Screen Burn

Episode 3

Mateo got off his bike in one swift move and walked through the door. Jake tripped over the pedal in his haste to follow, looked around to make sure no one had seen him and tried to catch up with his guide.

"He called me Black Beauty, and I told him that was an acceptable name for a horse but not for a woman."

Jake heard this statement as soon as he walked into the store and couldn't help but stare at the woman who was speaking. She was sitting behind a desk, moving her hands to illustrate the story she was telling her friend. The friend who was perched om the edge of the desk, was nodding vigorously in return.

The enthusiastiac story-teller was wearing bright red lipstick, large silver earrings and a bandana that had a pattern of daisies on it. Oddly, her clothes were all black. Perhaps she spent a lot of time with Mateo and had developed a liking for the color. She stopped mid-sentence when she became aware of their presence. A wide grin appeared on her face as she spotted Mateo.

"Matty!" she screeched.

"Hey Gloria," Mateo greeted, wincing at the sound of his nickname.

He muttered something about being in a hurry and nearly sprinted past her to get to a room at the back.

"Can I call you Matty?" Jake asked once they were out of ear-shot, pleased to find something that embarrassed Mateo.

"No. If you do, I'll push you off my bike the next time we go anywhere."

"Harsh!" Jake exclaimed, placing a hand over his heart to feign hurt. "Wait, what do you mean next time? Are we going to be hanging out soon?"

"It's part of the deal, estúpido. Did you forget that quickly? Also, you might have to skip a lot more classes."

"But this is the first semester! I can't afford to miss any more classes."

"Look, you can either skip some classes to get an opportunity to spend time with Astrid, or sit through a boring lecture which she probably won't attend. Life is full of tough choices," Mateo declared, shrugging.

"Don't you have classes yourself? What college do you even go to?"

"I dropped out of college, which is why I don't have any classes to attend."

This revelation was delivered in such a nonchalant way that Jake's attention was temporarily diverted by the car that Mateo had started to inspect. It was a flashy yellow convertible with a customized license plate and painted rims.

"Nice ride," he commented drily, poking the dream-catcher hanging from the rear-view mirror with his index finger.

Mateo made a noise that he guessed was a sign of agreement.

"Wait, did you drop out to work here?" Jake suddenly questioned, turning around to get a better look at the room they were standing in, as if he could assess its worth by doing so.

Two car-lifts occupied most of the space, a few bean bags were scattered near the walls and various tools that Jake could not name were placed on a long table nearby. A few dirty rags and plastic wrappers formed a pile in a corner.

"Does working part-time at a repair store sound like a lucrative career to you?" Mateo snapped. "I dropped out because my family couldn't pay my tuition fees, and needed money to pay off other debts immediately."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, so don't fucking apologize. Don't give me that sympathetic look either."

"This is my normal expression!" Jake retorted, irritation twisting his features into something that didn't look quite so 'normal'.

"That's a pity," Mateo remarked, smiling in a way that could only be described as wicked.