Across Time

2

It was about a week later when they had found a new routine. It turned out that Dan was there to paint and occasionally help with general repairs. They'd created a new "package" (as Pedro phrased it) where Luke would fix the body and, for extra, Dan would paint over it. It was uncomfortable for Luke to be working with someone, especially someone as animated as Dan had turned out to be. It hadn't taken long for him to get over whatever nervousness he had started with, and once he had, he became a menace. He had a particular brand of songs he played on a speaker that Luke found pretty annoying. Dan also liked to tease and use a lot of flair when he worked. The worst part was how he always tried to make small talk with Luke. The small talk gave Luke physical and emotional pain. It was all he could do to not smack Dan whenever he tried.

When he came in, Luke was in a foul mood. He had forgotten his headphones and there had been a detour on his way to work, making him almost late. When he got to the garage, Dan was already there, playing music on full blast. Luke grabbed a mask as he entered, putting it on. Whenever Dan was painting, masks were required, and it had become easier to just grab and put one on when they first got there. Today, however, was incredibly slow. 

He was messing with a washer and screw that he'd found in his pocket when Dan's speaker played a song that grabbed his attention slightly. When he checked the title he saw it was called Hard Times, which seemed to perfectly fit his day so far. It seemed to be the only song Dan liked that Luke could stand. Dan seemed to notice this and called him out on it. "Finally found one of my songs you can get behind?" he asked slyly, and Luke could feel the stupid grin behind his mask. Not really wanting to engage, he just pulled down his mask and stuck his tongue out, revealing his tongue stud to a surprised Dan. Dan took a second before he laughed and Luke pulled his mask up, feeling victorious.

It wasn't long after that they got a badly wrecked car that needed all hands on deck, which was just about three garages worth of people coming to work on it. The main argument wasn't who was working on what but the radio. Jackson, one of the larger guys, was arguing with Julian on music choice. He had a collection of songs he swore by, but Julian wanted to go with his normal pop songs. In a turn of events, however, it ended being Dan who got control of the aux. Luke had to hold in a sigh. Apparently, Dan's music tastes were inescapable. Dan stuck his tongue out at Luke in almost exact mimicry of what Luke had done earlier. Luke just rolled his eyes. Lindsey looked between them with raised eyebrows, and Luke could hear the gears in her head turning. Sure enough, she suggested that the next week they go do karaoke. To Luke's horror, they all agreed. He tried to back out, but Lindsey put a stop to his protests with a murderous smile. It was inescapable.

Once they had finished the job, everyone parted ways to where they were normally stationed. He and Dan were heading back to their garage when a flashback hit. He'd got onto Dan for sticking out his tongue, and he'd said, "You're mad at me? Little old me?" A reflection of his past came across his vision, and he almost doubled over with the pain that shot to his head. His doctor had explained that it was like deja-vu except across time, and the headaches were his brain trying to pinpoint the memory. The less significant, the more it would hurt for the memory to come up. The visions were his brain projecting the memory to him. They weren't sure why reincarnated memories were so severe, but the only thing that could be done was for Luke to ride it out. Prepared for a whole scene, Luke sat on the ground. Dan looked at him, concerned, but his face was replaced by the smiling face of a friend at a dance hall.

"You're mad at me? Little old me? All I did was try to get you a date!" Ed rolled his eyes at Charlie, slapping him on the back. Charlie had the best intentions, but sometimes his attempts at help were invasive or counterproductive. One such incident of this was when he gave the waitress that had been flirting with Ed a note to meet him at the library the next day. Now, he would have to clean it up.

Charlie never understood why Ed didn't want to date. "There are plenty of pretty girls, and they all like you well enough, so why not give it a shot?" It was true, there were plenty of pretty girls in town, but Ed really just couldn't see himself with them. He had his friends, a stable job, and a slew of book characters to keep him company. Charlie's attempts to "convince" him only made the idea of dating seem worse and worse, especially when he had to let them down. Most of the time it went OK, with them seeing how the notes were Charlie's doing and that he was uncomfortable, but there had been a few times that went badly. One time a girl had insisted she could change his mind and had stalked him for a week, and another girl had burst into tears. One time he'd even been slapped. All he knew was that dating was not for him.

When Luke came back to reality, Dan had called over Lindsey, who was explaining that he had chronic pain issues that often showed up as headaches and that all he needed was to sit and rest. She seemed to realize that he'd come around and helped him out. "Explain to him you're ok," she demanded, turning him towards Dan. He confirmed to Dan that it was just headaches and that all he could really do was sit and wait them out. 

Dan, with one final expression of doubt, went back to the garage. Lindsey then turned on him. "You're going to have to tell him eventually about the flashbacks." Luke just shook his head. He couldn't. All he'd get was pity, and that would just make him feel worse about it. Dan would forever see him as the guy who hadn't died peacefully in his past life. It wasn't the thoughts they had, it was the special amounts of care people gave him when they found out. All it was was trouble.