Speeding in Clairemont

~Tony~

It's been a few days since the accident. And let me tell ya, I feel like such an idiot. Why did I crash my car into a guard rail? I DON'T CARE. I LOVE IT. No. No I don't love it. Crashing your car isn't something you should love, it costs a lot of money to fix those things.

And that's how I ended up here. My roommate Kellin, dropped me off at the auto body shop where they took my car after it spontaneously combusted.

It's been a week since I got in the crash and four days since I got out of the hospital. Kellin said he'd drop me off at the shop and he did but he also said I had to drive myself home. Kellin was a good roommate, but sometimes he got pissed because I had inevitably done something stupid.

That's how I got here. Fuentes Motor Repair. I opened the door and stepped inside seeing a normal enough looking waiting room that smelled like gasoline and motor oil. Walking over to the front desk, I noticed a tan Mexican looking guy sitting there, tapping away at a computer.

He had long brown curly hair, held in place with a sweat band and a shit ton of bracelets. When I stepped up to the desk he smiled. "Hi, how can I help you?"

"Uh, hi. I'm here to pick up my car?" I asked nervously. It didn't matter who it was, I was always bad with new people.

"Oh! Yeah sure. What's your name?" He turned to the computer and I saw a name tag that had 'Vic' written sloppily on it.

"Uhm, I think it might be registered under my roommate's name, but I have my insurance if that works?" Why was I asking? God, Tony, get your shit together.

"Yeah, of course. Which car is yours?" Vic replied, clicking on a few things.

"It's the '03 Volkswagen Jetta. The black one."

"Oh." Vic drug out the 'o'. "Man, you totally messed your car up. Like totally fucked the front end." Vic didn't even look up at me as he typed away.

"Yeah...that would be mine." I sighed. This was embarrassing.

"Is your roommate's name Kellin Quinn?" Vic held his hand out for my insurance card and I handed it over.

"Yep, that's him."

Vic made a slight sound of approval. "He's pretty hot. You two a thing?"

Whoa what. What kind of question is that? I could never be that confident in myself, dear God. I stuttered for a minute. How was I even supposed to respond to that?

Vic seemed to notice I was uncomfortable. "Unless you don't swing that way." He said easily.

"No, I do. Like I mean I'm gay yeah, and so is Kellin but I could never go anywhere past friends with him. It'd be weird." I explained. Why was I even telling this guy this stuff?

"Oh, you're gay?" Vic turned to me.

"Yeah...?"

Vic gave me a cheeky smile. "Mike is gonna love you." He muttered.

"Uh, who?"

"Oh, no one." Vic wrote something down on a little strip of paper and slid it toward me. It was a business card and on the back was a phone number with Vic's name signed under it. "Give this to your roommate for me, will you?"

Kellin was damn lucky he was single. But hey, so was I.

"Okay, well, your insurance and registration checks out, so I'll grab Mike and he can show you what all happened and explain the expenses and all that. I take care of the finances, he does the actually work." Vic pushed away from the desk and went over to a glass door. Poking his head in, he started yelling at whoever was in there. "Mike! Mikey!"

"What?!" A voice called back. They must be from a big family or a loud one. It seems like they communicate this way a lot.

"There's someone here to talk to you!"

"About what?!"

"Their car!"

"Which car is it?!"

I couldn't help but giggle a little at how much they were yelling. Suddenly someone else pointed it out for me. "Hey, would you two keep it down?! I'm tryin'a work here!" Another guy yelled at them.

"Shut up, Jaime! I'm trying to have a conversation! Vic, which car is it?!" The guy who must have been Mike yelled.

"The Jetta!" Vic yelled. Only silence answered. "The fucked up one!"

"Oh! Okay! Send them back!"

"Okay!" Vic turned to me. "You can-"

I held up a hand. "I heard. I'll just go."

Vic nodded and gave me that smile again. "Okay, just come back over when you're ready to pay." He winked as I went past. "Have fun."

I walked in and was met the with the smell of leather and a garage. I moseyed around a bit before seeing my car. Someone was working under the hood, and I heard a few muttered swear words before a clang and a thump.

"Motherfucker!" The guy shouted.

I saw a tall, skinny guy who was covered in tattoos bent underneath the hood of my car. He had a beanie covering his straight shoulder-length brown hair. He was wearing black skinny jeans with holes in the knees and a cutoff Slipknot shirt.

I decided it might be a good idea to let him know I was here instead of staring at him like some weirdo. "Hi."

He jumped and smashed his head against the hood again. "Shit!"

"Whoa, sorry, are you okay? I didn't mean to scare you."

He turned and looked at me and damn. His style was good, his face...perfection. A nice face is always a plus. He had brown eyes and high cheekbones. There was a ring in his bottom lip and he had a medusa piercing. If I would have known he'd be working on my car, I would have come sooner.

He wiped his hand off on his pants and stuck it out. "Hi, I'm Mike."

I shook his hand awkwardly. "Tony."