Page 6 of It's Only Love

“Lovely day isn’t it?” he asked nonchalantly, glancing at the sky.

“Yes, it is,” she replied evenly, “glad to see your bout of amnesia has worn off.”

He chuckled darkly, the sound washing over her, teasing her ears. He opened his mouth to reply but was cut off.

“I’m Darcy, by the way, Dean’s girlfriend,” the brunette said, looking annoyed that she was being ignored. She shot Christy a smug look and tightened her hold on Dean’s arm.

“Nice to meet you,” Christy replied, trying to inject some enthusiasm into her voice and failing miserably.

Darcy turned to Dean, “I’ve got to go, make sure you call me later.” She dropped her voice at the last part, trying to sound husky, but to Christy’s ears, it just came out like she was an old man who smoked too many cigarettes. Darcy reached up and pulled Dean down for a passionate kiss, tilting her head, and Christy could see her push her tongue into his mouth. Christy cringed, feeling ill at the over-the-top display, she watched Dean closely to see if he was enjoying it.

At first, he seemed surprised, but he recovered quickly and met her enthusiasm with his own. Christy shifted on her feet, needing to leave and wondering if she could escape while they ate each other’s faces off. After a moment, Dean broke the kiss and Darcy moaned theatrically.

“Last night was magical,” she breathed before giving him another kiss and then walking away, hips swaying so much Christy was shocked she didn’t fall over.

“It would have been less gross if she just peed on you,” Christy said sarcastically. Dean barked out a laugh, the sound rusty and deep like he wasn’t used to it. She turned to walk away, but Dean stopped her, touching her shoulder.

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“I don’t think she knows that,” Christy said, shrugging him off and continuing on her way, he followed her.

“We’ve only been on one date,” he said, ignoring her comment.

“And you brought her here for a quickie? And they say romance is dead,” she muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Christy, look I want to apologize,” he said, sighing deeply. She stopped walking and turned to face him. “I was only kidding around last night, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset or annoy you,” he finished, smiling down at her, dimples popping, and she melted slightly before remembering who he was and her blank expression resumed.

“Apology accepted, now excuse me I need to get back,” she said tightly, turning away and continuing to her car. He uttered another protest, but she picked up the pace, eager to get away from him and back to her shower. She made it to her car, and got in. She looked up through her windshield and saw him walking towards a red pickup truck parked on the other side of the lot. She sighed with relief, put her key in the ignition and turned. The engine sputtered but didn’t roar to life as expected. She tried again and the same thing happened.

“Come on, baby, don’t do this now. Mama really needs you,” she crooned, hoping the gentle tone would elicit some compassion from her clapped out old car. She was wrong. She turned the key again and pressed down on the accelerator hoping to rev the engine to life, but again the car just sputtered and didn’t start. She caught movement out the window and looked up, Dean had stopped walking towards the truck and was watching her.

“Shit, shit! No, no, no don’t come over,” she moaned, ducking below the steering wheel in a ridiculous attempt to hide.

“Come on please, I’ll buy you anything you want. New wiper blades, huh? How does that sound? Full service, all your nuts-and-bolts cleaning? Filters emptying? If ever there’s a time to work, it’s now!” Christy whined frantically, turning the key in the ignition.

A shadow fell over her and then she heard a gentle tap on her window. She sighed and looked up, meeting Dean’s eyes through the glass. Pasting a smile on her face she wound the window down. Yes, that’s how old her car was. He had both hands braced on the roof of the car, leaning forward with a stupid, smug smile on his stupid perfect face. goddamn dimples, don’t they ever give up?!

“Having some trouble?” he asked smoothly, and she instantly bristled at his tone.

“I’ll be fine, just takes a moment to get her going. You can leave.” He pulled her door handle and the car door popped open easily.

“You should really lock the doors once you're inside your vehicle, to stop strangers from being able to do that.”

“I was going to, but I literally just sat...” She didn’t bother to finish, annoyed with herself for letting him get under her skin.

“Want me to take a look and see if I can help?” he offered.

“Why? What are you going to do, poke around and then suggest taking it to a garage?” she replied tartly. She hated herself when she got like this, she felt like a teenager again constantly needling at him because he made her feel inadequate.

“You think I don’t know anything about cars?” he asked, looking slightly hurt.

“I think I’ll stick to asking a professional, thanks. If I need someone to kick the tires I’ll let you know.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, just stared at her. The air between them growing tense, their eyes clashing together, but she refused to back down and look away first. Then his expression changed, becoming cool and impersonal.

“There’s a garage in town, I’ll call them for you. They’ll be here in thirty minutes,” he said flatly, slamming her door shut and abruptly turning, walking back to his truck. Great, now I’m a bitch, and he’s Mr. Wonderful as usual. A wave of guilt hit her, she didn’t mean to be a bitch; he was just trying to help her, but she couldn’t stop herself reacting to him that way. It was her defense mechanism with him.

“Uh, thank you!” she called after him, but he didn’t acknowledge that he heard her. She sat back and watched him speed out of the parking lot, he didn’t even look her way as he drove past.

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