Stumbling Block

Amira walked out of the precinct’s changing room with a backpack slung over her shoulder. She wanted to go home, but she still had an hour’s worth of paperwork to get through. At least she’d be payed overtime it, she figured. To think she’d been so close to letting that one asshole off with a warning. He didn’t know how lucky he’d been. Amira didn’t exactly have a reputation for leniency. Then the dumbass had thrown it back in her face. She smirked. That snide little comment of his would cost him a couple hundred bucks. Served him right.

A small group had formed around coworker’s desks. “Amira!” called one of them. She thought his name was Andres, but she wasn’t sure. She’d only been at the department a month, having transferred from a small town out in the sticks, and hadn’t had time to get to know everyone yet. She probably could have done a better job at it, but to be honest she just didn’t care that much. “You’ve got to see this,” probably-Andres added, motioning her over energetically.

Not seeing a way to ignore him, Amira reluctantly pushed through the crowd to see what the fuss was about. She’d have rather gotten back to work . Everyone was focused on Andres laptop where he had pulled up a video from his cruiser. He hit play and Amira watched as Andres patted down a scrawny, early-twenties perp. The kid was rail thin and sported a number of cheap looking tattoos. His eyes darted around frantically and his whole body was tense with nervous energy. Amira knew he was a runner before Andres even turned his back.

The tweaker saw his opportunity and was off like a methed out rocket. Andres’ head whipped back around. The perp didn’t make it ten feet before Andres dove into an honest to god flying tackle. Andres probably had a hundred pounds on his target and the smaller man crumpled to the ground like crushing a used up beer can.

The crowd of onlookers burst in raucous cheer, laughing and clasping Andres on the back. “What do you think?” he asked as he turned to look at Amira. “Hell of a tackle right?”

Amira pursed her lips. Did Andres think he was a linebacker or something? Amateur hour. “They teach you that in training?” she asked, not bothering to hide just how unimpressed she was. “Seems sloppy. If he’d wormed his way out of your grip he’d have been out of there and you’d have been lying on the asphalt.” Back in the army she’d seen guys who actually knew how to fight and any of them would have been embarrassed to be caught pulling a stunt like that. She looked at the men around her, seeing a bunch of buffoons.

“Ah don’t listen to her Andres,” said one of his fans, a fat-faced, pudgy man by the name of Ronnie. Somehow, Ronnie was a sergeant. “Little miss gimpy over here’s just mad she couldn’t pull something like that off.”

Amira’s blood ran hot. “Coming from a human dough ball?” she sneered. “I wouldn’t need two good legs to knock you on your fat lazy ass.”

As soon as the words were out Amira knew that it had been a mistake. She never would have spoken to an officer like that back in her military days. But that had been before her car accident. It was hard for her sometimes to take chain of command as seriously in civilian life.

Ronnie - Sergeant Hudson, she corrected herself - spluttered. He was winding up for a retort, face red from the effort, when Andres stepped in. “Alright, alright. Let’s all cool off a little, eh? We’ve all got work to get done. Sorry Hudson, I didn’t mean to distract everyone.”

The sergeant made some non-committal sounds of agreement, taking his cue and dispersing the crowd as a way of reestablishing authority, but the look he shot her let her know she’d be getting shit details for a while.

Amira tried to leave with the rest of the crowd but Andres asked her to stay back. She braced herself for a patronizing, if good-natured, reminder not to pick fights with her superiors. Instead, Andres casually leaned back against his desk and said, “So…Amira. I was thinking. Tomorrow night, you and me. Want to grab some dinner?”

Amira froze. Andres smile didn’t falter as he waited for an answer, even though it was clear as day that Amira hadn’t been ready to be asked out on a date. “I don’t think so,” she told him. “I’m not really in the market right now.”

“Come on,” he insisted. “It’ll be fun. We could go to Stone Table. I’ll pick you up at six, just need your number.”

“I’ve got a lot of paperwork to get done,” she told him. “It’s not a good time.”

“Just seems like a waste is all,” he pressed. “Hot woman like you not getting to wear a dress out on a Saturday night.”

Amira rolled her eyes. She was about to tell him to get lost, but she could tell it wasn’t going to work. Andres was the kind of guy who would pester her for weeks.

What the hell, she figured. Why not? There wasn’t exactly a line of suitors out the door for a washed up vet with a bum leg and nothing to look forward to but a mountain of meaningless police work. Andres wasn’t a bad looking guy. His head was a little big, maybe, but he was handsome. And he was in good shape, which was more than she could say for most of the guys she worked with. He could be a bit of pig, but so could every guy, so that was a wash. Worst case scenario, she reasoned, the date was a disaster and Andres would leave her alone without a fight.

Amira’s face was sour, but she agreed. “Fine. But you’re giving me your number, not the other way around, and I’m driving myself to the restaurant. I’ll text you tomorrow if I don’t change my mind.”

Andres grinned. “Alright! You’re gonna love it, you’ll see.” He’d never had any doubt.

Amira took her phone out and punched in his number as he rattled it off. After a quick goodbye she was finally free to get some work done. All she wanted in the world was go home and watch TV. Instead, she settled into the monotony of writing up reports. Her mind wandered. Amira hoped she hadn’t just made a mistake. Dating a coworker could be messy even when it worked out. She knew though that ever since she’d left the service she’d been in a rut. Maybe getting back out there was what she needed to shake things up. God knew she needed something.