ELLIE
Luton Town, UK
Kingfisher Motors
The garage wasn't as loud as usual, which was weird because Alfie was also working there, and that guy never shut up.
I bent to grab the tool box, my hands were all smeared with dark sticky oil, my patience was already reaching its limit, and it was one of the hottest days England has ever witnessed in years. These things combined definitely didn't help my already short-tempered self. But I had to resist, one more hour and I could finally get out of this asylum.
Just as I reached the toolbox, my hand blindly looked for the screwdriver I knew was there because that was my tool box, but it seemed that life had other plans for me and my screwdriver.
Where the fuck is it?
Of course tools had to disappear fifty minutes before my shift would end, and of course I still had to finish patching up this old car, whose owner had witnessed First and Second World war.
Alfie. My first thoughts went to the bloody bastard that had a habit of borrowing my own tools.
I stood back up and with a huff I started moving towards the back of the garage where the computer box was, where Alfie usually spent his breaks.
"Alfie fucking Hughes, do ya know where my bleeding screw-" I stopped as soon as I opened the bloody door, and God knows I should've just minded my own business. There they were, Alfie and whoever the blonde was, making out on the fucking desk.
"Fuck's sake, I'll just use my hands."
I heard the bastard laugh, the girl snicker, but I had no time for that now. All I wanted to do was to finish that bloody car and go back home, hopefully get some sleep, but I really doubted that.
"It's in the back of the car I was working on, ya daft." Alfie yelled before I arrived back at the front of the garage.
Never lending my tools again.
I walked towards the Toyota he'd been working on all morning and found the boot already open, so I leaned in and—thank God—my screwdriver was actually there.
Taking what I needed, I walked back towards my battled up 'war car' and laid down on the floor in the same position I was before starting to look for the tool. I looked up, the car was still leaking oil and I found myself wanting to just tell the owner to get a new one, that it was absolutely ridiculously that he came back each week for oil leaks, but I knew better, I needed the job and the grandpa needed the car.
After a few more curses and swear words, the car was done, and so was I.
I finally slid away from the car, standing back up and using my own tank top to clean my hands.
I was a bloody mechanic, the dirty tank top was part of the charm after all, right?
"Alf, I'm done here, ya need help?" I questioned, walking towards his workspace.
"Nah, have a few more hours of work here." The older boy replied, and I just nodded, starting to walk away with a shrug of my shoulders, but his voice stopped me again.
"Need ya to go get my sister, though. The bloody lass with the other girls again"
If I could've chosen between agreeing to that or drinking a full tank of petrol, I would've definitely chosen the second option, but Alfie was my friend and I owed him that.
I ran a hand on my face. The last thing I wanted to deal with was a bunch of noisy girls.
"They're at Ruby's again?"
"Yeah, where else could they be."
Bold of me to think they weren't.
"Aye, see ya tomorrow then." I announced before taking my car keys and starting to walk outside the garage.
The sun was starting to settle already, so the warmth from the day was slowly disappearing like a lie among the usual cold British weather.
Once in my car, I started it, and it was as if the car already knew the route by heart from how many times I've been over to Ruby's house to either get Alfie's sister, Isabella, or to give the whole group of noisy girls a ride.
It took me a good ten minutes to get there and another five minutes to find them.
Saying that Ruby was rich was a huge insult, that girl had a house bigger than the public school itself.
Just as I guessed, though, they were in the backyard, sitting on the sunbeds around the pool—that one was as big as my house—giggling and chatting around until they noticed me.
"Ellie!" Ruby smiled and jumped off the sunbed, walking towards me, and just that once I allowed her to give me half a hug.
"Alfie sent ya? Already?" Isabella was quick to huff as she gathered her backpack and bag and walked towards me.
Don't worry, I'm not delighted either.
"Unfortunately, or not." I sighed and held my hands in the pockets of my cargo pants. I was still in my work clothes, but did I care? Absolutely not.
"See ya tomorrow, Izzy." Megan, another girl from the group, walked up to hug the blonde.
They were usually four, but I forgot the name of the fourth one and little did I care too.
"Alright, let's go" I beckoned and started walking back towards my car, wanting to just get over with it.
"You have a really bad sense of style, you know." Isabella was quick to start the chitchat, and I just knew she wasn't going to shut up until I got her back home.
Just like her brother.
"Didn't you like me and my clothes just last week?" I mocked her and her last words.
Isabella frowned, her nose scrunching up as she tried to keep up with my steps.
"Well, I told ya! I'm..."
"A curious heterosexual?" I raised a brow and had to bite back a smirk.
"No! I am straight, you just look good sometimes." Isabella pointed out in a desperate attempt to explain herself without sounding too...well, not-so-heterosexual.
"Keep it up, Bella and you might start believing it." A quiet chuckle left my lips as we finally neared the car. I opened the driver's door and got in, waited for her to get in the passenger seat as well, and just then I started the car.
"I'm not a..." Isabella hesitated, as if the word might sound too real if she said it out loud. "well, a lesbian, you are."
The only thing I could do at that moment was laugh out loud at how pathetic the word sounded from her lips. She looked so scared of acknowledging it.
"No shite"
It was no secret I was, my sexuality reached people quicker than my name did, and I honestly didn't really care. It was a small town, old ladies got shocked about it, teen girls got curious, and I cared too little to mind.
And Isabella? She kept telling me she was curious, that she'd never be with a girl in that way, but I just found it funny, I caught her staring at me while I was changing more times than I could count, she blushed when anyone mentioned the topic, she got all frowny when I brought a new girl at the diner every other weekend.
But sure, just curious.
"Thank you for the ride..." Isabella hesitated, as if she wanted to say more, but just gathered her stuff and hurried herself out of the car, clumsily, as per usual.
I simply nodded, giving her a small smile and wave of the hand before finally starting to drive back home. I turned the radio on, looking for something other than the news, and when I finally heard 50 cents, I stopped skipping and put my hand back on the steering wheel.
The day had felt draining, but I totally knew that before it could finally end I had to go through my father's drunk ass first, and the idea didn't invite me one bit. All I wanted to do was to throw myself on my unmade bed and sleep my ass off until my mind decided otherwise, but God forbid I got a nice night of sleep without having to listen to my father puke in the hallway.
Lost in my thoughts for so long, I didn't even notice I was right into the driveway to the little house I somehow still called home.
With a sigh, I turned the car off, grabbed the keys and stepped out without even locking it because no one was that desperate to try and steal the battled up Chevrolet.
The door was already unlocked when I stepped in.
Great, he was home.
I didn't even bother kicking my shoes off because cleaning was an optional anyway in that house, and I for sure wasn't going to start cleaning when I was planning to just get out of there as soon as I turned eighteen.
"Ellie?"
For fuck's sake.
"Aye." I clenched my jaw, making my way past the kitchen without bothering to look inside, I didn't want to see him now and I sure as hell didn't want to talk to him.
I heard him fumble with a few words, but I just quickened my steps and made my way upstairs with a quickness that felt unreal due to how tired and sore I actually felt.
Only when I walked past the door to my room, I allowed myself to kick my shoes off, door locked behind me and bed unmade waiting for me just as I expected.
I let myself fall on it and as soon as my head touched the pillow I blacked out, completely and luckily.
