A Blessing In Disguise (BoyxBoy)

Surprises

Ch. 5

I got to the garage maybe ten minutes early, so I waited by Mr Larson's office for him to come. Joe Larson was the owner of this place, the only decent garage in this town from what I'd heard. It was fairly big, there were two other guys working here aside from Mr Larson himself, but we had only met briefly.

   Mr Larson looked a bit intimidating; he was big, bald and had a deep voice that rumbled as he spoke. But he was a nice man, very calm and didn't seem like he was easy to anger, though he did look serious most of the time. He was very patient and didn't blow up on me when I did something wrong, he just told me how to avoid doing it again and then told me how to fix it. For that I was grateful, this was the only job available at the time and I knew absolutely nothing about any kind of vehicle, but since I started here about a week ago I'd learned a lot.

   The door to the office opened up and I assumed that it was Mr Larson coming in, so I looked up to greet him. Imagine my surprise when the silent guy from lunch entered. He looked kind of surprised to see me too and for a while we both just stood there, staring at each other.

   "Hi." I finally greeted.

   "Hey." he said back. Another awkward moment of silence passed with us just standing there, looking around. At last I had it with the awkwardness. Time to put my rusty interaction skills to use.

   "I'm Marcus, by the way." I said, hoping to start a conversation.

   "Kevin." he answered. It kind of felt like he didn't want to talk, but I wouldn't give up that easily.

   "I've seen you around school. What grade are you in?" That was a lie, I had only seen him that one time at lunch, but he didn't need to know that.

   "Junior."

   "Oh. I'm a senior. I just moved here." He just hummed and nodded. I don't know why I said that, but I'd say pretty much anything to start a conversation, the silence was too uncomfortable. Thankfully Mr Larson entered at that moment, saving me from making another failed attempt at starting a conversation with someone who only answered with one-word answers.

   "Son, what are you doing here?" Mr Larson directed the question to Kevin. So he's Kevin's dad? That's a surprise. They don't even look alike, sure they're both tall but that's as far as the resemblance goes. Kevin doesn't look like he has any muscles or fat while Mr Larson seems to have both, and Kevin actually has hair on his head.

   "Mom wanted me out of the house and told me to help out here." Mr Larson just huffed and ruffled Kevin's hair.

   "I assume you have your laptop with you?" Kevin nodded. "There's the desk, knock yourself out." Kevin went to the desk and started to pack up his things.

   "Let's go, boy. We have a lot of work to do. But first, what has happened to your face?" I touched the bruise, wondering what I'd say to Mr Larson. If he thought I was a troublemaker he might not want me around here, but I wasn't the one to start the fight.

   "Um... I -"

   Kevin's voice cut me off, "It was Jake."

   I saw Mr Larson's face darken both with anger, but also with what looked to be pain? He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

   "Come on, boy."

   "Yes, Mr Larson." And just like that we walked out to get to work.

   By the end of my shift, I was exhausted. But it felt good to have worked and knowing that it would pay off in the end made it all worth it. I went back to Mr Larson's office to tell him that I was done for the day and that I'd be heading home, but he wasn't there. Instead I saw Kevin still sitting by the desk, in front of hos laptop.