Last Summer

Ignoring the searing pain occurring in the centre of her forehead, Leah shot up to confront the intruder of the garage. Somebody the complete opposite of what she expected was frantically trying to gather up the spilled tools into their proper places. Leah mistook this for stealing and let a yell.

He was young; maybe 19 or 20, with a dark, long choppy haircut. Dark skinny jeans and a Beatles t-shirt adorned his athletically, muscular frame, with abused white Vans settled on his large feet. His hands worked quickly, grasping the small sockets rolling about on the floor.

“What on Earth do you think you’re doing?!” the blonde exploded, charging at the man. He thrust his hands up in denial, and stepped back suddenly, tripping on a spanner. His feet lost their grip and he came tumbling down, landing with a heavy thud.

While he rubbed his bruised tailbone, he began blurting a sincere apology. “I’m so sorry! I was just trying to turn the radio down so you could hear me! That’s my car and I just wanted to see how it was going and—oh sweet baby Jesus, you’ve got a humungous bruise on your head!”

As he began to reach out to touch the offending area, Leah shot her arm out. “Look kid, you don’t touch me. All you needed to do was announce your presence with a simple shout, and I would’ve come to you! You had no right to touch my radio!”

“I ain’t no kid, and if you keep acting like that I’m going to make sure you don’t ever have any customers!” he spat back, clambering to his feet.

The two shared a long and hardy stare, before Leah sighed and let down her guard. “Sorry dude.” she smiled, reaching her hand out for a shake. “I’m Leah, your car’s mechanic for the next couple of weeks.”

“Joe.” he replied, taking her warm palm in his. “You seem to be doing a pretty good job.”

“Do I?” smirked Leah. “And how would you know?”

The repairs that had been made to the Holden were only visible from the bottom, so Joe couldn’t have possibly seen them. Unless he was psychic, which was most definitely not a possibility.

Joe laughed heartily, running his fingers through the strands of hair draped over his eyes. “Cuz you’ve got oil and grease on your overalls.”

Leah looked down at the dirty material and shrugged. Her appearance didn’t matter to her when she was in a field of comfort, not even if there was a charmingly attractive guy
standing in front of her.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Leah teased, starting to replace the sockets into their numerical positions in the plastic box. Joe handed her the small metal cylinders he had retrieved off the ground, and passed them to her.

“Look who’s talking, kid.” he retorted, bumping her shoulder with his elbow. Leah smiled, hiding her grin behind a screen of hair, which had fallen from its bun. The rain began to pour down harder so she made her way over to the roller door to stop any more drizzle from coming into the garage.

“Do you want to bring your car in here? I heard it’s gonna hail later on.” Leah asked, gesturing towards the sky, dark in the middle of its thunderous storm. Joe shook his head.

“Nah, I walked here. I’m staying with my grandparents just down the road while I have some spare time this summer.”

Leah rolled her eyes as she pressed the button attached to the wall. The roller door began to shut with a high-pitched scream. The garage was in good condition- sure, it wasn’t one of the finest in America- but the door was one thing that needed to be fixed, along with the grates on the stairs, and a new lick of paint in the room above.

Leah snapped out of her complaining thoughts when she heard the heavy stomp of a shoe coming down onto the bottom step. She was just about to open her mouth and ask what Joe was doing, when he gritted his teeth, knocked his knees together and bolted up the stairs. Bathroom time. Leah knew all about it. Living with a father and a younger brother was an experience Leah learnt a lot from. The mother of the two Wilds children had divorced from their father when the kids were young. Many would put this fact to blame as to why Leah was such a tomboy, but that’s just the way she was, like it or not.

When Joe emerged from the bathroom, Leah had two china mugs full of piping hot pea and ham soup set on the old table by the window. The upstairs room wasn’t much; a bathroom and small kitchen was all that occupied the space. The TV was switched on, playing an old episode of Full House.

“I made you something to eat. Hope you’re not a vegetarian or vegan.” Leah said, looking up from the seemingly bottomless pit of liquid. She discovered her newfound companion wearing a hand-towel on his head. “I hope you know that’s dirty, and my dad also works in here. Hate to admit but sometimes he doesn’t wash his hands properly.”

She stifled a laugh as Joe panicked, tossing his inventive hair-dryer into a pile of old clothes on the carpet. After his panic of grotty germs had washed over, he sat down on the hard plastic chair and gazed out into the storm. Leah was halfway through a mouthful of soup when a deafening clap of thunder startled her and she jumped, spilling hot chow down the front of her overalls.

“Aw crap.” she sighed, popping open the metal studs that held both sides of the fabric together. Joe gave a quick glance at her top half like a typical male, and then quickly turned away before Leah spotted him checking her out.

The overalls found their place with the towel and Leah continued on with her meal. To break the silence that had fallen over them, Joe tried to bring up a conversation. “So you like Full House?”

Leah smiled, placing her cup in the sink as she began to wash the dishes. “Yeah I guess so. I’m not a diehard fan but I like to tune in on an episode every now and then.”

Joe nodded. “You shouldn’t be washing up when there’s lightening around. The current can come through the water and hit you.” he warned. It had been a similar situation with Joe himself as a small boy. There’d been a strike and it shattered the upstairs window of the Jonas house. Joe always managed to get into trouble. Whether it was getting his head jammed in a tambourine, or coming down a cropper on stage, there was always going to be, and always had been, an event where Joe was injured.

“I’ll be fine Jonas.” Leah retaliated, sticking her tongue out childishly. Joe picked up the remote and turned up the volume on the TV so they could hear over the drumming of rain.

“I trust you Leah, but if you do get electrocuted then I ain’t giving you mouth-to-mouth to revive you.”

“And if you did do CPR you’d get zapped too, idiot.” she chuckled, wiping a wet CHUX over a plate caked with pasta bake.

Joe blushed, thankful that Leah had her back to him for he didn’t like anybody seeing his cheeks red. It seemed like the storm couldn’t get any worse. Wind was howling and blowing the palm trees to and fro. The brightness of the lightning flashes was illuminating the kitchen. Suddenly, a power cut surged through the TV, and Joe emitted a girlish scream.

Leah spun around to find Joe cowering under a blanket lying on the worn plaid couch. “Chill out Josephina, it’s no big deal. You’ve made a good first impression, but I’m not sure my dad’ll approve. He likes me to date muscular men, not wimps.” she giggled, doubled over with laughter.

“I am not a wimp!” Joe protested, emerging from his hiding place with a pout. “And I have muscles! They’re quite big if you’d like to see. Boom boom, fire powa!”
Leah began to gasp for breath, her whole body heaving with humour. “Night at the Museum 2! I love that movie!”

Joe, deciding he had a desperate need to impress his first mate of the town, and bragged on subtly how he had appeared in a said movie as a naked baby cherub. There was something about the way Leah threw her head back when she laughed, and how her blue eyes sparkled even when she wasn’t expressing happiness. Something about Leah’s personality was addictive, and the fact that she was easy on the eyes made the effort to spend as much time with her much more worthwhile.

By the time Leah finished washing-up, the storm had died down to a shower of rain. Joe checked the time on the battered old clock on the wall. It was nearing 4 o’clock, and Nana and Pa Jonas would surely be wondering where their grandson was. He stood from the couch and approached Leah as she rummaged through the freezer for a packet of frozen peas.

“I better go, but uh, um, I don’t mean to invite myself but maybe we could hang out for the summer? I could help you fix this place up a little and then you might be able to teach me a thing or two about cars?”

Leah smiled at the suggestion, and lead Joe downstairs to the garage door. As it rolled up, and Joe ducked underneath it, Leah was thankful for the day in which she met and became fast friends with Joe Jonas, because somehow she knew that it would be one of the best summers of their lives.

And she was right.