Rodney - A retelling of Roxanne (RomComDrama) Ch3
Chapter Three
Cadman, the only female fire fighter on the team, collected the new starter, Cameron Mitchell, from the bus station. She looked him up and down, always obvious in her appreciation of the male form. “Hey, I’m Cadman,” she said as she held out her right hand. “You single?”
Mitchell looked a bit taken back, but smiled with a cute blush to his cheeks. He pushed his bag higher on his shoulder before shaking her hand, “Yeah, but I like men, hope that’s not going to be a problem here?”
Cadman laughed, “Considering our chief is gay, I don’t think you’ll find any here. Come on I’ll show you the town on the way, it’s a party town, Maestro, and you’ll love it.”
They walked through town, Cameron with two overnight bags hanging off one shoulder and a suitcase in his other hand which Cadman didn’t offer to carry. Not that Cameron needed any help built the way he was. At 6 foot and all muscle, with a chiselled jaw and short hair, the guy looked like a marine.
“Gafornasemano,” Cadman said to a passing guy, straggly looking but cute. She liked abstract beauty.
“What?” the guy answered, a frown on his face.
“Were you playboy of the month, June?”
The guy started looking around him, checking there was just him, before he turned back to her, “No.”
“That’s funny because I thought I recognised your inner diameter slope.”
“What’s that?” the guy asked, frown still firmly in place.
“The part of your leg that curves into your inner thigh,” she responded with a smile, as she slowly traced a finger through the air, following an invisible curve.
The guy smiled back, until a girl stalked up and glared at Cadman while she hauled her boyfriend away.
“Works every time, Maestro,” she said with a smirk as she linked arms with Cameron, “I call you Maestro because you’re great with the chicks, right? Well, the boys in your case.”
She dragged him through town, pointing out areas of interest, like Teyla’s bar and the like, until they reached the fire station. Just as they rounded the corner, they saw two firemen with a hose each, pointed at the training tower to the left of the station.
“All right, let’s go,” the first one said.
“All right, ready when you are,” the other one replied. They both turned on their hoses, staring into the dry nozzles when nothing happened, oblivious to the mountain of water spurting out of the top of the fire engine behind them like a geezer.
“What’s going on here?” Cameron asked.
Cadman rolled her eyes, “Training.”
He shook his head in disbelief as he followed her into the station where a fireman was being fitted by a tailor. “I want it to say action with style, like a GQ fire fighter,” he was saying to the guy knelt on the floor with the tape measure.
“This is Cameron, our new pro. A real fire fighter,” Cadman said with a cheeky grin.
“Welcome,” said the man being fitted out, “I’m Mayor Deebs. We didn’t expect you till Monday.”
“I came early to get a good start,” Cameron replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
Deebs nodded, “This is Dean,” he pointed to the tall fireman on his right with a long face and a loose jaw, “and Trent,” he continued as he pointed to the fireman on his left, shorter and tubbier with dark hair and an open face, “and my personal tailor, Sam,” he finished as he nodded to the old guy on his knees who reminded Cameron of Pinocchio’s father.
“I’ll show you to your room,” Cadman said, leading him away, “We’ve got you a bunk set up till you find something local.”
“Nice to meet you,” Cameron nodded as he walked away.
Cadman settled him in to his room, showed him around the place and introduced him to the rest of the crew. It looked like all the people who were picked last for the team had formed their own team, but they were all welcoming, shaking his hand, open and honest smiles. Cadman then took him to an office, empty apart from a desk, and went through the relevant paperwork with him although he was sure that some of the questions she asked were not even on the forms. Pretty soon it was the end of her shift and she invited him into town to show him the inside of Teyla’s bar, and offering to introduce him to some of the town’s folk she knew would be there. Cameron didn’t bother changing, and neither did Cadman, preferring her uniform over a summer dress.
At the bar Rodney and Teyla were sat having a drink together. He’d been talking to Teyla in emails before coming out here and they had become good friends. “Do you think I can get the telescope up the stairs?” he asked her.
Teyla cocked her head to the side for a moment, before nodded decisively, “I’ll ask John to leave his super hero comics.”
“He reads super hero comics?” Rodney asked in surprise.
“Yes, I think he has a lot in common with superheroes, it’s never surprised me that he likes reading about them,” Teyla returned with a smile.
“He’s very funny,” Rodney added, self-consciously.
“Yes, he is,” Teyla answered, looking slightly thoughtful. “We’re very close.” Which Rodney had already figured out, he just didn’t know how close or if John even shared his tastes.
“These uniforms really work,” he heard from behind him and looked over his shoulder to see a feisty looking woman in a fire-fighter’s uniform. Her eyes picking out every guy in the place as she walked along the bar, but Rodney’s eyes invariably fell to the well built man at her side. Two beautiful men in two days and both seemed to be batting for the other side, but Rodney was used to disappointment in his love life.
Teyla must have seen him eyeing up the man, “What about your boyfriend?” she asked, with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
“Richard,” Rodney confirmed, feeling the low alcoholic buzz leaving him at the thought of the man who had promised him so much and left him with so little.
“When is he coming?” Teyla asked.
“He’s not,” Rodney replied succinctly, twirling his drink in his hand.
“What happened?”
“We just ran out of gas. I guess I mistook sex for love...again,” he said with a depreciating smile.
The barmaid appeared out of nowhere and leant across the bar, causing Rodney to lean back at the sudden invasion as she interrupted enthusiastically, “I did that once, it was great,” she said with a leer, before walking up the other end of the bar, towards the fire fighter.
“Sandy is a very deep person,” Teyla said, sarcasm in every word.
“Yeah, I can tell,” Rodney responded with a smirk.
Cadman had just spotted Rodney as his eyes followed Sandy up the bar. He had the bluest eyes she’d ever seen; she had a weakness for blue eyes. “Oh, my God, who is that?”
“He can make my night,” Mitchell said, now fully aware that nothing shocked Cadman, or disgusted her. “Who is he?”
“I’ve never seen him before,” Cadman said as she beckoned Sandy over, “Hey Sandy, who’s the new guy with Teyla?”
Sandy gave her a knowing smirk. “That’s Rodney, he studies astronomy or astrology.”
“Is there a difference?” Cadman asked. “Would I be wasting my time?” she asked, knowing with a combination of Teyla’s ability to draw information out of people and Sandy’s ability to listen in on every conversation at the bar that she would know.
“Well, he just mentioned a break up with a boyfriend,” she said smiling, watching Cadman frown in disappointment, “But then I just saw him eye up a tall blonde woman that walked by so I’d say both,” she added as she cast a look at the stranger next to Cadman, noticing the way he watched Rodney and figured she was wasting her time there.
Cadman grinned wide at Sandy’s words, she loved the chase.
Sandy made her way down the bar, always eager to play cupid she leaned towards Rodney as she whispered, “Look’s like someone is checking you out.” He followed her gaze up the bar, blushing when he made eye contact with Cameron. “Now, he could cheer you up,” Sandy added with another leer before departing to the other end of the bar.
Back down the other end, Cadman noticed that although Rodney was looking their way, it seemed to be directed more at Cameron than at her, “If I was you,” she said as she nudged Mitchell in the side, nodding in Rodney’s directions, “I’d do something about that.”
“Maybe... maybe later,” Mitchell said nonchalantly as he turned to lean against the bar, crossing his arms as he did so, which showed off his biceps sublimely as he added, “maybe not.”
“You are playing it beautifully,” Cadman said with a grin, casting a glance back towards Rodney to judge his reaction to Cameron’s bulging biceps on display. He hadn’t seemed to notice yet, so maybe Cadman had a shot after all. “Do you mind if I give it a shot?” she asked.
“No, you go right ahead,” Cameron said, not an ounce of deception in his voice.
“Thank you, Maestro,” Cadman smirked, patting him on the bicep before heading down the bar towards Rodney. She tapped him on the shoulder, waiting until she had his full attention before she spoke, “I would like to invite you to a Nelson tradition of hot-tubbing,” she said with a smile.
“Pardon me?” Rodney asked, head slanted to the side as a frown spread over his face. Cadman could see Teyla smiling in the background, having heard this before.
“It’s a tradition round here,” she said, lowering her voice to a more husky baritone, “We consume mulled wine and enjoy some outdoor hot-tubbing.”
Rodney’s face was a picture of disbelief, before a smile tugged at his mouth, “So, when the settlers came here years ago, they started hot-tubbing?”
“What?” Cadman answered, thrown for a minute before continuing, “Oh yeah. Smart, I like that.”
“Cadman is what people call a man eater,” Teyla said with a smile, “and her ego is the size of Brazil.”
Rodney looked to Cadman, expecting to see outrage, but only saw smug pride which made him realise how much trouble he was in. “Okay, I have to stop talking to you now.”
“Okay,” Cadman said, with a shrug of her shoulders, “no problem. I’ll be over there if you change your mind,” she said, pointing along the bar. “Think about it and if you change your mind, come on over... and I think you might.”
“If I do change my mind, you will know, because I will gasp out your name,” Rodney said, in an overacted rendition of the swooning heroine, words dripping in sarcasm, but it didn’t have the desired effect.
“So long, foxy,” Cadman said with a leer as she left them, making her way back to the bar.
“Talk about role reversal. I suddenly feel very guilty for every woman I’ve ever tried to pick up. This is what it’s going to be like, being single?”
“I’ve been reliably informed she has a great ass,” Sandy said, making Rodney jump at her sudden reappearance.
“To bad it’s on her shoulders!” Rodney exclaimed, making both Teyla and Sandy laugh.
“He’s cute,” Sandy said, nodding towards the tall Viking stood with Cadman.
“I like cute, I just want to meet someone who is cute and has half a brain.”
“Good luck with that,” Teyla said, a smile still playing on her lips.
TBC... Chapter Four