A Day on the Water

It only took about twenty minutes and a coffee to get me all signed up and insured. Josh offered to show me through the truck afterward - I wasn't going to say 'no' in a hurry.

"So where are you staying, Jamie? Close by somewhere?" Josh pulled a business card from his shirt pocket. "But please, if you get stuck with anything on the truck, feel free to call our 1-800 number on the back of my card or my cell here." Pointing to the number, he said "I'd be happy to help out."

"Thanks, Josh. I've got an F250 at home, so hopefully, I shouldn't get too stuck, but thanks, buddy, for the offer." I half-laughed for no reason. "It's very kind."

We looked over the truck for fifteen minutes, the three of us chatting away. Lucas was telling Josh about our trip while getting some tips on where to go along the way. Josh was originally from the Midwest, so my hunch about hard-worked hands...

got me some corn-raised-farm-boy-gone west

.

I was about to jump in the truck when Lucas signalled for me to come over. "Jamie, what the hell is Josh doing? It's like he's examining the truck, looking over it."

"Oh, here we go, Jamie, look. Josh has found the smallest mark on it."

Now he was busily getting one of the detailers to go over the truck again. "Mate."

I couldn't help but laugh to myself.

"Lucas, I know these guys take pride in the presentation but, it's going to get dirtier driving up the 405 in about five minutes but... what the hell."

"Josh and his team seem to take great pride in service and putting you at ease. He'll go far, that's for sure."

Lucas leaned in close whispering. "Are you like in a committed relationship or something?"

"Ah, no," I replied with a sense of confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?" I looked at Lucas as if he'd just grown a second head from his neck.

"That guy has been hitting on you the whole time, and you're being like a total oblivious geek. What's up?"

"Seriously? I hadn't..."

"Look, if you're going to just pine for 'Sam' while you're here, maybe you shouldn't have come or you've got to work out what you want, Jamie. And look - if I was in the market for a hot guy, Josh would be right up there. Aren't we going swimming after? Ask him along."

Lucas had a particular skill since we were kids. He could always offer the bluntest truthful assessment of stuff, but without offending the subject. He had this way of looking honest and vulnerable at the same time. It was a skill the bastard had for sure - I hated and loved him for it too.

I let Lucas' words wash over me and took his advice. I needed to shake myself out of this funk. Not that I wanted to be the biggest man-slut around, but no reason why I couldn't take a sample off the menu, I guess.

"Um, Josh."

Josh popped his head up from pointing out something to the pre-delivery detailers - I'm guessing another microscopic mark that was going to end the world if not cleaned off. His sexy eyes followed me as I walked back around to the front of the truck, and that warm as sunshine smile met me when we met up back at the driver's front door.

All I could think was

'Goddamn - he's a hot looking guy - really hot...'

"Josh? I'm not sure if this is okay-or you'd be interested -but a little later today, we're," as I pointed between myself and Lucas who was chatting to someone on his cell, "heading out to Lake Castaic for a swim and maybe some water skiing, if you, you know, want to..."

There is was again, that killer smile.

"Sure, that's awesome Jamie. Would love to."

"Okay, great." I could feel my face flush red for a second.

Josh saw it and smiled.

"I'll text you the location of where we are, make sure you bring your swimmers, okay?"

"Swimmers?"

"Oh sorry, trunks, shorts, swimming gear," I laughed. "Swimmers... that's so Aussie. Sorry, mate."

"No problem. I get off at about five today. I'll head straight up."

It was that easy. Josh looked happy - Lucas had that cat-swallowed-the-canary look and I was a little apprehensive but okay with it.

"Come on Lucas. Let's get going."

I shook Josh's hand and climbed into the truck. At that, we headed out to 405 and on to Castaic.

The miles seemed to just evaporate in front of me. While this truck was only eighteen months or so newer than mine, it seemed so much nicer on the road. Josh had paired my cell to the truck and using the voice stuff, I'd managed to get my favorite 'Spotify' playlist going.

'Goddamn, that guy knows his stuff. Look how this truck is set up.'

Okay Jamie, you're talking to yourself now. Put simply, I was cruising along the highway, my mind was starting to relax.

The satnav on the truck started to chatter away at me: I had to turn on to route 5 and on northwest for a few more miles. Tom had given me some pretty simple instructions to find his station. Apparently, if I drove past a big lake, I'd gone too far... just look out for Lake Hughes Road.

..o0o..

Within moments we'd pulled up out the side of the station and wandered across. Wow, he wasn't joking about being near a lake!

"Son-of-a-bitch."

"Hey Lucas, Tom wasn't kidding - work less than 5 minutes away from the lake. Guess that's why he keeps his boat at that yard across the road."

"This place looks so different in the daylight," Lucas laughed. "Tom showed me where the other door is. Follow me."

We ducked around back and walked into the engine room of the station. The first thing that hit me was the size of their appliances, like, "Wow."

Their patrol vehicle was an F-550 with something like 300 gallons of water on board. Our light tankers or slip-on hold 600 liters, a 160 gallon difference. "I can see why Tom likes this stuff."

I could hear some voices in the distance, and Tom's voice drifted across.

"Oi!" I yelled out.

"Sweet Jesus ... it's Spence!" the voice answered back, and I could hear some hurried footsteps. Tom came bursting around the corner just aside their other truck, and I pulled him into a huge hug. I hadn't seen Tom for almost three years. The sunshine and life change hadn't done him any harm at all.

"Shit, Spence, you're all hard and muscled up," remarked Tom, as he pulled back from me for a moment.

"You'd give Yates a run for his money these days, ha-ha."

"Looking good, Jamie. You'll have guys falling from the trees to get their hands on some Aussie Firefighter."

I laughed at that. "Yeah, we'll see. Hey Tommy, I ran into Adam the other day, he's full-on into this building development stuff. He's a bit less on the weights now, but still got me covered in the built stakes I reckon."

Tom pulled me into a sideways hug. "Looking good, buddy. Single life suits you. Come on let's get you through to the guys."

Tom turned around to Lucas. "How did it go at the airport, Lucas?"

"Fuck'n awesome. Thought Jamie was going to piss his pants at one point."

They both started to laugh. "What... you knew, Tom?"

"He helped," Lucas chimed in.

"Son-of-a-bitch, both of you." I couldn't help it and started to laugh at my own expense.

We stepped through the doors into the muster room. "Guys, this is my buddy from down under, Firefighter Jamie Spence. We went through college and recruits together."

The guys all stood up and made their way over, shaking hands and introducing themselves.

"Matt! Thanks a million for the loan of your truck buddy." Lucas yelled out as a set of keys flew past me towards Matt.

"No worries, Lucas. Happy to help the boss-man's mates out."

"Boss?" I said in shock looking back at Tom.

"Yeah - acting Captain at the moment. Waiting for a permanent post to come through, Jamie."

"Well done, fuck!" I congratulated Tom, slapping him on the shoulder. If anyone deserved it, it was Tom. He was always the head of the class, Dux and College, and our recruit course, too.

"Come on, Jamie," Tom tilted his head. "Let's grab a coffee and you can fill me in on all the gossip. So is Simon Kelsy still being the biggest prick that lived?"

"Oh," I replied, rolling my eyes at Tom. I saw Lucas shaking his head too. Clearly, Mom had been keeping the gossip fresh with the fam. "Don't get me started, but let's just say, Assistant Chief Officer West has Simon's ass in the sights."

"West, is she an ACO now... really?" Tom had a look of total disbelief on his face.

"Yep Tom, she sure is, and killing it. Best thing that could happen to the service is her getting that promotion."

"That's fantastic, Jamie. She was my first District boss out of recruits. You got stuck with your future father-in-law straight up, didn't you? You know, she'd make a fantastic chief one day."

I rolled my eyes at that. "Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Tom. That's why you made District Manager whilst I was still crewing trucks. Wonder if the service will ever be ready for that, Tom?"

I shook my head in despair. "It's such a boy's club sometimes at the top end, Tommy, still!"

"Nice crew you've got going here, Tommy... nice."

Looking straight past Tom, I asked, "So boys, has our Tommy boy lost his skill for causing trouble or laughs along the way? Anyone been cling wrapped to their cots yet?" To that a load of laughter broke out with Tom going bright red in the face.

"Yeah, he got Mike last week with that one," Pete replied while almost falling over laughing so hard. "Poor Mike didn't know what the hell had happened. They set the bells off and he tried to jump up. It was like watching a turtle on its back flailing around."

That started off another round of Tom vs the rest of the shift stories. One thing never changes - no matter where you are, don't let fireman get bored. Nothing says trouble like idle fireman.

I was intrigued really - these guys are at a similar level of training and development to us at home, if anything though, maybe a bit more constrained inappropriate behaviour. Some of the older guys back home, well, they're still in the nineteen fifties and that day has gone.

Although I was entertained, I could feel the sleep and time change hit me. Tom had spotted it too. I'd started to yawn a bit and was starting to really feel it.

"Hey Jamie? How about you guys go back to mine for a little sleep, and we can all go skiing when I come off shift."

Tom looked around and Lucas had fallen asleep in one of the recliner chairs.

"Someone had an early start, plus he didn't get in till 1 am. The flight was delayed out of Dallas, TX." Tom looked over at Lucas.

One of the other firies spoke up. "I'm happy to drop them off, if that's ok, boss? I've got to go and do a building check. I'll take one of the recruits with me to drive their truck over and we can do the job on the way back."

"Thanks, Ryan," Tom said as he headed across the room to wake Lucas up.

I stood up a little too quick and went dizzy for a second. Ryan reached over and steadied me.

"You okay, Jamie?"

Wow, what is it with all these hot guys today. "Um, sorry... just a little tired, I guess, Ryan."

I could feel my face going red again. I swear I need to learn how to control that.

Tom finally woke Lucas. He looked like he was ten years old being walked to bed asleep, but moving as Tom guided him out of the muster room to my truck. I followed Ryan out and gave him the keys. "I think it's better if you drive."

"I was planning on it."

..o0o..

I woke up, feeling like what seemed to be only minutes later, had clearly been hours.

The sun was in the western half of the sky now, and it looked beautiful outside. The warm sunlight streaming in the high windows on me had finally awakened me. I felt like a cat that had been sitting in a window almost - you know - all warm and sleepy.

I pulled the cover back and walked out of the bedroom along the hallway half dazed, scratching my head, okay and balls too, just trying to work out where the hell I was, or what was the floor plan of the place.

Passing another bedroom, I looked in and it was all tidy with a huge picture of our graduating class on the wall.

'Must be the master bedroom.'

I followed a little further as the hall opened out into a living-kitchen space, with the room divided off by the placement of the two Ivory white three-seat couches - one was a pull out. It was a very modern looking place: large clear counter tops with a huge center island that you could seat ten people around and a commercial grade looking kitchen.

'Shit Tom, how much are you on over here?'

The whole area was bathed in natural light, with large floor to ceiling windows on three sides, double-glazed by the looks of it, and then the biggest flat screen I've seen since, well, the last one Tom had at his place back home. He loved those huge screens.

The gentle soft sounds coming from the pull-out meant that Lucas was still sound asleep on his side, totally at peace with the world and feeling safer with a hand resting on his hardness that I could clearly see through his boxer briefs.

I smirked for a moment.

'It's not going to run away Lucas.'

He's always slept with his hand on it. I would give him crap for it when we were kids, well nah, even now. His response was always the same, "It's mine and I like it."

Only then did I notice that I was standing in my blue Calvin's. I must have gotten undressed, somewhere, but I don't even remember getting here.

'Thanks, Ryan you're a lifesaver.'

My chatting away to myself didn't even make Lucas stir.

I heard my cell beep a few moments later. I turned around and headed back down through the house looking for the bathroom. I think a shower might go well.

Looking in each room I passed, I was a little lost trying to work out which room I'd just been in.

Finally, I heard the chirp of my cell.

'There you are, you little bastard.'

I said to know one in particular.

Opening the message screen up on my way out of the spare bedroom, I saw it was from Josh. He's about to finish up and wanted to know where to meet up.

Shit, I had no idea where the hell I was. Okay, I roughly knew the area, but not Tom's address. Flicking through my contacts, I quickly called Tom.

"Jamie, you're awake."

"Yeah, thanks. I so needed that sleep, buddy. Hey, nice place you've got here too, Tom. If it's okay, I might jump in the shower and freshen up. I think the whole time-zone-long-flight thing and sleep have made me a bit worse for wear, if you know what I mean."

"Sure, mate in the closet in the second bedroom, right hand door, there are towels for you and Lucas. Also some assorted toiletries if you need them. Help yourself."

"Thanks, Tommy. Oh yeah, Tom. Josh from the dealership shot me a text. Wanted to know if we were still going for a swim. I kinda invited him to come along. It's ok for him to meet us, yeah?"

Tom started to laugh.

"I'm guessing by your voice, Jamie, you don't even know where you are."

"Ah-no." looking around like I was about to suddenly discover a lost landmark. "No idea as to where the hell I am." I was starting to feel like a total dick, promised myself on the flight I was going to stop this childish shit. "Sorry Tom, can I ask, what's your address?"

I quickly scribbled down the address and simple directions Tom was relaying for me.

Tom let out a laugh. "Jamie."

"Ryan did say you and Lucas had passed out before the truck had even left the station carpark."

"Tom, I was so exhausted even after sleeping on the plane and all, you'd think I've never flown before."

"Yeah, all good Jamie." I could feel the smirk on his face thru the phone. "I find that coming from the cold to warm takes it out of me for a day or too. Last time I flew back to Australia, it was summer, remember?"

"Jeez, I was sleeping on my folk's couch for two days till you and Gav came over and dragged me off to go paint balling in 98-degree heat."

Chuckling along, Tom replied, "Yeah that was fun. You looked like a freshly cooked lobster."

Tom laughed, "Okay, so you know where you are now and how to get Josh? To find us right? I'll text you when I'm about to head out from work and grab the boat out of the yard near here. So, we can just go skiing after I finish up. You and Lucas can just walk down from my place to the water - it's like five minutes tops to the lake, okay? And tell Josh I'll be there with the boat at Park 5 in the recreation area off Castaic Lake Drive. I'll be there at 18:15. See yah, bud."

"Okay, Tom. Sure. So how do I get to the lake from here?"

"Buddy, just head out front to the end of my street. You'll see the signs. It's like a 5-minute walk or you can drive it. Your truck is parked in the drive."

"Awesome, I'll walk it, see you in an hour."

I quickly texted Josh with the directions and then proceeded to wake up Lucas.

"Lucas, I'm going to grab a quick shower. There are towels in the closet in the second bedroom if you want to go after me."

Lucas was looking at me all dopey eyed.

"Come on man, wake up, then we can boot it down to the water. It's like a five-minute walk, Tom said."

"Okay you go shower. I'll jump in when you're done." Rolling back over, he groaned, "Just yell out when you're almost done, and keep the shower running, Jamie."

"Okay." I turned and headed to the other end of the house. What a surprise I discovered when I went into the bathroom: nice place all around! The shower was a walk-in - easily could fit two people in here.

I slipped my clothes off and turned the water on. It only took seconds to get the right temperature and I slipped under the shower.

'Oh god, this is nice.'

I'd finished up pretty quickly, all I wanted to do really was a quick freshen up. I'll have to shower after swimming anyway. "LUCAS, you're up!"

We passed each other in the bathroom. I was just having a quick shave and brushing my hair. It was totally comfortable between us. Lucas had walked in slipping his boxers off one-legged and not falling over. "Nice effort, buddy."

"Yeah. You're the clumsy ninja, Jamie, not me."

"Smart ass." Lucas slapped his butt and climbed into the shower without losing step, as we'd seen each other naked a million times since we were kids - even did the whole shared-bath thing when we were little - so it was nothing.

"Fuck, Jamie," I looked at Lucas.

"Wha?"

"How hard have you been hitting the gym? You're looking good buddy." Lucas stood there sucking his stomach in and smacking his ass, looking at his reflection in the mirror, while half under the shower still.

"Hmm, maybe a few more crunches for a few weeks."

"Oh really, Lucas. What - I've finally caught up with you." We looked at each other and laughed.

"Okay, I'll be two minutes," Lucas yelled and disappeared back into the shower.

..o0o..

We grabbed my backpack.

"Come on - what do you want to take? Sunblock and water bottles, got a hat?"

Shit, I sound like my Mom.

"Havaianas-well flipflops" as Lucas has reminded me.

Heading out the door, it was "beautiful 90-92 outside, feels like summer to me."

We walked down Tom's street following the simple directions, and just talking smack all the way down. Before we knew it, we were at the carpark.

"Yes!" and I made a beeline for the water.

Dropping my backpack a few feet back from the waterline, I slipped my shirt and haviies off.

"Last one in has to talk to my Mom tonight, Lucas."

We went sprinting into the lake.

"Oi! No fair" Lucas called out just as I plunged into the water. Damn, the water felt nice washing over me as I sunk under.

Surfacing a few yards along, my head just broke through. Opening my eyes, and sweeping the water off my face, all I saw was Lucas flying through the air and bombing right next to me, water went everywhere.