You gotta kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.

-Unknown

"Oh... this is just rich" I muttered, my arms crossed against my chest, glaring at the silver colored Honda. I looked around at the location... didn't really seem too safe to me. Dogs barked from behind chained linked fences, their growls showing their anticipation to be released.

You could still smell the smoke that was starting to ease from under the hood of the car.

"God," I sighed, rubbing my hands across the Goosebumps that began to form on my arms. "Just my luck."

I reached in my back pocket and pulled out a small white piece of paper and reread the writing on it. My eyes shifted to the side of the building and then back down onto the piece of paper.

"Well," I said, talking to myself again, "at least I made it here on time."

I didn't even bother forcing a smile. The whole situation just sucked. I knew I had to have my car checked out. Knew it. I just thought that I could've held it off but then it had started to jerk on me earlier that day... it even cut off on me a few times.

I knew shit about engines... knew even less about cars. Didn't think there was a huge point in learning anything. I always figured the only thing I would've had to of known was the fact that oil changes were due every 6,000 miles... or something.

I had asked a co worker about where to go to get it checked out. He told me about this place... 'Can't get any better than Leon's.' Greg had said, practically gushing about the shop.

'Call Leon, tell him I said 'Hey,'' Greg said, shoving a piece of paper that had a name and address written on it, in my hand.

Yeah, he practically whored out the place for me. I wondered if and how much this Leon guy was paying him under the table to do it.

Funny thing is, I didn't think twice about checking out a different place first...

Granted, Greg was a bit... off. Always questioned whether the man was right in the head or not but I didn't have time to call around... I kinda decided to just take his word for it.

I had called the guy not too long after. He seemed nice, distracted, but nice. Kept yelling at someone in the backround to quit fucking around and to get back to work. A hint of an accent seemed to be placed in his voice, maybe New York-ish or something... sort of sounded like he had an edge.

"So," I had asked Leon after a minute or two of inquiries, "Do I have to set up a specific time or something...?"

"Nah," He laughed. "Go 'head an' bring it on in... I'll check it out for ya… see what's up with it."

I nodded, as if he could see me or something. "Alright... Thanks..."

I looked around again, this time I silently kicked myself for not getting a second opinion. I was nervous. Hadn't been in L.A. that long to get to know every part of it... the place didn't seem that bad, though.

The garage doors were open and I could see tools lying around on the counters. Oil stained the concrete floors. The place was completely empty.

"Hello?" I called, walking inside the vacant garage."Anyone here?"

Oh man, I thought. This was like a plot to a scary movie. Girl enters abandoned place (stupidly, might I add) only to find herself running *upstairs* instead of out the door.

If I'm forced to run in these heels, I'm gonna kill Greg.

"Hello?" I called out again... maybe with a hint of annoyance in my voice.

I could hear a shuffle in the back room. It looked like an office or something. Thinking it was safe; I walked to the door and knocked once before opening it.

"Hi," I began, "I'm here for -- " My eyes fixated on flesh. Male flesh. The dip on the back that is just right above the ass. A quick flash of the stomach which had light traces of a 6 pack on it, "Oh! I'm ...shit! So sorry!" I think I squeaked, my tongue heavy from embarrassment.

"Oh Shi --!" He said, sounding flustered, I closed the door before I could finish hearing what he had to say. "I'll uh...I'll b-be right there!" He yelled. That I heard.

"Take your time," I mumbled weakly, my hands moved from my mouth to my eyes in an instant motion. I walked away from the door...very far away from the door.

I inhaled and forced myself to look around. Wanting to look at any and everything that would keep my mind off of the stupid crap I had just pulled.

Wonderful first impression, Amber. Keep it up.

I looked at the cars that were sitting there. Some of them had missing engines, others had no tires and windows. They looked like they had been vandalized or something.

Oooh...The Wayward School for abused cars…It was like I was there for hours. I was starting to memorize every single part under the hood of the car. I actually could locate the oil stick. Well, at least I was *learning* something. I walked around a little, kinda looking at everything. Running my hands over the rough surface of cars that had yet to get paint jobs.

"Can I help you?" A voice finally broke the comfortable silence.

Christ you scared..." I said turning around so fast I think I caught whiplash, "me." I finished quietly, not recognizing the face of the man but the body that I imagined was beneath the coveralls he now wore.

"Riiight." He said, slowly. A confused look crossed his face as he shifted a little.

We stood there for a moment, looking at each other stupidly.

"Leon?" I asked, cocking my head to the side.

"That would be me..." He nodded, a small smile played at his lips.

"Oh, okay. Well, I think I talked to you ---" I started, my voice light and breezy.

"Right," He nodded. "You called about --" He said.

"Yeah," We both finished at the same time.

"Amber," I leaned forward and held out my hand.

"Thought so." He took my hand and shook it. Nice firm grip... the man had confidence. After a few seconds of just standing there, he shifted a little and then paused, "That your car?"

Leon turned away and started to walk towards the car, his fingers trailed lightly across the hood.

"Yeah," I muttered. "This piece of shit isn't really too reliable…"

"Honda Civic, huh? What year is this? 91?" He asked, finally circling the car.

"Yeah," I nodded, "Got it a few months ago. It keeps overheating. I think the head gasket might be cracked." I added, trying to sound like I knew what the hell I was talking about.

He nodded. I couldn't tell if it was a 'I'm impressed' nod or an 'It just might be' type of nod.

"Oh," I said suddenly, "The A.C. isn't working either. I don't think it agrees with the L.A. heat." I tried to add a laugh in... wanting to ease up the mood just a little.

"You see any fluid leaking from the car, at all?" He asked me, tearing his eyes away from the car and turning to look at me. I tried to ignore the beautiful green specks I noticed in his eyes.

I blinked. "Fluid?"

"Yeah," He nodded slowly, like he was speaking to a child. "You know...it's usually, oh I dunno... liquid?"

My defenses went up quickly. "Well...I'm sorry...could you be more descriptive?"

He stopped circling the car and looked at me, "Was it clear or green?"

I hesitated for a second. "Clear"

"Uh huh. Well there's your answer." He said as if that explained it all.

"Well," I smiled. "Thanks for that diagnoses. Guess we can all go home now, huh?"

"Not quite..." He said.

"Look, all I know is that Oil needs to be changed every 6 months and that cars usually require a thing called Gas... anything else is beyond me." I told him honestly.

"3 months." He replied, quickly.

"Excuse me?" I was lost.

"Oil, uh, needs to be changed every 3 months." He smiled.

"Can't even get that right." I mumbled to myself, "Okay... see, my point was that I don't know anything about cars. So... I need your clarification on this clear thing."

"Well," He began. "You have a leak somewhere underneath the car; it's most likely been draining it clean while you were cruisin' the streets or something. No water basically equals to your head gasket being drained and eventually it cracked."

"Okay, so I guess all those times I saw the water leaking from under my car... I should have gotten it checked out, huh?" I asked, knowing that it was essentially a rhetorical question.

He gave me a 'No shit' look.

"Well," I said a bit insulted, "Couldn't you just, I don't know, fix it?"

He chuckled and then it turned into a full laugh that echoed throughout the garage, "You mean like, now?" He asked.

I nodded slowly.

"Baby, things like this take time; especially cracked heads. I have to call around and see if I can find a replacement and then put it in..."

"So," I sighed, breaking it down quickly. "When and how much?"

"Thursday. Five Hundred even." He replied just as quickly as I had said it.

"Five Hundred dollars?" I said, I think, a little too loudly 'cause he winced. "Five hundred dollars," I repeated a little more calm, "for not putting water in my car?"

"Well...there's more to it than that…" He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Jesus Chr --" I stopped myself from cursing and took a deep breath. After a moment I looked at him, a hopeful smile swept across my lips. "I don't suppose you could go any cheaper, huh?" I asked, maybe a hint of begging in my voice.

"Actually, it's the cheapest you can get around here." He said.

His feet had to of been stuck to that concrete 'cause he wasn't gonna budge.

"Okay," I said, defeated, "Even though I know you sell that line to all your customers...I'll keep my car here."

He smiled. It was an honest smile. It was nice.

We stood there, staring at each other awkwardly.

"Well," I said wringing my hands. "Can I at least use a phone? I'm kinda stuck here or will that be another hundred?"

"Uh," He said, shaking his head as if he was in a trance, "Yeah! Yeah, sure," He nodded towards the door to that office place.

I don't know why but I felt a sense of heat rush to my face as I entered the office area. It suddenly became very hot in there. It wasn't as if I was uncomfortable. That was what was so funny. I felt oddly comfortable being in that area... being in that place completely. It was kind of small, yet homely.

"You look a little flushed." He said, nodding my way.

"... heat" I nodded, blushing even more. "I mean heat from the weather." I added quickly.

"Yeah, I can totally see that. It being a full on 72 degrees outside," He smiled.

Ah... there went that sarcasm thing again...

"You're such a funny little sucker... anyone ever told you that?" I said, throwing a fake smile his way.

"Hey..." He said. He had this flirtatious grin on his face. "Did'ya want to use the phone or not?"

I took it upon myself to sit in the desk chair. Not that I was trying to be rude or anything but I figured Leon wouldn't mind. I reached over and grabbed the phone, my fingers fumbled over the numbers nervously. I wasn't even sure if I had dialed the right number.

"Hello?" I said quietly into the reciever. "Jase," I sighed, "I really need you to come and get me...what? Jase, you wanna start this now? Look," I said softly, "Get your ass up and come and get me okay? I'm sorry, did I stutter?" I scoffed.

"Am I getting smart with would you know?" I heard a noise behind me and I knew Mr. Fix it over there was trying to cover up a laugh.

"Okay, thanks." I hung up the phone.

"Everything cool?" He asked me after a moment, his green eyes twinkled with amusement. I whirled the chair around to face him and smiled.

"Yeah," I said. "Everything's good. Well, at least in the sense that I won't have to sleep on the floor out there."

"Good deal," He smiled.

I shifted uneasily and started to chip the polish off of my nails.

"So, Leon..." I looked over at him after a moment. "How long have you been in business?"

"Awhile now." He replied. "I kind of... co-own the place."

I raised my eyebrows, "Oh? Well, that's kind of cool. Lotta business, huh?"

"Guess you could say that..." He said as if he actually considered it. "Actually, most of the customers are regulars."

"That's kinda cool, though." I noted. "You know, kinda having that whole familiar type thing goin' on."

He nodded, "Yeah."

I looked at the clock and realized I had been there for a little over 45 minutes. Jason sucked so badly when it came to time…

"You haven't lived here long have you?" Leon said. I knew it wasn't a question but a conclusion.

"8 months. It's that obvious, huh?" I whirled around in the chair again.

"You just don't look as if you've been corrupted yet," He laughed. "You know what I mean?"

"No," I smiled. "But, I'm not sure if I wanna know. You know, me being so non corrupt-able and all."

Non corrupt-able? Jesus, get it together Amber.

"So, what's a girl like you doing in a place like this?" He leaned forward. His eyes lit up in amusement.

"Oh, god…" I groaned, resting my head against the back of the chair.

"That bad of a day?" Leon asked.

"That bad of a line," I retorted, looking at him again. "Seriously, if you knew how many cheesy pickup lines I have heard ever since I've lived here. Yeah, it's easy to be uncorrupted when you practically become immune to the lines that just suck." I sighed.

"Ah," Leon laughed, "So you haven't heard very many then?"

"I've heard enough." I pointed out.

"You sure? Well what about --" He began only to be cut off by a loud horn.

"Oh that's my ---" I said, pointing outside.

"Your ride --" He said.

"Yeah, looks like ---" I began.

"They came after all." He finished.

"Okay, so Thursday then?" I asked.

"Yeah, maybe mid afternoon." Leon nodded.

The horn blew louder and I flinched.

"Well Leon," I said after a moment, "It's good to meet ya."

"Thanks again!" I said as I made my way to the door.

"No problem," I heard him say a little faintly.

--

"Took you long 'nuff" Jason said as I climbed into the passenger's seat of his beat up truck.

"Took me long enough?" I asked incredulous, "Bullshit, man. It took you forever to get here."

"Whatever, I had shit to do alright?" He said, pulling away from the garage.

"Yeah, okay." I scoffed, knowing damn well he was most likely playing the playstation or something.

I looked at Jason for a moment and my thoughts kind of scattered. He was my first love... my first everything and it was weird looking at him now and seeing how he really was...

Now to me, he was just a friend. Okay, an immature little twit who was sort of a friend.

At one point, I thought he was 'the one.' but as things went on, I realized he was just 'another one'.

I swear, they keep saying the right person will come along. I think mine got hit by a truck.