"So… How's the car course thingy going?" Amanda asked with a wiggle of an eyebrow.
"I don't know what you mean", Emma answered with a silent sigh.
"Oh, you know. Are there any boys in there? You know, handsome and muscular and ready to help helpless ladies with any trouble they might have with… cars… and stuff."
"Oh. That. Well then the answer is yes, it's going well."
"Really? Tell me all about it?"
"There are no cute boys in there."
"Oh come on!" Amanda whined. "Live a little."
Emma couldn't help but smile a bit at that.
"That's what I'm trying."
They were sitting with their schoolmates on McDonald's, stuffing their faces with fast food. Everyone was laughing and having fun. Emma even caught herself smiling a couple of times. It was nice.
The girl with a pierced brow – whose name was Carol by the way – was retelling a story from one of her dates or something and everyone was listening and giggling at it. Emma played around with her napkin, trying to picture the scene in her head. Carol was making it easy by telling every single detail about it.
That was when Emma noticed a familiar face. It was Max from the course. He spotted her as well and waved his hand at her.
"Is that guy waving at us?" one of the girls asked, sounding scornful.
"I don't know. I hope he's not going to try and hit on us", another giggled.
Paying no mind to the girls Emma got up and walked to him. He was smiling like meeting her had been the best moment of the day.
"Hey, girl. I didn't know you'd hang out in a place like this", Max said with a warm smile.
Emma shrugged and tilted her head towards her friends. "I was forced."
He laughed. Emma felt a small smile tug the corner of her mouth.
"Well, I'm glad I met you, I need to talk to you. Would you come and sit with me for a moment?"
Emma glanced at the girls. All eyes were on them now. Amanda looked like hers were about to fall off of their sockets.
"Sure", she said. "Why not."
Max was sitting on the other side of the place. He was a real gentleman, holding the chair for her. He was acting all strange and nervous Emma realized. She gave him a questioning look, but he said nothing.
"So… Um. Here you are", he said with a nervous laughter.
"Yes."
"Cool. Cool."
Max was a skinny guy. He must have been nearly 190 cm long and that made him look like a beanpole dressed in a hoodie and jeans. He also had messy hair and glasses so thick they must have been bulletproof. And now he was fidgeting with his frenchfries like he was about to squeeze them into mash.
He seemed to be at a loss for words. Opening and closing his mouth like a fish stranded by the low tide. Emma felt bad for him, but she didn't really know what to say either. Being social had never been one of her best skills.
"Eh… So", he finally managed to say. "I've been meaning to ask… Would you… I mean… No. Uhm."
Emma tilted her head just a bit. That seemed to make him blush. His face was an interesting shade of purple.
"Nah… forget it", he said with the air of defeat. "Let's talk about something else."
She nodded, not really understanding what they had been talking about in the first place.
"So, now that you are here, I've wanted to know for some time now, so I hope you don't mind me asking. Why did you choose car mechanics?"
At the end of his sentence Max was talking with the speed of a lightning and Emma could hardly understand what he was saying. But she did. And frowned.
"Well…" she began slowly. It wasn't exactly a question she could easily answer with a word or two. "At first I guess it was a way to get my mind off of… some other things."
"Things like what?" he asked.
Her frown grew deeper and she turned her face away from him.
"Hey, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to", Max said quickly. "I was just curious."
Emma nodded. "But there is something I'd like to be able to do. There's this old abandoned car…"
"And you want to fix it?"
She nodded slowly. He started grinning.
"You think it's stupid", she said.
"No, not at all. That's actually one of the reasons I'm on the course. My pa has this old Volkswagen Beetle that's been rusting on our yard for years and he said that if I could get it moving, it'd be mine. So I got on the course to learn a bit before poking my head in it. What's your car like?"
A bit embarrassed she said: "Well… it's white."
Max stared at her for a moment until he started laughing at her.
"Wow. Good luck with the repairs."
Emma felt hurt and it must have shown on her face.
"Oh no, I didn't mean it like that. I mean sure, you just need some time to learn. Um… Is there anything else you can tell about the car? Maybe I could help."
"…Not really. There's this one thing though. The engine, I've never seen anything like it. Well, I'm not saying that I've seen that many motors anyway, but it was so out of place that I was surprised to see it. The car itself is old and rusty, looks like a piece of shit really, but the engines… I don't know, I just – "
Emma caught herself and felt a blush creep on her face. She had started babbling like a carefree school girl that she was supposed to be without even noticing it. She clamped her mouth shut, shocked with her sudden liveliness.
Max didn't seem to mind though. He was smiling like Christmas had come early that year.
"Maybe it's better if I just show you the picture", Emma mumbled and picked up her phone.
As she showed the picture she had taken from the car, Max's eyes grew wide.
"Woah. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that!" he exclaimed.
"My thoughts exactly", Emma countered leaning closer. "I'm not sure if the basic mechanic course is going to do much good with this one. It's too… I don't know… complicated I guess."
"You have got to let me see this car!" Max exclaimed excitedly. "This is amazing!"
"You really want to see it?" Emma asked surprised.
"Yes! That is… if you would take me. There, I mean. Um… I just…" he started stammering again.
"Well, I'll be going there again this evening. It's at the old factory."
Max lifted his eyebrow at that but said nothing. Instead his face melted into a happy smile.
"I'll meet you there at seven. Is that okay with you? I mean, I have to work till six ad it'll take some time to get to the other side of the town and – "
"Oh no, no", Emma cut in, not sure why she was blushing all of the sudden. "Seven is good."
"Ah. Okay. Seven is good", Max said with a grin.
"I… I better get back to my friends", she said slowly.
"Sure. I'll see you at seven."
Emma wasn't too happy to get back to her friends. She could see from afar that Amanda was going to ask thousand and one questions and she wasn't really sure if she had all the answers.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"Daddy? Is it okay if I'm going to meet a friend at seven?"
The question seemed to startle Emma's father out of some deep thoughts. He was looking at her like he didn't understand the words that had just gotten out of her mouth.
"Say again", he said.
"Well… There's this guy, Max, that I met on the car mechanic course and we thought it would be nice to… um… are you okay?"
Daddy was grinning like a maniac. It scared Emma, really.
"What? Oh, yes. Of course. Of course. Have fun honey."
Relieved that things would go easy, Emma was about to excuse herself from the table. They'd just had lunch and Lesley was at some friend or something.
"Wait for a sec, will you honey?" daddy said, patting the table with his hand. "Now, I know I should have talked about these things with you a long time ago, but it never really felt necessary."
Not really understanding what he was getting at Emma sat back down.
"I know you are a big girl already and most likely know about these things more than I'd like you to at this point but we're still going to have this conversation. You know…" he said a bit awkwardly. "About birds and bees."
Emma felt her face go from blank to tomato red.
"Daddy…"
"I know this is not the most comfortable subject to – "
"Daddy."
" – talk on the dinner table, but Lesley is out and I don't see any better opportunities any time soon, so – "
"Dad! He's not that type of a friend!" Emma nearly shouted embarrassed.
"What? Oh… Well, I still think we should – "
"Please, stop! They told us about these on upper secondary already, dad. Believe me, I don't want to hear this."
Her father let out a long sigh. "Go figure", he mumbled. "I'm not even sure if I would have been the right person to teach you about these things anyway. So they talk about this at school? Isn't that a bit… unorthodox?"
"It's part of the health education. They don't want us girls to get knocked up in the middle of the school year."
"Ah. Yes. Makes sense, I guess. So, when will you be leaving to meet this Max."
Emma glimpsed at her phone. "In… half an hour maybe? It's not far from here."
"Oh. Okay", he said with a worried smile. "Now, are you sure – "
"Yes!" she said with a genuine laugh. "Relax dad, it's not like this is the first time I leave the house after the sunset."
"Yes. But this is the first time you have asked my permission."