Always You

21. Car Wash

"You're absolutely sure you don't need a pair of shoes?" Harry asks me as he looks down at my feet for the hundredth time.

I pick up the bucket and hold it out in front of me so that Harry can fill it with the hose. "I'm positive Harry. You're forgetting I'm Australian. When I was a kid I barely wore shoes."

He cringes. "That's horrible. Imagine how dirty the ground is."

"Yeah, I would pick my food up off the ground too when I dropped it an ate it too. How's that for unhygienic?"

Harry holds his hand up and shakes his head. "Stop stop stop" he lowers his hand once I remain silent. "I'm kidding. Even I believe in the five second rule."

"Exactly. Boosts the immune system." God I sound like such a filthy person.

Harry turns on the tap and then twists the nozzle on the hose which allows the water to spurt out. I hold the bucket away from my body so that it doesn't get all over my clothes. Wet skinny jeans are not comfortable. Wet clothes in general are not comfortable.

I speak from experience. At my 16th birthday party I got thrown into my pool. Not fun. My phone was in my pocket too. Let's just say all the money I got that birthday went towards a brand new phone.

"Wait I forgot something in my bag. I got you something!" I tell Harry. "I'll be back in a second." I run back inside his house and the loud alarm chimes as I open the door.

Harry has a really good security set up in his home. Each time you open a door or even a window, a short alarm goes off.

My black Michael Kors bag is on the lounge and I open it, pushing my lip balm and phone to the side so that I can pull out the plastic that is underneath it.

Inside that plastic is Harry's gift. A shammy.

He said he would just let his car dry naturally but a lot of the time that leaves tiny water droplet prints on your car so after getting groceries yesterday I seen a dollar shop and they had what I was looking for. Although it wasn't one dollar it was five dollars. That shop should change their name, just kidding.

When I return back outside to Harry, he is hosing down his car. He looks over at me when he notices my presence. His eyes then go down to my hands and I hold up the plastic packet which is clear so he can see the yellow shammy inside.

"What is that?" He asks, turning off the hose by the nozzle and walking over to me.

"You don't recognise it?" I throw him the packet and he catches it. "Nice catch."

He looks up at me with a proud look on his face. He's proud of that catch, I know it.

"Aha!" He tears the plastic with his teeth and opens it. "I know what it is now." Harry feels the rubbery sponge with his thumb and forefinger. Then he even sniffs it. "A shammy" he says it using an Australian accent.

"Did the smell give it away?" I say sarcastically and he laughs. "I'm kidding, you are correct though." I applaud him and take the plastic from him, scrunching it up and running over to the bin that is beside the plants. "Yo Harry your bin reeks. When was the last time you disposed of it?"

"I'm always away for bin night" he holds his hands out to the side. "Whoops."

I pick up the car wash liquid and pour it in the bucket. Harry and I pick up a sponge each and put it in the bucket. As we place our sponges inside, the water and the liquid suds mix together to form a bubbly mixture.

We start washing his car and don't really engage in much conversation as we are concentrating on making sure we do a good job of cleaning his car. By the third time I wet the sponge in the bucket, I notice how black the water has turned.