Learning To Love

chapter 14

"Hey!" He looked me up and down with an awkward smile on his face. My heart throbbed in my chest.

"Uh, sorry. Please, come in." He opened the door further and stepped aside. A gust of hot air engolfed me as I walked into the apartment.

"Damn, no kidding. Your probably dying in here. Let's see what we can do." I sighed walking towards the window across the living room of the apartment. I tried to make it not look obvious that I was observing every little thing in his apartment by keeping my head straight.

It wasn't as empty as I remembered it. There's was a bigger coffee table in front of the black leather couch. The television on the opposite wall looked bigger too. Posters and paintings were hung on the walls in modern picture frames of bands, movies, and random dark looking artworks with skulls and angels.

The walls were no longer white, they were a deep red, with a white trim around the edges. It suited Lucas completely, it grasped his mood, his style, his essence. The apartment was dark and almost gloomy looking, while also being clean, slick and modern.

"You painted the walls?" I asked casually, trying to initiate conversation. Something I found myself struggling to do whenever I was around him.

I turned around to see him smiling awkwardly, looking around the room.
He was wearing an all black outfit,which wasn't anything from the usual. It matched his glare, his eyebrows, the deep ashy colour of his hair. Lucas was like a shadow in pale skin.

"Yeah, I painted them like a week ago? You were here when I was still setting up the place right?" He had his hands in his pockets, slowly walking over to me by the window.

"Uh, yeah I think they were white?" I asked, allowing my eyes to visibly scan the room since now it seemed acceptable.

"Yeah, I have to paint them back to white when I move out though," he stated, rolling his eyes.

Chuckling, I turned around and looked at the window where the brackets for the AC unit was, although the unit itself was not installed.

"Uh, well. Your first problem would be that, your AC isn't in the window?" I teased, scratching my head. Lucas walked over with an annoyed look on his face.

"Yeah, it kinda fell out and now it won't turn on. It was dripping water everywhere, so I put it outside on the balcony." Scarlet blushed his cheeks as he gestured to the door beside the window.

Opening it, I saw the unit on the ground with a small puddle around it. I already knew what was wrong with it, considering it must have fallen on its back and that it was leaking.

"Alright, well your coolant is probably pierced and leaking. I can't fix it, it'll just take a few minutes." I bent down, placing my tool bag beside me and picked up the heavy box, flipping it over.

If the AC had naturally fallen out on its own, it would've been damaged all along the bottom edge, there would also be slight scrape marks on the metal from the impact of the concrete. These are easy things to expect from such a situation, you don't have to be a rocket scientist.

Though, there was a noticeably big dent in one concentrated area on the back.

Almost as though someone stepped on it...

No scratch marks or scuffing, just a dent the size of a foot.

I tried to conceal my smirk.

Turning around I saw Lucas standing there behind me, looking from the AC unit to me. He cleared his throat.

"If it's too bad, its fine, I could just like, get a new one or something." He mummbled nervously. I had to think about this for a moment without laughing.

This boy smashed his AC unit with his foot to lure me over here to 'fix it". I bit my lip to stop myself from bursting out in laughter.

I grin curled my lips.

"Lucas, you don't have to break your AC unit to see me. If you wanted to hang out, you could've just said so." I chuckled shaking my head in disbelief.

"What?!" He asked aghast, his bushy brows furrowed together.

I raised an eyebrow with a look that said seriously?

"Dude, I didn't break it on purpose!" He protested, although the redness on his face deepened.

I chuckled and turned back around to the AC unit. I had to admit, it was a pretty good scenario he set up. I couldn't help but let it all go to my head.

I took off the screws for the backing of the unit and opened it up. Lucas went back into his apartment as I looked inside at the mingled elements of the AC that he murdered.

Sure enough, the pipe for the coolant had disattached from the connector, making it leak all of the motor for the fan. I put the pipe back into its place without spilling any more liquid. It should still have enough left to run even though it lost a lot. I resealed it with enforcement tape and super glue, a cheap but easy fix that will do the job. After I wiped off everything with a dirty rag, I took a look at the fan.

Lucas came out with bottles of water in his hand and gave one to me. Sweat was dripping down my forehead from the sun beaming onto the balcony. I took off my jacket, throwing it on the ground beside me. Lucas kindly picked it up and brought it inside.

"Oh, thank you." I gave him a smile and he awkwardly nodded.

After fiddling with the fan, I realized the plastic around the screw had broke, leaving it loose and no way to be secured back into place. So I drilled a small hole into an upper and stronger part of the plastic, threaded a screw through it. Securing a small L bracket from the fan, to the wall that it was secured to originally, it made it even tighter and sturdier and kept the fan in place.

Now that everything was in place, it should turn on properly and the fan should start spinning again, unless even more was destroyed.

I carried the unit inside and placed it on the ground beside the wall plug. Lucas walked over and looked down upon the poor machine he abused.

"Is it fixed?" He asked, taking a sip from his water and fanning open his black shirt.

"I guess we'll see."

I plugged the AC in and pressed the ON button. The device coughed and rumbled and the fans started spinning to life, with no wiggling! The coolant started rushing through the pipe, and air was blowing through the vent. I turned the setting higher, making the coolant run through the pipes a little more violently.

The other end of the pipe broke off and liquid sprayed all over me, spilling into the fan that helped fling the coolant all over my face and shirt. I intentionally kept myself close to the accident to ensure that all of the liquid would get on me and not Lucas or his furniture.

"Shit!" He yelled in panic and quickly walked over to the door, holding it open. I unplugged the unit and plopped it on the ground outisde. My shirt drenched in a liquid that smelt like fruity gas.

Well, that didn't go as planned.