It Was You From the Start

I ran back to the house. When I got to the front door, I heard the engine cut on and it revving. I wanted to hurt him for doing that. Or at least I thought I did. I didn’t know if that was good or bad for the car. I didn’t know anything about cars.

I opened the front door to the house and closed it softly behind me. I didn’t want to have a “How do you like your car?” conversation with Karen so I grabbed my suitcase from next to the door and walked up the stairs taking two at a time. I got to my room and put my suitcase on my bed. I dug around form my toiletries bag and a change of clothes. Once I found them, I set them aside so I could close my suitcase. I grabbed my stuff and walked to the bathroom.

I heard the door open and close downstairs. Quil must have brought my keys in, I thought.

I went into the bathroom closing then locking the door behind me. I sighed with relief when I knew I was alone for the time being. I thought I would purposely make my shower a little bit longer than usual but I didn’t. I took my normal twenty minute hot shower, washing my hair and my body. After finding a towel on the towel rack, I used it to dry.

It was only a little cold so I settled on a green T-shirt, with sleeves going down three-quarters on my arm. I also put on my favorite jeans, with holes in knees. I knew I should since I was going to the store to try to get a job, but I did anyway. I dried and straightened my hair, so I could leave it down. I put on a little bit of eyeliner and mascara, to take away from the causality of my pants.

I threw my dirty clothes into the hamper and walked out of the bathroom, with my toiletries bag, to my room. I looked at the clock, as I got my bag off my desk, and saw it was 10:30. I’d figure I’d go to the store, taking me five minutes to get there. Then I’d talk to the guy for ten. When I was done, I’d drive around town, to find something to do.

“Toby, come on. Let’s go outside.” He was lying on my bed, but he then got off and followed me out of the room. I walked down the stairs, and grabbed my keys off of the table by the door, right where I told Quil to leave them.

“Going out!” I yelled for Karen to hear. “Be back for lunch!” I opened the front door and rushed out, with Toby, closing the door behind him. I brought him to the side of the house and he did his business. Then I opened the car door for Toby to hop in. He did, and scooted over to the passenger’s seat and I sat in the driver’s seat. I put the keys in the ignition and turned them to start the engine. I put the car in reverse and backed out of the drive way. I drove down the street and around the circle to get to the store. I pulled into a parking space next to a red Volkswagen.

“Toby, stay here. Mommy will be back in a few minutes.” I rolled down the window a little bit and turned off the car. I opened the door and stepped out, closing the door gently behind me. I should have walked. It was close enough and it wouldn’t have killed me.

I took a deep breath and walked towards the store. I opened the door and the bell hanging above it dinged. I took a quick look around noticing there was an old man behind the counter, and a tall guy, with long dark hair in the back. I went to the counter and heard the bell ding again. I looked around and the tall guy was gone. I turned back to the counter to see the old man staring at me. I didn’t think I looked that much like I didn’t belong there.

“How can I help you?” he asked.

“My name is Lorelei H—Ateara. I was wondering if there was anyway I could have a job.”

“Ateara? You Calvin’s girl?”

“If girl equals daughter, then yes, I am.”

“Ah, he told me you’d be coming here. The name’s Howard Greene. You can have the job, it’s yours. But I do need you to fill this out.” He said pulling out a packet of paper. “I don’t really care about this stupid paperwork, but it’s regulation. It’s basic stuff. Name, age, birthday, address, stuff like that. It’s really nothing.”

“Okay I’ll bring it to you once I get it filled out.”

“You start Monday after school.”

“Thanks, Mr. Greene. See you then.” I turned and walked out of the door. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I was glad that went smoothly. And Dad talked to him. That’s sure to take away two days from my ignoring him. I opened my eyes to look at my car. The tall guy from the store was under the hood of my car. I jogged to my car.

“Hey, uh…stupid question, but, uh, what are you doing under the hood of my car?” I asked him.

“Sorry, I knew I should have asked. I just wanted to take a quick look at it. See how it has run so far, you know?” he kept his head under the hood.

“Wonderful. But who are you?”

“Again, sorry. I should have introduced myself.” He came out from under the hood and closed it. He looked at me as if he were in a trance. He didn’t look away. He didn’t answer my question, either. I smiled.

“Uh, hello? Name?” I asked waving my hand in front of his face. He shook his head as if to escape all the thoughts from his mind.

“I’m sorry…what?” I laughed to myself, silently.

“You were just about to tell me who you were.” I said smiling.

“Right. I’m Jacob…Black.” He held out his hand for me to shake it, and I did. He had the same warm skin Quil did.

“Oh, you’re the guy who fixed up my car. Quil told me about you.”

“That’s me.”

“I’m Lorelei Ateara.”

“Ateara…” he said slowly. “Meaning you and Quil…are—” I realized where he was going.

“What? No, no, no. Absolutely not. He’s my dad’s step-son. In a way I guess he’s my brother.”

“Oh…yeah that would make so much more sense. Quil wouldn’t have imprinted again.”

“Imprinted?”

“Never mind. Forget it.”

“Right. So, is my car okay?”

“Oh yeah, it’s fine. I just wanted to see it. And it was here. I thought it was somebody I knew wouldn’t mind. But it was you. So…yeah.”

“I don’t mind. You can come look at it anytime you want. Since you’re friends with Quil, you’ll be over quite a lot, so whenever you wanna make sure it’s okay. I don’t really want anything to be wrong with the car, ever. That would suck.”

“Yeah, it would.”

“You could also come over not just to look at my car, or hang out with Quil. It would be cool if you’d come hand out with me, too. If you wanted to. As of now, I don’t know anybody but you and Quil.” He was quiet for a moment. I meant what I said. I really liked Jacob a lot. Probably more than I should.

“I’d like that.” He smiled. He was staring at me. I could feel the heat run straight to my face. I took the moment to look at his face. He was beautiful. His eyes were darker than Quil’s and his hair was longer than I thought it was. I was so captured by his face, I jumped when I heard a bark. I turned to look at the window.

“Oh my gosh. Toby, I’m so sorry. I completely forgot.” I opened my door, placing the informational packet on the seat and picking him up into my arms.

“Your dog?”

“Yeah. He was a gift from my mom, when school started.”

“Wish my dad would get me a present for going to school.” I laughed. “Is he friendly?”

“I guess. You could try to pet him. Quil did yesterday and Toby didn’t want anything to do with him.” He held his hand out to Toby as Quil had the other day. Toby sniffed him and, surprisingly let Jacob pet him. “Wow.” I said.

“Why are you surprised?” Jacob asked, scratching behind Toby’s ear.

“Toby doesn’t like strangers.”

“Ah, well, I’m not that strange, am I?”

“Well…” I nodded my head.

“What?”

“The first impression I had of you was your head under the hood of my car. You could have been doing anything.”

“I’m not that great at first impressions. Second impressions are my best.”

“I agree.”