“Car Problems are the Least of my Worries” (Chapter 1)

As the rain patters on the window, he looks out at the girl retreating to her car. He wishes that she would get in his car. But she doesn’t. There is a slight, teasing sway in her hips, showing what she’s got but he can’t have, but he knows that it is unintentional because the cause is her gait, not her attempts to seduce. He is watching her right arm swing back and forth, the scar coming into view, and then out…

There is a smile on her face as she looks at people, but she’s never smiled at him with her teeth. A closed, tight-lipped smile towards him. He doesn’t know why, but she does. It is because of boundaries. She knows that he has a girlfriend, and keeps her distance. She doesn’t want him thinking that she’s hitting on him.

The rain picks up, and she unlocks her car, stepping into it. She checks her phone. He watches her struggle and through the blur of the rain he sees her open her mouth wide in a silent scream and hit her wheel. She gets out of her car, locks it, and walks back inside. He is quiet for a moment, then looks at her shivering body.

“Is everything alright?” He asks her as she looks up at him, startled. She then relaxes and gives him that tense, close mouth smile yet again. He refrains from frowning at it.

She shrugs. “Ah, yeah, I’m alright.” She rubs her soaked arms and he looks at her with a raised brow.

She responds with a slight shiver that he takes as a chill, but she knows it was not.

“That’s a lie. What’s wrong with your car.” He states, not a question at all. He looks at her quivering whitish lips. He grunts and her eyes go wide as she takes a step back when he stands to walk towards her. He removes his sweatshirt over his head. His shirt rides up and she can see his muscular stomach. She averts her whole head and looks to the side.

“I-” Her sentence is muffled by him throwing the sweatshirt over her head. She stifles a surprised giggle and succeeds. She straightens her face as she looks questioningly up at him.

“I got kicked out of my house. There’s nothing wrong with my car, except that I can’t be wasting gas….and it won’t start.” She looks down away from him and bites her lip harshly, trying to control the tears. She blinks quickly.

His hands shoot to her shoulders and he tips her chin up to him with her finger, his handsome face twisted in concern.

“Shit.” He curses, getting lost in her wide, beautiful, blue-green eyes. They remind him of the ocean and the sea foam. “Come with me.”

She pulls herself away from this semi-stranger. “Um...what?”

“Come. With. Me.” He orders now, taking her hand gently and leading her back to the door. “Do you have all of your stuff?” He asks, and she nods in response, wanting to pull away, but also not wanting to destroy the warm contact between the two.

“Where are we going?” Her timid voice contrasts her usually bold personality and he feels for her.

“To my house.”

She pauses, and stands still for a moment. “What?”

He looks back at her. “I will give you a place to stay for the night. I can talk to my mother about the rest. Come on. You’re cold, everyone has left the building, your friends can’t afford for you to go live at their houses. I can. Just for the afternoon even and see what you think?”

She looks at him. Then down at herself. She knows he would never try anything with the likes of her. She loosely removes her hand from his grip and bites her lip. His eyes flicker to the movement then quickly back at her eyes, trying to respect her. She grins, but still doesn’t fully smile at him.

“Are you sure?” She asks, rubbing her arm.

“Of course. No doubts. We need to go now, because you’re shivering. We need to get you warm, okay?”

She nods. She follows him out into the rain but is kept dry and catches a sliver of the smell of him as she is enveloped in his sweatshirt. She nonchalantly puts the hood up and the zipper head over her nose. They quickly arrive to his car and she gets in, trying to stop shivering. How am I shivering right now? I shouldn’t be cold. I’m too fat to be cold.

He looks over at her and smiles. “Loosen up, hun. You’re too tight.” He says, not realizing the foreshadowing and innuendo. She bites her lip to stifle a smirk. He reaches over and pulls her lip out of her teeth with his thumb. She flushes red and looks down.

“Don’t try to not smile at me! What’s the deal with that?” He starts the car. He pulls out of his parking space and looks over at her briefly.

“Keep your eyes on the road!” She says, relaxing a bit. She hugs herself and he chuckles. He turns onto the main road.

He turns the radio on and looks at her questioningly. She shrugs and he changes it, turning the dial.

“You’re making me nervous. We won’t ever get to your house if you’re so distracted.” She giggles and he looks over at her, surprised at her playfulness. He puts his hands up in surrender.

“No!!!” She screams in delight as she places her hand on the wheel, steering for him. He laughs loudly. He goes to place his hands back on the steering wheel, and his right hand covers hers. She quickly pulls her hand away from the sparks and tingles. She tries to ignore them as she changes the station to 94.3. He looks at her surprised.

“You listen to this music too?” He is dumbfounded as a screaming man sounds from the speakers. She covers her mouth but her eyes light up.

“Yes, of course. Who doesn’t?” She says, rolling her eyes and making a dopey face. His heart lifts at her relaxation and willing playfulness.

She sways in her seat, and he contemplates pulling over and just watching her. But he blinks fast, trying to concentrate, telling himself that they’ll be home in ten minutes. She sings along to the music.

“Stop, drop, and drag me into place. And lock the fire escapes. I’ll break your pretty face.”

He smiles, and reddens slightly from the “cuteness overload”. Her voice is clean and airy. He thinks back to his ex-girlfriend and how she has the stereotypical “good voice”, when in reality it just sounds like she was always trying too hard.

He turns down the music one or two decibels with his wheel so he can hear her better. She doesn’t notice. She looks at him and bites her lip, trying to stop the smile from forming. His eyes catch the movement and his heart skips a beat. He reciprocates with the right side of his lip upturning in an attempt to smile. They turn down his road, and he clears his throat, now suddenly nervous. What will she think of his house?

She looks out the window, holding the sleeve in her hand except the pointer finger, drawing on his window, the pulling her hand away quickly, freezing and looking back at him.

“I’m so sorry.” She says in a voice just loud enough to hear over the music. He turns down the knob and looks at her. Flicking the blinker on, he feels puzzled.

“What- uh what’s wrong?” He asks nervously as he pulls into his drive.

“I wrote on your window. Now it’s going to show.” She seems to scrunch down into the seat. He reaches his hand out to touch her and she flinches. His heart skips a beat.

“Hey, I’m not going to hurt you. It’s just a window. I’m not going to freak out over you drawing on my window. It’s cute.” She looks down at her lap.

“Ok...” She slowly looks up at him.

“Let’s get in the house, okay?”

He gets out of the car, as it rains harder, soaking his t-shirt. He laughs. He runs over to her side, opening her door, grabbing her bag.

“Let’s go!” He yells and holds out his hand. She grabs it, at first hesitating, then tighter as he helps her out of the car. She grabs his bag, slams the door and rushes to the door. She let’s go of his hand, blushing. He doesn’t notice because the hood of his sweatshirt is up, covering half of her face.

They laugh, soaked and shaking as he opens the door to his house. He drops his stuff down, still chuckling, looking back up at her. His heart jumps.

She is laughing, jumping up and down as the hood has fallen off. She hops up and down, the bag sliding off of her arm and he gazes upon her in awe.

“Oh my gosh!” She gasps, trying to stop laughing. She doesn’t know why she’s laughing so hard. Abruptly she stops. Bringing her hand up to her heart as her chest heaves, her face drops.

“Oh my gosh...” She crumples and he stumbles after her, catching her arms in his hands and gently setting her down. She sits, slouched over, and begins to weep. Aghast, he stares at her with wide eyes. Her body shakes as she leans against him.

He doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t say anything. He just holds her. And that’s all she needs.