Not That Bad #Wattys2018

Chapter Three

It rains cats and dogs on Saturday afternoon, but it doesn't stop me from driving all the way to CaVe, to see Jaq. Every time it rains, there's a major traffic jam and it really pisses me off when I'm in a hurry. Which is always.

The car in front of me takes too long at the traffic lights and I stick my head out the window, in the rain, and and curse and blow the horn for a long time, but I still have to wait for the light to turn green again.

CaVe is the only mechanic shop in Wild Wood and it's right next to the gas station so business there is pretty good. Dad owns the place and it was my idea to paint the building gray on the outside and red on the inside to give it the look of a real cave.

Pat and Gabe are the big, heavy guys with the skull tattoos checking out the rims of a lady's white Lexus.

"Hey! It's the lion!" Pat says waving me over,"Roaaarry!"

I bare my teeth and roar and Pat laughs. I raise my hand to give him a high five but then I notice all the dirt and grease on his hands. I make a face that says Eww, you're disgusting and stick my hand under my shirt. Pat sticks out his chapped bottom lip and makes a sad face. "Aw. Come on Rori, don't leave me hanging."

I snap my fingers,"Gabe." Gabe grins and gives Pat's hand a satisfying smack.

"THAT, was a high five. Rori's girly hands could have never given such a satisfying smack." Gabe says.

"True." Pat says,"Her creamy palms could never make my hands sting the way they did." He and Gabe high five again. I rub my hands together, feeling an insy bit jealous. 

I should really calm down on the lotion.

"Oh shut up." I say frowning at my palms, "Where's Jaq?"

Gabe and Pat point with their over sized thumbs before resuming their tire rim inspection. Jaq is sitting in the driver's seat of a red convertible. His hands are on the steering wheel and he's pretending that he's driving. He winks at me and I blow him a kiss, before going to sit on the counter at the front desk. Margot is there and she rolls her eyes at me so I wring the water out of my hair onto her papers. I do not like Margot. 

I fucking hate her. Why? Because.

I keep trying to get her fired by taking money out of the cash register so that Dad thinks she stole the money. But every week I find her in a new neon skirt, smirking at me from behind the desk.

I watch Jaq walk toward me slowly. I love the way he walks. Nice long strides that make him look like Fonzie from Happy Days. Jaq is, well, was, Riley Academy's golden/bad boy. He was popular and funny. He was dangerously good-looking. And although I'm not into that popularity shit, I like Jaq because he has bad blood in him. For a brief week before he graduated, we were the school's most feared couple and we made havoc. Our hottest make out sessions were in detention and it was so comforting to have him with me in Mr Terv's office.

"You're wet." he says pulling my hair. Jaq's hands are clean because unlike Gabe and Pat, he doesn't do any work. I have a lot to do with him still working here. I begged Dad to hire him last week, because his grades were so bad he lost his scholarship to college and now he has to work for a year until he can resit his exams. 

Dad doesn't like him, but I think Dad likes me so he got the job.

"Of course, I am."

I grab him my his shirt pull him closer and soon our tongues are dancing together to Paper Planes by M.I.A.that's blaring from the speakers of CaVe. It gets really intense and Jaq's hands slip up my shirt and over my bra. He's unfastening it RIGHT THERE in front of EVERYONE and he won't stop when I try push his hand away. Jaq is the only person I can't control.