Burning Intentions

This prompt comes from my favorite online prompt site! Check out Creative Writing Prompts on Tumblr. The prompt: accidentally setting off the fire alarm in the building and getting a pissed off fireman in return.

The shrill alarm jolted Julianne out of a dead sleep. It took her a moment to orient herself and then she threw off the blankets. Shoving her feet into shoes, she grabbed a sweatshirt and threw open her door. Julianne began moving down the hall, pounding on doors. “Get up!” she shouted. “Out of bed and evacuate.”

“Who checks the alarm at three am?” someone demanded.

Without turning to see who it was, she responded, “It’s not a drill. Out of the house.” She knocked on more doors, making her own way outside.

Outside herself, she wrapped her arms around herself, shivering in her thin sweatshirt and pajama shorts. At least she had shoes on, she could see that many of the girls had nothing on their feet. Motioning for them to huddle closer together, she breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the sirens that heralded the arrival of the firefighters.

Quicker than she expected, the firefighters were unloading and breaking into groups with different jobs. At least that was what she assumed as some went into the house and a few began opening compartments in the truck. One peeled off from the rest, heading for the largest clump of girls. “Who’s in charge here?” he demanded.

Julianne raised her hand, blinking as he veered away from the girls and headed towards her. Even with the bulky jacket and helmet on, he looked like a model. Dark hair peeked out from underneath the helmet he’d shoved back as honey brown eyes pierced her where she stood. “Do you think false alarms are funny?” he asked, a sour look on his face.

“What? No,” Julianne was quick to assure him. “It was a false alarm?”

“Someone tripped your alarm with…” He turned as another firefighter joined them, handing over a can. “This I would assume.”

Julianne frowned as she looked at the container in his hand. “Aerosol hair spray? Who still uses that?”

The firefighter shook it at her. “It’s irresponsible to allow this on the premise.”

“Are you serious? I’m just a house mother, not the police. The girls are allowed their personal items. Look, I’m sorry that they set off the alarm, but isn’t that your job? To protect people from fires?”

Somehow the man crossed his arms as he glared frostily down at her. “It’s our job to put out fires, yes. Not protect people from stupidity.”

Julianne snatched the can away from him. “Is the house safe for the girls? Most of them have classes in the morning.”

He jerked his head in a nod. “It’s fine. I don’t expect to come back unless something is actually on fire.” Turning, he stalked away.

Behind her, Julianne heard one of the girls say in a low voice, “I’ll set something on fire if it means you come back.”

Julianne sighed. “All right, girls. You heard the man. Back inside and back to bed. I don’t care who was using the aerosol or why, but I’d better not see it again. I will be inspecting rooms tomorrow. And all aerosols will be disposed of.”

The girls grumbled as they headed back inside, Julianne watching until she was sure all of them were inside.

* * * * * * * *

It didn’t take long for Julianne to forget about the aerosol incident. The day-to-day management of the girls took all of her attention. When she accepted the job as house mother, she hadn’t expected to be managing the girls as much as gently guiding them. Instead, she found herself setting schedules and making sure that the girls ate. And trying not to pull her hair out with things like melted… Well, she didn’t know what had melted, but it was stuck on the couch. Pulling out the notebook that she carried around, she made a note on it to have a cleaning service in.

Looking around, she discovered three of the girls trying to sneak past her. “Ladies.”

All three froze then slowly turned to look at her. “Yes, Mama Julianne?” one of them asked.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked. “Curfew is in twenty minutes.”

“Um, just to the commissary,” the spokes girl answered. “We wanted to grab some snacks for studying.”

“Nope. Not tonight.” Julianne knew there was a party planned at one of the other houses and her girls were not getting sanctioned. “There’s food in the kitchen and you can order in.”

The girls groaned, but accepted her orders and took themselves off to the kitchen. She continued to the closet and put the broom away. Glancing around, she decided the room was clean enough for now and headed upstairs.

Julianne was readying the tub for a bath when the fire alarm went off. With a muttered curse, she headed downstairs, chivying the girls outside ahead of her.

This time when the firefighters arrived, one of the girls was able to direct them towards the kitchen. At least the hour meant that the girls were almost all dressed instead of in pajamas.

The same firefighter stalked over to Julianne once they’d exited the house. He held a bag of smoking popcorn in one hand. “Did someone forget to give your girls lessons in how to use the microwave?” he demanded.

“I would expect that my girls, who are all over eighteen, know how to use a microwave,” she replied. “Accidents happen.”

“Why do accidents always seem to happen on my shift?”

She couldn’t help it. “Maybe because they happen at night.”

Surprisingly he grinned. “If you want to see me, all you have to do is ask.”

Julianne scoffed. “If I wanted to see you? Do you really think I’d let my girls set off the fire alarm just to see you?” She shook her head. “Get over yourself.” Turning to the firefighter that she guessed was the next in charge, “Is it safe for us to go back in?”

“Um, yes, ma’am?” the firefighter stammered.

She nodded, gathering the girls around her as a hen gathers her chicks, before heading inside. After dispersing the girls back to their activities, Julianne went to assess the damage.

The microwave itself was a bit blackened inside, but there seemed to be no damage around it. Julianne took some pictures so she could submit it for replacement and put a note on it to keep the girls from using it. She also taped the door shut so they couldn’t open it if they missed the note.

Two of the girls were waiting when she walked out of the kitchen. “Did he ask you out?” Mirabelle asked as the other girl nodded.

Crossing her arms, Julianne glared at the two girls. “I can’t even begin to tell you how inappropriate that would be.” The girls giggled in response. “Off with you,” she said, shooing them away.

Giggling again, they ran off.

Julianne shook her head before heading into the living room. Just as she was settling on the couch, someone knocked at the door. A moment later, a group of girls called in a singsong, “Mama Ju-li-anne, it’s for you.”

Sighing, she got back to her feet and made her way to the front door where she was confronted with probably the last person she expected to see. “I swear they didn’t set off the fire alarm again,” she said.

He grinned at that. “I know. But I’m off shift and I thought…” He hefted what was in his hands, revealing them to be fire extinguishers. “I thought some extra protection might help. I’ve got a couple more in the car.”

She followed him out to the pick-up truck that was parked in front of the house and watched him lower the tailgate. He pulled himself up into the bed of the truck, his biceps bulging. Handing down the other two fire extinguishers, he then jumped down.

Julianne kept her eyes on him as he straightened back up to his full height. “Thank you,” she said when she could unstick her tongue from the roof of her mouth. “It was very nice of you to bring these over.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I kinda had an ulterior motive. Let’s, um, get these to the house.” As they walked back towards the house, he said, “I’m Grayson, by the way.”

“Julianne, but I suspect you already knew that.” She opened the door and let them both into the house. Once they’d set the fire extinguishers down, she said, “Thank you again for bringing them.”

“I umm…” He looked off to the side and then back at her. “I wanted to apologize to you. I shouldn’t have snapped at you when you’re taking care of…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, whatever you’re doing.”

She had to smile at that. “I’m a house mother for a college. My girls are all attending classes at the university. It was an idea to keep the girls in a home situation while allowing them some of the freedoms of university.”

“That’s… different,” he said. “But you, like, get time off, right?”

“I’m on call twenty-four/seven,” she explained. “But I have breaks.”

“Could one of your breaks possibly be dinner? With me?”

She crossed her arms, glaring at him. “You yell at me and now you want me to go to dinner with you?”

“I apologized. And, yes, I’d really like to have dinner with you,” he said. “Maybe make a better impression.”

She eyed him for a minute, then nodded. “All right. Tuesday if you’re free. Pick me up at seven.” As she ushered him towards the door, she heard cheering behind them. Turning, she saw that a few of her girls were peeking through the doorway. “Off with you all,” she said. Smiling at Grayson, she added, “See you on Tuesday.”

As she shut the door, the girls erupted into more cheers. At least someone was happy she agreed to a date. She looked at the fire extinguishers on the floor. And maybe this wouldn’t be a bad thing. She deserved to have a date. Pushing off the door, she called for a couple of the girls to help her and put it out of her head for the moment. She had dinner to start and homework to wrangle. Tuesday would bring its own headaches and happiness. For now, she was going to focus on her girls.