another hour before Cherry would be there, so I just walked around the mall to familiarize myself with the layout: besides-I was too excited to just sit still. I grabbed a coffee, even though I didn't really drink it that often. I figured I could probably use the caffeine.

Thirty minutes before we were due to meet, Cherry called me to make sure we were still on for meeting at the mall! said, "Um, yeah; of course!" She paused for a second (presumably listening to the background noise) and asked me, "Are you already there?!" I admitted that I was but then said, "I just got here a few moments ago." It was a flat-out lie, but I didn't want to seem more eager that I already did. Cherry laughed and said, "Ok, I'll be there in a little bit!"

I was on the edge of my seat but trying to keep myself looking as relaxed as possible (which isn't easy to do on a chair in the food court). I kept my eye on the door, waiting for Cherry to walk in. After about 20 minutes, I heard someone behind me question my name, "David?" I spun my head around and saw the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen: It was Cherry. I had seen her on the web cam, but in person Cherry was a fine work of art. She was absolutely gorgeous and she was dressed very casual-I couldn't imagine what she would be like if she were going formal or 'sexy'. She was

wearing a black pair of yoga shorts and a simple tank top that showed no small amount of her amazing cleavage. Cherry was about 5'5" and she had a very tone body-I couldn't help but check her out. Her legs were athletic, but not so muscular that they looked manly. Her hair was virtually glowing in the light, slightly darker than a strawberry blond and flowing down to her shoulders. If Cherry had been around in the days of Leonardo De Vinci, no one would have ever remembered Mona Lisa...

I stood immediately and we hugged each other hello.

I said, "Hey, Cherry! I didn't see you come in; It's so good to finally meet you!"

Cherry said, "Yeah, I parked on the other side of the mall where I usually park-it's good to meet you, too! This is my friend, Olivia,"

Before she mentioned her friend, I didn't even realize that she had a friend with her. But I wasn't put off by her bringing her along since she didn't really know me yet. Olivia looked like she was at least two years younger than Cherry-probably still in high school is what I figured-jail bait for sure. She was a little shorter than Cherry, but had the same tone body. However, her breasts were nowhere near as Impressive as Cherry's. I told Olivia that it was nice to meet her as well, before turning my attention back to Cherry.

We set about walking towards our 'non-destination' (just walking around the mall) while talking and getting to know more about each other. The more we talked, the more I liked Cherry and I could tell she was feeling the same way. Everything I said she thought was funny or the most interesting thing she'd ever heard. And honestly, I felt the same way about what she had to say. It was like being in middle school again!

We decided to stop for lunch and Cherry looked at Olivia-nodding her head to one side (the universal sign of would you mind taking off and leaving us to ourselves?). Olivia asked Cherry, "You ok, then?" Cherry just nodded 'yes' and Olivia gave Cherry a hug before she dismissed herself.

Once Olivia was out of the picture, I said, "She seems like a good friend for you. How did you guys come to be friends?" Cherry asked, "What do you mean?"

I said, "Well, she's got to be 2 or 3 years younger than you; are you neighbors or something?" She said, "Huh? Oh, yeah: we're neighbors... and we have the whole cheerleading thing in common."

That explained the shape they were in! I said, "You didn't tell me you were a cheerleader when you were in school."