I walked straight from my house to the DX station, not having any time to spare. As soon as I got there I saw Soda and he told me that we both were needed in the boss's office, so we both headed there. We usually work from 10 am to 4 pm, but since Steve isn't here, we were given 5 more hours to our shift. Soda and I have to stay here after the place closes at 4 pm, close up, then spend our next five hours being the only two in the station and finishing up a car that needs to be fixed by Wednesday. Gah! Can things get any more complicated?

It's now 8:19 pm, and we thankfully have less than an hour left of work. Soda and I are the only ones here and we've actually made some progress on this car. It's not finished yet (three heads is better than two) but it's slowly coming together.

Soda is currently on a slider under the car, fixing up something down there. I'm just leaning up against the hood of the car, bored out of my mind, waiting for our shift to be finished. Suddenly, Soda threw his wrench down and stuck his hand out.

"I need a ratchet." He said. I lazily reached into the toolbox that was on the ground by his feet and pulled out a random tool, not caring to look at what it was. I handed it to him and he took it, but soon dropped it.

"This is a wrench, Jean, not a ratchet." He called out from under the car. I rolled my eyes.

"Then why don't you get it yourself? I don't know which size ratchet you need!" I retorted. Soda slid out from under the car and stood up, throwing his DX hat across the garage onto a counter top, and grabbed his towel from the hood of the car and wiped his face and hands off.

"Because this is your job too!" He yelled at me. He began to glare, which on instinct, I returned. I pushing off the hood of the car and stood up straight, facing Soda, who was in front of me.

"I fixed everything on the inside of this car!" I yelled back, patting the hood of the car for emphasis. "You can very damn well do the outside! I'll help, but you don't have to be so mean about it!"

"Mean about it? We wouldn't even be arguing if you would've just gotten me a damn ratchet!"

"I don't know which size you need!"

"Oh my god! You could've just given me one!" He yelled. Our glares intensified. "God, sometimes you are so annoying!" I stared at him with disbelief.

"Me? Annoying? And how is that?" I asked, crossing my arms and narrowing my eyes.

"We'll, let's see," he started, taking a step towards me. I took one back. "you always whine about work, get off the hook with a lot of things thanks to your brother, and you act like a slut! It's so annoying!" He yelled, throwing his hands out for emphasis. I was taken back when he called me a slut. Why on earth would he think that? I scoffed.

"I'm a slut? How so?" I questioned. To my surprise, he threw his head back and laughed.

"You're always flirting with all of the guys! Messing around with Darry and kissing Two-Bit. That's what a slut does!" He basically screamed, his eyes wide and his arms out in front of him. I stared at him (once again) with disbelief.

"Are you freaking kidding me? They're just my friends! I think of them as brothers! I would never go out with any of them, given the fact that Darry is much older than me and Two-Bit is, like, my best friend!" I yelled furiously. He has no right to call me a slut! I'm not one and never will be!

"Well, what about the things you did on Friday to win?" He asked, taking another step forward. I took another step back without realizing it. I did know that I was almost to the car though, only a couple inches away. "What do you call that?"

"I told you, that was a drastic measure! I wanted to show you that I can win even though I'm a girl, you dick!" I spat out, really pissed. He just stared at me angrily, then threw his towel on the ground. He then brought both of his hands up to his head and raked them through his hair, which I have to admit, was pretty hot. His eyes were squeezed shut.

"Sometimes you just make me so angry!" He said, then looked at the ground and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Oh no, I was not finished with this argument. He can't just call me a slut and get away with it!

"Oh yeah? And you make me angry all the time!" I retorted. He looked up at me.

"Oh? Is that so? And how may that be?" He asked, staring directly at me. I glared at him.

"You're always messing with me and judging me! You never hear me out! I wanted to be friends, but you never gave me the chance!" I said, which I think took him slightly by surprise. I was kind of surprised also, but I quickly shook it off. "But I don't even care anymore." I said, almost a whisper, then looked down at the ground. I didn't want to look at him.

I saw Sodas feet take a step closer to mine, so I instinctively took a step back, but the back of my knees hit the hood of the car, causing me to lose my balance. Just as I began to fall, Soda reached forward and grabbed my hips, picked me up, and placed me on the hood of the car. I was leaning back, my hands holding me up, while my feet were up on the bumper. My legs were spread apart and Soda was in between them. He was leaning forward and towards me with his head hung down so that I couldn't see his face. His hands were on both sides of me. It was silent, the only thing that could be heard was our rapid breaths from the fighting and this sudden action. After a couple of seconds I slowly started to sit up straighter, coming closer to Soda. Once I was only a couple inches away from him he slowly started to lift his head up. He was still a little taller then me in his position. Our faces were only inches apart. I could smell his minty breath from the gum he had been chewing earlier and the grease that was on his shirt. It was a weirdly attractive mix.

We stared into each others eyes, staying there for what seems like forever, our faces so close...

Sodas eyes flickered from mine to my lips and back, and I did the same. We slowly started to move towards each other. It felt as if we were miles apart, though our mouths were so close that I could almost taste him. Almost feel his lips against mine... And he pulled back. What? He pulled back and away from the car, standing up straight as he raked his right hand through his hair.

"Um, I think we should get going now." He said as he turned around and made his way towards the door. I sat there, dumbfounded by what had just happened. I almost kissed Soda! Almost. Why did he pull away? What did I do wrong? I let out a heavy sigh and hopped off of the car, then went to get my jacket and walked out of the garage, shutting and locking the door behind me. I began to slowly follow Soda -who was already about ten feet in front of me- back to his house, replaying what had just happened over and over again in my head the whole walk there.