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“Are you okay, babe?” Auntie Blair asked, pulling over a reasonable distance from the garage.
“Not really,” I said, getting out before she could reply.
The guys were there outside the door as usual. I had to admire their dedication. It was more than a few weeks into the program, and they were still there before either Chad or the pro mechanics. I pulled my baseball cap down, expecting them to ignore me.
“Hey, Nina,” Eric said, sounding strangely friendly.
“Hi,” I tried, the shy girl in me coming out again.
“Do you know anything about transmissions?”
“Um, yeah.”
“Great. We’ve got a VW with a weird transmission. Barry thinks it needs rebuilding, but I’m still wondering if it’s the fluid.”
“Did you check the fluid?” I asked, feeling like a tech support worker who asked if the caller has tried turning it off and on again.
“That’s the thing. We don’t actually know how to do that.”
“Oh, okay.”
Chad avoided my gaze as he came to open the shop. I tried to do the same but found my eyes irresistibly drawn to him. I must have been punishing myself on some level.
Getting Dale to distract Barry with a different problem, Juan and I snuck out the back to the VW. Doing the set up for a proper transmission check, which mostly involved switching gears between dipstick checks, we worked together to find out that the fluid was dangerously low.
“Knew it,” Eric grinned.
We went back into the shop casually, no one seeming to notice except, of course, for Dale, who gave a conspiratorial wink.
“Nina,” Will called from across the shop, “where you been?”
“Helping with a diagnosis,” I said honestly, hoping I wasn’t in trouble.”
“Really, what was it?”
“Low transmission fluid,” I said, feeling more confident.
“Nice, come look at this, yeah?”
“What’s the problem?” I asked, peeking into the open hood of an old Toyota.
“Major water leak. Not sure where it is, though.”
Going to the vending machine, I got a water bottle, poured it into the system, and looked under the car with a flashlight to see where the drip was. Within minutes, I had the hose replaced.
“Good job,” Will said, patting me on the back.
It was a little weird. While having no problem with such shows of affection with the other trainees, it was the first time Will had done it with me. Probably getting past the taboo and possible concern about me being a girl. It was a simple thing but still helped me feel like I was one of the guys, being accepted as part of the shop crew.
The day ticked by as I didn't both my work and helping others with theirs. When lunch stuck, I honestly hadn’t really noticed. I was having so much fun.
“Want to come to Bucks?” Eric asked, putting on his fashionable leather jacket, which only looked slightly silly in the Texas heat.
“Sure, but only if Juan can come too.”
“Sure,” Eric said with a casual shrug.
What a gang we must have looked — the six of us in our overalls and boots clomping down the street.
“I-I don’t, that is I really can’t afford —” Juan stammered.
“I got you, buddy,” I said, patting him on the back.
“Thanks,” he whispered, his cheeks turning crimson.
I knew it was vain, but that blush combined with his reaction when I first tried to talk to him made me wonder if I was the first girl to touch him. He seemed pretty shy, so it was perfectly believable, as well as a social handicap, I understood all too well.
“Oh, the year was 1778,” Eric sang.
“And I wish I was in Sherbrooke now,” the crew responded tunefully.
As we marched in formation toward a well-deserved lunch, belting out “The Last Of Barrett's Privateers,” I’d never felt so happy.
I thought about my rich bitch friends in Terrell Hills. Probably the main reason I’d insisted so vehemently I wasn’t one to Chad. I really didn’t want him thinking that of me. They were so vain and vacuous I could hardly stand it. I dreaded every party or function Dad would drag me to, so I could ‘make friends.’ Only with the best sort of people, of course. Though in my estimation, they were some of the worst.
I hated getting all fancied up, like a living doll, and having to pretend to get along with people I loathed. I’d always wanted to wear jeans and T-shirts or jerseys like I did at the garage. Daddy caught me trying on a baseball cap once and nearly flung it across the store like it was a live grenade. But here, I felt for the first time in my life that I could really be myself and have real friends. People who really liked me the way I truly was. I didn’t want to give that up, or the love I’d found with Chad.Chapter Twenty - ChadI’d heard about heartache second hand but never really thought I would feel it. Or the strange things it could make me do. I felt like a creeper, watching Nina via the security camera. Even though I didn’t do anything sleazy like zoom in on her at all. I was well past seeing her in a purely sexual way. She was still super sexy in my eyes, but there was a lot more to it than that. I’d come to feel for her on a level I’d never really thought possible. The video creeping was mostly, so I could see her again, even from afar. As well as to see if she might be considering talking to me again. Even though I’d really have no way of knowing that just by looking.
