Thanks for the awesome reviews! This chapter required some research but hey, I actually like the topic so it wasn't too terrible. :P
Chapter Three – Automobile Talk
Eli woke up the following morning to a quiet, faint banging sound outside of the inn. He wasn't bothered by it. Actually he was happy that he was woken up since he noticed that it was eleven o'clock and he didn't really want to spend his summer sleeping. Especially since he was in the most beautiful place he could imagine with the beach at his disposal and an entire place to himself and one other person.
After taking another brief shower and wearing comfortable clothes, Eli headed downstairs and found a table full of breakfast items sitting out in the kitchen island where he and Clare had dinner together the night before. He smiled and grabbed what looked like a freshly baked chocolate chip muffin, and headed out back. Walking down a small flight of stairs, Eli stepped onto the sand.
It was a beautiful, warm, bright day and Eli was planning on just walking on the beach for his first official day in Wasaga. But he saw Clare emerge from the nearby shed holding heavy looking shutter closers for the windows. After one final bite of his muffin he made his way over to her and took the large pieces of wood out of her hands. "Here, let me help."
"No, it's okay," Clare began to say but Eli pretty much snatched them out of her small arms.
"What are they for? Expecting a storm?" Eli asked curiously. Clare pointed to a place beside the house on the back porch and Eli walked over there to drop them off.
"Just taking precaution," Clare answered him. She started pulling out more of the closers and left them at her feet for Eli to move over to the growing pile. "How'd you sleep?"
"Better than I have all year," Eli answered honestly with a chuckle. "I could've slept in all day."
"Why didn't you?"
"Why would I waste a perfectly good day?"
"Touché."
Eli decided to help Clare around the inn. Once they were finished putting the closers on the porch, Eli asked if Clare needed any more assistance. After a slight argument between them- Clare not wanting Eli to waste his day- Clare finally relented and said that she needed to go into town and get a new part for her car, the truck which was parked in front when Eli arrived.
So they headed into town in Eli's car with Clare's directions and went to the local auto shop. Eli noticed that Clare happily walked up to the man at the counter who seemed extremely happy to see her. He was pinching her cheeks and Clare was blushing, trying to push the old man away from her face but she was laughing and smiling. Eli found it refreshing to see her so comfortable. He walked up to the counter as well and the man immediately eyed him.
"This your boyfriend?" the man asked. Eli read the nametag attached to his collared shirt. Harvey.
"No, he's the only one staying at the inn," Clare quickly said. Eli smirked as he saw Clare's face flush, obviously embarrassed.
"Nice to meet you sir, I'm Eli," Eli nodded to Harvey.
Harvey shook his hand and smiled but then pulled on Eli's hand, forcing him to hunch over the counter and his face closer to Harvey's. "Just because you're the only one staying at the inn doesn't mean you're gonna get special attention from the girl running it, okay?" Harvey threatened.
Eli gulped. He wasn't one to get intimidated but this guy was pretty intimidating. "Yes sir."
Once Harvey let go of his arm Eli took a few steps back and rubbed the part which Harvey kept a hold on. He heard Clare laughing a bit and finally said to Harvey, "I need new spark plugs. My truck failed on me recently. Thankfully I was already here."
"How'd you know it was a spark plug problem?" Harvey asked.
Eli saw Clare giving Harvey a look and it made him confused. When he saw Harvey form an o and nodded, he became even more confused.
"Spark plugs are over there sweetheart, take 'em and go, my treat."
Clare thanked Harvey and Eli followed Clare to the aisle that Harvey pointed out. Clare looked through the different kinds and find the one she needed for her truck. "So do you know how to replace the spark plugs?" Eli asked, looking at the different brands.
"Yeah I do actually," Clare replied. "One of the few things I know about fixing cars. Thanks Harvey!"
Clare and Eli headed towards the exit as they heard Harvey saying, "Bye sweetheart! Keep your hands off her Eli!" Eli turned around and waved goodbye to Harvey before heading out of the store and to the car where Clare was already waiting.
"Did you want to check out other places or did you just want to head back?" Clare asked once they were both in the car.
"I think we should go and fix your car," Eli answered as he started the car.
"You don't like driving me around?" Clare teased.
Eli rolled his eyes. "I just like working on cars."
"Who said I was gonna let you work on my truck?"
"Oh so you're going to pass up the chance for an experience mechanic? Cool."
Eli could tell that Clare didn't believe him. "You're seventeen, how are you experienced?"
"Just am," Eli replied nonchalant. Then he thought about the other way that that could've been taken and laughed to himself.
He pulled up to the inn and the two went over to the dark blue truck. Clare opened the hood and grabbed a tool box from the bed of the truck. She began to remove each spark plug cable when Eli got curious and asked, "How'd you know that there was a spark plug problem?"
"Well I knew there was a problem when just recently I would push on the gas pedal and it wouldn't go any faster and the gas mileage was going down," Clare answered without looking up. "When I got this truck the spark plugs were as old as the car itself so I figured that it was the thing needing replacing."
"You do know that when you change your oil, you change the spark plugs, right?"
Clare came out from the hood of the car and wiped her hands on her jeans without a care. "Are you seriously a mechanic?"
"Do you think I am?" Eli retorted.
"Well you're either just a pain in the ass or you really are a mechanic."
Eli smirked and put his hands in his pockets. "I'd like to think I'm both. More so a mechanic but hey, what can do you?"
He watched Clare roll her eyes and gestured over to the car. Eli hunched over the engine and started poking around. "When did you notice that the gas and speed was failing on you?"
"A few days before I arrived, which was three days ago so I'd say a week."
Eli saw that Clare's replacement of the spark plugs were beautifully done and believed that that was one of the problems but with the failing of the spark plugs and the age of the truck he also believed that there was another, more expensive problem to the car than just a set of spark plugs.
"Okay, here's the deal," Eli came out from under the hood with now dirty hands and turned to Clare. "Spark plugs definitely needed replacing and you seem to get a good handle on that but there's a bigger problem with your car but it's pretty expensive."
Clare whined to herself and put her hand to her forehead. "How much?"
"Well if you find a catalytic converter online for cheap then it significantly lowers the cost but getting the professional replacement at a shop will be even more expensive than the converter itself. I'd say with going to a shop it'd be at least a thousand. I'm pretty sure you can find one online for around two hundred," Eli answered honestly. He had experience with cars, not just with his own but with his dad's and the fact that they'd been bonding and working over cars ever since Eli was five. With the failing of the spark plugs came the fail of the catalytic converter. Clare failed to change the spark plugs early enough to save the converter.
"Great," Clare muttered. She pulled her hand away from her forehead and Eli saw a grease marking left by her hand. "Don't know where I'll get the thousand dollars, let alone the two hundred. Ugh, this is just great."
She went to go sit at the porch steps and Eli continued to replace the spark plugs and quickly and correctly he had it finished and closed the hood of the car. His hands were considerably dirty and he didn't want to wipe it on his shirt so he awkwardly held his hands out in front of him as he carried the old spark plugs and went to go inside the house. He walked past Clare who was still sitting on the porch and he felt bad for her. She was so distraught and sad about her truck.
Eli disposed of the spark plugs and scrubbed his hands clean from the grease and oil. It took him a while to actually get the non greasy feeling from his hands. When he finally did he headed downstairs and found Clare cooking. Eli glanced at the clock and saw it was only 3 o'clock.
"You know…there's still some leftovers, you don't need to cook," Eli said slowly and watched as Clare acted as if he wasn't even there. "Seriously, even the breakfast you made is enough to last until tomorrow…"
Clare only continued on chopping vegetables and Eli slowly made his way over to the fridge to grab a coke and just sit outside for a little while when he got distracted by a picture stuck onto it with a magnet. He looked closely at the picture and saw a cute little red haired girl smiling in the sand with arm floaties on. Once he got a closer look at the girl's eyes he realized it was Clare.
"Is this you?" Eli asked, pointing at the picture. He saw Clare look over with widened eyes. She quickly ran over to the fridge, brushing against Eli in the process, and she snatched the picture from the fridge and put it in her pocket.
"I'll take that as a yes," Eli muttered under his breath. He grabbed a coke and before closing the door, he asked, "Do you want one?" He waited for a few seconds and received no answer. Rolling his eyes he finally closed the door and headed back up to his room. He was no longer in the mood to just sit outside so he just went up and got on the computer.
Eli didn't know why but he just started to search for catalytic converters. He saw that Clare really wanted to fix her car and was sad to see Clare's disappointment but also he wanted a different focus for the summer. If he had something to work on, especially something like this, he could forget what he wanted to forget. So he started to look for converters that would fit Clare's truck and printed out a few relatively cheap options.
He went downstairs and saw that Clare was still cooking. Eli sat down at the island stool and set down the set of papers. "I found a few cheap converters that maybe you could look at and think about getting—"
"Can't afford it," Clare cut him off quickly. "Do you like pasta?"
"Love pasta," Eli answered. "I could pay for it now and you could just pay me back when you can…"
"No, I can't ask you to do that."
"I didn't ask, I offered."
"Well I don't want to owe you anything."
"You wouldn't be owing me anything, you could pay me back slowly and I could—"
"I can't afford it," Clare only said more sternly. "Thank you for the offer but I really can't afford it, even if I pay you back slowly."
Eli took a deep breath and put his hands on the table. He really needed a distraction and although being at a beautiful beach with a hard headed girl was distracting him enough, he needed something to do. This was the perfect outlet and the only thing preventing it was the hard headed girl.
"Look," he started. His voice got serious which made Clare turn to him. "I need something to do to take my focus away from…things…and this is the perfect thing for me to do. I see that you cook to do something, I like to fix cars. Yours just happens to be in need of a repair so please, let me do this for you. I'll pay for it now, it's okay, but please."
Eli tried his best to put on his most sad face to get Clare's sympathy and even tried to use his pouty lips. When Clare sighed and went to sit next to him he tried hard to hide the victory smile off his face. "Let me see the converters," Clare said. Eli handed her the papers and went around the island to the simmering pan with pasta cooking in it.
"This ready yet?" Eli asked her.
"Few more minutes and it should be fine," Clare answered. She continued to look at the papers while Eli stirred the pasta and eventually plated it up, shredded some cheese over both their plates, and sat them in front of where he and Clare sat. He also grabbed two more drinks from the fridge and opened them up. Clare didn't look up from the papers in that amount of time.
"Cheapest might not be a good idea," Clare said slowly as she read one of the papers.
"Agreed," Eli responded after swallowing his food. "Don't get that one, the website looks a little suspicious."
"Okay, this one's out." Clare set it aside and looked at the next one. "Do you think this one's good?"
Eli glanced over to the paper Clare was tilting over in his direction and he shook his head. "No, the product looks cheap and not for its price."
Clare set that one aside and picked up another. "At least this one's a legit website. Could be good?" She continued to read from it so Eli leaned over, accidentally bumping into her shoulder. He apologized and read over the description and looked at the price.
"Yeah, I think this was the one I preferred the most. The price isn't outrageous either. So can I order it, get it here quick?"
Eli could tell that Clare was still a little hesitant but she nodded her head. "Fine. I'll pay you back as soon as possible though."
"No rush," Eli assured her. He turned his head, not remembering how close he was to her, and they accidentally brushed noses. Still, neither moved away. Eli got the chance to look into her eyes even more deeply and realized it was gray in some lighting. He saw Clare's eyes drift down to his lips and he found himself looking down to hers. He finally sat back in the seat, looking away for a second to not be caught with red cheeks. "So…this is really good pasta. Where'd you learn to cook?"
Clare laughed a nervous laugh which Eli caught and he instantly felt better. At least he wasn't the only one who felt awkward. They started to talk again, much like the night before, and before they knew it their dinner was over and they were sharing a big bowl of chocolate ice cream while they sat outside on the porch, looking at the ocean.
"Jeez, we've been out here for hours," Clare spoke, looking at her watch. They were sitting on patio chairs with a table between them holding the now empty bowl of chocolate ice cream. Each of them were comfortable with their own blanket and pillow as they spent the hours sitting outside.
"What time is it?" Eli asked.
Clare started laughing. "1 in the morning."
"Oh, wow. I guess we should probably go in now," Eli said. He picked up the empty bowl and headed towards the door when he noticed that Clare hadn't gotten up. "Are you coming inside?"
"I'm gonna stay out here a bit longer," Clare told him.
"Okay then." Eli felt a little uncomfortable leaving a woman outside by herself so late in the night so he went inside and put the bowl into the sink, grabbed two bottles of water, and headed back out. Clare looked at him curiously as he sat back down in his seat and adjusted his blanket over him.
"What are you doing?" Clare asked as she eyed him.
"Staying with you," Eli replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Come on, it's late and you never know who'll show up here. I'll go back inside when you do."
"Thank you," Clare said softly. Eli just gave her a small smile and looked back out to the ocean.
"Thank you for…everything," he heard Clare say a moment later. "Helping me with my truck and the stuff around here, I didn't expect—"
"Thank you for keeping my focus elsewhere," Eli interrupted and said truly. "If I was just here not doing anything I think I'd be going crazy." His nervous laugh afterwards looks as if it confused Clare so he tried to regain his composure, cleared his throat and looked back out.
"What…are you trying to forget?" Clare asked slowly and hesitantly.
"Not forget," Eli responded. He looked down to his now shaking hands and gripped them into a tight fist. "Just…not remember for the summer. It's been a crappy year."
"Tell me about it," Clare muttered to herself. This kind of stunned Eli. There was someone else who has also had a terrible year and she happened to be the one running the inn he was staying at. He became curious as to what made her year terrible but knowing that he wouldn't say if Clare asked him he decided not to ask and just let it go.
"I think I'm ready to go back inside." Eli watched as Clare scrambled her things together and walked back inside quickly. He followed her, taking his own blanket and pillow, and watched as Clare seemed to be in a hurry to get back to her room.
"Are you okay?" Eli asked as he followed her to the staircase.
"Fine," Clare answered shortly. Eli headed to his own door while Clare stopped at her room and turned to him. "Goodnight."
"Night," Eli said and waited until Clare was in her room to go into his own.
Well that was weird…Eli thought to himself as he got ready for bed. He brushed his teeth and washed his face before signing onto the computer and getting on Facebook to check for a message back from Adam. He was happy when he saw that Adam did in fact message him back.
"Do what you have to do man. I hope you get to do what it is you set out to do. But since you're gone, it only means one thing. More food for me at the Goldsworthy house!"
Eli laughed and pictured Adam at his parent's house eating two servings of food all for himself. The picture in his mind made him smile. Adam was his best friend in the entire world and nothing, not even what they went through the past year, could tear that special once-in-a-lifetime friendship apart. Eli typed a quick reply back and sent it. Then he saw another new message and clicked on it. From Imogen.
"Adam won't tell me where you are because he says he doesn't know. I don't believe him though since you tell him everything. I'm worried about you, please come back and talk to me. We can work things out. I do love you despite what you may believe. Don't run away from me."
Eli just deleted the message. He didn't want to deal with Imogen right now especially since he was finally feeling content in this new environment. Eli silently thanked Adam for not telling Imogen any information. Eli didn't tell Adam where he was but he knew that if Adam did know any small piece of information he wouldn't tell anyone, especially Imogen. She just didn't get the hint.
Before going to bed Eli decided to place the order on the catalytic converter. He went to the site which Clare liked best and bought the part with his credit card and put it on express shipping so it would get here faster, so his distraction would arrive sooner. Plus, not only would it distract him for a little while he thought that it was a good thing to do something in return for the person who was giving him shelter for an entire summer. Clare seemed like an extremely nice person, which Eli thanked for since he'd hate to have to be alone with someone unpleasant.
Once signing off the computer Eli climbed into his terribly comfortable bed and within seconds, was out.
While writing this I've figured out how the entire story will play out! I'm so excited! Thanks for the lovely reviews so far and I hope you keep on reviewing and reading! I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story so far! :)
I don't know that much about cars but I'm actually interested in cars. I know how to change a tire but that's about it so I did the research required for the story! A lot of this story will require more research on my part. Maybe you guys can learn while you read! Best part of reading right?
Thanks for reading! Please review!