Wrong Impression

4. A sea urchin or something

Tom wasn't a clumsy guy. He did parkour for Christ's sake, so clumsy was probably the least something he was. But he did have these moments in life when he found himself in the wrong position. Like right now, staring from the floor at this gorgeous girl who'd decided she wanted to see him on his back. He wouldn't have normally minded if it weren't for the way a certain woman had decided to screw with him. So gorgeous girl had better make a move already.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Her green eyes flickered from his body to his face, frowning slightly at his sunglasses. Everyone did and he was already used to it, but the glasses were part of him, so he didn't take them off if he could avoid it. Hmm, it was funny, but he imagined that if he were a girl, he'd probably look like her, all green eyes and black hair. At least he hoped he'd be that hot.

"I was wondering if you could change the music," she finally said.

Cue the angel choir, that girl had the most beautiful voice he'd ever heard. Objectively speaking. And he had a good ear for that sort of stuff.

"Um, why?" he asked, mostly to make her talk some more.

"I know it's what's hot right now, but I'm here with a friend and she's a bit heartbroken..." The girl bit her lower lip. "It sounds pathetic."

It did, but he could totally get a broken heart. "What would you like instead?"

Her face lit up. "I don't know, something old and harmless?"

"Old and harmless it is." He put the palms of his hands on the floor next to his head and pushed, jumping directly to his feet like all the action heroes on TV. It worked too, she definitely looked impressed. "I know. I've been—"

"You're really tall," the girl said instead.

Um, really? He'd just done a neat trick and she was hung up on how tall he was? Though seeing as she was probably 5'10" herself, it must've been hard to find a guy a head taller than her. "Thanks."

"It wasn't a compliment. More like an observation."

"Wow, hot and sassy. Must've done something right today." Nope. If he would've done anything right, he would've kept that to himself.

The girl laughed. "Is that an observation, too?"

"A very objective one." Tom busied himself with changing the music, wondering why his stupid mouth couldn't just stay shut.

Fortunately, she was shutting him down without any difficulties. And it made him actually like her. Her. Some girl who came to the DJ to ask him to change the music. Not someone here to see him.

"Thanks so much," she said once the current song faded into an ancient one. "You have no idea how much this means."

"No sweat. It was nice meeting you."

"Angie," she said, extending a hand.

O-kay... He was actually dismissing her, not asking for her name, but yeah, sure, whatever.

"Tom." He took her hand and shook firmly, trying to ignore how warm and soft her skin was.

"Thanks again. It was really nice to meet you." She smiled and made her way to the door.

And he was left there like an idiot, wondering why he still remembered her name after the door closed behind her.

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I met a girl. No, that didn't sound right. I was at work, when all of a sudden, Bam! I fell off my chair. And when I looked up... Ugh, why was this even worth mentioning to Jimmy? It wasn't interesting. He'd chatted for like five minutes with some chick who wanted to change the music. She hadn't even said anything interesting. She wasn't even the heartbroken one.

Yet Tom kept twirling Angie's words inside his head, trying to find some secret meaning in them. There was none. It was just small talk and he was an idiot. Or maybe it was his self-defense mechanism trying to flush a girl out of his system by brining another in. Not that Bella was a girl. He'd thought long and hard and decided she must've been a sea urchin or something. Very good disguise, though, he'd give her that.

There was a knock on the window and Tom hurried over to let Jimmy in. Since Jimmy had made the fatal mistake of turning eighteen, he'd been kicked out of the home. Tom fortunately still had months to go, so he and Jimmy shared the two by four space.

Jimmy climbed through the window and plopped on the lumpy mattress of their single bed. He wore blue overalls, so Tom guessed he'd been at the mechanic's shop for the day.

"How was your day?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Uneventful," Tom answered, sitting on the only chair in the room. "Yours? Any news?"

"Joe wants me to drop out of school and come work for him full time."

Tom's heart tightened. Jimmy had unusual talent for everything that implied tinkering, so the shop owner kept bugging him to drop out. Most of his bosses did that. And it scared Tom that he'd actually do it at some point. It was bad enough that his brother wasn't even considering college, but dropping out of high school was too much.

"And?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, not gonna happen," Jimmy said. "I got these today." He pulled a handful of papers from his pocket. They looked like bills, so Tom knew what it meant.

"What did we get this month?"

"You get more drum lessons. They've also signed you up for some dance competition. I get a martial arts tournament and a neat robotics convention. We both get to go rafting at the end of the month."

Tom sighed. Their mysterious sponsor was one sick fuck. Ever since he could remember, they'd had this one person that kept randomly throwing money at them in the form of classes and activities. They had no idea who it could be and how they even knew what they liked, what they were good at.

He and Jimmy had discussed well into the night, trying to figure out who was helping them. Initially, they'd been thrilled. I mean, free skills, and if Tom appreciated something, it was getting a new skill. Because it was something real, something he couldn't lose and it put everything into perspective.

But as the years passed, he started feeling resentful. Whoever-it-was spent money on them so randomly, but didn't once considered that they'd rather eat, buy clothes and books than go to robotics conventions.

Tom concluded the sponsor had a sick sense of humor. Jimmy was already working two or three jobs at a time, studying all night, practically living off coffee and energy drinks and bent on not going to college, and here came this guy sending him to a convention in a field Jimmy would love to study.

"Rafting? Seriously?" Tom asked, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

"I'm sure it's going to be very fun," Jimmy said with a tired smile.

"I'm sure, too, but it's so useless in the greater scheme of things."

"New skills, Tom." He yawned. "Can you wake me up in two hours? I have a ton of homework."

Tom nodded. It was two in the morning already. Jimmy fell asleep almost instantly. Tom pulled Jimmy's school bag out from under the desk and got to work on his brother's homework.

It was the least he could do after all that had happened lately. The Bella incident still hung over them like thick, toxic smoke and Tom was scared it would never go away. But at least one good thing came out of it. The moment that woman was out of his life, Jimmy had quit smoking.

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Hi there. Tom's turn to get a chapter. And he and Angie actually speak. How did you find their interaction? Even if it was a small thing. All aboard the ship?

Did you get a better feel for Tom? How about Jimmy? Any theories on the mystery sponsor?

Thanks so much for reading. Next update on Friday. Don't forget to vote and leave a comment or ten.