I don't know how this happened, to be honest. I saw JCap and a car, and my mind went off with it. Thanks for all of the support, though.
"It looks amazing," Callie said, walking around to inspect the now pristine rear bumper of her 1957 Ford Thunderbird. "How did you find the color? Didn't they discontinue it ages ago?"
The tall, well-muscled mechanic with a military crewcut and sparkling blue eyes shrugged. "It beats me. I wasn't the mechanic on this job."
"Oh, well then can you bring him out so I thank him?" Callie asked. "I'd really appreciate that," she craned her neck to read the nametag on the man's shirt, "Tim." She flashed her most dazzling smile.
Tim turned away and cupped his hands around his mouth, so he could be heard through the expansive garage. "Hey, sis!"
A few seconds later, a captivating woman in a white tank top and tight blue jeans made her way over. Callie couldn't help but watch her blonde curls bounce with the woman's every step. She couldn't be the mechanic, could she? Callie had never seen a mechanic look like that.
"Hey, what's up?" She nudged Tim with her elbow, wearing a playful grin.
For some reason, Callie still couldn't seem to pry her eyes from the mysterious, perky woman. She had to fight the impulse to wipe the small grease stain from the woman's hairline. The blonde was positively mesmerizing.
"Yeah, this lovely lady here wanted to talk to you about the '57 T-Bird." Tim explained, gesturing towards Callie. "I'll leave you ladies to it." And with that, he went back to his workstation.
So the blonde was the mechanic. Callie found herself a little shocked at that. She certainly didn't look like any mechanic Callie had seen. There was something effervescent and ethereal about her. It was almost hard to believe she was real.
Arizona brazenly reached her hand out for Callie to shake with a dimpled smile. She also had sparkling blue eyes, an even deeper shade than Tim's. "Arizona Robbins."
Once Callie had gotten her bearings, she met the proffered hand. The electricity of the contact was startling, exciting every nerve in her body, leaving goosebumps on her skin. Touching someone's hand had never felt like that before. Her heart was racing. Callie felt like the conduit to a power surge. And that spark when their hands met – Arizona had to have felt that too.
It took a few seconds for Arizona to forfeit the intense staring contest. She looked at her pink floral converse as she absently scuffed them against the concrete floor. Arizona didn't believe in true love, or love at first sight, or soulmates, but she couldn't deny that this was the most profound and intense connection she'd ever shared with a perfect stranger. The woman before her was enthralling. She was an enigma, and there was something about her obsidian hair and ochroid complexion that made Arizona want to spend her life trying to decrypt her.
"Hi. Calliope Torres. No, it's Callie Torres. No one calls me Calliope besides my dad. And, I have no idea why I just said that," Callie rambled, shifting awkwardly with reddening cheeks. Way to go Callie 'Verbal Diarrhea' Torres.
What Callie internally chastised herself for, Arizona found positively charming. "Calliope. That's a beautiful name," she said with a soft smile.
"You don't have to say that," Callie said with an awkward laugh. "It isn't. It makes me sound like some stupid ancient greek marble statue."
"Well, I happen to like stupid ancient greek marble statues," Arizona declared. "And your car. It's super cool."
"Uh, thanks," Callie smiled. "It's my baby. I can't believe I let it get banged up."
"How did you manage that?" Arizona asked with a quirky smile.
"Oh, God, so I made a bet with my ass of a best friend, Mark, that I could handle more tequila shots than him – and I can – but apparently I forfeited our bet because someone asked me to dance, and I really liked her, and I didn't want to make a bad impression by keeling over on the dance floor." Callie laughed softly.
"So, did it at least work out with the girl?" Arizona silently hoped that it didn't.
"No. It felt sort of mediocre once we got sober," Callie said with a laugh. "As most drunken hookups are. And Mark came to collect on the bet, and failed to mention that he didn't know how to drive a manual before he backed into a light pole."
Arizona tried to hide her smirk when she realized that the attraction between the two probably wasn't one-sided. "Oof," Arizona said. "I'd have killed him."
"Yeah, I wanted to," Callie said, rolling her eyes. "The idiot thought that a '57 Thunderbird had an automatic transmission."
"I mean, a two-speed automatic transmission was introduced as an option for the T-Bird in 1955, so he's not totally wrong," Arizona supplied. "But, it certainly wasn't standard, or even common."
"You, uh, know a lot about cars," Callie said with a laugh.
"I kinda have to. It's my job." Arizona smiled, gesturing to the bustling garage behind her. "Anyway, what did you need me for?"
"Oh, um, I'm just surprised you found the right paint color. Wasn't it discontinued?"
"Yes, it was, but you are in luck. A couple years back that this guy brought a beat up T-Bird to Tim and I for a total restoration, and he was ridiculously rich. So rich, he actually had a paint company custom-make more paint in starmist blue." Arizona laughed. "I remembered that there was some extra paint left from the job, and the guy didn't want it, so it's been sitting around in the storage room, and now some of it is on your bumper."
"Oh, wow! I, um– Thanks. But I should totally pay you back for the paint," Callie said, reaching for her purse.
"It's not a problem. We don't see Thunderbirds all that often," Arizona said with a laugh, running her hand along the smooth exterior of Callie's car.
The brunette couldn't help but noticed the way her muscular arm flexed when she moved it. She wondered what it would look like flexing in other settings, namely on her bed, holding that toned body above her. Callie then promptly dismissed that line of pondering.
"But I feel like I should do something. You went to all this extra trouble for me. There's got to be something I can do to repay you." Callie leaned against her car and smiled softly, her eyes drawn to glimmering azure ones yet again.
"Just come back here next time this beauty needs attention," Arizona said, laughing lightly. She was only half-referring to the car. "And, if you ever need someone experienced with a manual transmission to take it for a spin, you know where to find me."
"You'll definitely see me around," Callie replied.
Arizona looked at the clock hanging on the wall. "I've got to get back to work. I promised I'd have a tune-up done by four. But I– ...I'll look forward to seeing you around," she said with a flirty smile. She really didn't want to leave.
"Definitely." Callie nodded. "It was nice meeting you, Arizona. Thanks for making my car look good as new."
"My pleasure," Arizona said, making her way into the garage and to her work station.
Once Arizona – or, more accurately, Arizona's pert bottom – was out of view, Callie leaned back against her car, letting out a breath.
What the hell had just happened?
XXX
"So, what was up with the eye sex with that customer?" Tim hopped up onto the trunk of a car facing Arizona's workstation, adjusting his Robbins Automotive baseball cap.
"You noticed?" Arizona asked sheepishly from the hood of the car she was working in.
"Everyone in the building felt that," Tim explained, chuckling.
Arizona shook her head and rolled her eyes. "It was inappropriate, I know. It won't happen again."
"No, I, um, I have no idea what that was or how it happened, but she made you smile. You haven't smiled like that since... Well, since Joanne. And before her, you used to smile all the time. You were the smiliest person I knew, Zo." Tim shot Arizona a near mirror image of her dimpled grin.
Arizona cringed at the mention of her ex. "Don't call me that," she said, rolling her eyes, grabbing another wrench. "It wasn't all her. I grew up, Tim. It was time for me to stop skating around on heelys and talking about things that won't ever happen. It was time to face reality."
"Med school could still happen," Tim said. "And facing reality doesn't mean giving up the things that make you, ...well, you. I miss the heelys, and I think any girl that can make you smile like that again is worth a shot. She could be good for you. Did you get her number?"
"Med school isn't going to happen. That ship sailed. I said I'd work here for a year at most, just to pull together some savings, and then I'd take the MCATs. Three years later, I haven't even began studying." Arizona closed the hood of the shiny red pickup truck and turned to face her brother. "And I didn't get her number, because I'm her mechanic. I doubt she'd be interested in me. She seems like she has better things to do."
"You'll never know what you're capable of if you don't even try. Just think about it. You're the smartest person I know." Tim shrugged, hopping off the trunk of the car. He hoped that maybe this time he'd get through to his stubborn sister. "And that customer sure seemed interested to me," he remarked, walking towards his own station.
So Arizona wasn't just imagining things?
XXX
Pulling into a spot beside her best friend's shiny black BMW, Callie grabbed her bag and phone from the passenger seat, and began walking towards the building for her next class. She found Addison leaning against the brick building, looking perfect, as always, in her oversized sunglasses.
"Have I told you how much I hate psychiatry? Why on earth do we have to take this? I'm going to be a surgeon, not a shrink," Addison ranted, walking into the building with Callie.
"I can see why having a basic understanding of psychiatry would be helpful to a surgeon," Callie said, shrugging.
"Cal, you're supposed to be bitching about psychiatry with me, not being reasonable," Addison groaned with a perfectly manicured hand on her slim hip. "What's got you all happy, anyway?"
"What do you mean?" Callie asked.
"I mean you look happy. You're even walking happy," Addison grumbled.
"Walking happy? Is that even a thing? How does one walk happy?" Callie asked.
"Torres!" Mark called from behind the duo, quickly catching up with them. "You look happy. Did you get laid?"
"No! Why is everyone asking me that?" Callie rolled her eyes.
"You are walking all girly and bouncy," Mark explained.
"See, I told you it was a thing! So dish. Why are you so cheery?" Addison asked.
They walked over to the couches they always monopolized, down the hall from their next class.
Callie set her bag down and slumped into an armchair. "Nothing happened! I just got my car fixed. The mechanic, well, uh, they– they had the right paint, even though it was discontinued years ago. They did a really good job."
"Okay, I know you love your car a lot, but I'm not buying that," Addison said. "What, did you flirt with the mechanic?"
When Callie looked away with a blush on her cheeks, Addison smirked.
"The mechanic? Really, Cal?" Mark nudged her with his elbow, smirking. "You could do better, like a ruggedly handsome plastic-surgeon-to-be."
Callie laughed dryly. "Yeah, this," she said, gesturing between herself and Mark, "is never going to happen again."
"Don't look at me!" Addison exclaimed, when Mark looked her way. "So, is the mechanic hot?"
Callie couldn't help but smile. "The mechanic is very attractive, yes."
"You should bring him to Joe's on friday. Maybe see if you can take him home after," Addison suggested with a raised eyebrow, poking Callie in the arm.
"I'd probably do something different for the first date," Callie said, pulling out her phone to evade eye contact.
"Date? You're ready to date again after the whole Hahn incident?" Mark asked.
Callie set her phone down a little harder than she meant to. "Can we not talk about Erica, please? But yeah, it's been like five months. I think I should be over that by now." It'd actually been four months and 23 days, not that she'd been intentionally counting.
"But your mechanic, Callie? Really? I get that you're hurt and She-who-must-not-be-named probably destroyed your self esteem, but you could do better," Addison stated, examining her manicured nails.
"What is wrong with a mechanic?" Callie asked, putting a hand on her hip.
"Nothing per se. It's just, you're a highly educated, ambitious orthopedic surgery superstar in the making, from a highly educated, successful family. You could do a lot better than a mechanic. Besides, if you brought a mechanic home, your dad would tear him to shreds."
"When did you become such an elitist ass, Addie? Why can't a mechanic be educated and ambitious?" Callie started collecting her things. "Not everyone starts out with parents on Forbes' list, like Mark and I, or parents that are The Forbes."
"Look, Cal, I don't think she meant it like that," Mark reasoned.
"I really like the mechanic. We flirted. It isn't a thing! At least it's not a thing yet. I mean, I don't even have her number, and you're so quick to judge her!"
"Oh, she's a girl? We're speaking the vagina monologues again?" Addison asked. "The devil in prada wasn't an isolated incident?"
"Can girls even be mechanics?" Mark asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"Ugh!" Callie stood abruptly. "I'll see you around," she said tersely, walking away.
XXX
For the next three days, Callie found one reason or another to stop by Robbins Automotive. The first day, she bought an air freshener. The second day she pretended to have a question about whether a car wash could compromise the new paint on her bumper. The third day, she needed air in her tires. The real reason she was there, of course, was to steal glimpses of the enthralling blonde mechanic she couldn't stop thinking about.
And Arizona, of course, pretended not to notice, hard at work at her station. She couldn't have the brunette catching on that she spent all day glancing at the door, waiting for her to come in. If she didn't play hard to get, she'd be playing pathetic, single, and desperately enamored.
But today was Friday, and she had Saturday off. She didn't want to make Callie keep coming by, hoping she'd notice her, which she did, because how could she not notice a woman that beautiful walking in? But still, it was time for this game to end. Callie wouldn't keep coming around forever if she didn't make a move.
When Callie entered the store and began pretending to look at windshield wiper model samples and air fresheners yet again, Arizona took a deep breath and did what she wanted for once. Not what she felt like she should do, or the only thing she could do. For the first time in a very long time, Arizona did something for herself.
"You could take me for coffee," Arizona said with a heart-stopping dimpled grin.
Callie recognized her voice, whipping her head around from the now-familiar air fresheners to find the beautiful face that had been pervading her thoughts for days. She couldn't stop the smile that broke out across her face. "I'm sorry?"
"When we last spoke, you asked if there was anything you could do to repay me for the custom paint. I really like coffee, and I'd really like to have some with you." Arizona's blue eyes were sparkling.
"I can definitely manage that," Callie replied, unable to shake the stupid grin. "When were you thinking?"
Arizona looked at the clock, pretending to give it serious thought. "How about now?"
