Second chapter done and dusted, plus longer than the first! Hope y'all like it :)
Alice calls Pogue the next Friday at about 8pm. He answers after 3 rings. "Hello?"
"Hey Pogue," Alice stands up from where she was tinkering with the insides of his bike, "I've finished with your bike. I'm putting the last part in now, it should be ready in 10 minutes."
"Great," His deep voice crackles over the line, and in the background Alice hears music, "I'll pick it up tomorrow then."
"Actually, I was thinking I'd test drive it," Alice worried her necklace between her fingers, "I've got to be at Brody's at 9 so I figured I'd drive it over there. You can pick it up from there tonight, I can get a ride home,"
There's a silence on the other end of the line. Alice hears a song she vaguely recognizes playing.
"Or you can bring it to Nicky's," Pogue says, "I'm there right now. I'll give you a ride over to Brody's afterward. You could grab a bite to eat while you're at it."
"Are you there with the guys?" Alice asks. There's silence on the other end of the line. "I'll take that as a yes." Alice sighs, "You know I don't want to meet them."
"They want to meet you," Pogue protests, "And they'll love you. You have nothing to worry about."
"They want to meet Al the Mechanic, not Alice," Alice fights, "You talk about me as if I'm another middle-aged guy you work with when you're around them. How do you know that they're not going to find it weird that I'm a female high school senior?"
"Because they're not like that," Pogue raises his voice slightly, and the music in the background fades. Alice guesses he's outside now, "I've known them my whole life, they're not gonna turn up their nose at you simply because you're a girl."
"Is that Al?" Someone asks in the background. A door opens and closes faintly. "Tell him to come down, so we can meet 'em." Alice doesn't know which of the boys is talking, but she knows it's one of them.
"See, they don't want to meet me," Alice blows air out of her mouth. Pogue sighs loudly through the phone.
"Just, bring the bike down in 10. We'll be waiting," And he hangs up.
Alice stares at her phone as it blinks 'call ended' up at her, more than a little upset that Pogue hung up on her. She debated what to do, looking from her phone to the bike which still needed that last part put in.
Alice could always just not put it in, call Pogue in an hour, and forget about it. She could get Harold to drive it down to Nicky's. She could get Bailey. But she still needed a ride to Brody's and the easiest option was fixing the bike and riding it down to Nicky's. Even if it meant finally meeting Pogue's childhood friends.
Alice huffs and shoves her phone back in her pocket, meeting the other Sons of Ipswich it is.
20 minutes later, Alice pulls up to Nicky's, the engine on the bike rumbling as she pulls it to a stop in a parking space. She recognizes Pogue at the door, standing with 3 other boys she doesn't know but could guess the names of. They all start walking over to her.
Alice's hands shake at their already weary faces. They know her body isn't the body of a middle-aged man.
As they approach, she pulled off her helmet. Pogue smiles and pulls her into a light hug as she got off the bike.
Alice relaxes at the surprised but not upset faces of his friends.
"How's she riding?" He asks.
"Better than ever," Alice pats the bike, "Although don't get into another crash or you made need a new bike. I fixed the things I could, replaced some parts, gave her a paint job, but structural integrity is another thing."
"I'll keep that in mind," Pogue steps back to let the others look at her, pointing at them as he introduces them, "Alice, this is Reid, Tyler, and Caleb. Guys, this is-"
"Al the Mechanic!" Alice finishes for him. "Although, my full name is Alice."
Reid smiles widely, "Al's a girl! Pogue, you were holding out on us!" He immediately moves forward to shake her hand, "Reid Garwin, it's a pleasure to meet you. Pogue talked about Al a lot, but we never thought you'd be him. He made you sound-"
"Middle-aged and male?" Alice finishes, shaking his hand, "Yeah, he's told me."
"Caleb Danvers," Caleb shakes her hand next, "You work with Pogue?" Caleb's handshake is firm and strong. A tingle goes down Alice's spine, something curls in her stomach.
"Every day he's in the shop," Alice nods, "I'm in there more than him now, even though I only started a couple of months ago."
"Tyler Simms," Tyler shakes her hand loosely, "Were you the one who dropped off the flowers at the hospital?"
"Yeah," Alice nods, "Harold, our boss, got Pogue a card and Bailey, the other mechanic, got him the flowers. I was tasked with delivering them." She looks at Pogue, "I believe one of the conditions of me coming down here was that you buy me food."
"When did we agree to that?" Pogue frowns.
"After you hung up on me," Alice hands him his keys and starts walking towards the door. The boys don't move. "If you guys don't follow I'm telling Nicky it's on you anyway," Alice calls behind her.
She enters the bar and makes her way through the people to the bar. Nicky nods to her.
"Hey Al," Nicky smiles behind the bar.
"Sup Nicky," Alice nods back at him, "Can I get a cheeseburger, fries, and a beer. Anything dark on tap."
"You 21 yet?" Nicky asks, amused.
"You care yet?" Alice shoots back.
"Okay, cheeseburger with fries and a beer, how you paying?" Nicky writes it down.
"It's on me Nicky," Pogue appears behind her, "And add a BLT club to the list, Kate's hungry."
"Got it," Nicky nods and moves away from the counter. Pogue grabs Alice's arm and leads her to a section of the bar with tables. Reid and Tyler have pushed two of the tables together to fit all four boys, plus two other girls, and Alice.
"Hey guys," Caleb nods to the two as they come up, "Sarah, Kate, this is Alice, Pogue's friend from work."
"Hey!" Kate smiles and stands up, hugging Alice, "Nice to finally meet you. Pogue talks about you sometimes, says you're one of his closest friends outside the school."
"Nice to meet you too," Alice struggles to talk as the girl squeezes her, "Pogue basically waxes lyrical about how much he cares about you at work." Kate laughs and lets her go, sitting back down.
The other girl smiles and extends a hand from where she's sitting, "Sarah, good to meet you. Haven't heard that much about you, sorry."
"Alice," Alice shakes her hand, "Nice to meet you. And it's fine, Pogue doesn't talk about me that much, and this is Caleb's first time meeting me." They smile at each other.
Alice takes an empty seat across the table from the two couples, ending up next to Reid.
"So, you work on cars?" Reid asks, something glinting in his eyes. Alice knows that look, younger male patrons at Brody's sometimes get it, but she ignores it.
"Motorcycles actually," Alice corrects gently, "Cars are great but I don't have the arm muscle for the lifting required to work on their engines. Motorcycles are my specialty, and Pogue works on cars mostly." She points to Pogue.
"Still, you're a mechanic," Reid presses and Alice nods, "How'd you get into it? I know Pogue's story, but how does a young, pretty girl such as yourself end up working in a garage?"
Alice stiffens for a second at his question before relaxing, "My older brother was a mechanic. He taught me lots of stuff, was always working on bikes or cars in the driveway and I'd always hang around trying to learn. Over the summer he left for college so I took over his spot at the shop. Everything else I learned on the job."
"But why take the job?" Tyler asks from the other side of Reid.
Alice gives them both a look, "Normal people have jobs you know." She replies defensively.
"That's not what I meant," Tyler looks pained, "Why take the job at the shop. There could be other, less dangerous or messy jobs out there in Ipswich to do, why work at the shop?" Alice is struck by how sincere the two of them are. Yes, Reid is batting his eyelashes at her, so to speak, but they're both genuinely interested in why she works at the shop.
Alice shrugs and looks away, at the bar where Nicky gives her a nod. "I guess I just wanted to feel closer to my brother now that he's in California," She stands up, "Excuse me, I'm just gonna go grab the food."
Alice walks over to the bar, moving through the people using her skills picked up at Brody's, and grabs the tray of food and the beer. "Thanks Nicky," She yells over the music, which sounds like it's gotten louder, and he gives her a nod.
She makes her way back to the table, putting the tray and beer down at her seat and passing the BLT club to Pogue.
"You got a beer?" Pogue eyes her glass.
Alice shrugs, "It's Saturday night and I'm working later, I need something." She takes a sip and scowls.
Reid laughs, "Don't like it?"
"I hate beer on principle," Alice says before downing a third of the glass with a grimace, "But that doesn't mean I won't drink it." She picks up the cheeseburger and takes a bite.
Pogue reaches over to grab the glass. Alice glares at him. "Hey, I'm paying for it," Pogue rolls his eyes and takes a sip before putting it back down.
Alice takes another bite of her cheeseburger as conversations go on around her. Reid and Tyler are talking about who they can hustle in pool, Caleb wants to know if Sarah wants to dance while Sarah is trying to steal a piece of the BLT club, Pogue and Kate are deep in a conversation about Pogue's birthday a few months from now.
Her back starts tingling and Alice gets lost in her thoughts.
"Hey," Reid pokes Alice in the arm. She looks down to see that her cheeseburger is nearly gone and she's finished her beer, "You wanna play pool with us?" He looks from her to Tyler.
Alice nods, a plan forming in her head, "Yeah, I'm not great though. You up for a little 1 on 1?"
"Sounds perfect," Reid takes the last piece of the cheeseburger and shoves it into his mouth, "Now we don't have to wait for you to finish," He says as he chews and swallows. Alice wrinkles her nose in disgust, but stands up and follows them to the pool tables.
Caleb and Pogue hoot as they grab cues and Tyler sets up.
"You wanna break?" Alice asks Reid.
"Sure, you wanna put money on this?" Reid shoots back as Tyler removes the triangle.
"Fine, 20 bucks says I win," Alice smirks.
"20 says you lose," Reid breaks.
They play fair, Alice doesn't play to her full strength, missing some shots and faking some others. Reid plays well, and in the end he wins.
"Thank you," Reid laughs, taking the $20 out of Alice's hand.
"Another game?" Alice laughs, leaning against the pool table, "50 says I win this time?"
"You wanna raise the bet?" Reid laughs, "Sure, I'd love taking 50 from you."
"Okay," Alice smiles as Tyler sets up the balls again, "But this time, I'm breaking."
Alice beats him after 2 turns. Reid looks shocked at her as she checks the time before taking the $50 from his hand.
"First rule of pool," She says, "Don't hustle a hustler. I work in a biker bar, of course I know how to play pool. Speaking of which," She looks over at Pogue and taps her wrist. He nods, stands up, and kisses Kate on the forehead, "I have to get to work. Nice playing with you boys," She moves past them, purposefully bumping shoulder with Reid, "Maybe next time."
Reid gives her an amused glare as she walks away.
Hope you liked it! Please R&R so I get feedback!
-Margii