Poetry
Chapter One: She Walks in Beauty Like the Night

August 2, 1956

Jason sighed as he wiped his face with the back of his hand, smudging a bit of black oil grease on his cheek as he worked over the engine of the car. The hot sun tanned his sweat sodden skin, it's ever reaching rays beating down on him relentlessly. He huffed.

Should've worn the white fitted shirt instead of the black.

Tightening the bolt with the wrench in his hand with one final turn, he sighed before walking around to the drivers seat. He reached inside and fingered the car keys and turned them. It made a brief rumble of noise before it cut off again. He gritted his teeth and tried again.

No change.

He hissed and cursed in Italian under his breath before walking back over to the hood in huff, staring hard at the engine as if the answer would appear to him. He had been working on this car for hours and he still couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong.

"It's the carburetor," he heard a feminine yet low and gravelly voice say from behind him.

He blinked as he turned his head to see a young woman in a white turtleneck, black cigarette pants with a matching beret standing behind him with books in her hands.

She was short thing, much like her dark, almost black hair that was cut into a straight bob with thick bangs covering her forehead. And she was pale, so pale he was certain she was going to get sunburn underneath the bright sun. But it was her eyes… Those wide electric blue eyes that intrigued him and drew him in.

A sly grin slid over his face as he turned around to face her fully, crossing his muscular arms over his chest. "Yeah? What do you know about cars?"

She arched her brow at him challengingly before she looked over at the car. He watched her with fascination as she took a few steps to stand beside him, her tongue rolling against the inside of her teeth in thought.

"I know this is a '52 Pontiac Chieftain sedan four-door hardtop," she started, squaring her shoulders and standing at her full height. "I know that it has eight-cylinders with 103 horsepower at 3800 rpm and I know that it's having a hard cold starting problems with the carburetor. And it sounds like the bi-metal choke spring is broken because the engine is stalling and based off of the little bit I saw you doing earlier, I would say you already did a full work up on that. So it would have to be the carburetor."

A small hint of a smile danced in triumph at the corners of her pouty lips before she turned her head to look at him over her shoulder.

His mouth fell open slightly as he stared at her, dumbfounded and wildly impressed at her knowledge of cars. A subject near and dear to his heart but he found that it was a subject not a lot of girls knew about, much less, being truly interested in. And even more so girls who looked like her.

"Impressed?"

"Very," he nodded, slowly, his eyes still looking at her with such wonder. "How do you know so much about cars?"

She shrugged with a dead panned expression. "I like cars."

Another slow smile pulled across his face, feeling something stir inside him as he shifted his weight to face her. He licked his lips and opened his mouth.

"Miss?" Another voice called out, cutting him off. They both turned their heads to see a young but large black man walking towards them with a book in his hands. "I have that journal you wanted."

She nodded at the man, turning away from Jason. He couldn't help but to steal a glance, his eyes drifting down her soft curvaceous body, lingering on her round swell of her backside.

Damn…

"Thank you, Vic," she said, exchanging one of her books for the journal magazine with picture of a car plastered on it, further piquing Jason's interest. "And how many times do I have to tell you to call me by my first name?"

He chuckled at her. "About once more, Miss."

"You've been saying that to me since we were children, but fine," She rolled her eyes at him, playfully before walking away from the two of them to the blue bike propped against the chain linked fence. Putting her things in the small basket that was attached to the handlebars. "Anyway, thanks for the journal. See you around?"

"Yes ma'am," Vic nodded.

Looking over her shoulder, she locked eyes with Jason, flashing him a small coy smile that made his heart tug as she mounted her bike. "Good luck fixing that carburetor."

"Thanks," he smiled, the grease on his cheek shining in the sunlight.

She nodded at him before she pushed off and bikes away from them around the corner and out of sight.

His tongue rolled in his mouth as the wheels of determination began to turn in his head. "Huh."

"Don't even think about, Jason," he heard Vic warn him as he walked away from towards the garage.

"What?" Jason mocked innocence with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I saw you looking at her. I know what you look you get when you're interested in a girl. And you're interested. So I'm warning you: don't think about it," The dark skin man replied with a smile. "She'll eat you alive."

"One could only hope," he murmured under his breath, only to have a towel thrown at him.

"Come on, man!"

Jason just laughed before turning back around to his work, thinking about her words of advice and those gorgeous blue eyes.

This is another AU that BleedingWriter and I (Xaphrin) are working on slowly. I thought I might post it here as well so it's easy to read. Please leave reviews or comments! We're happy to see them!