Chasing Empty Spaces

Chapter 2

"Not particularly," Harry quietly mumbled.

"Okay," Louis pensively nodded and looked towards the garage. He jutted a thumb behind him and turned back to Harry, "Well, I'm workin' on a car now."

"Right," Harry rushed out and tightly smiled, "Sorry to be a bother. I'll just -"

Louis breathed out a laugh and gripped Harry's forearm, "Would you just hold on a mo'?" His nose wrinkled as he grinned at Harry, "I hadn't finished what I was gonna say."

"Oh," Harry shakily exhaled bit the inside of his cheek.

"I was saying, I'm workin' a car now, but I'm almost done," Louis' fingers slipped from Harry's arm. "You can just sit with me while I finish, then we can get outta here."

"Okay, yeah," Harry tentatively smiled. "I would have just gone to Niall," Harry fidgeted with his hands and huffed out a small laugh, "But he would have called me a fruit or somethin' like that."

"Right," Louis awkwardly cleared his throat and looked down at Harry's arm. "Oh, shit," He winced and unknotted the bandana from his neck, "M' sorry 'bout that." Louis handed him the cotton fabric and chuckled, "Bit of an occupational hazard."

"M' sure it's not the only one," Harry laughed as he took the bandana and started to wipe the grease off his forearm.

Louis snorted and took a step backwards towards the garage, "You're not wrong."

Harry stepped forward and passed the bandana back to Louis, "Do you just have an endless supply of these?"

"Yes," Louis deadpanned and then turned on his heel.

Harry grinned and followed Louis into the garage. There were three cars loaded inside, each one gutted open as different men worked around them. He kept relatively close to Louis as they snaked through, doing his best to avoid getting in the way of the mechanics. A radio system was perched on top of a metal desk by the far right corner, muffled music barely audible over the sound of tools and chatter.

"Hope you don't mind gettin' a bit dirty, Stud."

"Excuse me?" Harry squeaked, slightly faltering in his step.

"This is basically a grease shop," Louis picked up a tire and set it by the side of the first car, "You're gonna get those nice clothes of yours dirty." He challengingly raised an eyebrow, "Unless, that's a problem for you?"

Harry narrowed his eyes, "Just because I don't work on cars, doesn't mean that I'm afraid of a bit of dirt."

"Excellent," Louis smirked. He patted the lip of the tire, "You can sit there."

Harry sat down on the tire and wrapped his arms around his knees. He appreciatively looked over the cobalt blue car that was parked in front of him, the paint somehow shimmering even in the grime covered garage. The convertible top was pulled back, showing off the sleek onyx leather seats. Louis laid down on a wooden dolly and slid underneath the body of the car with ease.

"What kind of a car is it?" Harry asked after a moment of just metal clanking against metal.

"She's a twenty-seven Talbot AG. Model 14/45," Louis voice filtered from beneath the car. "Six-cylinder. Pretty good shape, overall."

"So, um," Harry hesitated, feeling extremely out of depth, "What's wrong with it?"

Louis grunted something unintelligible before he said, "Transmission error."

Harry tried not to roll his eyes because that didn't help him understand at all. When he didn't answer, Louis popped his head out from underneath the car and smirked at Harry.