nineteen
"evan buckley?"

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"EVAN BUCKLEY, GIVE ME THE damn controller!"

Lynn let out an annoyed, exasperated puff of air as Buck once again stole the xbox controller straight out of her hands. She then decided to smack the boy in the back of the head, and just as soon as she raised her fingers to flick his ear, he swiftly turned on his butt and moved quickly out of the way.

"Close one, Evie, we'd hate to have to call HR again, wouldn't we?" Buck teased, sticking his tongue out at the girl as he click a button to start another game.

"Bobby!" Lynn whined dramatically, falling backwards on the couch cushions they had once again placed on the floor for support. "Evan won't let me have a turn!"

"You two need to learn how to share things, so Buck, give her a turn," Bobby responded simply, yet his voice was still laced with authority.

Just as the two young adults glanced over their shoulders to continue arguing with who should have the next turn for the firefighting game, they furrowed their eyebrows when it looked like Bobby was so disinterested with them and laser focused on his laptop in front of him.

Both of the firefighters narrowed their eyes at each other, almost asking if the other was going to be the one to speak up. However, they were saved by the bell when Chimney and Hen had made their way towards Bobby, who instinctively shut the laptop closed with a certain swiftness.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What was that all about?" Chimney spoke up after realizing the same thing Buck and Lynn had just recognized.

Buck placed the game on pause, and they both rose from their comfortable seats and started walking towards the gossip seemingly growing.

"What?"

"You closed your laptop as soon as we walked in here, like you were hiding something," Chimney explained, pointing towards the silver laptop with a smirk growing.

"No, I didn't," Bobby responded, but his voice had a bit of an edge to it, and the firefighters had all seemed to catch on with Bobby's giveaways.

"Yeah, you did."

By now, both Hen and Chimney had now recognized that Buck and Lynn were now standing off to the side, and they equally seemed interested and amused with the situation.

"I just took a sip of tea," Bobby defended, pointing towards his basically empty mug off to the side of his laptop. And before he even had a chance to move his hand, Chimney had managed to snake his fingers around the laptop. "Chim!"

Chimney made tsk-tsk noises, and then peeled open the computer for all the firefighters crammed together to see. And they all gasped at a the website uploaded on the screen.

"RomancingTheUniform.com?" Chimney scoffed slightly, turning to the rest of his friends in a fit of excitement. "That's my dating site, that's where I met Tatiana. Holy crap, are you actually putting yourself back out on the scene?"

"My sponsor said maybe it's time," Bobby shrugged softly, and Lynn sent her captain and nice, sympathetic smile as she started to read the bio. "I spend too much time in my work, in my head, and that dating, having a girlfriend would help get me out in the world."

Everyone seemed to swoon to think that the captain to get back into dating, so while Hen and Chimney stared at Bobby, Buck took a seat with the laptop in his hands and Lynn was breathing over his shoulder to finish reading the caption.

"I think it's great, you taking the leap," Hen stated, giving Bobby a supportive smile when leaning her hands on the wooden dinner table. "It's brave. While at the moment, I think that dating or sleeping with someone is not worth the trouble, but I'm happy for you."

"Yeah, Cap, I stand with Hen when I say dating is practically useless, but hey, it's good you're trying," Lynn said, her eyes not leaving the bright computer screen until she realized everyones eyes were on her. "What?"

"Damn, Lynn, who the hell broke your heart?" Chimney joked, and Lynn rolled her blue eyes before trying to ignore him and pay back attention to the laptop.

"Long story, just believe me when I say dating sucks," Lynn rose her arms up in defeat, and she almost narrowed her eyes at Buck, who was basically staring into her soul.

"Look, this just isn't me," Bobby objected, shaking his head a bit in disbelief. "I-I feel like a probie stretching his first job."

"You're not a rookie, you're just rusty."

Bobby looked over towards Hen, who had just commented, and gave her a deadpan face as he continued. "Last time I had a date, I was in my twenty's."

"Yeah, this is terrible," Buck interrupted, and it wasn't that Lynn was disagreeing with the cheesy profile, but more that Buck could've said it a bit nicer. "And this picture looks like you're trying to sell real estate from a bus stop bench. And you know what? I will not be buying. Alright?"

The group of firefighters all enveloped into laughter as they each examined the profile picture along with the poorly written bio.

"You cannot describe yourself as, 'I am a lifesaver, not a heartbreaker'," Buck teased, letting out another big laugh as Lynn rolled her big, blue eyes.

"Oh, and what do you put in your bio, Firehose?" Lynn countered, shoving Buck's right shoulder teasingly, but he simply ignored the girl but narrowing his eyes suspiciously towards her.

"Why not?" Bobby questioned, and he genuinely seemed interested in the answer they had for him. "That's solid, sweet."

"No, it is cheese," Buck grinned, glancing up towards Hen and Chimney to see where they stood. "Sweet, sweet cheese."

"You like flan?"

"Good flan is the bomb!" Bobby protested, feeling more defensive than before but still being able to tell the joke. "You don't?"

By now, the giggles and chuckles coming from the team was echoing throughout the staton. And even though Lynn didn't want to seem rude and laugh at her captain, she couldn't help it.

"You have an AOL e-mail account still?" Buck bellowed out, almost gripping his stomach since it was turning with the laughter. "It is literally like you were frozen in ember in 1995!"

"It's 'amber,' not 'ember,' you idiot," Bobby responded sarcastically, folding her arms over his chest in attitude.

"Who cares?" Buck answered, and he seemed to finally be cooling down from his fit of amusement. "You can never show this to a girl."

"Why not?"

Bobby seemed to raise his gaze up to Lynn and Chimney, almost asking them if Buck could possibly be right for once. Lynn just dropped his glance immediately, not waiting to be stuck between her annoyed captain and rude best friend.

"Okay, this profile is a joke profile for a guy no one ever wants to go out with," Buck explained, pointing his hand towards the screen of the laptop.

"You know what, maybe you are not the right person he should be taking dating advice from, Buckaroo," Chimney stated, tugging the laptop that was just previously in front of Buck's lap and moving it where it, along with Chimney, was now sitting next to Bobby.

"And why is that? Because last time I checked, I deleted all of my dating apps," Buck pointed out, narrowing his index finger towards both Bobby and Chimney. "Deleted every single DM I get about one night stands and one liners."

Lynn would've shown clear confusion on her face if she didn't want everyone thinking that she was interested in the fact that he no longer randomly dates. She still thought that even though buck stopped talking about conquests, he was still having them. It was almost weird, to think that Buck had haulted his playboy status.

"Yeah, right," Chimney rolled his eyes in disbelief, handing off Bobby's laptop back to him. "You settling down, Buckaroo?"

"No, no...I mean, not yet," Buck replied while shrugging his shoulders, and for merely he glanced over to Lynn, who was staring down at the wooden table with complete disinterest written on her face. The group then enrupted into laughs, making Lynn gaze back up to see what she had missed. "Yeah, okay, laugh, huh? I am proof that real change is possible."

Lynn finally met those piercing blue eyes of Buck's, and he sent her a quick, warm smile while rising up from the seat. Lynn took it that he was ready to go back to playing their game, but they were interrupted before she could get out of her seat.

"What the hell, Evan Buckley?"

Lynn furrowed her eyebrows at a young, brunette woman who had just stepped into the dining room. At first she thought it could've been someone the team had met on a call, but Lynn had never saw her before.

"Can we help you?" Bobby questioned, and the amusement that was just in his voice had faded away, and now only seriousness was left in it.

"You lead me on for six weeks?" The woman shouted, and Lynn could see the vein pounding on her forehead out of anger.

This should be interesting.

Lynn leaned over towards Chimney's bowl of fruit sitting in front of him, grabbing a bright red strawberry that was deviously ripe, popping into her mouth before turning her attention back towards the arguing woman.

"The sexiest, deepest, most romantic, most intimate relationship I've ever had with a man..."

"But before the woman could even continue her rant, she was rudely cut off as Lynn had just choked loudly on that nice looking fruit at hearing the words about Buck fall from her rambling mouth. As Lynn realized everyone was now staring at her, she rose her hand to cover her mouth as she cleared her throat.

It took everything inside of the team to not just burst into laughs right there in that second, so they quickly covered them up and turned their attention back towards Buck and the woman.

"I told you everything, you told me everything. And I am not an easy nut to crack," the woman responded, her voice laced with annoyance and anger. "Is this your sick game? Make a girl reveal every fear and secret and turn-on, and then you just disappear? Is ghosting girls your thing?"

Lynn had to use every muscle inside of her body to make sure she didn't let out a chuckle, knowing damn well this girl was about to cross some kind of line and she surely didn't want to be on the wrong side of it.

"I'm sorry, are you sure you have the right Evan Buckley?

"You mean the Evan Buckley who's a firefighter? Who works here and was on the news, and climbed a roller coaster and looks exactly like you?" The woman snapped, but all the while that she was staring at him, his eyes had somehow wondered over to Lynn's.

The two blue eyes met, and for some reason, Lynn's face had straightened out and there wasn't much amusement left behind sparkling in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, am I interrupting your moment with another girl?" The woman growled, her eyes switching from Buck's over to Lynn, who was sitting in between Bobby and Hen with wide eyes from being called out.

"What? Look, lady, we're coworkers," Lynn shook her head, raising her arms in defense with a still shocked expression written on her face. She then turned towards the rest of her friends, almost pointing at them for some more help in the matter, but they all looked like they were enjoying themselves with the apparent love triangle.

"Oh, yeah? Just accept it, you're probably just another bitch he's—" The woman taunted, tilting her head to the side and her jaw seemed to tense up.

Lynn had enough, so she rose to her feet in a swift moment and started to walk towards the girl with a more annoyed face. "—I think you should get going if you know what's good for you."

Just as the woman clasped her mouth back open, taking another threatening step forward, she was interrupted as Buck then stepped in between them. Lynn was never one for girl drama, but this woman was just practically begging to get a punch to her nose.

"Listen, yeah, sure, t-that is definitely me. But the me that I am, and the him that you're describing, that is not the same person," Buck tried explaining, pointing towards himself and then an imaginary him right beside him. "Plus, Evie had nothing to do with this, so just back off."

In a second, everyone let out gasps as the woman had raised her palm to smack it clean across Buck's face. Just as Lynn was about to do something she would surely regret, Bobby had stepped up instantly and took her place while slightly standing in front of Lynn.

The lady must've understood the mess she created, or felt much better after landing a clean smack on the man who apparently ghosted her, because she turned on her heel and headed back downstairs towards the door.

"You see that?" Buck almost whined, clutching his slightly red cheek as he pointed towards the evading woman. However, no one seemed interested in the fact he was just slapped, but more that he must've been lying about having a fresh new slate. "No, no, I swear, I have never seen her before."

"If you say so."

Lynn suddenly felt dumb for even believing for one second that Buck could put his one night stands behind him, and even though she would never admit it, some part of her was saddened to hear that he was in fact still out playing with the many fish of the sea.

"No, I do say so," Buck responded back with urgency, and then once again his eyes landed on Lynn as she took a defeating seat back into a dining table chair. "Okay, I swear, I-I don't know who that was. I have found real intimacy in being by myself and not treating women like objects."

He didn't seem to be helping his case though, because everyone seemed unimpressed let alone seemingly believing him. Lynn went back to staring at the wooden dinner table, and she felt more tired than she was before.

"You know this. C'mon," Buck continued, pointing both of his hands aimlessly towards the crowd of his friends. "I haven't even flirted!"

"Sure, you haven't," Hen rolled her eyes, and then after a second she glanced over to Lynn with a wide smirk written on her face, but the brunette only shook away the amusement to replace it with annoyance. "Yep, you're proof that real change is possible."