Twinfestation

I finished the car I was hiding under just in time to hear Laren's voice yell out in frustration.

"God fucking damn it!" Flopping her hand around like Jackie Chan, she sunk to the floor with her palm pressed to her stomach. "Holy shit, that's hot!"

I shook my head and looked down at her. "It hasn't been that long. Of course it's not cool yet."

"Aw, bite me, Ihtoo. I told my mom I'd have this thing fixed by Friday so she could go visit my aunt."

I helped her up and opened the demolished car's top once more. There wasn't any giant cloud of smoke, but there was almost literal waves of heat rolling off of it. "Well, let's start this now or we'll never be done. Here." Handing her a pair of gloves, I stuck my hand in and looked for any other odd items that might have be lodged in like the bent out of shape mystery metal from earlier.

Eyeing me, she huffed and dug in too. "How can you stand that?"

"Stand what? Your stupidity? It's a skill you gain over the years. It takes awhile to master. Ask your mom, I'm sure she knows."

"Eh, fuck you, Ihtoo." She said when she hit me in the back of the head with her gloved hand. They were big on her and hung with too much material around her wrist, but she didn't bother to try and find another pair. "I meant how can you stand to touch that thing. It's burning."

Rubbing my head, I only shrugged. "I don't know. It's not that hot to me. Maybe you're just overreacting?"

"I'm not, you're just a freak. It's those damn calluses, I bet. Your hands are like sandpaper."

"Whatever." I shrugged her off and turned my attention back to the car. To tell the truth, my hands were only like that because I wouldn't stop touching hot things and they'd become reinforced, not exactly callused, due to all the blisters. I didn't respond to heat as much as other people. My mom says it's because of my body temperature but Silver argued that the nerves in my hands are shot. I, on the other hand, could really care less. It only meant that I didn't have to wear the gloves that felt so small and constricting over my hands.

The familiar muffled banging sound drifted from the front. Being the closest, only Laren and I seemed to notice.

"You go get that." She huffed "I'm not gonna leave this thing until it stops rattling."

I wiped my hands on my wife beater and headed to the front. This looks like it may be the car that won't come out of here alive. Totaled cars would be easier to work with than that. God, I hope when -if- Silver actually gets his license he's not as careless with a car as some people. I couldn't stand the thought of him hurting himself because I didn't teach him how to take care of it. Plus, I would never be able to walk in here again with my pride intact, much less look at Laren without getting 'The Look'.

Sometimes, I think that I should just make sure Silver never gets his license. For one, he won't kill himself or anyone else on the road. And he disappears enough already, why would I want him to leave more often? If he gets it, he can come and go of his own free will. I know mom wouldn't hesitate to buy him a car, she'd be exited if he got his license before he was twenty. But he's so flighty and with all his talk about wanting to go to different places, I'm sure he'd leave the day he graduated. Probably sooner.

I want to go somewhere with him once we do graduate. I'll lock him in the attic if I have to, to make him wait. He's not going anywhere without me. I just wont let him. Even after we graduate, even if he still doesn't know, even if I still cant have him, I plan on staying with him every day. I plan on never leaving his side.

Smiling at the thought of always being with him, I wiped my hands on my stomach once more and looked up. "Hey-"

All breathing stopped and my smile vaporized at the sight. A thin, wide-eyed, black haired girl stood looking down at her phone. Smiling at the messages she'd read, she didn't see me approach. I still had time to walk away, I could send someone else out here to talk to her and forget I saw her face, but I couldn't move.

She looked exactly the same as she always had, light colored jeans and a T-shirt, hair cut to just below her chin, hip cocked to one side, and too-long finger nails clicking away at her phone. Her smile was the exact one she had four years ago when she left my brother an empty shell for eight months. Just the sight of her made me shake, from anger and something else that I couldn't name.

She finally looked up, shocking me out of my immobilization. Exited, as if I was an old friend, she smiled wide at me. "Salem! Hey, y-"

"Laren!" Running back like a terrified child, I yanked Laren's bare foot and she rolled out from under a car. "Laren, can you go to the front?"

"Say, I'm busy, why don't you ask some...one....." She quieted and nodded, all annoyance vanishing when her eyes met mine. "Yeah yeah, sure, no problem. Here, you work on this, I'll be right back." Standing, she rubbed some crap on her shorts, her bare feet making slapping sounds as they hit the floor.

Yeah, I could have asked someone else, but I didn't want to have anyone else see how seeing a simple girl had made me freak out in every way possible. At times like this, I wish I had the emotional restrain capability Silver did.