Hey, I'm back. Sorry, school's keeping me kinda busy. I gotta write an essay, in English. Fifteen pages about Elizabeth I of England in connection with the story about Lady Amy Robsart/Dudley and her husband Lord Robert Dudley – he's an asshole for what he did to Amy.
I gotta hand it in on March 11th, and, so far, I got merely five pages, so the next chapter might take a while.
Please review!
Thanks for reading!
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Wanted: Clarity
It was noon when Lilly bent down on front of Shane's Honda S2000 to measure its hood, so that the hoodscoop her friend wanted to have in the center would really be in the center and not an inch or even more to the left or to the right.
After having come back from Roderigo's, the guys had been sweet enough not to wake her up from the deep sleep she had fallen into while leaving the car market. Although the girl knew they would have appreciated her help with the unloading of the trucks, the men had just decided to let her rest until they had been done with the entire work. Then, Marco had woken her up very gently by tickling her sides a little. They had even gotten her a Latte Macchiato with vanilla mollasses.
My guys, Lilly thought with a warm smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, some spoiling every now and then is actually not that bad, I think they're overdoing it lately, though. Yesterday, I got the iPod, today, they let me sleep instead of helping them...what the hell am I getting paid for, then? Doing nothing's not one of my first options. I should pay lunch today, I owe it to them. They're always so sweet and caring...and they complimented me so much, this day! Okay, this morning, when I had put on my make-up and the bikini top, it was not that big a miracle, they're not used to me showing some skin or doing girly stuff like make-up, yet, they seem to like me wearing the baseball hat very much. My hair would not cover my face, then, they've said. Well, I can't recall ever having worn a baseball hat at work before, I usually just braid my hair when I gotta spray a car or so. My hair's nothing but disturbing, then. Working with a hat is actually quite okay. My hair's not flying around in my view, I don't have to worry about any grease or dirt getting into it, hell, I wouldn't even have to wash it in the morning before coming here! Just tuck it underneath a cap and nobody's gonna notice. It's not that unusual that I gotta wash my hair twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, although it's not all that good. Fortunately, Sugar's always taking care of me getting good care products, so 'm not all that busted. So,she laid the measuring tape on the left side of the hood, here I got five, ten, I'm better writing it down. I could kill myself, if I didn't do this properly. The spraying's also gonna be difficult. Damn transition he wants! Dark green flames at the bottom changing into light green changing into yellow changing into black...and all that not higher than the fenders are. Everything done by myself, of course, and then, I might even add some silver pin-stripes. The base-coat will be a silver metallic and on top the black Kandy. Base-coat, Kandy and clear-coat are going to be the the less difficult. Oh well, it wouldn't be any fun, if it wasn't a challenge, I guess.
Lilly got up from her squatted position, aware of the fact that several guys had eyed her while she had been down on the ground. The blonde was used to it by now. Whenever she squatted or bent down, there would always be at least one guy regarding her, it was even worst when she had to use a creeper to work on a car. If she should ever decide to tell Brian about the blunt offerings she got at such times, then, there would be either lots of dead men or lots of men being afraid to come to Tej's Garage.
So far, most of the guys had not been very obtrusive, nevertheless, within the past months, some had indeed crossed that border. They had not been willing to back off when being asked, therefore, Lilly had had either to defend herself or the other members of the crew had made the guy back off, with the advice not to come back all too soon.
Walking over to the office to get a paper and a pencil, Lilly saw Roman sitting at one of the little white tables, reading the newspaper.
"Hola",she greeted him and stopped by his side to have a closer look at what he was reading, "houses and apartments?"She frowned.
"Hey, Kitten",he grinned at her while pushing back his chair to make room for her to sit down on his lap, "yeah, I can't stay on that boat my entire life, ya know?"
"Nah",Lilly said, still standing, "Roman Pearce needs some real estate. So, what are you going for? House or apartment?"
"The latter. I need some bases, first, then, I can head for the big ones",the man told her, "I like that look on ya."
"Thanks, I just didn't have the time to dry my hair, though",she answered him honestly and made him chuckle.
"Suits ya, but I don't think blondie's gonna approve. Ya know how much he loves his little angel with her long golden locks",Roman rolled his eyes before laughing, "some time, ya should just cut it off and dye it all black or something. Man, that would kill'im!"
"Hm", the girl cocked her head to the side, thinking that Roman's suggestion might indeed be fun, "I'll let you know. Have you found anything, yet?"
"No, nothing's for me",he sighed, "d'ya know any for me, for your fab brother Roman?"
"Don't let Brian hear ya talking like that",she grinned, "but, I think I really got something for you, maybe."
"So, tell me."
"Do you like ours, like, in size and everything?"
"Yeah, 's alrigh', but you guys ain't moving out, are ya?"Roman frowned.
"No, but the guy living opposite to us. The apartment looks pretty mucht he same as ours, I guess",she shrugged, "you should talk with Brian about it. He did all the business with the owner when we moved in."
"I'ma do that",he nodded, "thanks, Kitten, yar really helping me out here, girl."
"Tis alrigh'. I guess, Brian will be coming 'round in an hour or two",an evil smile made her lips part, "or ya can wake him up by calling him. Tis time for him to get up, anyways."
"Did blondie say anything when you guys came home? Was he mad at ya?"Roman frowned, honestly concerned. He did not want the girl he loved like a youger sister to have problems with Brian only because he had let her drive them home after her party had been over. It had been his idea, therefore, he did not like the thought of her having to bear the consequences.
"Nah, actually, he didn't. Just wanted to know, if I had fun and wished me a good night. I'd say, he's getting old",Lilly grinned.
"Only coupla weeks left till his birthday, right? Damn",the man scratched the back of his bald head, "ya got any idea what I could get for him, I mean, blondie's already got everything, except maybe for common sense."
"Well, I don't worry about that, I already got his presents or, at least, ordered them, so I'm out of the stress."
"But it's, like, five weeks left till his big day!"He shook his head no. "That must be his negative influence on ya, Kitten, believe me, yar getting crazy just like him. Be glad that yar man Rome's here, now."
"Whatever",she rolled her eyes playfully, smiling at him, "I gotta go back to work. You'll be having lunch with the crew?"
"Lunch. Me. Always",Roman flashed her a wide grin, "just don't work too much."
"Neva",Lilly's eyes gleamed when she walked past him into the office to get a pencil and a piece of paper.
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The sound of a phone ringing cut like an arrow through the O'Conner apartment.
Brian groaned, his face an annoyed grimace while he tried to bury his head deeper into his pillow to shut the noise out, however, it was useless. Whoever was calling him appeared to be rather stubborn.
Eventually, the blonde man could no longer stand the ringing and left his bed, ready to yell at the person having decided to wake him up at...he looked at his watch which he had not bothered to take of when he had gone to bed. It was 12: 42.
Scratching with his finger tips the thin line of hair underneath his belly button, Brian tucked as well at the waist band of the trunks he had put on for sleep due to him not having worn any boxer shorts the last night and hating to sleep in jeans.
With his lips pressed together to supress any sudden outburst, he took a deep breath. After all, it might be one of the social workers calling and he did not want to give anybody the impression of him being just like his father: an aggressive and impolite man.
"Yeah?"He answered it, holding the receiver so tight that it was almost breaking in his hand once he heard laughter on the other side of the line.
"Roman Pearce!"Brian shouted in anger. "How the fuck is that sick brain o' yours working? Do you have any fucking idea of what I'm gonna do to ya, once I get my hands on ya! Fuck, man, I was sleeping! You better start the praying right now, Rome! Damn! I mean...why the hell are ya calling, anyways! I would have come over in an hour or two, you know that! And even if you didn't, ya could've just asked Lilly or one of the guys! Fuck you, man!"
"C'mon, blondie, rise and shine",Roman had still not stopped laughing raspily, he obviously enjoyed himself, "your girl's up and at work since eight, so don'tcha complain, man."
Brian did not even respond to this particular remark. He hung up before pulling the cable out of its socket, a satisfied grin playing around the corners of his mouth when he strolled back into his room and cuddled himself once again into his soft covers and pillows.
Rome's gonna die, he thought the moment he shut his eyelids.
Twenty-three minutes later, Brian looked at his watch, again. He had, so far, not managed to fall asleep after Roman had woken him up by calling him.
"I went to bed about 3:30 this morning",he frowned, "this means, I slept, like, nine hours. Hm",the blonde puckered his lips, "shall I get up now or try to get some sleep I obviously don't need? If I stay up now, I could go over to Tej's and have lunch with everybody. Oooookay",one quick motion and Brian had left his bed to walk into the bathroom for a shower.
Within the bathroom, he felt some cloth underneath his left foot when he had stepped onto the light blue bathmat. Looking down, the man saw an orange panty lying on the ground.
"Good morning, Lilly",he muttered softly while picking up the item with the tips of his right thumb and index finger as though it would be dangerous for his health to touch the piece of undergarment. Then, he threw it on top of the washing machine and let his eyes sweep over the room. It seemed to him like his younger sibling had been in some kind of hurry. Her toothbrush and the cup she used were still standing on the outline of their sink, her hair brush lay on the toilet seat and her big dark green towel had apparently fallen from its hook.
"If she had come home at one o'clock",Brian took the brush to lay it on one of the shelves, then, he tipped up the toilet seat with his left hand while opening his trunks with the other, "she would have had enough sleep and, therefore, no problems getting into gear, but no", he rolled his eyes the moment he felt himself being released of the pressure on his bladder, "she just had to stay there till three o'clock in the morning. And she drank. Although knowing exactly that she is not allowed to drink when I'm not around, she drank nonetheless. And then, she even went so far to drive Roman's car. It's one thing if my sister drinks without me being there, but it's entirely different, if she drives when she has drunk. I'll talk to her about this later on, in the afternoon. I hope she has already figured out that there's some serious grounding coming up for her."
Brian let his trunks fall down on the floor while shutting the toilet seat. He then climbed into the bath tub, shut the curtains and took a warm shower.
How am I supposed to tell her that she's grounded?The man thought under the warm jet of water. Hell, when was the last time I ever had to ground her? That's been some time ago, still back in L.A., I guess. When she came home extremely late from a date with Jesse. Yeah, that was the first time after the summer that I grounded her, although, after she had spent the summer in that clinic, she was rather silent and shy around people. She always behaved perfectly, so that she wouldn't piss me off again. I wanna hurt myself so much for what I did to her, what I made her go through. I love my baby...that's why I gotta punish her now. I only want what's best for her. Of course, she'll possibly be mad at me, but eventually, she will understand. Maybe she's in a better mood already then she was before. I really have to think of something, if this 'whatever attitude' doesn't stop anytime soon. It actually begins to freak me out. If she was only willing to talk to me. Fuck, us arguing right now is not what I need and it ain't gonna become any better, if I ground her, but it's gotta be. Life sucks! I'm somehow supposed to be her dad, yet, I just wanna be her friend, her big brother. I just want her to trust me, for fuck's sake! And everything she does is pushing me away. I always knew that there was a chasm between us, simply because I'm ten years older than she is, however, I liked to think that, once she became older, it would, kinda, 'close' or something. We've been through so much shit together, one would not think it would be possible that we're drifting apart now.
Brian sighed.
Don't think about this, right now. Just shower.
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About half an hour later, Brian shut the door of the apartment behind his back, locked it and went down the stairs, eager to arrive at Tej's Garage as soon as possible to beat the shit out of Roman.
Downstairs, the blonde man opened their mail box to check for any mail from the social workers and the newspaper. Inside of the box, there were several letters and the paper. He took out all of them before looking them through.
"Bill, bill, advertisement",he mumbled, the newspaper already tucked underneath his right arm. A questioning look appeared on his face.
"What the hell...?"Brian threw the bills and the advertisement back into the box, while tearing the envelope he held in his hands open.
"Mister O'Conner, we have to...",his eyes scanned the letter quickly, "oh, shit!"
After some cursing, Brian puckered his lips. He had almost completely forgotten, simply because he had wanted to forget. He would have to testify in court in the trial against Carter Verone...just like his younger sister. There was another letter addressed to her, too.
"Great day, so far",he muttered under his breath when he closed the mail box containing the bills and the advertisement, then, he left the house.
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"Hey, Bullitt",Jimmy called over once he saw the blonde man entering the area of Tej's Garage, "you up early."
"Fuck you",he shouted back, a grin parting his lips, "where's Rome? I gotta talk to him."
"He's in da back, man",the mechanic told him, "you wanna eat with us? Diego is riding in five to get some from El Mariachi."
"Um, yeah, I'd like...wait",he thought a little, "El Mariachi, then, I want the 43 with extra cheese."
"Gotcha. So, you running tonight? We already loaded yours."
"Thanks, bro, I'ma pay later and yeah, I got some rides this night. Gotta earn some for a living, ya know?"He chuckled when he saw Jimmy shaking his head.
"Just how much did you make last week, Bullitt, huh? C'mon, it's gotta be at least 250 big. What kind of living you wanna afford, man? Better afford Chica with a ride, Suki's bro's driving her insane."
"Whatcha talking 'bout?"Brian frowned, scanning the garage. Neither Lilly nor Shane were anywhere to be seen. He knew exactly how much the boy was telling people about his car at this time, the kid was really excited about it, however, the blonde did not expect Shane to go so far to tease Lilly about him having his first on the contrary to her.
"Well, ever since he showed up here this morning",Jimmy cleaned his greasy hands with a cloth, "he was annoying the hell out of her, man, coz she was working on the body kit of his car. Whenever she did something, he would ask her, if she shouldn't be doing it in another way. After the front and the rear bumper, I thought she was gonna shred'im into pieces, yet, she still managed to do the spoiler in his presence, then, the moment he wanted to know, if she would be done soon, hell, we're having fun. She grabbed him, pulled him by his hair into the backyard, giving him a speech on the way and eventually, she threw him into the pool to cool down and if he wanted to do the work all by himself, he would just have to say it. Fuck, Chica was mad. Gotta tell ya, man, that boy's giving us a hard time."
"Where's she now?"Brian wondered, hoping that she was doing something that would calm her down so that she would not explode once he had told her about her being grounded.
"In her quarters, spraying Shane's car. She's been in there for almost an hour now, so, I guess, she'll be done soon. She showed me how the design's gonna look. Fucking great, bro, I tell you! Damn complicated, too. Lotsa transition in it, makes it really difficult."
"Don't worry, dawg, she'll manage. So, you said Rome was in the back? See ya later, then",Brian turned around, heading into the direction of the backyard to where his friend ws supposed to be.
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"Ya did a fucking great job on that one",Alex said as helped Lilly pushing the Honda S2000 into the red light room.
"I know, and if he ain't grateful, I'ma hurt him bad",the blonde girl answered, "that's enough, Alex, you can stop pushing, now. Thanks."
"Welcome",he smiled, leaving the room when Lilly switched on the red lights before locking the door behind her, "any plans for tonight?"
"Yeah, Mouse and I go Phoenix. Just dunno the time. I gotta message him, I guess",Lilly shrugged, "how about you?"
"Races, girl, I wanna test that new set of rims 'n tires I got today. But be careful with Phoenix, ya know that business is illegal, so if the cops decide to show up...",he let it hang there.
"I know, then, I'm busted. I'll just have to think of something",the girl eyed Diego's Acura RSX coming up the drive and grinned, "finally some food for me."
"Ya couldn't have asked the guys to, like, stop somewhere to get ya something to eat?"Alex raised his eyebrowes, although actually not having any. He had once had to shave them due to him having lost a bet and now, he preferred having none.
"How could I ask'em when I was asleep?"She wondered, still grinning as she heard Diego, just having gotten out of his car, yelling Alimento!.
The other members of the crew had already pushed several of the white tables together, so that they could start to eat immediately. Amongst them, there were also two part time workers. The only ones working on Saturdays. During the week, there were usually more at Tej's Garage.
The part time workers' names were Dennis and Angelo. From the litte conversations and from the races, Lilly had gotten to know them a little better and considered them okay. They had neither an attitude nor were they looking for trouble.
Suddenly, the blonde frowned.
"Do I wanna know what happened?" She folded her arms in front of her chest, her lips puckered while her eyes wandered over Brian and Roman sitting next to each other at the tables, neither of them wearing a shirt and, after having come closer, Lilly also saw that their pants were completely wet.
"It was all blondie's fault",Roman began to defend himself at once, "I's just talking to Tej when he came out of nowhere and yelled at me while he was about to knock me out, I swear."
"Yeah, but don'tcha forget to tell her that you deserved it!"Brian felt offended, looking at his sister. "Do you know what he did? He called at ours till I was awake and then, I couldn't go back to sleep, thanks to him! I wa fucking entitled to do beat him up! And it was his fault that we fell into the pool!"
"It was not, man! If you wouldn't have gone all fucking revenge one me for a damn wake up call, we would've never fallen in there!"
"Yeah, right, if it hadn't been for that fucking wake up call..."
"Shut the fuck up!"Lilly yelled at them. "Both of you! Right now! No more arguing! I already had enough stress, today!" The girl glared at Shane sitting next to Jimmy at that last comment. Just like Brian and Roman, the boy had taken off his shirt to let it dry out, while his pants had dried some in the meantime.
"Let's just eat",her voice was very low and full of restrained anger she tried to cover with faked politeness. Lilly sat down on a chair between Diego and Marco – her heros of the day – and took a deep breath, aware of everybody either trying not to burst out in laughter or to act as though nothing would have happened. She watched Brian unfolding the newspaper in his lap to read it while eating.
"Wanna have anything? Sports? Cartoons? Politics?"He offered once he had noticed her looking at him.
"Nah, but what's that headline on the front page saying?"Lilly frowned, craning her neck lightly to the side to get a better view on the page.
"Let's see",he turned the pages around to have a look at what had caught his younger sibling's interest. There, on the front page, was a bolt printed headline saying Grand Car Fair – Finally.
"When! Where!"The blonde man read the article as fast as possible, eager to get as much information as possible.
"Five weeks, here in Miami, dawg", Tej told him, "they already wanned to pull it last year, but they had some problems with the administrations. Fuck them, always spoiling the fun. Ya know, till now, there've been a whole bunch of people calling, wanting to get their rides going mad."
"Why? Can everybody show his car there? I thought those fairs were only about equipment and new cars",Lilly took a bite of her burrito she had ordered, savoring the rich taste of chili in her mouth.
"Nah, this one's different, Chica",Tej swallowed down a sip of beer, "there's the fair, but there's also some competition going. Best engine, best body, best paint job",he eyed her, pointing a finger at her, "I expect one o' yars to be the winner, got that right? There's lotsa people coming from all over the country, so I wanna show of with my crew, ai?"
A chorus of "yes, boss" sounded up.
"I gotta sign up for this, man!"Brian was completely excited, making Lilly smile.
"First, you'll eat, otherwise it's getting cold",she told him, gaining a grin from everyone for talking to him like a mother to a child, "then, you can go call'em, alright? Fine."
Brian did not even try to argue, knowing that she was right. It would not matter if he called now or in twenty minutes. He could still not think of a way to approach the subject of grounding towards his sister, but, eventually, he would find one.
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"Yeah",Brian smiled, "thank you very much...yeah...alright...bye."
He hung up the phone, obviously very content with the situation.
"Finally",Lilly rolled her eyes the moment she walked into the office of Tej's Garage, "I thought you were planning on spending the entire afternoon in here. Would you, please, get up from my chair now? I wanna work with the computer."
"Be nice to me",the man pouted, "I just signed up for the fair, so you gotta be nice to me."
Slightly irritated by this comment, the girl walked nonetheless up to where her brother was sitting in her chair. She spreat her arms and leant down to hug him when his arms slipped around her waist, pulling her onto his lap.
"That nice enough?"She smiled against his neck.
"I'll live",he grinned, resting his chin on her shoulder before sighing.
"What's wrong?"The girl asked him, concern in her voice.
"You got mail",Brian told her while handing her the letter he had put on the desk.
"Okay",she took the envelope and opened it at once, "Miss O'Conner we have to inform you that...aw, fuck, I had almost completely forgotten. Do I really have to go there?"
"Yes, you have to, just like Roman and me",usually, her pout would have made him give in, but not this time. This time, it was way too important, "c'mon, we'll go there, we'll give evidence, we'll leave. And watch your language."
"Why? You think it sucks, too",putting the letter aside, they looked at each other. Something in her brother's eyes caught the blonde teenager's attention.
"Is there anything else you wanna tell me?"She narrowed her eyes, trying to read his mind.
"Actually, yes, there is",Brian sighed. It was one of those now or never sighs Lilly hated so much, "I wanted to talk to you about last night."
"Okay",waiting for him to continue in anticipation, Lilly already foresaw the upcoming. So, her older brother was not as cool about it as she had thought him to be.
"Did you drink any alcohol there?"Brian looked sternly at his sister avoiding his eyes and leaving his lap.
"Yeah",she replied while leaning against the edge of another desk.
"How much?"Brian was using his interrogating voice Lilly hated so much.
"Beer. Two bottles. 0,3 litres",Lilly was not planning on giving him more information than he wanted.
"You know..."
"Yes",she cut him off, evidently annoyed, "I'm not to drink when you're not around, something might happen to me, somebody might take advantage of me then, and, of course, I'm not allowed to drive even when everything I had was a single sip. As for the driving, you ain't gonna accept that as an answer, but Rome told me he wouldn't be safe enough a driver cos of his arm and the drinks he had, so I drove."
"Lilly, I am not making the rules to mock you, you know that",Brian rose from the chair to stand in front of his sister still avoiding eye contact, "and if you know the rules so well, why are you breaking them on purpose, then? I would have driven you home, all you had to do was to get into the Evo instead of the Eclipse, but you didn't. I hope you understand that I cannot support such a behaviour, don't you?"He waited for her to respond, yet, she was merely looking at the floor. "Don't you?"Brian repeated, his voice firmer and lightly louder.
"Yeah",she finally answered, her voice a mere whisper, however, sounding slightly angry.
"Okay, then",he moisted his lips with his tongue, "you're grounded till Wednesday. No TV, no DVD, no video, no friends, no races, no phone. You'll go to work and come home directly after you're done here. Do you understand me?"
"Yeah", she breathed out, still annoyed.
"Fine. Now look at me, please",due to his sister not reacting at his request, the blonde man gently cupped her left cheek and turned her head to the side. Her ice blue eyes were glaring at him, she had sucked in her cheeks and he could tell by her clenched jaw that she was biting on the insides of the flesh, "don't act as though this was my fault, okay? You are the one that acted wrong, not me. I'm only doing this because I want what's best for you. If you want to apologize, I'll be out in the back. I love you, baby, that's why I gotta do this, okay?"
Lilly did not reply, she merely looked away to the other side where there was no hand cupping her face.
"Okay",Brian put his hands into the pockets of his nearly completely dried trunks; he would have to live with her being stubborn, "I thought you were mature enough to understand that. You wanna act like a child, fine. You know where to find me",he turned around and left the office, closing the door behind his back.
Lilly was still leaning against the edge of the desk, her arms now folded in front of her chest. She felt how hot tears began to dwell up in her eyes. Grabbing her bag she had hours ago placed next to the desk her computer was on, the blonde searched for her keys and her new packet of cigarettes within it and locked the only door leading into the office before shutting the blinds.
Then, she opened one of the drawers in her desk to take out the ashtray she kept in there.
Tearing open the thin plastic foil, she eyed the cigarettes in the packet and decided for the one in the lower right corner to be the first of them.
Pressing one end between her lips, Lilly took the silver lighter she had gotten from Spike a few days ago and lit the cigarette.
Flipping the lighter shut, she took a deep breath, inhaling the smoke deeply.
I...I..., she shook her head no at the one particular thought she had about Brian, telling herself that it was not true and that she could not honestly think of him like that, why the hell does he treat me like a damn wardrobe! Take that drawer for the adult, take that one for the child. I'm a damn teenager, for fuck's sake, I'm neither nor. I work like an adult, although he says that I'm a child. Why don't I get any support from him, then? Children don't work like adults, yet, here I am! He shall make a fucking decision! Child or adult, pick one! What do you want me to be,Brian! You want me to behave like an adult? Fine! But then, forget about your rules, cos adults don't get any rules by their older brothers! I...he...fuck!
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I'd be very grateful for some reviews!
Thanks for reading!