you’ve been coming to eddie as your mechanic for a few months now. your friend dustin loves him, and assured you he’d never rip you off. for eddie, he swears it was love at first sight. you’d set and appointment, showed up ten minutes early. you were wearing denim shorts and a tank top, sipping on a soda so cold it was sweating in your hands. you handed him the keys to your old suv, telling him you read in the manual to take it in for maintenance every few months. you sat in the lobby while he worked, and he tried not to stare. he’d charged half of what he usually would, but didn’t tell you that.

the next few times you dropped in weren’t any better. you brought him a coke, holding your own drink in your other hand, keys between your teeth. you started sitting outside while he worked, since the weather was nice (he’d checked it before scheduling you)

you don’t have an appointment today, when you show up in the cab of a tow truck. the side of your car, the drivers side, is smashed in. you’ve got a bandaged wrist, and you’re moving like you’re sore, like everything hurts. he rushes to help you out of the tow truck, thanking the driver, handing him a cash tip.

“oh my god, darlin’, what happened to you?”eddie asks, brushing your hair out of your eyes.