Sometimes

North

The night was a bust. 

Well, not a total bust since Mr. Blackbourne was able to identify a person of interest. 

At least I got to catch up on a little shut-eye. 

Brandon insisted I take a nap in the back of the van, which I begrudgingly agreed to. I've been running on fumes the last few days, and my patience has been thinner than usual. I near put Luke through a wall because he's been fucking about on his one course he insisted on taking.

Why?

I don't know.

Keeping up with the Joneses maybe? Thought it would be a good idea with everything else piled on right now, but it's his life. Or, it's what I have been telling myself those last moments before falling asleep. 

I owed him an apology that's for sure. 

A snort from the front is what wakes me. 

Wrenching out my phone from my pocket, to check the time. Three hours. Not bad. 

At least I'll be able to run my errand tomorrow without falling asleep, hopefully. 

The parking lot is nearly empty, just the few odd stragglers and even then, there are likely a number of those that have left them because they're being responsible. 

"What did I miss?" 

Brandon, snickers. Showing me a candid shot, complete with finger tip, of Mr. Blackbourne on stage. 

"Sean got him for his "birthday."" he says, complete with air quotes and I smirk, both in amusement and the death that will inevitably follow tonight's activities. He sighs, rubbing his eyes. 

"You didn't miss anything. It's been a relatively quiet night, a few John's coming out within 20 minutes of entering. Super unusual for an establishment such as this. I think we'll need to get Luke to work his magic to see if they're leaving with something to give us a leg up. Otherwise, we'll be stuck doing the same song and dance until someone messes up. I don't know if we have that luxury anymore." The tone of his voice grows a little darker at that. It sets alarm bells off in my head. I'm about to ask why, when I spot a tiny little figure walking toward a very pink car. 

I've never actually seen a pink car before. 

It's every bit as unusual as you'd expect out in the wild. Brandon sees my interest and he smirks.

"She's quite the character." Fondness etched in his voice. 

His eyes are trained on her from the second she enters the car, to the second the hood of her car pops up and her angrily exiting. 

"Oh man. I told her she should take it in." He mumbles. 

I'm stuck in awe at her rubbing the car, seeming to talk to it to coax it to work. 

"Is she talking to it?" I ask. 

Brandon chuckles, "Very likely. Go on and help."

I glare at him, but he simply raises his hands "I would, but I'm supposed to have left with the rest of the crew. I was working the door earlier, remember? She doesn't know we pulled the switch with Corey so he could plant a few more bugs in there." 

Swinging open the door, "Don't scare her!" Brandon hisses before I slam it shut. It's not my car, and he's pissing me off. 

Don't scare her. 

What kind of a dickhead does he think I am?

I make sure to scuffle my boots on the gravel on the walk over, so as not to alarm her. When her head swivels to my direction, I make sure to put my hands up before asking her if she needs help. I know I'm not the most unthreatening looking person at 3:00 am, but I'm also not about to leave a woman stranded. 

"Uh, yeah. Blossom's engine here doesn't want to turn over." She says, I blink at the name. It suits the damn car so much, that I actually find myself nodding. 

"You named the car?" I ask, dumbfounded. 

"I name every car." She says so very straight faced that I actually believe her. 

"Do you mind if I take a look?" I ask, not entirely sure what I can do about it because it's near four in the morning and I won't have any parts I'd likely need.

She steps out of the way, brandishing her hands in a brilliant display. 

I turn on the flashlight from my phone, taking a look. There's nothing jumping out at the moment. Could be a number of things. 

Her face is right in there, practically next to mine. The proximity startles me somewhat, but it dawns on me how beautiful this girl is. Not in your classical way, I mean there's that too, but she's just so darn adorable looking. Face under the hood of a car with someone she doesn't know, thinking that she'll be able to figure out the puzzle before someone who is familiar with engines does. 

I smirk. 

"Well, I can try putting jumper cables on it, to see if that'll start it, but aside from that I wouldn't be able to do anything more unless I bring it into my shop." She hasn't moved at all, just observing me, observing her car. 

"Well, fuck." is all she says before removing herself from inside the hood.

Which elicits another smirk from me, a tiny woman such as this, swearing, it's endearing. 

"Let's try to jump it then." I say, leaving her to try to gently coax her car to start.

I swing open the driver-side door, motioning for Brandon to skedaddle into the back, "Might want to make yourself invisible here, I'm going to try to give her a boost." Brandon glares at me before making his way toward the back, thinking about it, and lying down as best as he can on the floor. 

It's amusing to watch him try to wedge himself on the floor, but he somehow manages. 

She's waiting patiently, leaning against Blossom as I drive on over. Popping open my hood, I grab the emergency cables I have ensured to tuck under the seat. It's something I insisted upon for each of the guys cars, who's the Nervous Nancy now, huh? 

"Okay, I'll get these all set and we'll see what we can do."

I finagle the cables on each of the cars, positives, negatives, starting them up and, miraculously Blossom starts right on up. 

Good. At the very least she'll be able to get it home. 

 She's squealing excitedly, hopping from foot to foot upon exiting the car, clapping with glee. 

Adorable. 

The smile plastered on her face is reserved just for me and, for a moment, it startles me. 

"Thank you!" She squeals and launches her arms around me, still jumping. She's so petite that she barely clears my ribs. I'm caught off guard again, and manage to awkwardly wrap an arm around her back before she backs off.  

"Look, I would really prefer if I could take a look at it properly, figure out what the actual problem is so this doesn't happen again." I say, emphasizing that this is the best decision, because it will happen again. 

She holds out her hand, waggling her fingers expectantly. It's no clearer to me in the slightest. 

"Phone, please?" 

I fish out my phone from my back pocket without thought, unlocking it for her in the process. I watch in fascination as she adds her information into my phone, handing it back without any nonsense. 

"Text me the address of your shop and I'll bring her by this week. Thank you! I'm going to head on home while she's still running." She says, with a small wave, punctuating her intent to leave. 

I find myself returning the gesture, watching the pink car exiting the parking lot. 

When I get back in the car, Brandon gives me a small wave from his position on the floor, before struggling to get back into the passenger seat. 

"Smitten are you, tough guy?" he says clicking the seatbelt into place. 

My week is certainly looking up.