Miss Mechanic

“Oh boy,” she said dryly. “I didn’t pull the short straw at all.”

I turned to look at her. “You know, I forget. Who made me apply for this job in the first place?”

She said nothing. She simply flipped me the bird, looking straight ahead, and put her earbuds in her ears.

I laughed to myself.

She was such a tool.

***

Monday morning rolled around all too quickly. After having the weekend to sleep on things and several messages from Haley about how stupid I was, all my six a.m. alarm did was wake me to the reality that I was about to work for a total asshole.

What was I doing?

I valued myself more than this.

I was worth more than proving myself to an egotistical little man because he didn’t think I was worth it.

But I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t tear myself away from the need to do this.

Was it because, on the surface, I was attracted to him? Or because he just made me want to wipe that stupid, sexy, smug smirk off his goddamn face?

Jesus, I didn’t even know. Holy shit. I was in trouble.

I wasn’t doing this because I wanted to. I was doing it because I felt like I had to. I had to be the one to smash his stupid little ideals into pieces.

What was wrong with me?

I decided not to answer that and headed for the shower instead. I hadn’t exactly slept well last night, but the hot water beat down on me and washed away a lot of the aches that plagued my shoulders.

Ten minutes later, I emerged from my bathroom wrapped in towels and headed back into my room. I’d laid out a simple tank top and shorts set the night before. I didn’t particularly care about either item, and actually, I was sure the shorts had an oil stain on the butt pocket.

I changed, carefully balancing the towel on my hair. My unruly, frizzy curls were currently jailed in it, and I wanted to keep it that way as long as possible.

Another ten minutes passed while I dressed and applied minimal make-up. Judging by our initial meeting, I expected to be thrown onto reception and customer service within hours of me starting today. If that was the case, I needed to look somewhat presentable, no matter what Dex said about make-up and shit.

I even put on the goddamn red lipstick.

Just to prove I could fix cars while wearing it.

God, now I was point-scoring.

I shook my head at myself and released my mop of hair from the towel. It was a hot mess as it tumbled in wet curls over my shoulders, and I had to grit my teeth to get through the knotty mess it was.

Thank god for the wide-toothed comb. It made its way through the fluff until I was able to whisk it all into a messy bun on top of my head.

Then, I looked in the mirror, and let out a long, heavy breath.

I was ready for this. I was ready to drive to Ryne Garages and begin the task of proving Dex wrong.

Was I?

I’d been so determined—until Haley had told me how stupid the idea was. How my self-worth had never been defined by anyone else until I saw him.

She was right.

It was stupid.

My self-worth was defined by nobody other than me—and that wouldn’t change. Whether or not Dexter Ryne believed I was good enough to be a mechanic in his garage was nothing more than his opinion, and since opinions were usually closer to assholes than anything else, I didn’t care what he thought.

I just cared that, for a second, I made him think something else.

And I didn’t know why I cared. I had no reason to care. His prejudice would not change just because I, one person, proved him wrong.

Still. I’d never claimed to be this generation’s Einstein.

I grabbed all my things together and headed out of the door and to my car. She rumbled to life when I turned the key in the ignition, and I took a deep breath and pulled away from my house.

Stones crunched beneath the tires as I followed the long, makeshift drive that connected the path to my house to the main one to my parents’. As soon as I turned onto the main drive, it was mere seconds until I was out onto the main road and driving in the direction of the garage.

I’d driven it so many times I didn’t pay any attention. I knew the stores I’d pass. I knew what the trees on Main Street looked like as they turned to fall colors and wilted all over the sidewalk. I knew what it looked like to pass the bigger houses on the opposite side of town.

What it looked like to roll just slightly off the beaten track to where the garage sat.