Arrogant Brit

“The car,” she reminded me. “The whole reason why you’re bringing me to school, right? I have the perfect opportunity to cut you loose and let that just be the end of that, and then this happens. Now, I’m stuck in a position wherein I have to rely on you… which I don’t like, but it conveniently keeps us together.”

“That’s true,” I thought aloud. “So… what does this mean, then? As far as how things are going between us, at any rate.”

Clara smiled softly. “It means that… I think I want to keep seeing you.”

“You spoke to that friend of yours, didn’t you?” I grinned. “Your roommate. The girl from the bar.”

“…She did have some compelling arguments, yes,” Clara wistfully explained. “We stayed up half the night talking about stuff. I went to bed feeling way better about everything.”

“Remind me to buy that woman flowers,” I grinned like an idiot. “When she told me that she made a hell of a wingwoman, I didn’t know the half of it…”

“Yeah, getting my best friend on your side from the start is sort of a plus,” Clara laughed. “But look… just like that night we shared together, this doesn’t mean I’m promising you anything. I need you to understand that.”

“No, I get it,” I nodded, scratching the back of my head. “We’re just taking it slow for now, right? No need to complicate things any further than they already are…”

“That’s right.”

The tone of Clara’s voice was relatively noncommittal, but her face was saying it all. She was positively beaming.

We realized the time, and that we were both going to be late for our prospective following classes. Parting with a strong hug and a quick kiss, we separated away from each other, reinvigorated with energy for the day.

Unfortunately, bad news came later on. My buddy at the auto shop rang me back while I was in the student union building, seated in comfortable furniture and gazing out the large, glass wall over the campus. I was waiting on Clara’s last class to wrap up, and my mechanically minded friend didn’t exactly have anything reassuring to tell me.

“Alright, let’s hear it,” I started. “Have you got anything good to tell me?”

“Wish I did, dude.”

He sounded exasperated.

I frowned tentatively. “It’s that bad?”

He took in a sharp breath of air. “Yeah… the way it’s looking now, the engine’s totally fried. Her oil was not only really low, but filthy as shit. Did she miss some oil changes or something?”

“Yeah, I think she might have mentioned that…”

He chuckled with exasperation. “Should have stayed on top of that shit. Whole engine’s gotta go. Now, this being an old clunker, she might want to consider just getting a new car altogether.”

I sighed. “I don’t think she’s not going to be able to take that option.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll tell you what I tell everybody when I see an impending mess as bad as this one: tough shit. I’ll try and pull some strings because it’s you, but even if I found a used, compatible engine that wasn’t going to absolutely crucify her bank account, this thing’s gonna die from something else. I give it half a year… maybe a year, tops.”

“So, it’s either spend thousands on an engine and buy some time, or spend at least that on a newer vehicle. Either way, she’s out of pocket a substantial little sum.”

“Sure looks that way, bro.”

“Alright, Kevin. Thanks for everything you’ve done. I’ll talk to her, and we’ll sort it all out.”

“Later, dude.”

I hung up the line angrily.

As soon as the problem had happened, I’d known that it was going to take a miracle to fix it. Unfortunately, having her come back around had apparently filled the miracle quota for today.

I was still trying to figure out what to do when Clara came into view. She was climbing the wide steps outside, ducking into the union building and scanning for me. As she spotted me in the seating area, she stomped towards me with a look of clear, overwhelming stress painted across her face.

“What’s the problem?” I asked.

Clara slumped down in the chair to my side. “Just… unreasonable teachers,” she muttered. “Couldn’t they just consult each other on the homework front? Instead of bombarding us with it, all at once?”

“Pretty sure that’s not how it works,” I chuckled lightly.

“Guess not,” Clara muttered before pulling herself to an upright, seated position. “Alright, so, have you heard from your guy yet?”

My face immediately fell.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” she groaned, slumping back into the cushions. “Goddammit! Why is this turning out to be such a bullshit day? Everything’s been going downhill since I saw you last…”

“Well, what can I do to make it up to you?” I asked her. “Surely there’s something…”

She caught my eye and chuckled. “Maybe not tonight. I’m going to be buried under assignments for the next day or two anyway…”

“Oh, you’ve got plenty of time before then,” I smiled. “You seem stressed. Just give me an hour or two of your time to help you unwind, yeah? Wouldn’t you enjoy that?”

Clara glanced over mischievously.

“Well… I suppose that could work for me.”

I made sure that it did...

Two hours later, after an incredible simultaneous orgasm that left us both completely spent. We were laying together in bed. She and I were just the way I liked us best – grinning together, drained from great sex, without a stitch of clothing on us.

I was already on my back again, and my lover was curled up against my chest. Absentmindedly, my fingers played with the hair on the back of her head.

“God, Dalton, that was just as incredible as before,” she murmured softly.

“Oh yeah? Satisfied, love?”

“Am I ever…”

With a satisfied groan, I glanced over at my alarm clock.

“Huh. It’s later than I thought.”

“Is it?” She asked, lifting her head.

“Yeah, it’s already half past five.”

“Half past five, huh…” Clara murmured. “That’s strange, I feel like there’s something important that I’ve forgotten, something like…”

Her eyes widened.

“Oh no. Oh fuck. No. Please no.”

“What? What is it?”

Clara was leaping up from the bed, clearly frazzled. I didn’t like how stressed she was getting, all of a sudden.

“Oh god, it’s work,” Clara finally groaned.

“Work?” I asked. “Wait… you didn’t…?”

She’d forgotten to contact her boss.

“Yeah…” She held her face in her hands. “I can’t believe it. I completely fucking forgot to email Arnold last night, when I came home… and I stayed up talking to Natalie. I was supposed to be there over an hour ago.”

Clara dove for her phone and practically went catatonic when she saw her notifications. “Oh shit. Oh shit, I’m in trouble…”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I told her. “Look, just apologize to him, and everything will be okay.”

“That’s not how this works,” Clara lashed out. “Look, my car’s a mess that’s apparently broken down, now I’ve been totally distracted from my job, and for what? Sex?”

I didn’t like where this was going.

“Clara, look. I’m sorry. I’ll help you.”

“I don’t want your help,” she muttered.

“Be that as it may… I know that you’v

e had a rough time of things lately. Between the car thing, your job, school, our parents suddenly marrying, your feelings for me…”

She glanced at me with irritation. “No, go on,” she snarled. “Please. Feel free to rack up additional ways that my life is fucking up right now. Really. I want to hear them.”