Chain Link

Chapter 03

 Alessa's thoughts had long drifted away from her brother and his problems. Instead they had headed towards the short story that she needed to translate by this evening. If only she had taken her laptop with her. She could have at least done something today. Her day off was supposed to be useful.

Instead it had just turned to a day filled with nothing.

A loud slam of a car door turned her attention towards a guy with brown cropped hair walking out of a black sleek car. He was wearing just some jeans and a t-shirt, but she assumed that she was the employee that she had been waiting for.

At least she hoped that he was the employee.

She stood up as he approached. She briefly brushed some dust of her skirt, but then realized that he could probably care less about how she looked like.

A charming smile crossed his face. "Good afternoon, miss. I hope that you haven't been waiting for too long."

Finally somebody who was willing to help.

"No, I haven't been waiting too long. It's probably only been a few minutes," she lied with a bright smile on her face. It hadn't been a few minutes. It had been a good thirty minutes but she had long resigned to the fact that she wasn't going to get anything done.

His shoulders seemed to fall down a little. "Good," he breathed out. "So what's the problem with your car?" He asked as his hand motioned towards her car.

Her eyes turned to look at the car for a few seconds before she turned her attention back towards him. "I'm not really sure what exactly is wrong, but I can't seem to get it to start. It always has trouble starting but this time it never managed to start."

The guy nodded at her. "Do you mind if I try?" He asked.

She shrugged. "Go ahead," She told him before giving him the keys to her car.

He quickly grabbed them before stepping into the car. She took a couple of steps away as he put the keys into the ignition. He tried a couple of times like she had done before but the car never started. It just remained silent.

He quickly stepped out before giving her the keys. His eyes quickly scanned Alessa up and down. "You drive a manual?"

She smiled. "Yeah."

An impressed smile appeared on his face. "There are not many people that I know that I can drive a manual. And no offense or anything...," he trailed off.

"But I don't seem like the type to drive a manual," she finished for him.

He nodded with a grateful smile.

She shrugged. "Less likely that my car is going to be stolen."

He chuckled. "That's true." It was silent before he returned to the reason that was causing her to get nothing done today. "So there could be a couple of things wrong with your car, but I feel like there is either something wrong with the starter or the alternator."

She frowned since neither of those terms sounded very familiar. "How long would it to get either of them fixed?"

He shrugged. "It depends. If it's the starter, we would have to get a new starter. I'm not sure if we have any that would fit for your car so that could take a couple of days. If it's the alternator, I should be able to fix it in little more than a hour."

She sighed. "With my luck today it's going to be the starter," she muttered.

He laughed. "Well let me check it out. For all you know, your luck might be going up," he said before going inside the garage to grab some tools. When he returned, he opened the hood of the car. She stood next to him as he did various things to do the inside of her car.