Chapter 7
Two hours later and Jasmine was still frozen in place on Leo’s couch, her entire body full of tension from worrying. With her phone on the table in front of her, she checked her signal again making sure that if someone called that it would ring.
She didn’t know why she was stressing about missing a call. It wasn’t as if she had even thought to give Leo her number. Winter might have his number since he was close with Will, but the idea of calling Winter made her cringe a bit. That was a whole can of worms that she didn’t really want to open over the phone while the guys were out fighting fires and possibly saving lives. It wasn’t that she was hiding Leo from her best friend. It was just that there would need to be quite a bit of explaining, and since Jasmine wasn’t really sure what was happening herself…well, it was just easier to wait until they had beer and time to go over all of it. Keeping with that line of thought though meant that Jasmine had no idea how to find out if Leo was okay on the job tonight. Jasmine thought for a moment before deciding to text Winter to see if she had an update on the fire.
Are you up?
Jasmine had barely sat the phone back down on her lap before it vibrated with an incoming text message.
Yeah, everything ok?
Jasmine thought for a second how she should answer, while clicking her tongue against her teeth. The light sounded loud in the quiet house. Winter had no idea that Jasmine had left with Leo from the engagement party. With Jasmine’s decision to text Winter, she basically opened the can of worms she had been trying to save for a later date.
Yeah. I’m at Leo’s place. We were hooking up when he got the call about the fire. I’m worried now.
Jasmine turned the volume down on the TV, as if silencing the commercials would help her nerves right now.
Really? That’s not something I would have expected to hear. Jack texted a bit ago from the station. Guys are alright but going to be gone all night. Fire doesn’t want to die so don’t plan on Leo getting home any earlier than the morning. Welcome to my life.
Morning? Holy shit, it was only eleven. Were the guys going to be able to stay alert to fight this fire until morning? That little tidbit gave Jasmine something completely new to worry about.
Thanks for the info. I’m a wreck. How do you do this?
Jasmine was waiting for Winter to reply when her phone vibrated with an incoming call. When Winter’s name and goofy picture flashed on the screen, she didn’t hesitate to hit ‘answer’.
“How the hell do you deal with this every time his phone rings?” Jasmine asked, her voice sounding as weary as she felt.
“I just do. I guess it helps that he was a firefighter when we met so I knew what I was getting into. It doesn’t make it easy, but I deal with it the best I can.” Winter crunched on something as she spoke.
“Are you eating popcorn?”
“Ummm…yeah, I guess you could say that is one way I deal with the calls from the station too. I make sure that I have the cupboard stocked at all times so I can stress eat.”
“That sounds healthy,” Jasmine pointed out dryly. “Wait, are you at home? What happened to your suite at the hotel?”
“Meh, I didn’t want to stay in the suite if Will wasn’t going to be there to help dirty it up,” Winter answered as she crunched some more.
“Seriously though, didn’t you just say that you couldn’t gain any weight if you wanted to get the dress you had your heart set on?”
“Hey! I’ve been dealing with situations just like tonight for months. Months! I’m trying to grow my nails out for the wedding so I’ve turned to salty snacks to keep me from chewing them off. That dress will fit if I have to get Aunt Peggy to sew my ass into it!”
Jasmine shot an understanding glance at the half-empty bowl of M&Ms, which had been completely full on the side table when she had taken residence on the couch a couple of hours earlier.
“Why can’t we be the type of people who work out when we’re stressed?” Jasmine asked while reaching for another handful.
“I don’t think those people actually exist,” Winter argued. “I think that is an urban legend started by exercise companies to get people to buy their work out products. Whenever I exercise, all I end up doing is being sweaty, tired and sore.”
“Maybe it’s the exhaustion that’s supposed to be replacing the stress,” Jasmine offered, letting the colorful candy shells melt in her mouth.
“Meh, I’m still calling shenanigans.” Winter crunched some more letting an easy silence come over the call.
“So,” Jasmine said after a minute or two of quiet.
“You and Leo?” Winter said, obviously curious at how that had happened.
“Yeah, me and Leo.” Jasmine sighed pushing the candy dish as far away from her as she could without getting up. “I didn’t realize that the best man was a boy I grew up with.”
“Wait, what now? Do I need more popcorn for this?”
Jasmine grinned feeling more relaxed the longer she spoke to her best friend. “You might. Leo, or Leonard as I knew him before, is the son of our old housekeeper. We were kind of raised together…kind of.”
“I’m so confused right now. I thought your parents’ housekeeper was Crystal and a lesbian.”
“Janet was our housekeeper while I was little until I went off to college. That’s who Leo’s mom is. Crystal didn’t start until about five years ago and, yes, she is a lesbian.” Jasmine laughed silently at the memory of Crystal asking if Winter was single the first time she had attended dinner at the Kingsford house.
“I thought so. It seemed weird that she always wants to help me put my napkin on my lap when your parents have those fancy dinners. So, you hadn’t seen him since high school? Did you guys date? How did you react when you saw him tonight? I always thought he was dreamy…not as hot as Will, but still hot as fuck. What exactly happened tonight? How big is he?”
“Yes, no, I almost swallowed my tongue, and I know Will looks like Captain America but I think Leo is just a tiny bit hotter. We kissed and he saw my flamingo bikini bottoms and then the call came. I’m not telling you that until you spill the beans on Will.” Jasmine ticked off answers in a rapid-fire response.
“Will is totally hotter than Leo, but I will agree to disagree on that one and your flamingo what?” Winter snorted a laugh already knowing what was coming, considering that she had been Jasmine’s roommate for so long.
“Laundry day is tomorrow so you know what that means.” Jasmine reached for the bowl of candy again before she could stop herself. “At least I was wearing these and not my period panties.”
Winter let loose a loud and obnoxious laugh from her end of the call. The sound forced Jasmine to move the phone away from her ear and roll her eyes at her friend laughing at her.
“You’re supposed to be my best friend, bitch,” Jasmine pointed out while chomping on the candy in her mouth.
“Oh God, can you imagine his face if you had been wearing the granny panties?” Winter chortled. “Will won’t even touch mine in the drawer we share if he sees them.”
“Dudes are pussies.”
“They really are.”
At those words, the two of them started laughing again.
“I feel a little better now,” Jasmine admitted.
“Good, so tell me about Leo growing up. Did he pull your pigtails? Put frogs in your bed? Wait, was he your first?”
“No, he didn’t do any of that. It’s actually kind of sad really.”
“Why?” Winter questioned between crunches.
“He ignored me. Like as in I didn’t exist to him. I would say hi; he would pretend I wasn’t there. Imagine hot Leo as a hot teenager and you can imagine how much that broke my little pimple-faced heart.”
“That is sad…but at least adult Jazz has the attention of the grown up hot Leo.”
“Meh, but just my luck though that a fire call comes through, right? I mean, yeah, I guess I feel better knowing that he was all set to see what was beneath my flamingos but teen Jasmine cried some real tears over Leo back then.”
“That does suck.”
Jasmine sighed. “You know what?”
“What?”
“I’m not gonna obsess over this anymore. It’s just me being stupid anyway.”
“Good, now go to bed and get some rest. The guys won’t be home until morning at the earliest,” Winter ordered.
Jasmine stretched out on the couch, the day finally hitting her. “Are you going to do the same?”
“Yeah, Will hates it when I wait up for him. I think it makes him feel bad and I don’t want that so I’m going to take a hot bath and try to relax before crawling into bed. I don’t sleep well when he’s not here anyway so I might as well try to get as sleepy as possible before going in there.”
“That makes sense.” Jasmine pulled down a throw that was draped over the back of the couch. Putting it to her nose she sniffed it before smiling. The combination of laundry detergent and cologne instantly soothed her.
It smelled like Leo.
“Jack will text me if anything happens that we should know about, and I’ll text you if that happens,” Winter offered. “Now get some sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Lunch?” Jasmine asked with a yawn.
“Tinderbox at noon?” Winter suggested, mentioning a bar and grill just down the street from the firehouse.
“Sounds good, see ya then.” Barely keeping her eyes open, Jasmine hit ‘end’ and pulled the small blanket up to her nose. The idea that she should head home since Leo was going to be gone all night briefly entered her mind before exhaustion made it fade away. Breathing in the smell that was uniquely Leo, she drifted off to sleep.