Page 23 of You Had Me At No
Liam
I have five more days to finish this fucking truck and I’m stressing. I always get like this at the end of a project, but this one has me even more anxious. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that it’s my dream truck so it has to be perfect, or that I haven’t been able to spend much time with my girl. Either way, these texts aren’t going to do it for me. I needher.I need her smell, her touch, her laugh… We talked about the possibility of her comingby to hang out, but she’s trying to run her place and being an adult fucking sucks sometimes, ya know?
I get five to ten minutes with her every day when I run for my donut and coffee, but it’s not enough. I blow out a breath and push myself under the truck. It’s all the fine-tuning and tedious shit. Making sure everything is plugged in, bolts are tightened, fluid is good and so much more. I grab a ratchet to work on one part when a hello comes through the shop. I pause my movements, shocked.
“Is anyone here?” the voice calls. There’s no fucking way.
I slide out from under the truck and lo and behold, it’s like I called the angels myself.
“Miss me, sweetheart?”
She smiles at me and my heart flutters against the confines of my chest. I get up and walk over to her and lean in to give her a kiss. I want to rub my hands all over her, but I don’t want to get herthatkind of dirty.
“Shut up.” She laughs while lightly pushing my chest. I grab at the area and dramatize the movement, just to get her to laugh again.
“Oh quit.” She laughs. “I brought snacks, but you only get them if you work. I’m here to motivate,” she says with her brow quirked.
“Yes, ma’am,” I bark. I lead the way as we walk in a circle around the truck. I tell her about everything I’ve done to it and everything that still needs to be done. I talk her through the comparison of what this truck started with and where it’s come.
“There was a huge fucking hole right here.” I laugh while pointing.
Her face tells me she’s interested in what I’m saying. Maybe not necessarily because she cares, but because I care.
“No way! You can’t even tell!”
“Ya, I know. That one in particular was stupid hard.” I smile and feel a sense of pride. I did this shit. It feels good.
We stop for a moment and get the snacks out, then munch on them.
“I really have been missing you,” I say as I pop some Goldfish in my mouth. She’s sitting on the counter, looking down at me while I lean against it.
“I really have been missing you too,” she says with a blush creeping onto her cheeks. Such a pretty shade of pink.
On that note, I throw some music on in the shop, specifically“Pour Some Sugar On Me”,and break out into my best dance moves. She kicks her feet on the counter while laughing at my idiocy. I shuffle my feet all the way back to the truck and slide myself back under with a smile on my face. I can’t remember the last time I got under a vehicle with a smile on my face—the difference one woman,this woman, makes is crazy to me.
We continue to jam to music while I work and fall into a comfortable rhythm. After a while, she pauses the playlist and asks me a question about what I’m doing. I answer, we have a little mini conversation about it, and she makes a sound of acknowledgment before pushing play again. Once I finish the current project, we head back to the counter for a water break and more snacks. I’m a hoe for snacks.
“So, whatcha doin’ on Friday?”
“Uh, working. As usual.” She laughs. “Why, what’s up?”
“I was thinking we could go check out the drive-in?”
“Yeah! That actually sounds like a lot of fun.”
“Ya?” I can’t help but let the smile on my face grow.
“Yeah.” She smiles back.
“It’s a date then?”
“It’s a date.”
I throw my arm in the air and yell, “YES!”
She tosses a grape at me and I gape at her. She squeals and jumps off the counter to get away from me. I run up to her and catch her, wrapping my arms around her. I grab and lift her up enough to spin her around. She squeals and laughs. I put her back down and rest my head on her shoulder as she leans her head back onto me. We stand there for a moment and just enjoy each other’s embrace.
“I can’t wait.” I place a kiss on her cheek.
