The slight chill of the garage felt good on my warm skin as the blaring music from the radio echoed off the walls. Thank god I was done with that old truck. Now I could finally get to work on my Rabbit.
I was still shocked I even found the thing in the junkyard. After all, most people don't get their dream cars until they are going through their mid-life crisis. Being fifteen, my eyes almost bulged out of their sockets at the busted old frame.
It had taken about three weeks to get all the parts that were missing. All that I needed now was a fucking master cylinder.
Apparently 1986 Volkswagen Rabbit cylinders were rare to come by in Forks, let alone La Push. If only I had internet. I would just order the part. Then again, I would also need the money. Parts never came cheap.
Sometimes I hated being so young. I'd have to wait a year to get a stupid job.
At the moment, all I could do was tinker with my baby and make sure I didn't miss anything. Tighten a bolt here, a screw there; check the wiring for the fiftieth time. That part would be the death of me.
For an instant, I wondered how that old Chevy was doing. It wouldn't need an oil change for a while. The engine already got a tune up. I had fixed the radio…I wondered if Charlie had chains for the coming snowfall. There was no way that thing would be easy to control when there was ice on the road.
For some reason, my train of thought went to the Chief's daughter. The last time I saw Bella, I was about eleven and she was thirteen. She had always been a quiet girl, kind of awkward and klutzy, but man did she get angry.
Last time we were together, Quill and I tried to get her to eat a worm. She had punched me in the arm, snatched the worm out of Quill's hand and threw it in his mouth, wide open while he was laughing at my pain.
She was so embarrassed that she started blushing. As soon as Rachel and Rebecca started laughing, all she could do was squeak a quick apology and run off.
I couldn't help but smile at the memory. Quill had almost puked too. Priceless.
I wondered what she would look like now. She had to be what, seventeen? Would she still be quiet? Would she still have those huge brown eyes? Would her hair be long or short? Did she get any taller?
"God, why don't you just propose to her already!" A voice called out, interrupting my mind, wondering if he was insinuating the comment on my train of thought.
I pushed myself out from under the hood and turned to face Quill and Embry, both with giant smirks plastered on their faces. Quill had the big mouth, so I assumed it was him.
"You spend so much time with that damn thing, you might as well get the ceremony over with." Quill laughed, referring to my car.
"Yeah, why don't you go buy a big garage and have little VW Bugs?" Embry joined in.
"At least I can drive." I teased them, and they both shut up. "What do you guys want?"
They were my best friends, and I loved them around most the time, but they could get irritating real fast. I wondered if this happened to my dad, Harry, and Charlie. Well before the fight Charlie and he had about the stupid doctor.
"Oh come on, all of La Push knows you've got nothing to do. You've been running around Forks looking for a way to finish that piece of junk." Quill raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, respect my fiancé." I demanded. She was far from junk. Once she was up and running, I silently vowed that I was going to drive donuts in front of Quill's house.
"Fine. We wanted to know if you were up for hanging at the beach. Sam's idea. We all wanted to play Frisbee or something." Embry said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, you need the exercise. You've been getting a little…" Quill added, motioning his hands to his stomach like I was pregnant.
"Fuck you dude. I still look better than you naked." I laughed with a glare.
"In your dreams. I get all the ladies." He said defensively.
Embry just laughed. "Yeah right. Your mom doesn't count."
"Oh!" I pointed at his figurative burn. "Yeah, I'll be there. What time?" I asked, ignoring Quill's glare.
"Uh, noon?" Embry answered my question. Quill happened to go unusually quiet. Probably because of his mom. "Sam said he'd pick all of us up."
"I'll be there."
And they stalked off, giving me a small wave.
The next day, I woke up at eleven. I stared at the ceiling in wait for the morning to catch up with my body.
Saturday.
No school.
Right…the beach.
I let out a long exasperated sigh and swung my legs over the edge of my bed, pulling my hair into the rubber band on my wrist and felt the air trickle over my bare chest.
Shirt. Pants.
I got dressed and stumbled out of my room, through the narrow hall and to the kitchen. I grabbed the bread, mayo, put the lunchmeat in my mouth, and grabbed the mustard. I was just about to pull a butter knife out of the top drawer when I heard my dad's voice call out from his bedroom.
"Are you going to sleep all day and leave your old man stranded in bed?" He exclaimed.
I dropped my sandwich fixings on the counter and smirked. "You could always crawl, Old Man!" I teased.
"Don't make me whoop you boy! If I'm crawling, it'll be for your ankles!" He threatened.
"I'd like to see that." I walked to his bedroom and smiled at how tired he looked. Sometimes I felt like I was his father.
"I'm sure you would, now throw your old dad in his chair." He looked impatiently at me, looking even more like a child.
I helped him into a sitting position and he wrapped his arm around my neck. "Three, two, one." I said in routine as he groaned. I pulled him up almost effortlessly, getting used to the motion and no doubt working on my upper body strength in the process.
I set him down in the chair, unhinged the brakes, and walked back to the doorframe. "You coming or not, ya old geezer?" I laughed.
"I'm going to run you over, son." He smiled and I ran to the kitchen to mock him.
At least he wasn't as depressed as he used to be. I still hat that he didn't see that Doctor Cullen. So called "Miracle Doctor," probably would have saved his ass.
Stubborn man, Charlie was right. I thought as often as I usually do.
I made my sandwich as Dad turned on the TV.
"Son, bring me a beer, would ya?" He asked from the living room. I poured him a glass of orange juice and made an extra sandwich. Neither of us coud cook, so we lived off this and fried fish. Sometimes Sue Clearwater would bring us food, but damn I missed mom sometimes.
"Little early for that isn't it?" I dropped the turkey sandwich on his lap and handed him the plastic cup.
"It's never too early." He took a sip of OJ, never taking his eyes off the television. "But I suppose some vitamin C never hurt."
"With your habits, I shouldn't even be giving you that. I should give you water." I took another bite, planting myself on the couch.
"Where's the fun in that?" He smiled at me slyly.
"Sometimes I think you have too much fun."
"No such thing." He took another bite. "Speaking of, it's Saturday. You got plans?"
"Yeah, Quill and Embry invited me to the beach. They should be here any minute with Sam." I noted nonchalantly.
His face when hard for a moment as I said the last part. It lasted only a second when he happily said, "Sam's a good kid. I see him over at Harry's. He and Leah seem to be crazy about each other." He laughed.
Ugh, Leah Clearwater. That's a person I could go without thinking of. Headstrong, pissed off, Leah Clearwater.
"Speaking of young love, whatever happened to that Nicole girl you liked?" He prodded.
"That was three years ago, Dad." I sighed. Nicole Greyhawk went to my middle school when I was twelve. She was a shy girl and lived on the outskirts of the reservation. I was shocked when she handed me a note in class, saying she thought I was cute and asked if we could go out. Back when asking to go out didn't mean on a date.
I had liked her for some time and we dated for a couple months, but as soon as summer came, she said she needed space. Girls were weird like that. Maybe if I kissed her things would have turned out different, but I could never get past holding her hand.
"Well, have you got anyone else in mind?" Dad asked suddenly. "Girls can be fun too." He winked.
"Dad, come on!" I pinched the bridge of my nose and finished my food. Not a moment too soon, I heard a honking from outside. "That's them." I muttered, adjusting my shorts and heading for the door.
"Be good, son. Remember what I said about fun!" He laughed whole-heartedly and I grunted, racing out into the surprisingly sunny day.
Seth, Leah's pipsqueak brother was hanging out the passenger side window of a dirty Chevy pick-up truck when I emerged.
"My dad let Sam borrow the car! Can you believe it?" He voice kept cracking from puberty.
"Get in, ya Pussy!" Quill called out from the bed where he, Embry, Paul, and Jared were piled in. Paul, Jared, and I weren't super close, but we all hung out in a group. We all tolerated Seth because One, Sam liked him; Two, He was a lot nicer than Leah; and Three, when Harry and Sue used to come over when my mom was still alive, I'd always end up hanging out with him while my sister's used to distract Leah. He was a good kid, damn smart for his age too.
"Who are you calling a Pussy, ya Pussy?" I jumped in the back of the truck and pushed over Quill, he just laughed as he fell to the ground of the truck's bed.
