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A soft chuckle came from Eve. "Alright, alright. Just trying to help. What's in the box?"
"Parts."
Eve followed her. "What kind of parts?"
"Car parts," Charlie replied. She could tell when someone was trying to buddy up to her and she didn't like it. Besides, she had no reason to cosy up to Eve.
She staggered towards the garage. Her muscles were protesting but she was too proud to ask the other woman for help. The tower of boxes swayed with every step and the parts inside rattled and clattered together. She turned too quickly and the box on the top of the stack slipped off.
With her hands full, Charlie could only watch as it toppled down, releasing a rain of bolts. They pitter-pattered on the stone ground and mercilessly rolled away towards the gutter.
A snort came from next to her, one Eve was tactfully trying to muffle. "Oh, man."
"Well, that couldn't have gone worse," Charlie muttered as she set the rest of the boxes down. It was going to take her at least ten minutes to collect all the little parts, likely more considering her fingers were cold and stiff.
She crouched down to start the tedious task of picking everything up, surprised when Eve joined her.
"It's okay, I got this," Charlie said, a little embarrassed by the whole situation. None of this would've happened if she'd taken less boxes. Or had been able to carry them all as a bear.
"You said that earlier and now look." Eve smiled at her, not in a mocking way.
"Fair point," Charlie conceded. She hadn't expected Eve to get involved in picking up things from the dirty ground with her perfect little fingernails but the newcomer didn't seem bothered by it in the slightest. If anything, she worked fast and efficiently.
Charlie tried not to stare at Eve’s cleavage. Every time Eve bent forward to pick up a bolt, her dress dipped down ever so slightly and everything jiggled. The ultimate distraction.
It took every ounce of willpower for Charlie to tear her gaze away. Luckily, focusing on the bolts on the ground was a good way to keep her mind occupied. There was something satisfying about the sound they made when they joined the pile in her hand or how they clattered when she deposited them into the box.
"This reminds me a little of being at the beach," Eve said.
Charlie still didn’t dare to look up. "How so?"
"Did you never go to the beach when you were a child to pick seashells?" She deposited a handful into the box. "It's kind of like that, except these all look the same and they're not making it into a decorative glass jar."
"What do you mean, you don't have glass jars with bolts sitting on your mantelpiece?" Charlie joked, managing to gloss over Eve’s cleavage and look her in the face. Although that wasn’t much better, she was striking.
"Surprisingly, I don't, no." Eve shuffled a little to the side. "You know what we should've done? We should've got a broom and dustpan for this. Or don’t you have big magnets in the garage?"
Charlie felt herself smile. "That would've been a great idea five minutes ago."
"I know, right? No point in getting it now, we're almost done." Eve dangled something from her hand, a silver butterfly earring. "Hey, look what I found. Is it yours?"
"Nope, I don't wear earrings. I don't even have holes," Charlie said. And if she did wear earrings, they definitely wouldn't be butterflies.
Eve gave her a blank stare. "I don't think I've ever met a girl who doesn't have pierced ears. I got mine done for my fourteenth birthday in the shopping centre."
"I never saw the appeal. It just gets in the way.”
Eve reached up to brush her short brain hair away, exposing her ear and the golden hoop dangling from it. It glinted in the sun, drawing attention to the soft curve of Eve’s neck. "But don't you think it's cute?"
"Umm, sure." Charlie stared, not sure why it felt like such an intimate thing to witness. Perhaps it was the deliberate invitation to look that was making her feel that way.
"I've got two of them on the other side," Eve said, turning her head so she could show her left ear. "Look."
Charlie swallowed hard. Even though she'd never been interested in jewellery herself, she had to admit it looked nice on Eve. And weirdly enough, Eve's ear was kind of cute with the big hoop and the small flower-shaped stud next to it. It was a little playful and felt like she’d just discovered a secret.
"Why a flower?" she asked, long forgotten about the bolts on the ground.
"It was a gift from my best friend, she has the other one. Adorable, right?" Eve said, her smile so bright, it made her eyes twinkle.
