39. Chapter 39
Chapter 39
Matt
M y phone dropped heavily on top of Oliver’s tool cart, the case causing it to bounce and send sockets rolling around. There was probably a fresh crack on the screen of my phone. One socket ricocheted off a rachet, tumbling over the edge and hitting the concrete with a loud ping, rolling over to the next bay.
“Whoa, what’s going on?” Drew asked as he caught the socket with the side of his boot. “If you’ve got some anger to get out, I have a brake rotor I could use some help knocking loose.”
I shoved my hands in my pockets, glaring at my phone. It had been quiet all day. A few times I thought I felt it vibrate during class, the sensation causing my heart to skip a beat each time. Later I would check only to find that I didn’t have any new notifications. She needed space, I could respect that. I really could.
I just missed her.
I missed her silly updates of how her day was going.
I missed her random thoughts of plans for us.
I missed her telling me she couldn’t wait to see me after work.
I had a nagging feeling she wasn’t asking for space for herself to process things. She had said she thought we both needed time to think about things. Did she think I was going to change my mind? Was this her starting to push me away to make me change my mind?
I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt. “Tell me what to do,” I said to Drew. Working at the shop had been my first job as a teenager. Pop said everyone should know how to do basic maintenance on their own car. The summer that Oliver, Ava, and I all worked here was one of my favorites. There was a time after my breakup with Liz that I had considered giving up my teaching job and moving back here to work at the shop while I waited for a position to open. I had been doing the maintenance on my own car at that point, and while I was rusty about a lot of things I knew it wouldn’t take any time for me to relearn things.
Oliver told me he’d kick my ass if I did that. It didn’t matter how much the shop needed help; he was not going to let me give up everything I had worked so hard for.
Oliver lifted his head up from the engine he was bent over. “You’re not working in your school clothes.” He waved an arm over to the break and locker area. “Go change.”
“Is there anything my size in there?” Oliver was shorter than me with a stockier build. Drew was closer to the same height but thinner. Wade was both taller and thinner. There was no way any of their clothes were going to fit me.
“Your old coveralls might still be in there,” he said. Yeah, my old coveralls from the awkward teenage years that had lasted all the way up until my early twenties. I had been about Drew’s size back then and the pairs of coveralls had been two sizes too big since they were extras. Pop had been adamant that the job was just a stepping stone and thought if he ordered me my own uniform I’d think it was more permanent.
I pointed at my phone on the tool cart. “Do something with this. I can’t keep looking at it.”
My old locker still had my name on it, the label yellowed and faded over the years. Oliver had made a lot of changes in the past year to the shop, but the employee area felt like stepping back in time. There were still lockers for Pop and Oliver’s dad. The only people who ever worked here were family so there wasn’t a need to keep swapping out the names for new employees.
My backpack fell out when I opened the door, just like always. The backpack I shoved in there after the last day of class senior year. It was unzipped, loose pages and textbooks hitting the ground around my feet. I guess that’s where the books I thought I lost were this whole time. That day had also been the last day that Pop let me work, telling me that I needed to spend the summer having fun before I went off to college. “You’ve got plenty of time to work ahead of you. It’s time to enjoy being young and irresponsible right now,” he said to Oliver and me both. The two of them had fought about it all summer.
There was a wadded-up pair of clean coveralls shoved in the back. I shoved everything else back in, slamming the door closed before another avalanche could start. I pulled the coveralls over my school clothes wishing I had brought a change of clothes with me. I usually packed a change for after work but I had skipped that today, a reminder to myself that I couldn’t go to see Riley. Memories of being seventeen washed over me.
“The gang's back together,” I announced back out in the shop. I motioned to my clothes, “told y'all I’d grow into them eventually.” Oliver grunted out a laugh.
“Why are you here instead of with Riley?” he asked.
“We’re taking some space away from each other today.”
Drew winced and held out a mallet. He gestured to the rotor that was stuck and showed me where to hit it.
“I told you to stop being clingy,” Oliver barked. He stopped what he was doing to watch us. I slammed the mallet against the rotor. The impact sent shockwaves up my arm that made me feel more agitated. A hand gripped my forearm, pulling my arm back from taking another swing. “You’re going to hurt yourself doing that.” I couldn’t tell if he meant how I was hitting the rotor or how clingy I was.
I couldn’t help it. Up until yesterday Riley had made me believe she liked when I was clingy.
I don’t think I want you to ever stop touching me.
I think you’ve ruined me for all future first dates.
I like how clingy you are.
I’ve never wanted something this much.
I think I’m just into hot, nerdy Matt.
Sometimes she was just as clingy as I was. She always came up with reasons why I couldn’t leave just yet at the end of the day, always reaching for me if we weren't touching, always leaning into my touch. She broke all our rules more than I did.
“At least he’s smart enough to not let the woman he loves get away,” Drew said. I almost gave myself whiplash turning my head to look at him in shock. Drew didn’t say things like that. He pushed the wheel he held onto the front of the car.
“Kid, I’m not taking relationship advice from someone that’s never had one.” Oliver turned his back to Drew, missing the way his ears and face turned blazing red. Drew was five years younger than us, and as far as we knew a late bloomer when it came to everything including dating. I’d never even heard him express interest in anyone, not that we were close enough for him to feel comfortable telling me those kinds of things. His hands shook as he put the lug nuts on the wheel.
“Maybe you should take it easy on him,” I reminded Oliver. “What if we hang out like old times tonight?” I asked Drew. Like really old times when Drew and Wade were young enough to beg to hang out with Oliver and I. Wow, we were getting old. “We could have a Mario Kart night.”