A week went by, and Eddie was already enjoying his work. He got two days off a week, but even then he found himself constantly drawn to Joey Leone's garage. Not only were there nice cars to work on, but Leone was a great guy to work under. He was tough but well-mannered, and would once in awhile let Eddie help him out on his BF Injection, a car that only Leone worked on.
"This is my baby," he said, patting it fondly. "I got it from someone for free. It was in shitty condition when I first got it, but I work my ass off to see it one day run again." He laughed. "You know what the 'BF' in BF Injection stands for?" "What?"
"Big fuckin'. Big fuckin' Injection." He laughed loud and slapped Eddie on the shoulder. "I don't trust too many of my guys around this car, so consider it an honor to come this close, y'hear?"
Eddie couldn't see the fuss. The car was a peice of awkward crap. It didn't run, it was unattractive, and it ate gas. But he wasn't going to tell Leone this.
"I'm flattered, Mr. Leone," was all he said.
When he went back to work on the old Esperanto, Scott strolled up to him. "Kissing his ass, I see," he said. "Nice way to get ahead."
Eddie shook his head. "Man, I don't see what he sees in that heap of junk, but I ain't going to lose my job tellin' him."
"Don't worry," Scott said. "He won't believe you even if you did open your mouth. Oh by the way, it's lunch time. Take a break, man. Let me take over."
Eddie was happy to go to lunch. His stomach was growling so loudly. He thought about running down the road to a cafe or something, but as he entered the store to clock out, he heard giggling voices coming from one of the aisles. At first he thought it was a customer, so he waited a minute before clocking out to service them.
As he waited, he heard three girls come walking up from the nearest aisle. Eddie put his head down to open the cash register, so he couldn't see who they were. "Can I help you?" he asked.
"Yeah, you know where I can find Scott Riley?" a soft, feminine, Jersey-accented voice asked.
Eddie looked up. Standing in front of him was a young woman, about twenty or twenty-one, wearing a knee-length, maroon, velvet coat with black feathers for trim around the collar, cuffs, and bottom. She was a small girl with big brown eyes, a heart-shaped face, and crimson red lips. She was tapping her neatly manicured, blood-red nails on the glass counter-top.
Behind her, to her left, was the Hispanic woman. She was about four or five inches taller than the blonde, with dark brown lipstick and eyeshadow. She was chewing gum, and her squinty eyes were looking Eddie up and down. Instead of a red coat, she was wearing a short, black pleather jacket, with brown suede pants. To her left, the black woman was standing. She was a tall, fairly plump woman with an even plumper red-and-blue winter coat over her shoulders. She was more interested in her nails, as Eddie could see.
"Um...hello?" the blonde asked again.
Eddie realized that he had let too long pass before he answered her. "Oh, yeah. Scott. He's in the back, busy."
The blonde glanced at her watch. "He's supposed to buy me lunch," she said. "Can you go get him for me?"
"Can't," Eddie said. "I'm about to clock out." He shurgged. "Sorry."
The blonde rolled her eyes and sighed. She turned to her companions. "Can you guys wait out here for me? I'm going inside." She turned back to Eddie. "I can go in, can't I?"
"Sure. I'm on break. I don't care," he informed her. "Go ahead."
The blonde gave him a quick smile and then went into the garage, leaving her two girlfriends behind. Eddie watched her go, and noticed fishnet stockings under her coat.
The Hispanic one smiled at him. "What's yer name?" she asked.
Eddie looked at her. "Eddie."
"Eddie," the woman repeated. "Eddie spaghetti."
Her friend giggled. Eddie didn't. "Yeah, real cute toots," he said. "I gotta go."