(Y/n's POV)
After a long and boring plane ride back home, I called a taxi to take me home. The first place I asked for was Sam's house. He and I have been friends since we were kids. Even if I'm older than him, I grew up with him. He's like a little brother to me. A really annoying but fun brother. The taxi stopped in front of the house and paid in advance, and I stepped out while grabbing my duffel bag. I stepped up to the door and rang the doorbell.
The door opened and the familiar mother of my best friend stepped up, her face immediately brightened up and she smiled.
"Oh my God, (Y/n)! Welcome back!" her happy expression made me smile and she pulled me into a bone crushing hug.
"Hey, Mrs. Witwicky." I said through her tight hug. She pulled me away and held my shoulders.
"Oh please, you can call me Judy, hon! I've known you since you were so tiny and since Sam was still in diapers. You don't need to be so formal." Judy said with a smile.
"Force of habit, I guess." I chuckled nervously.
Ron came into the room and saw me, and he smiled. "At ease, soldier."
"Mr. Witwicky. At your service!" I said jokingly, and they all shared a laugh.
"What are you even doing here? I thought you were stuck in Afghanistan for another few months!" Judy asked, taking me over to the couch.
"Well, I kinda missed being here since my deployment, so I asked my captain if I could come back and see Sammy again since I'm not really needed in Qatar right now. One boring plane ride and taxi ride, and here I am!" I said.
"You could've at least called, I would've had the yard finished before you got here." Ron said.
"It's alright, Ron. No need to worry." I brushed it off, then it clicked to me. "Where's Sam, anyway?"
"I was just about to go pick him up from school. If you want, you can tag along." Ron said, grabbing his keys.
"And miss the chance to embarrass my best friend, count me in!" I said, hopping up off the couch.
"Alright, let's go."
Ron and I piled into his car and drove towards Sam's school, and it was early before they got out so we waited for a little bit.
"So, Sam's gonna be getting his first car, huh?"
"If he can get the 3 A's I asked for. He's already given me the $2,000. Let's just say.. I made a promise to him." Ron said.
2,000? Even that's not enough unless you're getting a piece of shit. I mean...he's always been kind of a cheapskate for as long as I've known him. The bell rang and we watched as students piled out of the school building. Soon, we saw the familiar face of Sam running out of the school with a paper in his hand.
"Yes! Yes, yes." Sam ran into the car, excitingly and sat next to his father.
"So?" Ron asked.
"A-minus. It's an A, though." Sam said, giving him the paper.
"Wait, wait, wait. I can't see." He looked at it. "It's an A."
"So, I'm good?"
"You're good." Sam punched the air in excitement, not even noting me. I cleared my throat and he looked back at me.
"What's she doing here?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I not allowed to see my childhood friend? Damn, then maybe I should just go back overseas for the next, what? 4 years?" I sarcastically complained. Sam rolled his eyes and looked forward as Ron started driving down the road.
"Welcome home." Sam said, making me give him a smug look.
As we drove down the road, the wind blew in my hair and over my sunglasses. Luckily I was wearing a tanktop underneath my uniform and kept the camo pants on, and had my wrist straps on. Ron spoke up.
"I got a little surprise for you, son." Ron started pulling into a Porsche dealership parking lot. Sam immediately started freaking out. Wait, what!?
"Hold up! What!?" I yelled and looked around.
"No. No, no, no, no! Dad! Oh, you gotta be kidding me," Sam said with a smile and Ron decided to ruin it.
"Yeah, I am. You're not getting a Porsche." Ron then laughed, causing Sam's face to fall. He got his hopes up too fast. I even laughed a little.
"You think that's funny?" Sam looked at his father with a disappointed expression. I laughed even more.
"Yeah, I think it's funny." Ron replied.
"What's wrong with you? And why are YOU laughing?" Sam asked, then looked at me.
"What? It's funny when you get your hopes too high!" I said through laughs.
"You think I'd really get you a Porsche? For your first car?"
Ron pulled us into a sketchy car lot where most of them looked old or run down, or even scrapped. I thought I heard something behind me and saw nothing.
"I'm not talking to you for the rest of this whole thing." Sam was not happy with his dad right now.
There was a clown in front of us where he was pouting to where we needed to go.
"Oh, come on. It's just a practical joke," Ron teased him and continued to laugh.
"It's not a funny joke." Sam snapped back.
"You're so gullible, Sam." I said with a smile at how this was unraveling.
"Okay, you. Shut up. I'm still not talking to you."
I rolled my eyes and we parked. We started walking up to the rundown gas pumps and Sam started to complain.
"Here? No, no, no, what is this? You said- you said half a car, not half a piece of crap, Dad."
"When I was your age, I'd have been happy with four wheels and an engine."
I tried teasing him again. This was so much fun.
"Yeah Sam. Try being a bit more grateful you're even getting a car."
"Okay. You, be quiet." He turned to Ron. "Okay, let me explain something to you. Okay? You ever see 40-Year-Old Virgin?"
"Yeah"
Sam started gesturing to the cars that were next to us. "Okay, that's what this is," Sam gestured to his right. "And this is a 50-year-old virgin." I rolled my eyes and looked around. Some of these do look pretty shitty, but it's better than nothing.
"You want me to live that life?" Sam asked his dad. "Hmm?"
"Oh come on, Sam. You're being so dramatic. Look, why don't we just have a look and maybe we'll find something you might actually like. Okay?" I said, placing a hand on Sam's shoulder.
"Son. Listen to me, okay?" Ron said. "No sacrifice-"
"Yeah, no victory."
"No victory." They said in unison. "You know, I got it. The old Witwicky motto, dad."
A man came out of the building, possibly the owner of the work place. He wore a hat, a Hawaiian shirt and tan khaki pants.
"Gentlemen, miss. Bobby Bolivia, like the country, except without the runs." He laughed while saking Sam's hand and then mine. "How can I help you?"
Ron placed a hand on Sam's back. "Well, my son here," Sam looked so unhappy that it made me laugh. "Looking to buy his first car."
"You come to see me?" Bobby said.
"I had to." Sam replied.
"That practically makes us family. Uncle Bobby B, baby. Uncle Bobby B." He shook Sam's hand again.
"Sam."
"(Y/n), nice to meet you, sir."
"Ooh, military girl. Sam, you're one lucky guy!" Bobby teased.
"Oh nonono! We aren't- she isn't-!"
"We're just friends, sir. And yes, I am in the military. Army." I replied. My dog tags shined in the light even under my sunglasses.
"Well, thank you for your service." Bobby said.
"You're welcome, sir." I smiled.
"Sam, let me talk to you." Bobby placed a hand over Sam's neck and led him over to the cars to choose from. "Your first enchilada of freedom awaits underneath one of those hoods." He pointed towards the cars that were lined up amongst each other.
"Let me tell you something, son. A driver don't pick the car. The car'll pick the driver."
Did I just hear an engine hum? I looked over, and saw a yellow and black old Camaro. My eyes widened and my attention went back to Sam.
"It's a mystical bond between man and machine." Bobby said. "Son, I'm a lot of things, but a liar's not one of them. Especially not in front of my mammy." He pointed over to the house next to the lot, and saw an old woman in the yard under an umbrella. "That's my mammy. Hey Mammy!"
She flipped us off.
"Ooh, don't be like that. If I had a rock, I'd bust your head, bitch. I tell you, man, she deaf, you know?" He laughed, making me feel a bit uncomfortable. He pointed over to where the cars were. "Well, over here, every piece of car a man might want or need."
I went ahead and went over to the Camaro. I felt the hot metal of its hood, and something about it felt...right.
"Hello, beautiful." I slid my hands over its exterior and looked inside the car. The seats looked leather and in pretty good shape.
"Hey Sam! Check this one out!" I called him over. He ran over and looked at it.
"This ain't bad," he said.
"Bad? This is probably the best out of all of these I've seen." I said.
"This one's got racing stripes." Sam added.
"Yeah. It got racing-" he stopped and took a minute to process. "Yeah, what's this? What the heck is this? I don't know nothing about this car. Manny!"
While he dealt with that, Sam and I looked inside again and saw that the wheel had some dirt over the logo where you honk the horn. We both got in. Sam in the driver's side and me in the passenger side.
"Feels good." Sam said, feeling the wheel.
"Hey, what's up with the logo?" I asked. Sam wiped away the gunk with his thumb to find that it's a weird face of some kind. Never seen this brand before...
"That's kinda weird. Not a logo I've ever seen before," I said. Sam nodded in agreement.
"How much?" Ron asked.
"Well, considering the semi-classic nature of the vehicle, with the slick wheels and the custom paint job..."
"Yeah, but the paints faded." Sam filled in. Bobby went down to our level to look inside.
"Y-Yeah, but it's custom." Bobby said.
"It's custom faded?" Sam asked.
"That doesn't sound right." I replied, looking at the rear view mirror and the little collectibles on the mirror.
"Well, this is your first car. I wouldn't expect you to understand." He goes back up. "Five grand."
"No, I'm not paying over four. Sorry." Ron replied.
"Kid, come on, get out. Get out the car." Bobby said.
"No, no, no. You said cars pick their drivers." Sam argued.
"Can't we negotiate a better price? This car speaks to us!" I intervened.
"Well, sometimes they pick a driver with a cheap-ass father. Out the car." He backs away and coughed a little. "Now, this one here for four Gs is a beaut." He goes over to the Beetle that was right next to us and opened the door.
"There's a Fiesta with racing stripes over there." Ron said as Sam got out of the car. I stayed in and pet the dashboard.
"No, I don't want a Fiesta with racing stripes."
"Ron, please? Just this once?" I begged. Sam closed the door.
"This is a classic engine right here. I sold a car the other day-" all of a sudden, the camaros passenger side door opened and crashed into the Beetle that Bobby was currently in. I covered my mouth. It caused it to crash into a cart full of car oil and a metal barrel.
"THAT WASN'T ME!" I called out, quickly.
"Geez. Holy cow." Ron said, going over to him.
"No, no, no. No worries." Bobby looked uninjured. That's good
"You all right?" Ron asked.
"I'll get a sledgehammer and knock this right out. Hey, hey, Manny! Get your clown cousin and get some hammers and come bang this stuff out, baby!"
Suddenly I heard the radio turn on and heard a voice say, "greater than man". I was so confused until it said, "cover- your ears."
A soundwave started to build up and I quickly covered my ears as the sound made every cars windshields shatter all around us. Ron and Sam covered their ears. A car alarm went off for a bit before it died down and we all looked up and saw a bunch of shattered glass everywhere. Bobby panted and shouted out.
"Four thousand!"
Sam's face, despite the utter shock and adrenaline, changed into excitement. I smiled and looked at the car. I gave the dashboard a pet.
"I don't know what that was. But you just got yourself a driver." I said to myself.
Finally after paying it off and doing everything, we headed back to Sam's house with his new car.
This has definitely made my trip back here worth it.