OCTOBER 15TH, 1989
IT was the wrong day.
The wrong-freaking-day for shenanigans
Lucas could feel his muscles become tense, brows tightening together and his teeth grinding against one another. Frustration couldn't describe the amount of tension he was feeling along his shoulders. It was a feeling that usually rose to his skin when his patience was tested and running thin. He was so close to the edge, toes nearly touching the end of the cliff, ready to lean forward, jump off and explode into a million pieces.
The day was growing slow, the kind of flow that was agonizingly drawn out for no apparent reason. It was a mixture of tiredness and hunger rolled into one with the thought of survival on his mind. It was taking a toll on his body as he stood behind the counter in his uncle's mechanic shop blonde hair along his face in need of a wash, dressed in a white wife beater, deep blue jeans and black work steel toed shoes, trying his hardest not to throw in the towel and walk to the back for some time to himself.
The shop had been bustling with people coming in and out of the shop for a quick fix, there was no time to sit or take a break for the matter when he constantly heard the chiming of the bell above the entrance door.
It was times like this business became a real piece of work.
Lucas realizes now, when you have a strict Uncle who loves to keep a perfect image on his business, you tend to learn through your mistakes of how to run a shit properly. Undoubtedly, Lucas didn't mind working and offering people help with a genuine smile and sincere heart, however it was difficult to not explode out of anger towards impatient, rude ass people.
He applauds his uncle for his lenient attitude, patience, and generous, caring and kind spirit because Lucas couldn't imagine getting cussed out by a customer for some nonsense and just standing there with a smile apologizing for any misunderstanding. Lucas didn't have the heart to lie or hide his feelings, he's too honest for that.
Though the moment you cross the line you might receive a few words of disrespect before getting your ass kicked out the door, it was a family tradition around here.
Fortunately, here he was trying not to become a ticking-time bomb at an angry customer. The elderly salt and pepper haired man had been complaining for a good 15 minutes as to why the hood of his car was not popping open, but instead his truck with a high ranged voice.
He claimed the starter wasn't right and blamed it all on one of the workers for trying to repair it after he told the worker he would wait on Louis. "Now I'm late for my meeting because this stupid starter remote control won't work!" He complains and then slams the remote onto the counter, "I don't have time for this shit. I've been coming here for a while now and it seems like every time I come here I always have a problem with you guys."
And honestly it didn't make any sense as to why people still give their services out towards companies knowing that they are trash. They expect something different yet still get the same results.
However, in this case it wasn't the shop itself causing all the trouble, it was who was behind it all.
Lucas stares at him, slowly breathes in and out, telling himself to calm down, to not blow a casket and just relax. "Sir, have you ever wondered if you're pressing the wrong button? Some people do that, and they don't realize it." It was like he was explaining himself way too many times. Lucas looks at the starter frowning up to see if anything was wrong, of course he would have to test it off first to find the problem but for now the remote looked fine.
With the roll of his neck, arm rested on the counter and his other hand on his hip, he leans in forward and asks, "Do I look stupid to you?" Lucas was startled, blinking a few times up at the man before saying "umm," from the way the man was looking at him, he was sure if he had answered that, the customer would nearly blow Lucas' head off.
Yet Instead of dwelling on the subject and possibly causing an outbreak, his lips form a thin line and give a firm nod, taking the keys and giving the man a forceful smile. "I'ma just go check on the problem. Be right back." He struts off faltering the smile into pursed lips walking past some of the guys in the garage over to the car.
Lucas stood before the deep navy-blue Cadillac messing with the buttons to then roll his eyes with a huff when he figured out the issue. "Hey, Unc," Lucas calls out, brushing his bangs from his face behind his ear to look over and watch his uncle's attention deprived from the conversation. "Can you come take a look at this for a sec?"
"Yeah wassup?"
"I don't know, it's acting funny or something."
"Alright, let's see here." Walking over to his nephew with a confused look, Lucas demonstrates the problem with the remote control. It indeed proves that the truck and hood buttons were reversed. Humming at the problem, Louis takes the remote and examines it, "Hmm, that's interesting, whose is it?"
Lucas gulps, scratching the back of his head for a moment and murmurs, "It's Paul's." He answered nervously.
Louis didn't look up as he began unscrewing the remote to look at the wires "Not Paul Anderson, right?"
The blonde boy's eyes drifted elsewhere, feeling himself become drained as he sighs out loud, "yes, Anderson."
Louis stops what he's doing and looks past his glasses at him in bewilderment. "Paul?" The glasses that once sat perfectly on his nose were snatched off in between the tight grip of his fingers and watched as his brows frown, "Paul? As in Paul Anderson? As in the same Paul Anderson that just came back from his car!?"
"Yes..." Lucas states hesitantly. "He's back and well . . . now he's not looking so happy."
"Well of course not genius," Louis states sarcastically and rolling his eyes aggressively as he waves the remote around his hand, "the moment I finally got this man off my back he's back with another problem," Louis sighs, "Alright, just hang tight." walking to the back to fix it up, Lucas strolls over to the coffee machine feeling himself grow tired.
"Hey, Lucas!" Someone calls out, motioning for him to come over. "Come over and give me a hand, would ya?" Lucas tiredly looked over his shoulder, lifting the white cup to his lips, taking a sip of the hot cup of joe as his blue eyes glanced at the ginger haired man working on a car, and instructing him to do what he had asked. Lucas took his time over and he sat himself patiently inside the car, leaned back lazily in the driver's seat finally happy to relax for a moment.
"I told Angelina I wasn't going to deal with her bullshit anymore. I'm tired of hearing her high voice nit-picking at every little thing I do." A tall, well-built man strolled in cooly, loud and clear, for everyone to hear about his marital problems back home. Greg had just entered inside the garage with his sidekick Reggie, a British redhead exhausted from whatever he was doing. Hair pulled back in a messy bun wiping away the sweat, dirt and grime from off his face with a white rag.
The bastard was lazy at times, hardly got stuff done and yet still talked shit while he sits back on his leather chair critiquing everybody as he smokes a cigarette and drinks a few beers here and there.
They immediately head to one of the cars, examining the engine and making sure everything was good. Reggie stood beside him with crossed arms watching as Greg grabbed the keys and started the car up while intensively listening to him complain about his wife. "Why don't you divorce the woman? You've said it yourself that you were done with her." Reggie questions with a gravelly voice.
Greg steps out of the car and looks at Reggie, as if he was stupid. "If I do then I'm screwed, her whole family will be after me."
Reggie rolls his eyes, "tch, Jesus Christ." Greg married himself into a rich family who believed in fixing all their problems with money, yet he had been the black sheep in the family, falling in and out of love with his wife Angela for a while now. She happens to be very high maintenance with a snarky attitude. Lucas didn't understand how those two came about considering Greg was nothing of the wealthy sort and worked in a mechanic shop earning minimum wage and looked like your average Joe down the street.
Certainly, all his friends warned him not to marry her because he was eventually going to get annoyed by the woman, but no, he married the woman and now he wants to divorce her. Lucas could only shake his head, turning back to what he was doing, he had gotten out of the car to help the man with checking the engine.
"You got a lucky gal in your life yet?" Rocket asks, wiping the dirt from his fingers for a moment.
Lucas shrugs, gripping the edge of the car, "Uh not exactly."
"Not exactly?" Rocket inquires with a scoff, "What kind of answer is that? It's either yes or no, kid, which one is it?"
"I haven't asked her out yet..." He clarifies.
"But you like her?"
"Yeah. . ."
"So, this tenderoni, is she sweet? Nice? Easy on the eyes? Beautiful? Does she give you that uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach every time she's around?"
Lucas nods with a hidden smile, "She's a gorgeous girl, I really like her."
"Then why don't you ask her out?"
"She's tough, ya know? Hard as nails, sometimes it's difficult to get through to her. She also thinks I want her for the wrong things."
"Well, do you?"
"At first, yes, but down the line . . . I changed my mind."
"Hmm," With a sigh, Rocket throws the towel on the table, and turns towards the car. "When I was your age, I used to be a charming fella, had a thing with the ladies from time to time and would occasionally get myself in trouble but nothing too serious, until I met my late wife." He chuckles, shaking his head at the memory, "Now that woman . . . she was a piece of work, but Lord knows she was a sweet lady."
The mention of his wife made Lucas' ears perk up. There was a different tone to his voice Lucas had never recognized, a curious glint in his eyes at the way Rocket described her showed nothing more but admiration over his face. When he sat down on the stool staring attentively in interest, Lucas couldn't help but to think of all the years he's known Rocket, he's never been the one to get mushy and talk so seriously. Hearing him speak on this was heartfelt and sweet.
Lucas wished half the time his father would talk about his mom so highly like that, maybe then it wouldn't feel like he was discarding her late existence.
"She was such a gorgeous woman. Very innocent, church girl type thang. She always smiled, loved love and had such a bright personality, and was very different from the other girls. Farah was her name, she would . . . come to school and somehow be bullied by your favorite asshole, only because i had a huge crush on her and was a jackass at expressing it. It wasn't until we found ourselves locked inside a closet made it known the amount of hatred and annoyance we had for one another that we loved each other." Rocket looks over at Lucas with a small smile, "I'm sure if she was still here, she would tell you how much of a pain in the ass I was." He states jokingly, earning a snicker from Lucas.
"So see kid, you two may not be a thing right now but down the line when you've reeled her in just enough and persuade her with that good charm and motivation, she'll come along, trust me. Do things out of the ordinary, tell her she looks beautiful, make her feel and know she's worth it more than before. Be the sunshine to her rainy days. Make it obvious that you're interested and you're there for her, but be cool and smooth with it, don't act so needy, no one likes a desperate dog, ya hear?"
"Yes, sir..."
Louis came out of his office before Lucas could ask another question, taking the remote in his hand and testing it. "Alright, good as new! Why don't you take it out and pull it up in the front?" He states passing the keys over to his nephew and watches him hesitating to grab them.
"Are you sure?" The look on his uncle's face was in pure seriousness. An answer wasn't received--only meaning that he wasn't in the mood to argue, taking the car keys from his hands and getting inside the vehicle, he backs out of the garage and drives it kitty corner in front.
Cutting the engine off he gets out of the car feeling the sun beam down on his exposed skin and the lukewarm breeze cools his flesh down a little. The weather had been bipolar lately, it was damn near November and yet warm weather was trying to roll back around. Yet he wasn't complaining. Before approaching the door, a chime from the bell above the door was heard along with the sound of an obnoxious voice cursing loudly for all the world to hear.
Lucas had his hand out giving the man the keys that were instantly snatched away."I am never coming back to this shop! It's a piece of shit!━ " Lucas twisted his lips to the side trying his best not to burst out of laughter as he stood by his uncle watching as the man basically waddled his way towards the driver side and steps in.
"Goodbye, Mister." Lucas grins, waving bye only to earn a middle finger from out the window as he drives away. Louis sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose in disappointment and in relief. He shook his head turning back inside the shop for a moment.
Lucas was going to do the same until he heard up ahead shouting from across the street. "Oh, c'mon, miss! I just want your number!" His brows met observing the scene before him to catch a glimpse of a tall man aggressively marching after a girl ignoring his demanding calls. "Is that so hard to ask for?" A black bag was held in her hand after exiting the corner store, making her way down the street with her head down.
The man shouts after her once more but she only rolls her eyes. "Leave me alone, sir." Lucas heard her say, but the man wasn't having it. Instead of smiling like an idiot ーhe strides over to her by the light post and gently reaches for her upper arm pulling her to his side seething between his teeth aggressively, "Don't be like that, baby, I just want your number."
She tries to pull her arm away from the man but could only feel his fingers tighten even more. She grimaces at the smell of his breath and the way his palm roughly graces over her soft skin, she feels dirty. "Well, I'm not interested." She voiced out sternly.
"Stop denying me baby," He hisses, gripping at both of her arms and pushing her up against the wall blocking her from running away as his hand reaches to turn her face towards him as he speaks. "I'm getting pretty sick and tired of it."
"I don't want anything to do with you! Now let me go!" She rasped, beginning to fight with him.. The reaction she got didn't settle well with Lucas.
His fists clenched as he watches the older man grab ahold of her upper arms tightly, to the point that she shrieks and reaches up to take his hands off. "Ow! Let go of me." He then harshly slams her against the wall, sometimes shaking her as he hisses vulgar words to her. She heard the sound of her heartbeat quickly within her ears, eyes wide in shock becoming teary eyed at what she was experiencing.
The yellow shirt she wore was thin material that began to rip as she tussled with him, tiny holes forming at the back from scraping against brick wall and onto her soft flesh clean through. His body against her frozen one, she had zoned out feeling herself start to panic and tremble. He was growling incomprehensible words that she didn't care about, but the moment he felt his hand roam elsewhere she repeatedly slammed her fist into his chest yelling for him to let her go.
Her cries became louder feeling the pain shoot up in her arms as he slammed her against the wall, whispering explicit threats in her ear. For a moment she thought her teary vision was playing tricks with her as she saw another figure appear from behind. She wasn't given the opportunity to react as a fist collided to the side of the man's jaw, sending his body to move to the side and meet with the ground.
Everything became background noise. She slides down to the ground with her hands clenched at her heaving chest, feeling her breathing become rigid as she tries to get the images out of her head, mumbling incoherent words to herself. Her eyes roam to observe her surroundings once more. Her hands met with her face wiping the tears from around her eyes, to comb through her hair and pull at her roots.
Suddenly flinching to feel hands gently touch the sides of her arms, a tall young man smelling of car oil and strong cologne kneels before her shielding her away from the sun. "Hey, everything is alright." He noticed immediately her irregular breathing, and the sight of her hands trembling out of fright. He frowns, allowing his face to be directly in front of hers so their eyes could meet, thumbs stroking at her upper arms gently as he states softly, "You're okay, you're safe." His voice was calming, his hand reaching down to grab Liberty's hand and rub her palm in shapes. He repeated himself, comforting her and letting her know everything was okay till she repeated it back, till she started to familiarize herself with the person before her. Mahogany eyes staring longing into his blue ones for a moment and frowns, "Lucas?" She squints eyeing between his lips and eyes once more.
Louis and Rocket had come from out of the shop with crowbars in their hands as they defended the two youngsters standing from the ground slowly with his arms guarding her. The older man was taken back and stumbling to the side, with his hand checking the gash on his cheek gushing with blood. "Who the fuck are you?" The man glares at the boy.
"It doesn't matter who I am, what matters is you don't ever put your hands on a woman." He warns roughly listening to the man chuckle glancing over at Liberty. His laugh begins to taunt her as he points over at him, "Is this your little boyfriend or something? The one from the diner? Some hero to come save you?" He teases her.
"I'd advise you to leave before things get ugly around here." Louis warns with a strong grip to the bar, waiting for the creepy guy to do something. Liberty's hands grip the back of Lucas' shirt, feeling herself still trembling like a scared little kid peeking from behind at the older man glowering. He spits blood at the ground and walks from their line of sight. Before she could process what happened, Lucas had bent down to grab her stuff. "C'mon," he mumbles, taking her hand in his as they cross the street over to the shop.
Louis had already bandaged his nephew's hands up and given him an ice pack, Liberty was seated at the table waiting for his return quietly thinking in her head. Lucas watched from ahead seated at the couch leaned forward on his knees as he pats the ice pack over his knuckles staring attentively as her knee bounces uncontrollably, "hey," He catches her attention swiftly, her brows lifting a little giving him a soft hum, "you're safe, okay?"
Liberty's eyes flickered elsewhere yet nodded at his response. Then came Louis with more supplies nudging at his nephew's shoulder, "You're off for the day, alright?"
Lucas was gonna protest feeling that that wasn't necessary, but from the look Louis was giving him, Lucas nodded defeatedly. Because knowing him, he would still be trying to help around the shop with injured hands. "Yeah . . ." Mumbled the young boy hissing as he massaged the muscle that was aching a bit at the back of his shoulder, sitting up straighter to stretch it.
As she sat there still allowing this man who looked dangerously identical to Lucas clean at the back of her shoulders she couldn't help but to feel bad for getting them into the mix. She was undoubtedly grateful of course but the last thing she wanted was to cause trouble. "I'm sorry . . ." She apologizes softly, feeling her hands collide together and thumb rubs against her knuckles. Not wanting flinch while he cleans up the specks of blood on her ebony skin.
The man hummed and for a moment it was silent till he began to speak, "What kind of girl like you get into the mix of all that?" Louis asked, trying to be half amusing.
Liberty bites at her lip and shrugs, "None of the rough type, sir, it just happened. . .I guess." She states truthfully.
"Well, thank God that asshole didn't go any further," Louis sighed, "had it not been for my nephew being there, who knows what would've happened next."
"I appreciate this nonetheless, sir.." She says gratefully.
"Call me Louis, miss. Not usually the 'sir' type, makes me feel old." Louis corrects.
"Liberty." She replies and Louis hums, "Nice to meet you, Liberty. I'm assuming you and my nephew go to school together?"
"Yes, sー um,i mean, yes . . ." She coughs, fixing her shirt over her torso before sitting over by Lucas on the couch and gets comfortable in place to see Louis gaze over his nephew in complete embarrassment. "Hm, he doesn't give you a hard time, Miss. Liberty, now does he?"
Ocean eyes roll in annoyance, "Uncle..." he grumbles giving the old man a look.
She giggles. "No, no, he doesn't." Despite knowing so little of each other yet somehow having a deep connection, he was happy to hear those words come out of her mouth. He didn't want to get attacked with a million questions from his uncle later on.
"Well, I'm glad." Louis gives her a warm smile before giving his nephew a squeeze on the shoulder. "I'll leave two alone now, gotta go see what these lunatics doing out here."
The silence was engulfed after Louis had left the office to leave them alone. It dawned on Lucas as he stared at his bandaged knuckle of how that man's reckless behavior caused her to have a panic attack. Watching her in pain between him and that wall ー constricted from doing anything ー made Lucas feel like a little kid again when his mother was in that same exact position with his father. It reminded him of the abuse, the pain and the constant tears 一 watching as his father would hurt his mom repetitively, as if she was a punching bag.
Liberty lifts her head to see Lucas staring bothersome at his knuckles, brows knitted, lips thin and body tense. "Hey," her hand was placed gently at his forarm makinv him snap out of his trance hearing her say, "i'm sorry." Tilting her head to the side to gloss over the side of his face.
To say he didn't feel some type of way from her angelic touch would be a lie from the pits of hell. It was warm and gentle, it was a nice feeling he enjoyed deeply.
He leans back eyes trained on her, a slight ping of confusion on his face as his hands move to settle on his lap and look at her with such soft eyes, "for what?" His voice was as smooth as butter yet he gulped his nerves with the quickness.
Her emotions were all over the place considering she had a slight panic attack after the conflict. Embarrassment, joy, astonishment, and other emotions in between were flooding her. In all honesty, she wasn't mad that he interfered with the altercation; she just didn't want him to think trouble followed her.
"For bringing you and your uncle in the mix of all that." She tries to explain. Liberty felt ashamed for allowing some man to try to make a pass at her and not allowing herself to take care of the situation better, putting herself in that position made someone else get hurt in the process.
But Lucas shrugs it off, eyeing her with a small smile and leans back on the couch placing the ice pack on the table. "There's no need to be sorry." He defends, "He hurt you, and hurting someone 一 especially a girl, isn't okay."
Liberty nods, "I understand, but still . . . it shouldn't have happened."
"Are you okay though?"
"Yeah, I think so . . ." She hesitantly looks up at him, feeling her hands come between her thighs and shoulders scrunch up out of shyness, allowing their eyes to connect, "Are you?"
With an exhale, he nods, "I'll be fine, just wanna make sure you're all good, considering you had a panic attack."
"Oh yeah . . ." She was about to curl up in that shell again, yet Lucas doesn't allow her, instead, his shoulder bumps her, gaining her attention effortlessly and says, "Hey, believe me when I say this, don't be ashamed, okay? We are all human and we all have our issues. Don't blame yourself, alright? Things just happen . . . for reason, I suppose. "
"Hmm, I guess you do have a point." She chuckles nervously, leaning back with her arms and legs crossed looking at him with a smile on her face.
That earned himself a smirk. "Well when you live in an imperfectly perfect world you tend to know your shit."
The clock hung above the door ticking, striking near 6, her eyes widened in realization that she should've been home by now. "Aww shit, I gotta go!" Liberty abruptly stands to her feet fixing the sleeve of her yellow shirt.. "My parents are going to cuss me out."
Lucas stands up watching her rush to grab her stuff, "I can take you home."
Her cocoa eyes glanced at him up and down before shaking her head quickly, "Uh, no. I can't let you do that."
"Tch," Lucas mugs her for a minute, "I'm not about to let you walk home by yourself, in the dark."
"No, seriously, I'll be fine, okay? I've walked home plenty of times, trust me." Liberty turns thinking she would walk out of the office yet there he was, body blocking her way as his arms crossed over his chest with a blank expression. "I'm either driving you home or we're going to stay in this room for a while until we can figure something out." He states with two fingers out signifying her options.
She sighs out of irritation, with a roll of her eyes and crosses her arms, "Lucas, you can't be serious?" She glares at him. Her convincing didn't seem to phase him so much as she'd hope for. It made him feel on edge by the thought, after the previous event, he wasn't letting her out of his sight until he confidently knew she was safe.
Grabbing his car keys and studying over her posture, his eyebrows knitted together, "I'm as serious as a heart attack." He examines the chocolate girl raise her eyebrow at him, moving the curls from her face,sending a sweet scent of lavender and honey to linger in the air and cause his stomach to churn.
The only reason she didn't want Lucas to take her home was because her dad was gonna have a freaking tantrum and she really didn't want that. His hands were buried into the pockets of his jeans leaning against the door frame now with a blank ex[ression.
With a huff, she claims defeat. "Fine, fine!" She states waving her hands in the air "You can take me home."
He smirks, "Excellent choice, mademoiselle.." With that he turns on his heel and lets his uncle know he'd be back, hearing her follow in pursuit to the back of the shop. The sun was beginning to set once they came outside and walked to the car. "Ya know for someone who talks about issues, you're real stubborn you know that right?" They come up to a slick black Pontiac firebird, her passenger door opened by Lucas for her to get in.
"I've been told worse," He states smartly shutting the door before coming to his side.
She snickers, "I bet you have."
The ride back home was silent and peaceful, neither of them not saying anything and didn't realize how close to home she was as they were equally consumed by the thoughts transpiring in their heads. Liberty blinked once more at the sight of her house, she sighs feeling the car park on the side of the curb and looks over with a small smile. "Thank you for everything."
Lucas nods, 'Of course," returning the gesture allowing his hands to rest at his thighs. "I'll see you at school then?" He asks.
Her curls move with each nod, telling him 'Of course' before stepping out of the car. He sat there patiently observing her walk towards the front door, unlocking it with a set of keys. Before she heads inside, she turns around to give a small wave, raising his hand in the air with a smile before driving off with a content sigh.