Page 23 of Ember

Chapter 9

“Will you get your big ass away from me!?” Miesha screeched, pushing Casimir so roughly, that he nearly tumbled to the ground.

“Now if I would have fell, that would have been your ass!” He shouted, mushing her.

Rubbing her temples, Danica struggled to figure out how and why their sibling movie night always seemed to turn into a knock down, drag out WWE match. If an argument didn’t break out over the genre of movie to watch, then it was an issue of who was sitting where or got to use what blanket. By the time the three of them settled down to actually watch the movie, they were so tired from the shenanigans, that they usually fell asleep less than halfway through.

“Can we be civilized for once, please?” She begged, looking up at them from her place on the floor, waving the Firestick remote in her hand.

“Well, tell your bald headed ass sister to get her ass off the couch or share. Last time we did this, y’all made me lay on the floor and it fucked my back up.”

“Cas, that was over a damn year ago, get over it!” Miesha argued.

“I will not. Not when I still have to visit a chiropractor every month because y’all selfish as fuck.”

“Negro, you…”

Tossing the remote onto the ground, Danica pulled herself up from the floor to grab another glass of wine. The way it was looking, they wouldn’t be settling on a movie for at least the next two hours.

Taking a sip from her glass, she welcomed the distraction of her phone lighting up with an incoming FaceTime call from Tucker.

“Hey,” she quickly answered, swiping the screen to answer. A warm feeling pooled in the pit of her stomach when she realized he was in his gear on the truck. There was something about seeing him in his uniform that made her heart race.

“Hey, you.”

“Hey, baby mama!” A voice that had become so familiar called out in the background.

“Hey, Charlie,” Danica giggled warmly while Tucker’s face twisted.

“I told you about that shit,” he snarled off screen before focusing his attention on her. “And you got the nerve to be entertaining his lame ass.”

“Can you blame me? He’s a man that knows what he wants.”

“That’s right, you tell em, baby.”

“Keep on and see what I do after hanging up this phone.”

“Oh, stop being so mean.” Danica teased.

“You stop being so damn flirty.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” She licked her lips, hitting him with a fake salute. “Anyway, what’s going on with you?”

“Nothing, we’re on our way back to the station.”

“Good call?” Danica questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“False alarm, no harm no foul.”

“Okay, good.”

Over the weeks that they’d been getting to know one another, Danica and Tucker’s communication had increased. Spending time with one another was limited due to the demand of his job, but he’d gotten into the habit of checking on her when he could, and she always looked forward to his calls. There was no pressure on their friendship, and Danica loved it. He still hadn’t opened up to her about what was plaguing him, but she was chipping away at the wall he kept around himself, and for the moment, that was okay with her.

The kiss they shared was long forgotten as neither one of them brought it up again. She chalked it up to a spur of the moment thing, and was too afraid of the answer to find out what it meant to him.

“What you got going on over there?” Tucker questioned, bringing her back to the present.

“Supposed to be movie night, but my brother and sister can’t seem to stop acting like a pair of wild…”