A Call to Love (On Hold)

Her

He could almost remember like it was yesterday....

He was angry. Like always, he was angry. Some junior had been mouthing his girlfriend Laila. He had dated Laila all through high school.  She never helped the situation, she always egged on the situation. He always swore she got pleasure out of seeing him in a fight. 

The first time Lucy showed upon his radar was when she somehow got caught up in the middle of a fight he'd started. Her books were knocked out of her hands and then she was knocked to the ground. When she hit the ground was the only time the other guy got in a good hit. His focus was lost as he watched her for a split second sitting on the ground looking angry. For some reason he wanted to help her up, but he didn't get that chance. He'd got a right hook the the jaw and it was on. 

He wasn't even sure what happened to her after that. The next thing he knew, he was being dragged apart and sent to his usual fate.  He was suspended yet again. 

He didn't even see Lucy again until four days later when he'd spotted her broke down on the side of the road.  At first he wasn't going to stop. He had never been the chivalrous type. He had no problem seeing someone on the side of the road and just continuing to drive. He'd earned the title as bad-ass, who didn't give a shit about anyone but himself.  If that was what people thought of him, he was determined to prove them right. He was going to live up to this title. 

That day as he rode by on his motorcycle, he turned to look at her and she didn't seem like the helpless girl he'd thought her to be. The hood of her car was up and she was looking and fiddling around as if she knew what she was doing. As he past her, he decided he'd try to help her, even though she didn't seem to really need the help. 

When he pulled up beside her car, she looked up at him. She wiped the hair out of her face and for some reason she smiled at him. It really took him back. She looked back down at the engine. 

"Thanks for stopping, I've been working on it a while and it just isn't getting any better. This car is a pile of... sh...."  The next part he could barely hear.

He pulled off his helmet, so he could get a better view of what she was doing. She seemed to really be working on the car.

"Do you know what your doing?" He didn't know why he had asked that because it came out as an insult and for once he wasn't trying to insult someone. 

"I wouldn't waste my time if I didn't know what I was doing." She looked back up at him, for some reason she was still smiling. He could have sworn she'd been laughing. "Could you toss me that towel?" 

He looked to where she was pointing and grabbed the grease rag and tossed it to her. She wiped her hands and put the hood down. 

"I would offer to help, but in all honesty I know nothing about cars." 

She looked at him and laughed. "That surprises me. You just look like the kind of guy who'd know his way around a car."

She was the one who surprised him, she wasn't shy at all. He couldn't understand why she appeared that way at school. Maybe it was a survival mechanism. Maybe it was easier to just blend in the background than to the be the center of attention. Garrett only knew how to be in the middle of everything. 

"I guess appearances can be deceiving."  He said in a tone that meant there was more behind his words. 

She just nodded her head. "Do you think you could give me a ride?" 

He looked to his motorcycle and back at her. " You would ride the motorcycle?"

"Yeah why not." 

He didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything he just took his helmet off his bike and handed it to her. 

For a few moments he just stood and looked at her. 

She gave him a look that said 'what the hell'. "You going to get on or what."

He nodded his head to get out of my thoughts and got on his motorcycle. She got on behind him, but she didn't wrap herself around him like most girls did that got on the back of his motorcycle. There had been plenty of girl on the back of that motorcycle unknown to Laila of course. 

"Hang on."  He said hoping she would wrap herself into him, but she didn't.

She just placed her hands on his shoulder. He felt a sense of rejection in that moment. He don't know why it mattered that much, he guess it really didn't. He gassed on the motorcycle and they were gone. He wasn't sure where they were going but that day she didn't tell me where to go and they just drove.