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It was an average day in the loading bay of the 126 firehouse in Austin, Texas.
Marjan and Paul were shining up the ladder truck while Nancy and TK procrastinated the restock of their ambulance in order to talk the ears off of their firefighter friends.
“I’m just saying if we don’t get you to sit down for a Jurassic Park marathon soon, Nancy, we’re gonna have a problem,” Paul said as he leveled his rag at her. This specific conversation had been going on since shift had started and Marjan had arrived just as Paul began discussing why Jeff Goldblum is the ultimate dinosaur bait.
“I never said I haven’t seen the movies, I just don’t like them that much,” Nancy defended as she played with a screwdriver that was on the bench in between the two engines.
“Which is just ridiculous,” Paul continued. “TK, tell me you’re a dino fan, my man.”
“Absolutely,” TK said with a cheeky grin aimed at his fellow paramedic. Nancy rolled her eyes as she playfully pushed his shoulder.
“Kiss ass,” Nancy said, causing Marjan to start laughing.
“Aren’t you two supposed to be working?” Marwani said with a pointed look at the paramedics.
“We’re on a break,” TK said with a shrug as he popped one of his favourite lollipops into his mouth.
“We just started a twenty-four hour, Strand,” Marjan said, “we don’t get breaks like normal people.”
“Medical is different,” TK said.
“Bullshit,” Paul retorted and TK just winked at him. Strickland was about to dive back into the many reasons why Nancy was wrong and that the Jurassic series was the greatest thing to ever exist. However, that was when Mateo came jogging into the station.
“Probie, you’re late!” Paul called as Mateo skidded to a halt in front of the four of them, slightly out of breath.
“I know, I know!” Mateo said as he took a deep breath, “but I have a great reason!” From behind his back, Mateo produced a paper bag and held it out to Marjan.
“What’s this, probie?” Marjan said as she carefully took the bag with a wary expression. Her dark brows lifted a she weighed it in her hands.
“So, backstory!” Mateo said. “I was at that market you were telling me about near Wooldridge, right?” Marjan nodded, unsure where this was going. “I was looking for those candied fruit things you told me about and I did find them but that’s when I saw this!” Mateo then gestured for her to open it. Marjan glanced at Nancy, TK, and Paul before shaking her head with a small smile and opened the bag.
Reaching in, Marjan pulled out a large coffee tumbler that was the color of bright raspberry. Holding it by the handle, she looked at Mateo in confusion. “Coffee cup?”
“It’s a tumbler,” Mateo clarified. “The color reminded me of that hijab you wore when we were at Carlos and TK’s for game night. You know the one that you were wearing that matched your sneakers?” Marjan nodded again slowly. “Well, now you can match your coffee tumbler with your hijab along with your shoes!”
As soon as Mateo stopped talking, it was silent in the bay. Nancy, TK, and Paul were looking between Marjan and Mateo, waiting for a response. Marjan, however, was only looking at Mateo with wide eyes as the tumbler went limp in her hands. Mateo realized the awkwardness and got nervous.
“Oh,” he said, his voice lowering. “Did I…? Did I mess up again? Is this one of those foot-in-the-mouth things I always do? Marj, I’m so sorry,” he rushed out, trying to make up for it, but Marjan snapped out of her surprise.
“No, no, no,” Marjan said, placing the cup down carefully on the table. “Probie,” she said and then paused. “Mateo, ” she corrected, “this is...this is so…” Marjan couldn’t finish her sentence as she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Mateo hugged her back, squeezing his friend as his confusion grew.
“What’s happening?” he whispered to his friends but Paul just shrugged as the paramedics grinned. Marjan pulled back from Mateo and there were slight tears in her eyes.
“Thank you so much,” she said with the biggest grin Mateo had ever seen on her face. “This is one of the most thoughtful and awesome things anyone has ever done for me, Mateo.”
“Well,” Mateo said slowly, “I am glad you like it.” Marjan hugged him once more before grabbing her gift and skipping off to the kitchen calling for Judd. Mateo stared after her for a moment before looking back at the trio in front of him. “She liked it,” Mateo said.
“Yeah, she did!” TK said as he offered Mateo a fist who bumped it with his own.
“I did good?” Mateo asked.
“Hell yeah, you did,” Paul said, twirling his towel in celebration. Mateo was smiling broadly as he headed up to the locker rooms.
“Yeah,” he said to himself, “yeah, I did good.”
Mateo had barely questioned it when he saw the mug. It had just been instinct to get it for his friend and it had made her smile. He had made Marjan Marwani smile and now every time Marjan got to work she’d place her hot teas in her bright raspberry tumbler that not only matched her sneakers but her favourite hijab as well.