>>Elvis' POV<<

Shortly after Sam's birthday, we organized a small party in the park to celebrate the end of the holidays. It was also supposed to be the end of organizing surprise birthday parties that always accumulated at the beginning of summer. It started with my birthday, and a few days later it was Penny's birthday. Then we waited another few weeks until Station Officer Steele's birthday, and then time flew by until August, when Sam celebrated his birthday. Luckily for us, Ellie and Arnold celebrated their birthdays closer to winter, so we could rest for a while. However, we were all still tired of organizing each other's birthdays, so we agreed to the proposal of James, Mandy and Sarah, who volunteered to help organize today's party. Although when Norman joined, Sam and the others wanted to back out of that promise, but I somehow managed to convince Penny to vote against it, along with me of course.
Fortunately for Norman and ours, everything went as planned and on schedule. So we could start on time. My guitar was already waiting on the stage, but I kept looking around for our two teamleaders, who were probably going to be late today for the first time. I just hoped they got the message about what time the party started. It wouldn't be the same without them.

However, after a dozen or more minutes I couldn't wait any longer and had to go on stage. Best friends or not, the whole town was waiting for me to perform, and Elvis Cridlington never disappoints his fans. Just like friends - I thought sadly when I stood on the stage. So I started pretending I was tuning my guitar, even though I could barely think of chords I could play in place of the notes so that more trained ears, like Trevor's, would believe my little theater. But when I was about to play the D chord in place of the E note, that's when I saw them. They stood leaning against the wall at the very back of the audience. I whistled briefly to get their attention, masking it with a yawn, but Sam didn't even look up. I focused, trying to see what was so absorbing my best friend's attention, and I stepped back in surprise, gasping for air. Did my eyes deceive me, or were Sam and Penny holding hands?
I decided I'd have to ask Sam what was going on, but first I had to deal with the job I had to do. So I chose the most suitable song that I could now remember and started playing the appropriate chords. However, I didn't take my eyes off my two friends even for a moment. My fingers glided over the strings, picking up the practiced chords as my eyes continued to search for Sam and Penny in the crowd.

I smiled and noticed that they were dancing near a large oak tree. They looked very happy. Not that I was suggesting anything, but they seemed happier than when I'd seen them dancing together before. The first time they danced together, they were both very nervous and unsure. Even then, I had my suspicions that Penny had stepped on Sam's feet several times, although he was so concerned that he didn't seem to notice. The second time I saw them dancing was at the opening of the new fire station. They did it much more freely then. However, I couldn't believe that it depended on the music they were dancing to, after all, today I played the same as the second time, and they danced even more freely than on any previous occasion.

As soon as I stepped down from the stage, I tried to find them again. However, from the ground level it was not as easy as I thought. Several times I thought I saw a flash of Sam's hair above the others' heads, but I quickly lost track. Resigned, I turned around and went to the tables, hoping that maybe someone else had seen them.

"Have you seen Sam and Penny anywhere?" I asked, sitting down at our table. I was about to grab a piece of cake when I met the uncomprehending looks of my colleagues. "I can't find them anywhere."

"You mean how effectively they managed to blow you off throughout your concert?" Ellie looked at me teasingly. "I had the impression that they were dancing to a completely different tune and either an elephant had stepped on their ears or they simply weren't listening to you."

"What's the simplest way?" Now it was me who looked at her, but offended, hoping to wipe the amused look from her face, but she only turned into a more bored expression as Ellie rested her chin on her elbow.

"Your guitar was out of tune, Elvis," Arnold replied for her.

"Why didn't anyone tell me anything?" I asked confused. After all, I remembered tuning my guitar this morning, in person.

"Because it's you, Elvis," Ellie said innocently. "No one will blame you for it, because everyone knows that you've done clumsier things."

"I'm not that clumsy," I complained, pulling the corners of my mouth as far down as I could. "But Sam and Penny were somehow dancing," I pointed out, straightening up.

"They would even dance to rap music, just to dance with each other for a moment," Ellie said, giving me an amused look. "For them, any excuse is a good one to get closer to each other."

"You can't tell me that I was the only one who saw that, how they looked at each other while dancing today," I emphasized, blinking my eyes significantly.

"Elvis, you can't see and neither can the rest of us," Ellie muttered tiredly under her breath. In the past, she was the one who set the pace in our joint efforts to bring our two teamleaders closer together, but recently her enthusiasm has waned significantly.

"Even with my out-of-tune guitar, they were able to dance to their heartbeats together," I said, to my own surprise, very confident of what I stated. "You're not going to tell me that doesn't prove anything?" I added hesitantly, seeing that with every word I said, Ellie only looked more resigned.

"You just want to see more because you've known them the longest. We gave up a long time ago," Ellie sighed. "No matter what we do, they will never understand what we mean. No matter how much it burns and crashes, Sam and Penny will still want to protect themselves from their feelings. No one knows, whether it's themselves or each other. Only death, I guess, could finally take the blinders off their eyes."

Her words echoed through my head as I got up from the table and stepped aside, seeking shade. Even for the end of summer, the sun was exceptionally hot. With no rain in such weather, it was easy to start a fire. What if I was wrong and only saw more of Sam and Penny dancing because I wanted them to finally be happy? After all, they had danced together before. In such a case, if I was wrong, there would be no accident. What if Ellie was right and only an immediate threat would force them to open up and say those simple three words?

But such a vision terrified me, because I knew Sam's stubbornness, at least. He tried to hide from me for years, but I saw the little moments when he could no longer hide behind the serious firefighter mask and, in Penny's presence, he showed his true face - a funny and slightly shy man. That's how I knew him since we were kids. With Penny I could see him like that again, although he seemed doubly shy.
But if her friendship alone could bring back that Sam, what could the possible loss of Penny mean to him? I wouldn't wish this on anyone. I liked Penny and wanted her and Sam to be happy, but even I knew our job wasn't the safest and Pontypandy liked to give us unpredictable situations. And Sam and Penny were certainly not the type of people who would get scared, on the contrary, out of our entire team, they were always the first to enter even the most unpredictable situations. They would jump into fire for themselves, so what if they really had to do it someday?
Everyone who knew them was aware of how much their friendship meant to them. Without it, neither of them were the same. After they quarreled several times and didn't speak to each other for the next few days, I could confidently say that this state of affairs was already weighing heavily on them, and what would happen if they could never speak to each other again? I, however, knew that I would never want to lose any of my friends.

Hi! And how it turn out? I hope you liked something ;-) entirely different for me to sit in Elvis head and I will really hesitant about this chapter, but I will not complain how it turned out and only hope you enjoy reading it as well