Would Rory accept his apology? That's the only question that currently rattled around inside Otis's mind as he stood outside on the apron, allowing the crisp air to cool him down after waking up in a sweat over what her answer might be.
Ever since the flowers arrived earlier Otis hadn't seen much of Rory, and not because she was avoiding him or anything but because it appeared as though everyone needed an ambulance from that moment on as the calls hadn't stopped all day.
It was driving him crazy, not knowing. He should have just asked her. He should have simply cornered her during the small amount of downtime she'd had between calls and straight up asked her whether or not he was forgiven as now she was fast asleep in the bunk room, leaving him at an odds as to when, or if, she'd ever put him out of his misery.
With a deep sigh, Otis sank down onto the cold, hard ground, leaning up against the pillar next to the bay doors. He couldn't help but think back to the day when he'd come out here and saw Rory in this exact spot, sketching away with a blanket wrapped around her, the very same blanket she'd then given him after she spotted him and immediately went back inside because she thought he hated her.
Even with that, the thought that he couldn't stand to be around her, she'd still gone and given him the blanket because she didn't want him to get cold, just another example of how she was the sweetest person ever and he'd just been a straight up dick. He still couldn't believe she'd forgiven him after all of that, but he'd been glad for it as the moments they shared afterwards were ones he'd never forget. And ones he'd give anything to be able to experience again, but he didn't think he'd ever get to do that, at least not until the voice that had quickly become his favourite reached his ears.
"Thank you for the flowers." Rory's quiet words greeted Otis before she did. He could see her in his peripheral vision, walking slowly towards him, making his heart hammer furiously beneath his chest and the nerves in his stomach increase drastically with every inch closer she got to him. His head turned slowly, catching sight of her just before she sat down next to him, his body tensing at the mere closeness between them. "Daisies are my favourite."
"I, uh, I know." Otis replied nervously, swallowing harshly as he scratched the back of his head and avoided eye contact. "I kind of figured they were."
"Yeah, I guess I'm not the most subtle person in the world when it comes to showing off my favourite flower." Rory chuckled, a sound that had Otis's heart clench tighter than ever before as it was something he hadn't heard in a while, at least not directed towards him that's for sure. He'd been too busy making her cry lately to have made her laugh.
"No, no you are not." Otis said humorously, finally mustering up the courage to turn and look at her. The second he saw her smile, her genuine, heartwarming smile that made him regret every single thing he'd ever done to her, he quickly found that he couldn't stop the words from pouring out of his mouth. "I'm really sorry for what I said, Rory... I should never have doubted you. I should never have accused you of making something like that up, not when I know that's not the kind of person you are. And I-"
"Otis." Rory interrupted, placing her hand on his knee which she felt twitch a little beneath her. "It's okay... You don't have to apologise, not when you already did."
"You deserve a proper apology, Rory, not just some half assed note." Otis protested, feeling angry at himself for how stupid he'd been. He took a breath, allowing the touch she still had on him to offer him a little comfort as he composed himself, you know, before he didn't anything else he regretted. "I need you to know how sorry I am... I never meant to hurt you... again."
"I know." Rory said softly, giving his knee a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "But I don't blame you, not really. I know it can't have been easy hearing what I told you."
"That's no excuse for how I acted." Otis said, turning to look at her a little better, which had Rory remove her hand from his knee as she realised she'd still been holding it. "And for bringing up what happened... That was a real low move and I won't fault you if you never want to speak to me again, but I just need you to know how much I regret it and that I wish I could take it back...
"Take everything back because I meant what I said at the gala... I miss you." Otis's voice lowered, as did his gaze which fell from Rory the second the words left his lips as he couldn't bring himself to look at her right now.
But if there was anything she deserved as much as his apology, it was proper eye contact. She deserved to see just how much he meant what he was saying, so after a second of silence where he gathered up the strength he needed, Otis looked back up at her and found all his worries begin to fade away.
"I miss you too." Rory said shyly, her fingers fiddling absently with her necklace, the one that didn't bring Otis as much dread anymore after what she'd said earlier about her and Connor. "And I forgive you... Of course I do. You mean a lot to me, Otis, despite what happened, and I just... I really want to be your friend again."
Well actually she wanted to be more than friends but Rory figured that for now, especially after what they'd been through, that simply being friends would suffice enough. And who knows, maybe in time that'll eventually lead to the one thing she wanted more than his friendship.
"God, you have no idea how relieved I am to hear you say that." Otis breathed out, his shoulders relaxing from the relief that cascaded over him. "I thought I was going to have to fight harder to earn your forgiveness this time."
"For others you might have, but not me." Rory shook her head, her chest suddenly feeling lighter now that the dark cloud that had loomed over the two of them had vanished. "I'm not one to hold grudges, at least not for things that I can easily forgive."
Otis smiled, a small smile but a smile nonetheless. He couldn't believe she'd forgiven him, and so easily too. It was like a miracle almost, one he suspected was really a dream, but with the way he felt right now mixed with the cold air against his bare arms, he was pretty certain that this moment was very real, and truthfully, over these past few weeks, he'd never felt happier.
"The other day when you told me about Amy, you said you knew how it felt..." Otis began carefully, not wanting to ruin the moment by bringing that up again or for overstepping his bounds. "Does that mean you've been cheated on?"
"Mhm." Rory nodded, biting at her lip a little as her eyes shifted from his and to the stars above them. "My ex-fiancé."
"Fiancé? You were engaged?" Otis said in surprise, at both confessions as he never would have thought Rory would have been engaged as he honestly couldn't believe someone would let a girl like her go. Or cheat on her for that matter.
"For a time..." Rory replied, a soft sigh leaving her lips as she came to look at him again, noticing the pity he tried his hardest to hide behind his eyes. "His name was Jackson, we were together for almost six years but I should have known it was too good to be true."
"How come?" Otis asked curiously.
"We went to the same high school... He was the most popular boy in our year. Prom King, football captain, you name it... But me? I was the shy art student who didn't really have many friends." Rory confessed, she never usually liked talking about her school experience. "I used to get teased a lot, about my dads and the fact that I was adopted. My cousin Shane used to have to stick up for me because I couldn't do it myself...
"But anyway." Rory shook her head, focusing back on the topic as she was aware she was going off course a little, but she couldn't help it. Something about Otis just made her want to tell him everything she could about herself. "After graduation, I bumped into Jackson again, in my dads bakery of all places. I didn't think he'd even remember me so when he said my name I was a little taken aback...
"Things went strangely well from there, we caught up a little and then to my surprise he asked me out. I almost couldn't believe it when he did, I half expected it to have been a prank until I remembered we weren't in school anymore." Rory said with a soft chuckle. "From then on we became official... Five years later he proposed, and of course I was thrilled as I still couldn't believe he'd choose to be with a girl like me."
That sentence had Otis bite his tongue, and hard, over the clear meaning behind it. That Rory didn't think she was good enough, that she thought so low of herself when in reality she was too good, especially for him and definitely for Jackson, who better pray he didn't run into Otis any time soon.
"A month before the wedding I found out he'd been cheating on me with some woman from his gym... That every time I was on shift they'd spend the day together in our apartment, in our bed." Rory said with disgust, a small shiver shooting up her spine as she pictured what might have gone in beneath those sheets. "It had been going on for years and I think... I think part of me knew, you know, deep down... But I didn't want to admit it to myself."
"I know that feeling." Otis scoffed quietly, having felt himself the second Rory told him about Amy.
"Yeah, it wasn't fun confronting him... I had to try so hard not to cry in front of him but I managed." Rory said with a touch of pride, the same kind Otis was feeling as he knew it can't have been easy for her. "I gave the ring back and moved out the very same day... And honestly, I felt relieved. I felt free after I left him... I came to realise that he was no good for me. He never supported me and he would always bring me down whenever he could, something that took me actually leaving to finally be able to see... So to be honest, I was kind of glad he was cheating on me as it made it easier for me to leave him. I just wish I hadn't wasted so much of my life with him."
"I'm really sorry you had to go through that." Otis said softly, hesitating a second before he placed his hand atop hers, a gesture that had both their stomachs flutter furiously. "For what it's worth, that guy sounds like a real dick... And you deserve someone better than him." And better than Otis himself, but he didn't want to say that. Didn't want to spoil the moment.
"Yeah... I do." Rory whispered, her heart hammering beneath her chest as she stared into the eyes of the guy she knew was best for her, even despite what he'd done. Sure, he'd hurt her lately and he hadn't been all that nice to her in the beginning, but he had apologised, words she could tell he meant, and that was more than she'd ever gotten from a guy before so it was enough to make her forget what had happened in the past and to focus solely on what might happen in the future.
Rory's eyes began to flick down to Otis's lips, her body itching to move closer to him, to finally feel what she so desperately wanted to feel, what she'd only ever dreamed about after coming so close, but she knew she couldn't. She couldn't risk a repeat of what had happened in the locker room, so instead she simply shuffled closer to him and slipped her arm through his, leaning her head against his shoulder as she stared out at the sky above them.
Otis's heart and stomach practically flipped inside him over the touch of her hand on his arm, the softness of her skin against his was almost enough to make him blurt out that he loved her, but he didn't. No matter how much he wanted to, he kept his mouth shut, neither of them choosing to say another word as they just sat there, feeling the heat from one another's body as they watched the stars.
It was a nice moment, one that they'd both greatly needed after what had happened, after all the drama over the course of the last few weeks. It was a moment they never wanted to end, one they simply wanted to bask in for as long as they could, but unfortunately for them duty called, as no more than five minutes into their special moment together, the bells went off.
🔔 Truck 81. Ambulance 61. Squad 3. Engine 51. Battalion 25. Structure Fire🔔
Getting to his feet, Otis offered Rory his hand, helping her to hers as she briefly thanked him, neither of them able to think much about the gesture that would have normally had Rory swooning over him as he truly was such a gentleman, before the others began to pile out of the firehouse and begin climbing into their gear.
Rory hopped into the driver's seat, opting to take the wheel as she was far more awake than Sylvie was, which was evident by the rather large yawn she let out the minute she got into the ambulance, but that still didn't stop her from raising her eyebrow towards her partner, whom she'd seen standing next to Otis as she exited the building.
"What?" Rory chuckled, glancing back and forth between her partner and the dark, empty road in front of them.
"Nothing." Sylvie hummed out, rolling her lips to hide the very clear smile she had. She was really glad to see Rory looking somewhat happy after being around Otis, as truthfully Sylvie didn't know how much more she could take of the tension between the two of them.
After spending the rest of the drive in silence, the ambulance soon arrived at the scene of the incident, the rest of the companies not far behind them. The apartment complex fire was already rolling fiercely, the flames extra bright against the darkness of the night.
Most of the residents seemed to already be outside, all of them clad in pyjamas and dressing gowns, as they stared up at the flaming building, coughing and spluttering from the smoke of the fire.
"Ambulance 61, set up triage." Boden called into his radio as he arrived on scene and hopped from his car, his helmet landing on his head the same time his feet hit the ground. "Squad 3, Truck 81, search the building, look for stragglers. 51, get a line in the front to cover the stairwell and Otis... check the elevators, make sure no one's trapped in there."
"On it, Chief." Otis nodded, his voice overlapping with the others as he began to mask up, unable to stop himself from glancing towards Rory, who he noticed kept looking over at him as well.
Seriously, the two of them were like love struck teenagers yet neither of them would do anything about it.
Flashing Otis a quick smile, one which also meant 'be safe', Rory went back to treating those around her, passing out water bottles to those who needed it and making sure anyone who needed oxygen was quickly masked up. She often zoned out when she was in triage mode, not usually paying attention to what was going on inside the fire as she was more focused on what was happening outside as it was her area of expertise after all, but when she heard Otis's voice over the radio, calling to those outside to tell them he was trapped, she couldn't help but find herself becoming distracted and more scared than she'd ever been on a call before.
"Hey, they'll get him out." Sylvie said assuringly, her hand landing on Rory's shoulder as she stared up at the inferno before them, her heart racing faster than ever.
The knot in her stomach tied itself tighter as each second passed and she hadn't heard a thing from Squad, or from Otis himself. She had to resist the urge to run into the fire herself just to try and get him out, and she very well might have if Sylvie wasn't subtly holding her back by keeping her hand firmly on her semi-shaking shoulder. Rory couldn't lose him now, not when they'd just set aside their differences and had become friends again, she didn't think she'd ever get over it if she hadn't been able to tell him how she truly felt about him before he tragically died.
But luckily for Rory, and for Otis himself who hadn't thought of anything but Rory during the few minutes he was trapped, after a few, slow and painful minutes, three shadows came bursting out of the apartment building's door, along with a thick cloud of smoke that made Rory cough lightly when she accidentally breathed it in. And as the smoke settled, allowing her to see clearly the bright yellow name on the back of Otis's jacket, she felt such a relief course through her body that she couldn't help but run to him.
"Otis!" Rory called, barrelling into the unsuspected Otis, her arms wrapping tightly around him as she felt the fear fade from her body.
It took Otis a second to realise what was happening, but once he did, one he felt Rory's tight hold around his body, he quickly found his own arms raising, holding her close against him as for a second there, he never thought he'd get to see her again.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Rory asked frantically, pulling back from him as she began to check him for injuries, unaware of the others who were whispering to themselves about getting whiplash over the two of thems behaviour.
Seriously, one minute they were at odds, next they were flirting. Then they were avoiding each other, and now Rory was getting herself in a fluster making sure Otis was okay... Honestly, it was getting exhausting for all of them.
"I'm fine. I'm okay." Otis exhaled, his lungs feeling a little heavier but that could just be from Rory's touch against his skin as she made sure he hadn't gotten burned. "Seriously, Rory..." He took her hands gently, stopping her before she went any further. "I'm okay... I'm not hurt."
"Sorry..." Rory said with embarrassment, her ears burning hotter than the fire itself as she realised she may have gone a little overboard in her worried state. "I was just... worried about you, that's all."
"You don't have to be." Otis said softly, tilting her chin up to look at him again after he head fell forward. "I'm okay, really."
"Right." Rory nodded, chuckling nervously before she stepped away from him, her hand slipping from his as she looked anywhere but at him, or at those around her who were staring at them with grins, raised eyebrows and knowing looks. "Course... Well I should get back to the victims now... But, I, uh, I'm glad you're okay."
Without saying anything other than offering Rory a smile, Otis watched as she slowly backed away before spinning on her heels and heading towards the ambulance. He wouldn't admit that her obvious worry over him had touched his heart, as the last thing he had wanted to do was scare her, but to have her so clearly concerned about him to the point that she was physically checking him for injuries, well it had made his heart flutter more than he'd ever felt it do before.
"Dude, seriously... You two are going to give us whiplash." Cruz chuckled as he approached Otis, who could do nothing more than frown over both his words and the fact that he blocked his view of Rory. "Will you please just ask her out already?"
"Will you just drop it, already?" Otis snapped back before he sighed, having not meant for that to come out as harsh as it did. "Look, we've just become friends again, okay? I don't want to rush into things and end up hurting her again, so for now can you just ease up on the matchmaking? At least for a little while?"
"Yeah, sure thing brother." Cruz replied sincerely, remembering what he said to himself earlier about supporting Otis more rather than constantly getting on his case. "And hey..." He swung his arm around Otis's shoulder, the two of them heading away from the building's entrance to allow the others in for overhaul. "I'm really sorry I haven't been more supportive lately with this whole... thing."
"Cruz, you don't have to apologise." Otis protested, a little confused as he came to stand in front of his friend. "Not when you were right about most things."
"No I do." Cruz nodded, folding his arms across his chest. "I shouldn't have been so harsh when it came to you and Rory and I should have had your back rather than jump down your throat over your decision to not tell her how you feel... and for that, I'm sorry. Truly. And whatever you decide from now on, just know that I'll support you 100%."
"Thanks man..." Otis said, a little touched at the whole ordeal. "I really appreciate you having my back."
"I always will." Cruz told him, clapping him on the shoulder before he spoke again. "But for the record, Rory really cares about you, and I think the two of you would be really great together."
"Yeah, I, uh, I do too." Otis confessed, glancing over towards Rory one last time before she disappeared into the back of the ambulance which soon sped off down the road. "But for now... For now I think we need to work on rebuilding what we had, you know, before I think about taking that next step."
"For real? You're actually gonna think about it?" Cruz asked a little sceptical, unsure whether to take Otis as his word or not as he often went back on it.
"Yeah, I mean, when I was trapped in there, all I could think about was her. How she might feel if I'd died in there, before I ever got a chance to tell her that I love her. And I don't want to think about that again, so yeah. I mean it." Otis nodded, assuring both Cruz and himself that he meant it, because he did. He really and truly meant it.
He couldn't go through that again, that moment of regret he'd had when he was trapped behind those flames with nothing but Rory on his mind. He couldn't deal with her not knowing how he felt about her should something go wrong, which is why, over the next few days, maybe even weeks as the two of them worked to rebuild their friendship, Otis would work on two things...
Making himself believe that he was truly good enough for her, and figuring out the perfect way to tell Rory that he was head over heels in love with her.
-
ooo could this be the beginning of the climb towards otis and rory getting together? who knows 🫣
i don't have much to say on this chapter other than it didn't go the way i wanted it to, but i like how it turned out... so, if you enjoyed it please don't forget to leave a vote and maybe even a comment? always appreciated
and i will hopefully see y'all soon for the next one!
also, this book will be coming to an end soon, but i'm at odds over how to end it, so i'm asking... how would you like to see otis and rory's story wrapped up?