I grimace. While my roommates are trying to be encouraging, they’re just reminding me of something else I want that I can’t have.
Thad nods along, as though it’s cool to be an aspiring something when really the wordaspiringjust means you’re nothing yet. “Oh,” he says.
Yeah.Oh.As in zero. What my best efforts have amounted to.
“We believe in you, Gemma,” Charlie calls.
“Thanks.” I don’t feel thankful. But maybe I’m just not focused like Karson used to say. If I were a computer, I’d have too many tabs opened. I need a good night’s sleep to reboot.
I shake my hands loose to prepare for the role of firefighter, then turn the key in the red console and feel the engine sputter to life. There are a lot of buttons and gauges and a monitor that looks like a backup camera. I assume it’s not a screen to control the radio. Well, not the kind of radio that plays music anyway.
I step on the brake and shift into drive. Looking through the giant windshield, I move toward the obstacle course of cones.
Thad does his best to direct me around the first few, but I cut the corners too tightly and pretty much knock them all down. I should have just plowed straight over them. Would have had the same effect, and I’d be done sooner. With two cones left, I decide to do just that.
The cab is silent when I shift into park.
“Wow, Gem,” Kai deadpans. “It’s a good thing those were cones and not pedestrians.”
“Yeah.” Charlie’s eyes widen in horror. “Did you even try?”
I look over at Thad to find him scratching his head as if stunned by my lack of driving skills.
“Maybe you’d be better at …”
It’s very kind how hard he’s thinking to come up with something nice to say.
“Driving the back end of the fire engine.”
“I’m sure that’s the issue.” Kai’s words agree, but his sarcastic tone does not.
“If you didn’t want to drive, you should have just said so.” Charlie thinks anything that’s not a competition is a waste of time. “Now trade places with Kai to see if he can beat my record of only knocking down one cone.”
“Come on, Gemma.” Thad opens his door. “I’ll have the lieutenant take over with these guys, while I show you the steering wheel on the aft of the fire engine.”
I’m happy to step out of the competition. I pull the handle to open my door and find a small group of firefighters watching me.
“It’s a good thing you’re pretty,” teases the woman.
Yeah. That’s really helping me out now. Especially when the rest of her crew starts laughing.
“Lieutenant.” Thad circles the front of the fire truck. “I’m going to let you take over while I show Gemma how the tiller works.”
One whoops. “I bet you are.”
I look at Thad.
His gray eyes are clear of ulterior motives. “Come on.”
By tiller, Thad means the tractor trailer truck long enough to hold the ladder. Because it’s so long, there’s a little cab on the back with a second steering wheel, or tiller. He motions for me to climb the steps on the side of the truck ahead of him. When we get to the top, he lets me sit behind the wheel while he pulls down a second seat like a theater seat. I assume it’s for training new firefighters or for classes like this.
I wrap my fingers around the wheel, unsure of why he brought me here. “With how much Charlie likes to be a backseat driver, he would love this.”
Thad chuckles. “I figured you needed a break from him.”
I sigh at how transparent I am. “Yeah. If I’d driven myself to class, I would have just gone home. I’m kind of dealing with some stuff.”
He nods knowingly. “Zellner, huh?”
