He’s finally back, and fiddles with the hood for a few seconds. I laugh. He eventually manages to open and secure it. It seems he’s notcompletelyuseless, after all.
I throw him the cables, hoping he won’t electrocute himself. “Okay, do your thing.”
He stares at his engine, and looks over at me, stares at his car again, and then at me again. He winces and finally admits, “I have no clue how to jump a car.”
Many things are priceless: a baby’s first laugh, a perfect proposal, a child’s smile on Christmas morning. And also: Matt Moore’s complete inability to come to my rescue.
I smile and grab the cables from him. “I can’t believe you don’t know how to jump a car,” I sneer. “And you call yourself a man.” I’m being a total bitch, but the man did ruin my high school life. Not to mention junior high.
This is only a drop in the bucket of the payback he deserves.
I clip the red clamp to the positive terminal of my battery, and then I repeat the process on his car. I’ve done this so many times, I could do it in my sleep. Then I clip the black clamp to the negative terminal, and ground the other black clamp on a bolt on the engine of his car. When I’m done, I stare at him for a good five seconds.
“What?” he says
“Now you need to turn on your car,” I tell him in thatyou’re an idiottone, a tone I don’t think I’ve ever used in my life. “It’s cold. Let your car run for a few minutes.”
He scurries to the car again like an obedient puppy, and does as asked.
When he comes back, we stand motionless, and stare at each other, completely speechless — the moment could not possibly be more awkward. He might have wined and dined me, and been the perfect ‘date’, but all he’ll remember is this. I like that.
I hop in my car and rev the engine. It takes two tries, but…success! I jump back out, pull off the cables, and shut both hoods.
I shoot him a smile. “Thanks. You’re a lifesaver."
“You’re pretty good at that,” he says. “Why did you make me suffer like that?”
I shoot him a wicked grin. “I couldn’t resist… it was too much fun.” I stare at my old Dodge. “And not all of us get to drive brand new Audis.”
He pulls a face. “True,” he says, clearly uncomfortable. “Well, I’ll let you get home. It’s freezing.”
“That, it is.” I smile and wave goodbye.
He waves as he heads towards his car.
As I climb into mine, I feel a little guilty.
Just a little.
Attraction
I believe very strongly that when it comes to desire, when it comes to attraction, that things are never black and white, things are very much shades of grey.— Brian Molko
Attraction is fascinating.What draws us to a specific person, yet makes us completely oblivious to another? Why does that certain someone have that certain something? The object of our attraction may not always be the most beautiful, the most perfect. But there’s just something about them.
Is it to do with our pasts? Certain ideas and concepts have been wired in our brains from a very early age. We all respond to different stimuli, in very different ways, depending on our life experiences, our prejudices, and our own personal idea of what is attractive.
One man might go crazy for short brunettes, while another one might love tall blondes. It may be the way someone dresses, or the way they speak. It might be the way their smile takes over their whole face, the smattering of freckles on their nose, the arch of their brow. For men, it’s often the curve of the rear or the legs, or perhaps the swell of breasts.
Attraction is sexual, but it’s also more than that. Attraction in its most intoxicating form, is the magnetic power the body and the mind have together. Often we are attracted to someone’s mind even more than we are to their eyes, face or body. When two people click, there is instant attraction. Instant curiosity, a desire to know more about the other, to share more, to let them into your world.
Attraction is a powerful thing. It is the precursor to lust, biology’s handy work, the secret to humanity’s propagation. Thankfully, human sexuality goes beyond the mere physical. Well, most of the time, anyway.
When two people meet who are both attracted to each other, it’s electric. Mutual attraction is powerful — it can lead to conflict, love, hatred, broken hearts… even wars.
And what of inexplicable attraction? You might completely hate someone, despise everything they stand for, and have no respect whatsoever for them. Yet, you find yourself constantly drawn to them, despite your objections. You try to talk some sense into yourself, but you still find yourself pursuing them. And you hate yourself for it. You hate your lack of control. You feel powerless and weak.
Despite the fact that I hate Matt Moore, I still find myself attracted to him. And I’m not too happy about that. After all he’s put me through, how does he manage to still pull me in? It makes absolutely no sense.
But that’s attraction for you.
