Chapter 66 Frankie
sixty-six
Frankie
She’s been a good sport about this. Bought pizza for us and brought it out to the shed. Stuck around even though I know this is boring for her. It’s nearly midnight. Way past her nine o’clock “Jake is mine” curfew, and she’s going back to school tomorrow.
She brought a blanket and a beanbag chair from the house. She’s been curled up on the floor, reading. Now it looks like she’s fallen asleep. I watch her breathing; it makes me want to curl up beside her, wrap my body around hers, kiss her awake.
Tyler’s voice shatters my thoughts. “I need you to hold this while I bolt it in place.”
I lean over to help him.
“We’ve almost got it. I can feel it. Frankenstein is about to rise.”
“Frankenstein?”
“Or Frankie. The Nag doesn’t seem to fit anymore. We built this thing from dead car parts, so I think that works. I’m thinking about painting it green. Not lime green like yours, but a dark metallic green.”
“You’re getting way ahead of yourself.” I shake my head. “It has to run first.”
“It’ll run.” He finishes tightening the bolt. “In fact…” He steps back and slams the hood shut.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Only one way to find out. I’m trying it.”
He crawls into the driver’s seat, takes a deep breath, and turns the key. It clicks. Tyler swears, loud. Jess flinches in her sleep.
Tyler walks over to the engine, discouraged. “I don’t get it.”
We both peer into the engine. Tyler tugs on a couple of wires. Moves some things around.
"Did you put gas in it?" Jess asks, coming up behind me.
"Of course I—" Tyler smacks his forehead. “Right.”
He walks over and gets a gas tank from the corner. “How could I have been so stupid?”
He pours in the gas, then climbs back in the car. He stares at the ceiling, maybe saying a prayer. He turns the key.
Jess jumps as the engine roars to life. I stand in dumbfounded amazement.
Tyler is yelling as loud as he can, “It’s alive!
It’s alive!” He revs the engine. “Open the garage doors, Jake. Let’s see if it will actually go forward.
” The gears grind. The car moves out of the garage.
He takes it out and down the driveway, turns around and circles back.
“I can’t believe you guys actually did it!” Jess screams. I wrap her in my arms and kiss her in celebration.
Jess steps back, and Tyler almost knocks me to the ground with his bear hug. “Frankie lives!”
“Frankie?” Jess asks.
“Tyler’s new name for your car,” I explain, “Like Frankenstein.”
“You changed her gender?” Jess puts her hand on her hip.
Tyler wraps his arm around Jess’ waist. “We might as well have, with all that we did to it, but Frankie could be a girl’s name.”
“Are you two going to take her out?” Jess says.
“We can all go,” Tyler says generously.
“No, that’s okay,” she answers. “You and Jake go.”
I can see Tyler struggling with this. “You two go. They were your cars. I’m not supposed to be driving yet, anyway. My license is still suspended.”
Jess starts to argue with him, but I grab her hand. “We won’t go very far.”
“You can’t. I didn’t put much gas in the tank. If you let it run out of gas, I will come looking for you.”
I take it slow, not willing to ruin all of our hard work by being impatient. We drive to the end of a county road. I flip the car around and put it in park.
“Why are you stopping?” Jess asks.
“Shh,” I say, “I’m listening to the engine.”
She unbuckles her seat belt and slides next to me.
I wrap my arm around her shoulders and look into her eyes.
The moon shines through the car window onto her face.
Her hair is all over the place, messed up from her nap on the floor.
There’s a smudge of makeup under one eye.
She's gorgeous. She kisses my neck, and I forget about listening to the engine.
“Are we really going to let Tyler have this car?” She murmurs in my ear. “I mean, it kind of feels like our baby.”
I raise my eyebrows.
“You know—your muscle and my body.”
“Wow,” I brush my hand through her hair. “It sounds incredibly sexy when you say it like that.” I pull her into my arms and kiss her. She reaches her hands up under my shirt and slides them down my back. She leans back on the seat, pulling me with her.
I kiss her lips. She lifts her chin, so I move to her neck, changing my position so I can get closer to her.
The steering wheel and gearshift keep getting in my way.
I wish the seat were longer. “Not a lot of room in here. Have you ever made out in a Mustang before?” I kiss her again and breathe into her neck.
“Never mind, I don’t want to know the answer to that question. ”
“And I know I don’t want to know what you’ve done in a Mustang." She slides her hand across my chest. I couldn’t hear the engine now even if I wanted to. My heart is pounding too hard.
Her phone buzzes. She moves to check it. Fear flashes in her eyes, and she pulls away abruptly.
"What is it?"
"Nothing." She shoves the phone in her pocket.
But I saw the message.
Thinking of you.
"We should probably get back. I don't want Tyler to come looking for us." Jess avoids my eyes.
I want to ask her who the text is from, but I can guess. Stephens gets back in a few months. She told me she broke things off with him, and I trust her, but I get the idea he's the kind of guy who doesn't take no for an answer.