Fighting for Her

Riley cursed softly under her breath while sizing up the extremely large chest of drawers she just purchased from the little old lady who lived down the street from her shop. "This thing must weigh 300 pounds!" she said to herself. She had sent Stephen and Max out to an estate sale to pick up some more pieces to refurbish so she was on her own with this one.

When Riley had spoken to the woman on the phone the day before, she was told it was "Just a small dresser with a few drawers" not the mammoth slab of oak towering before her. It was a good deal though, just not ideal to be picking up by herself. She was stalling. She realized this after she spent a few moments kicking a rock across the sidewalk.
"Alright Ri, you can do this." She cracked her knuckles, a terrible habit, in hopes of gaining some extra strength out of the motion. She pulled the tailgate of the pickup truck down, and dragged the steel ramp from inside the bed. She began to push the chest toward the ramp, dragging its feet across the concrete. It hit the crack between the sidewalk and wouldn't budge.

"Seriously???" She wiped the tiny beads of sweat off her forehead with her light blue scarf. It was 47 degrees, late November, but she was working up a sweat, trying to move the chest.

A man jogged by her, looking down as he ran. Her eyes trailed behind him, sending a silent "help". The hooded man stopped, shook his head and turned around. He jogged toward her and pulled his hood out of his face.

"Need some help?" His full lips moved ever so slightly as he was trying to catch his breath a bit. His face was clean, with no stubble. Hair a dark brown mess.

"Is it that obvious?" She chuckled and bit her lip, a little embarrassed. His bright blue eyes moved up and down the dresser.

"Did you really think you could move this thing yourself?" His hard Pittsburgh accent suited him. He smirked and wrapped his arms around the wooden dresser. Taking a deep breath, he lifted the chest and walked up the ramp, setting it slowly down in the bed of the truck.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Riley hopped on the bed of the truck in astonishment. She noticed how large his back muscles were under his hoodie. He turned to face her and looking down he let out a little laugh. "Thank you so much, I wouldn't have been able to get this up here without you. Really. Thank you." She started to strap the chest in.

"You're welcome." He scratched the back of his neck and hopped off the bed. "Are you going to be able to get this thing off?"

Riley let out a loud sigh, and closed her eyes. Knowing that Max and Stephen wont be back for a while, she again, was on her own. "Yeah I think I'm just going to throw this off the truck and hope for the best." He smiled at her and noticed the little crook in his teeth. She wanted to ask him to come to the shop but didn't want to be even more of a pest.

"I would have just punched it for you or something if I knew you just wanted to wreck this thing." He leaned against the truck, with his elbow on the top of the bed.

"Would it be awful if I asked you to come with me so you can take it off the bed? My shop is just down the street." She smiled sweetly and tilted her head to the side. Her dark waves tumbling down covering the side of her face. Her bright green eyes glimmered in the sunshine, he couldn't help but stare.

"No problem. I could use the extra exercise." He dragged the ramp back into the back of the truck and sat next to the dresser.

Riley laughed, "You know you can sit inside the truck."

"Don't you know you should never get in the car with a stranger?" He smirked and put his fingers to his full lips. She rolled her eyes and held out her hand.

"I'm Riley."

He looked at her petite hand, took it in his and gave it a gentle shake. "Tommy."

"Nice to meet you Tommy. Now get in the truck."

Tommy was intrigued by her. Mostly by the fact that she let him in her truck only knowing him for two minutes. "So what are you going to do with this thing anyways." He stuck his hands in the front of his sweater, trying not to touch anything.

"Um, I refurbish furniture and resell it in my shop. Like, paint it and add new hardware, things like that." He watched her as she brushed her long, brown hair behind her ear.

"That's -"

"Random, I know." She sighed a laugh, showing a tiny dimple by her cheek. Tommy looked away, feeling as if he had looked at her for too long. "We're here." She put the truck in park and jumped out. The back door was already open. Anna, Riley's best friend, stood against the side of the wall on the phone, but hung up as soon as she saw Ri.

"I was just calling you. What took so long? She lives, like, two seconds away." Anna stopped when she saw the size of the dresser, and then dropped her jaw when she saw Tommy. "Umm, care to explain?" She whispered into Riley's ear.

"Shush," She whispered back. "This is Tommy. He was walking by and stopped to help." Tommy grabbed the dresser and took it off the truck with ease.

"Where do you want it?"

"There's fine. The guys can move it around when they get back." Riley smiled genuinely at Tommy, thankful for his help. He met her gaze and returned her smile.

"Alright, well I better keep running."

She grabbed his arm, "Tommy, thank you. You didn't have to stop. Most people would have just kept walking." He wondered why this was such a big deal.

"Don't worry about it. Really." He liked the feeling of her hand on his arm. Riley slowly pulled away.

"You should come by in a couple of days and see how it turns out." Anna motioned toward the dresser and wiggled her eyebrows at Tommy. Riley caught the eyebrow wiggle and nudged her. Tommy smirked and nodded his head.

"Maybe I will." He kept his blue eyes on Riley, who bit her lip at his response. She was beautiful, he thought. He rubbed his messy brown hair and covered it with his hood. He jogged out of the shop, turning back for one last look of her and smiled.