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Post by Dominic Wilde on Mar 2, 2020 20:24:35 GMT -5
Dom had always been one to spend holidays with his family. At least until he'd started working as a firefighter, at which point the chances of working on holidays had gone up, but there was one that he really didn't mind working and that was the 4th of July. Of course, they always got a call at some point or another because people always had grilling mishaps, but until that point the fourth was a day that the station was open to the public. They had their own cookout to raise money as well as tons of activities for children and adults a like - from station tours to rides in the truck around the block and being able to use the hose with a firefighter it was always a good day. To the point where even if he wasn't working, he volunteered to help out as Shawn did and Mr Russo as well. The entire Russo family was often at the event and his own family had changed their plans so that they would come by during the day. This year though he'd invited Ella to come by as well, he knew that she'd been invited before by Audrey but for whatever reason she hadn't gone - maybe she'd had to work herself.
Since he was volunteering today and not on the clock, he did sleep in a little before making his way to the station to help get things set up, grinning as he saw Shawn who was on the clock today because he'd switched with another one of their coworkers who had gone away with his pregnant wife for a weekend at the lake. "Hey man," he greeted the other guy with a one armed hug.
"I see you managed to get out of bed," the other guy teased as he returned the hug.
"You know I'm always trying to catch those extra zees," Dom answered with a nonchalant shrug. "Lead me to where I've gotta start getting things ready. I'm here to help."
Shawn chuckled and headed to the garage with Dom where most things were being set up for the day of activities that were set to begin in a little over an hour. He noticed that this year there was a sizable chalk selection which he figured would probably be put to use somewhere and made a mental note not to get involved with that because he did not want that chalky residue on his hands. Large grills were already being set up and he noted that Mr Russo was one of the people working on helping getting it arranged, which was no surprise as it was usually where the older man spent his day in this event. Out in the driveway he saw one of the trucks parked and he figured that was the engine that they'd be using to give rides to people. Also set out in the lawn he saw a dunk tank, a new addition this year which gave people three shots to dunk a fireman if they bought a ticket. His name had been put on that list before he'd had a choice to decide if he wanted it to be there or not.
For now he was put to work helping to organize and set out the tables where people would be able to sit and eat as well as the tables where food tickets and dunking booth tickets would be sold. A face painter was also supposed to be coming, so he helped get that table and area set up as well. Then, when it got time for things to officially start up he was approached by the chief. "Wilde, you're first in the tank," he said and nodded in the direction of the tank which was currently empty.
"Yes sir," he answered, throwing a look to Shawn who had just been directed to the ticket selling table and suddenly worrying how many tickets he was going to sell in the hour that Dom would be in the tank.
For now, he made his way over, took off his shoes and then climbed up the ladder. Maybe if he was lucky people would not know that he was over there for half the time and he'd just get to sit there and watch things going on around him. One of his other colleges was standing by the tank to collect the tickets from people so they struck up a conversation while they waited.
Meanwhile, sitting over at the ticket selling table Shawn was in the perfect position to direct people over to Dom. And when he saw Audrey and Ella walk up together he knew that was exactly what he was going to do.
"Well that was easy to find you," Audrey teased, leaning forward to steal a kiss. "Where is Dom?"
"Glad you asked, for just $5 you can have three tries to put him into the dunk tank where he will be for the next hour," Shawn answered.
"Only $5?" Ella spoke up, raising an eyebrow.
"That's a steal," Audrey joked, pulling out her wallet and giving Shawn a $10 bill. "I'll also take a meal coupon."
"Same," Ella agreed, handing Shawn another bill. "Thanks Shawn."
So it was the two of them that approached the tank first, which Dom really couldn't be too surprised about and he laughed a little as he realized that his best friend had certainly sent them his way. "Why, hello there ladies, I see you found me. That wouldn't have anything to do with a certain best friend of mine, would it?"
"Oh, it would," Audrey answered happily. "Hi Aaron." She nodded toward his coworker standing on the ground.
"I figured," Dom sighed dramatically as if this bothered him.
"Aren't you happy to see me?" Ella questioned, raising an eyebrow at him. Truthfully, she wished that she could give him a proper greeting but obviously that was not something that could be accomplished right now.
"I'm thrilled, babe. But I have a feeling you're going to try and drop me into this water," he spoke as if this was a great personal betrayal and not something that he'd signed up to do.
"Of course I am." She pulled out her ticket and handed it over to the coworker who gave her the first of her three balls to try and hit the target, directing her to the piece of rope that signified where adults were supposed to stand. It was well within range that people would be able to do it, but not as close as the child's line which would all but guarantee that as long as a child could aim they'd hit the target square on. "Shame you're not wearing a white t-shirt."
"Ells! This is a family event," Dom brought his hand to his chest, as if scandalized by her comment. In truth he'd thought about it, but had forgotten to do so . The blue shirt that he had on instead would definitely still stick to him when wet though. She made her first attempt and it went a touch too wide. "Then again, if you can't hit the target it doesn't matter much, does it?" His tone was light and teasing and he threw her a cheeky grin.
"I'll hit that target," Ella was determined and looked a bit more serious as she took aim a second time. This time the ball did hit the target in the middle and Dom was down into the cool water before he had time to think about it. As he surfaced he saw Ella giving him a smug look and Audrey laughing. "You know, I still have one more try."
"What, one time isn't enough?" Dom questioned, moving so that he could climb back up onto the seat once it had been reset by his coworker.
"Definitely not," she was already aiming up again but luckily, while the ball hit the target it didn't seem to be hard enough as it didn't end up dunking him. She did seem very disappointed about this but Dom gave her a shrug.
"You can always try again later," he suggested.
"If I get it once I'll let you have my other tries," Audrey assured the other girl.
"Is that allowed?" Dom asked no one in particular to which everyone just shrugged and Audrey kept trying to line up her throw. Unfortunately for Dom, but fortunately for Audrey, the woman got it straight away and he was once again in the water.
Once he resurfaced he saw Audrey and Ella sharing a high five and he sighed, having a feeling that he wouldn't get out of this without another dunking. He was proven right, when Audrey handed the ball over to Ella to try a second time his girlfriend sent him into the tank and then he'd just managed to get set up once more when Audrey took the last throw and got the target once more. This time when he came up he gestured for them to come over. "Ells, come here, I want to give you a kiss."
She looked at him dubiously, eyeing the water that he was in. "Are you willing to promise that you're not going to splash me?"
That had been his plan so he just tried to look innocent for the moment. "You're doubting me? I'm hurt. Come on Ella, come say hello properly."
At that she laughed and shook her head. "No way, now I know for sure that you're going to do it." She blew him a kiss instead. "Audrey and I are going to check out the rest of the set up and we'll see you when you're a bit drier."
"You hurt me, Ella, I won't forget this," he called over to his girlfriend, watching the way that she smiled and shook her head before turning to walk away and over toward everything else that was being offered.
The next bit of time passed quite quickly for Dom, although there were more people who came to try and dunk him most either were only successful at the end or were small children who were given one extra try until they managed to get him. By the time that he was told that his shift was done, he was admittedly releaved to step away from the tank.
"Go get some dry clothes," Aaron advised, but Dom had other plans. Instead, he tried to catch sight of where Ella and Audrey were. At that point they were standing with Mrs Russo and chatting where luckily Ella was facing away from him, so he walked right up to her. He realized when Audrey had caught sight of him but she didn't give any indication of it to her best friend. Which meant that when he got to where Ella was standing, he took her completely by surprise as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him, his wet clothes pressing against her own dry ones.
Ella let out a little squeal and tried to pull away without any success. "Dominic!" she exclaimed, clearly not enjoying the fact that her entire back was now damp if not fully wet.
"That's what you get for not coming over to say hello to me properly," he answered, pressing a kiss against her head.
"I didn't want to get wet," she argued, though clearly it was a battle she had already lost and instead of trying to pull away she turned to face him, pressing a light kiss against his lips. "But hi, you jerk."
He grinned and pressed another kiss against her lips. "Hi beautiful. Glad you could make it. I'm going to go and get changed and find out where I'm supposed to go next but probably after another hour I'll be able to grab some food if you want to wait for me."
"I'll consider it." Her tone was the delightful teasing kind that Dom always loved hearing because she looked adorable when she used it, like now.
"Thanks for the great honor," he taunted back and then pressed another kiss against her lips before pulling away.
Looking over he saw Mrs Russo still talking to Audrey and moved quickly so that he could pull the small woman into a giant hug, effectively getting her wet as well. "Ugh, Dom," Audrey was sighing but she hugged him back anyway.
"That's for dunking me in the tank, twice, and helping Ella do it again," he explained as he pulled back. "I'll get Shawn later, don't you worry." To Mrs Russo he only gave a nod. "Hey Mrs R, glad to see you could make it."
"It's nice to see you too, Dom," the older woman answered, smiling a little at the antics that had taken place around her.
"Well, dry clothes and some shoes await, so I'll see you ladies later." Dom gave a mock salute and headed inside toward the locker room where he'd dropped his extra pair of clothes earlier. There was still a lot left of the day, but he knew it was going to be great. Really, when all was said and done, there was no better way to spend the holiday than this.
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