Chapter 1

"Girl? It's been three years since you've last been on a date," Raven noted, browsing through a selection of different sugars in an aisle of Whole Foods Grocery Store.

"And your point is?" Chelsea wondered, reaching for a package brown sugar.

Raven grabbed Chelsea by her cheeks and smashed them together, causing her lips to purse outward. "Girl? Look at you. You should be out getting crunk at a night club like any self respecting twenty-three year old. But no. We're in the grocery store."

"Well'p, Rae, it's not like there's any farms in San Francisco," Chelsea noted, removing her face from Raven's grasp. "We gotta get some food from somewhere and 7-11 doesn't really have a nice selection."

Chelsea did have to admit that Raven was right, however. Her life had become one of monotony with school and work, leaving little time for any fun. She then took note that Raven's face went blank.

"Rae? Are you having a... a vision?" Chelsea whispered.

"No girl..." Raven gasped, pointing to something down the aisle. "Look down there."

Chelsea turned around, expecting to see something like an article of clothing that Raven was envious of, but, instead, found two San Francisco firefighters, both causally strolling with a shopping cart loaded with groceries.

"Girl? What me get their attention." Raven mused. "I knew wearin' my booty pants was a good idea."

Raven positioned herself so that she was in clear sight of the two rescue workers. Next, she pretended to search for something on a lower shelf, causing her to bend over.

"Rae! What the hell are you doing?" Chelsea hissed.

"Just showin' off my lovely little hump, girl," Raven grinned, noticing that both were now looking their way. "And I'm gonna get me some of that."

"Dude," Firefighter Wally Rooth gasped. "Check out the ass on her."

"I am glad I transferred here," Firefighter Tyler Kent nudged his comrade in his ribs. "But you do know she's just trying to get our attention."

Wally's smile grew. "Well she's got it."

Tyler's attention was briefly upon the mocha skinned girl, but it quickly transferred to the girl with reddish-brown hair and a fairer tone.

"Captain Kent? I feel it is time for us to serve the public," Wally said, rubbing his hands together with anticipation.

"Wait... Captain?" Tyler asked with shock and Wally jogged forth, the suspenders to his turnout pants bouncing at his sides with each step. "Captain!? I-I'm no... Wally... Wally!"

"That's Battalion Chief Wally to you!"

Tyler could only watch as Wally marched up to the two girls. Quickly, he followed suit to perform any damage control.

"Hello ladies," Wally greeted slyly, "I'm Chief Wally and this is my counterpart Captain Tyler."

Raven stood up, arching her back in the process, accentuating her rear and already full chest. "Ooh, a chief and a captain."

"That's right, ma'am," Wally purred. "So what are your names?"

"I'm Raven and that's my home girl, Chelsea."

"Ooh, Raven—" Wally rolled the R in her name—"that's exotic."

Raven made a high pitched squeal, cheesing brightly. While the tete a tete between the two ensued, Chelsea and Tyler could only shake their heads, somewhat mortified by what was going on. They were even more so shocked when both Wally and Raven walked off, with Wally explaining something about his mother's famous recipe for meatballs.

"Well that was strange," Chelsea said after a long five seconds, then turned to Tyler, "so do you guys always come to the store to pick up girls or what?"

"I'm... sorry about that," Tyler apologized, noticing Wally giving him a thumb's up as he rounded a corner.

Chelsea smiled, noticing his awkwardness, finding it charming—and very appealing. Sizing him up, she noticed that he had to be at least six foot three. His skin tone was roughly the same as one of her other close friends, Eddie Thomas, who was now a radio DJ in Los Angeles. But what really drew her in was the warmth in his dark brown eyes.

"So you're a captain, huh. You look kinda young?" she noticed, tapping her lower lip with her finger.

He let out a soft laugh. "I'm no captain. In fact, I'm still kind of a rookie."

Chelsea giggled as well. "I kinda figured that."

The two spend a moment just staring at each other, both with smirks on their faces. Besides her red hair—red being Tyler's favorite color—she had rich brown eyes that were both sweet, yet seductive, like very expensive chocolate. Her lips and smile were to die for and he badly wanted to taste them, but ultimately swallowed that thought.

"Kent!?" A shrill voice called from behind him, startling both Chelsea and himself. "Where's Wally?"

Tyler turned around to find Lieutenant Aimee Rieger, as well as Firefighters Jamie Kwan and Lacey Alvarez.

"He walked off... somewhere," Tyler responded.

"Chasin' after some girl?"Jamie asked, though knowing the answer.

Tyler gave an slight nod as to say "yeah."

"Figures," Aimee groaned, rolling their eyes. "Well saddle up. We're just about ready to roll."

He turned back to Chelsea. "Sounds like I've gotta go." He stuck out his hand. "It was a pleasure to meet you."

Chelsea embraced his hand; Tyler noticing a crumpled piece of paper within her soft palm. "It was nice meeting you too."

Though he didn't want to, he released his grasp upon her hand, making sure he had a hold of the piece of paper she had given him, and walked off towards the checkout line with his fellow firefighters; Wally with a semi intoxicated gaze upon his face.

"What's your deal?" Tyler asked, loading some of the food into an emptied compartment of Ladder Truck 2. "You look like you just downed a few forties of Old E."

Wally grasped the crotch of his turnout pants and gave an upward tug at his manhood. "I love this job."

"You sick son of a mother," Tyler scolded, then laughed as he strolled to the rear of the truck to his position in the singular cab of the tillered apparatus, the other four taking their seats in the front main cab.

Once settled, he opened the crumpled paper, finding Chelsea's email address and both her home and cell phone numbers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chelsea and Raven emerge from the store, the two girls looking at the truck. If he was up front in the driver's seat, he would have blasted the horn to acknowledge them, but the best he could do was open his window and wave. To his joy, Chelsea returned his wave, then pressed two of her fingers to her lips and blew a kiss his way.

Oh I'm definitely calling her, Tyler thought through the throaty growl of the truck's engine. Lord? Please don't let my shyness prevent me from calling her 'cause she is hot!