Tattooed & Famous

“I didn’t think you’d actually come.” Jake mused as he leaned on the side of his broken down, smoke pouring out of his hood, car. Adjusting his sunglasses he eyed the woman walking towards him, the Impala parked in front of him as few feet.

“Turn on your hazards smart one.” Penelope giggled. Leaning in the window her hit the button. “Thank you.” She stated rolling up the sleeves of her plaid button up.

“So no tow truck?” Penelope simply raised a brow at him confused by the question. “You’re not going to give me a tow?” He whispered just as confused now.

“You going to pop the hood?” She stated simply pointing at the polished black BMW. Jake frowned, that could be taken in so many ways. “Besides, I don’t drive a tow truck. I fix them on the spot.” Jake nodded and leaned in his window, looking for the button. Pulling it he stood up and watched the hood of his BMW raise.

Wandering around, he watched as she stood watching the smoke.

“That looks bad…” He pointed. She simply shifted her gaze to him in a blank stare before looking back at his engine. “Did I ruin it?” He whispered nervously.

“I don’t know yet. I have yet to play doctor with it.” Jake smiled at her teasing nature. She was always in a good mood, it made him feel better.

Crossing his arms over his chest he watched the busy of traffic rushing past them on the busy main road. The lights changed and shifted as people passed in slow moving blurs. He could see several people watching them - one even had a camera pointed in his direction. Smiling he lifted his hand in a wave to them.

Sucking in a deep breath of crisp oxygen he glanced back at the smoke drifting into the air as it blew it away from him. His heart sank noticing that it was drifting into a store. Quickly moving to the store he closed the door with a heartfelt apology.

Nervously biting his lip he looked back a Penelope simply staring at his engine, rolling a hand to tell it to hurry up and stop smoking already. Laughing he watched her hair flutter slightly as she watched the puffing grey smoke drift from the dark engine bay.

Coughing his hand slapped over his mouth while his body lurched forward to avoid the smoke. Rushing over he coughed a bit more into his fist.

“That’s what you get for standing in the line of smoke.” Penelope teased lightly. Glaring over his shoulder Jake rolled his eyes and stood up straight next to her. “Stand there and look pretty for the man across the street.” She answered as his mouth dropped open to ask what he could do to help.

Nodding he glanced around once more and adjusted the over sized grey beanie on the back of his head holding back his dark brown mop of hair. Glancing sideways he smiled once more at the man with a camera while his hand fumbled with the long scarf that he’d looped around his neck that morning.

Penelope moved to her Impala and popped the trunk pulling out a few things. She began setting up: a blue rang on the left side of the engine bay and laying out tools on it, several different wrenches, screw drivers, a large fork like object he had no idea what she was going to do with it, several socket wrenches, and rubber mallet.

“How come I feel like you’re about to torture my car?” Jake asked, a sly smile slipping its way onto his features as he watched her ocean blue eyes glance up at him. Penelope rolled her eye as she crouched down grabbing another socket wrench head from her tool chest.

“You,” she stated as she stood. “Tortured it. I’m going to save it.” She pointed out. “Thus the smoke you were choking on.” Jake pouted lightly at her. “Karma.” Jake bobbed his head and kept playing with his scarf, not sure what to do with himself. “Don’t you have a mechanic?”

“I took it to a shop about a month ago and was told it was fine.” A delicate brow raised ever so slightly at him. “I didn’t believe it due to the knocking.” Groaning she leaned back, away from him. “And stopped driving it.” He finished lamely

“Knocking?” She hissed at him. Jake nodded. “Heavy, soft, uneven sounding… just every once in a while?”

“Soft uneven every once in a while.” He mused confused on how she had almost nailed it.

“You may be fucked.” She stated simply.

Pursing his lips Jake shrugged lightly at the thought. He liked the car, but not enough to have someone to do back breaking work on it on the side of a busy main road as photographers began to gather around them.

His mind was racing a mile a minute. Would they blow this out of proportion? It was only a few months since he most recent breakup and suddenly he was standing next to a beautiful women working on his engine.

Rubbing his large hand up and down the side of his face he let his mind wander to all the possibilities in the head lines: ‘Is she what get’s his engine running now?’ ‘Jake going for the bad girls after leaving the good girl?’ ‘A new lady friend for Gyllenhaal?’.

He didn’t want her to go to the store and see that, to hate him. They’d just meet and were getting along really well. He was enjoying his new found friendship.

Working his bottom lip he watched as she began to work on the engine, easily ignoring the people around them as if they weren’t there. She was so engrossed in what she was doing she didn’t even seem to notice his wandering eyes, which probably wasn’t helping his tabloid free situation.

“Excuse me…” Turning Jake smiled at the small girl that had to be no older the ten. Crouching down to her level, his smile grew as he cheeks flushed bright red.

“Hi there.” He smiled at her.

“Coh-could yeh-you sign this?” She held up a small little book with a pen in it.

“Of course.” He stated taking it delicately from her. Lifting the pen he glanced back up at her with a smile. “If this your autograph book?” She nodded at the question and held her hands up by her mouth nervously. Laughing Jake looked at the name on the other page. “What’s your name?”

“Rah-Rah-Rachel.” She stuttered out quickly, face flushing a deep crimson if possible.

“It’s nice to meet you Rachel. I’m Jake.” He mused looking down at the blank page before him. “It took a lot of courage to come over here.” He added noticing how timid she looked and observing the crowd of people watching from a distance, clearly to nervous and scared to come over and say hi.

“Yuh-you’re my fa-favorite act-actor.” She choked out.

“Yeah?” Jake’s smile could be hidden as he removed his sunglasses to actually look at her. A soft squeak left her lips as she did so. “Do you want to be an actress one day?” he asked, racking his brain for something meaningful to write in her book and not just sign his name.

Weakly she nodded as Jake glared over his shoulder at Penelope coughing out a ‘pedophile’ to him. She was watching him from under her tattooed arm, a smirk on her lips showing she was only teasing.

“Shut up and just fix my car.” He laughed at Penelope as he turned back to Rachel. “Ignore her, she’s a horrible cynical human being.” He stated with a small snort. Rachel blinked confused.

“Is she your girlfriend?” Rachel whispered concerned. Jake could almost hear all the reporters thanking god for the small girl asking the golden question.

“No, she’s my mechanic.” He stated as an idea popped into his head. Quickly he began to scribble in her book. “There you go Rachel. Good luck with your dreams.” He added as she took the book carefully, as if he was handing her a prize heirloom.

“Tha-thank you.” She scurried back to her family as they stared at her in amazement. Laughing Jake shook his head and turned back to Penelope.

“You’re a horrible human being.” He whispered gently with a small laugh. She shrugged gently.

“You’ve meet Caden.” Jake nodded at the idea.

“So you’re where he gets his mouth from.” He teased. Caden didn’t have any kind of mental filter. If the small boy thought it, it came out. He could easily win the least tactful human being award with one small innocent statement. “How bad is it?” He changed the subject as he crossed his arms over his chest tightly.

“Like I said,” She mused standing back, twirling a wrench in her hand, eyes focused on the car. “You’re fucked.” Looking over at him she shrugged lightly. “I can fix it, but it’ll take me a while.”

Hanging his head, he placed both his hands over his eyes. Penelope began cleaning up her things and pulled out her phone, dialing a friend’s. Jake worried his bottom lip glancing around at. Penelope quickly relayed the streets she was on and kept her focus on Jake’s worry torn looking form.

“Where were you headed?” She asked, cleaning up her tools and slamming the hoot down.

“Home.” He laughed at the idea. He wasn’t even close to home at the moment. So much for landing the movie roll being the toughest part of his day. No the toughest part of his day was simply getting home.

“Get in.” She nodded at her car.

Humming, Jake looked at her startled by the words.

“What?” he questioned confused.

“Get in.” She pointed. “I’ll take you home. A tow trucks came to get your car. They’ll take it to the shop and I’ll fix it there.” She waved her hands at her car.

“Oh… thank you.” Jake mumbled. “Let me get my things.” Quickly moving to his car he pulled everything of importance out of it and looked at the car, both windows open. Licking his lips he moved around the Impala as Penelope closed the truck of her car.

Sliding into the car he sank into the plush leather seats and slowly let out a breath. The car was beautiful, detailed perfectly. His gaze flickered over to Penelope getting in and tugging down her shirt a bit.

“Thank you, again.” He laughed nervously as the car roared to life. “Dear god.” He laughed deeply at the sound. “That’s sounds better in the car, then outside of it.” Penelope smiled proudly at the fact and glanced over her shoulder at traffic. “You are a master my friend.”

“I try.” She smiled gently. “You know if you wanted a classic I’d help you with it.” Jake smiled at her. “Really.” She added gently, pulling into a traffic.

“So do you usually fix cars on the side of the road?” Jake asked as their journey home went underway.

“Yup.” She whispered. Jake nodded at her quite.

“How’d you figure out you could do that?” Jake laughed.

“Accidently helped Spielberg out.” She stated flatly. Jake shifted in his seat, interested. “I was coming home from work at a regular shop and picking Caden up, who was probably only seven months old at the time. Saw this beautiful black 2003 Bentley Arnage on the side of the road, hazards on. Pulled over in front of them and asked if they were okay. The guy leaning in the hood said something was wrong, didn’t drive right, didn’t sound right. So I pulled out my tools,” She jabbed her thumb to the trunk of the car. “which at the time was in a shitty as Honda.” Licking her lips she laughed. “fixed it. I figured the guy talking with me was the owner, not just the driver. Closed the hood and out walked Spielberg asking what my name and number is.” She laughed at the memory. “Had no idea who he was at the time till. I gave him my name and number once he told me he might have a job for me. Two days later I get a call to come down to some lot. I figured car lot. Rolled up on one of the studios and was let in. I’ve been fixing his cars for him ever since and the ass,” Pointing at Jake she glanced at him slightly annoyed as he smiled, laughing. “Keeps giving out my number like candy. I don’t mind the money but some of those people need to be knocked off their pedestals.”

“Like?” he pressed feeling noisy. Penelope wasn’t much of a talker, she kept a good distance, she joked with him but never went to much into who she was as a person and he wanted to know her. He wanted to be able to know her inside and out, and have her know him in the same fashion.

“That Jolie bitch…” She pointed. “Can drop dead.” Jake burst with laughter. “What? She can!” She gasped. “Kept telling me I was doing my job wrong that certain parts didn’t go in certain places and yada yada. Then she decided I was being a bitch,...” she trialed off lightly. “because I was,” Penelope licked her teeth at the thought. “After I asked her is she wanted to do my job because clearly she knew what she was going and I didn’t. Tried to get my fired.”

“How’d that turn out for her?” Jake asked gently, hand over his mouth as he tried not to laugh.

“When she called Spielberg he laughed at her and hung up and a charged her double for putting me in a ‘stressful environment.’” Jake’s smiled faded.

“What do I owe you?” Quickly pulling his wallet out, he stared at her. Penelope glanced at him, then at his wallet. Laughing she placed her hand over it, lowering it.

“Don’t worry about.” She smiled.

“I’m going to worry about!” Jake gasped. “You’re working! I’ll pay you.” Truthfully he’d pay her whatever she wanted. He was grateful he wasn’t having to bother people was a tow truck’s number so he could go home.

“I don’t want your money.” He watched her confused. “But if you want to take Caden for a day, that’d be awesome. He keeps asking when you’re going to come over and play.” Rubbing his calloused fingers over his to hide his smile he simply nodded, putting his wallet back.

“I can do that.” He mused gently. Penelope smiled. “I like the little guy.” He stated simply. “I can’t drum like he can,” Jake placed a finger in his ear remembering the day he’d gone over to play with Caden and had to listen to the little guy bang on pots and pans for a half hour after he’d been dumb enough to decline the ear plugs Penelope offered stating he couldn’t be that loud.

“You said no to ear plugs.” She laughed loudly. Jake simply nodded.

“Never again.” He laughed gently at her still rubbing his ear. “I thought I was going to start bleeding!” Being overdramatic always made her smile and laugh, and once again it worked.

“I’m amazed you didn’t.” Penelope stated flatly.

“I felt bad for our dogs.” Jake groaned. He’d brought Atticus and Jensen over to play with Caden and her dogs as well. They found all four dogs huddled in the car back corner of the yard after Caden’s drum session trying to hide from the horrid sounds.

“eh, mine are use to.” Jake laughed.

“So how’s…” Jake paused thinking over days. Two days from now?” Penelope nodded at the idea. “He likes basketball right?” Penelope turned looked at him as they rolled to a stop for a red light.

“Do not spoil my child.” She mused gently.

“What!” Jake gasped hands raised to his defense. “I need someone else to go to. My friend was suppose to go with me and now he can’t.”

“Since when can’t he?”

“Two weeks ago, jerk decided going to Hawaii and getting laid was better than a Lakers game.” He grumbled at the thought. Reaching out she gently patted his shoulder at the idea.

“If you were in his shoes which would you take?” Her motherly side coming out.

“Who am I going with?” He asked confused. Penelope glanced at him, amused by the words. He was acting like a teenage boy who could pick from anyone.

“Who ever you want.”

“No, I don’t know, it has to be someone really good to go with.” Jake glanced out the window. He was serious, but at the same time he wouldn’t date someone he wasn’t willing to take a romantic get-away with either thought.

“Hottest, nicest girl you know. Would you go to a Lakers game instead?”

“No. Not on my life.” He laughed at the thought as his mind pictured him and her somewhere in Hawaii together. “but then again…” Pausing he shook his head to get the imaging out of his head. “No I’d take it.” He nodded. “Alright,” Laughing he smiled at her. “He’s got a good excuse, so can I take Caden with me?” Bouncing in his seat he watched her. If there was one think Jake Gyllenhaal had learned in life was this: Win the kid’s heart of a single mother and then winning the mothers heart is no problem. And that’s what he was working towards.

Penelope rolled her jaw in thought as she gently pressed down on the gas, rolling through the green light as it changed. She gripped and un-gripped the steering wheel several times thinking the situation through.

“He can even spend the night at my places I’ll bring him over in the morning. If you worry at night, I live right next door. You could come over in your pj’s and not have to worry.” He tried.

Licking her lips she hummed gently.

“Just to let you know,” Jake leaned towards her. “He’ll be passed out cold by ten pm at the latest.” She stated simply, eyeing him. “His bed times usually eight-thirty.”

“So I can steal your child for a day?” Jake eagerly asked her, leaning a little closer to her. She smelled the berries and tropical flowers with a hint of car oil.

“Nice way of putting it.” She giggled at him. “But yes you can.”