To Know Him

part three

Gloria was running late, she could see the clock tower and at every turn, she made on her bike and watched it as it ticked close to 12:30. Bill had told her to meet at noon at the General Store and she was worried that by now, he'd just assume she wasn't going to turn up at all. She pedaled harder which probably wasn't a good idea but she was late and just one more turn away. When she sharply whipped around the corner the bike chain loudly snapped in half. Unable to stop the momentum, her front tire wobbled and took a sharp turn to the left making her skid across the hot road. Her forearm took most of the hit, scraping along the pavement. She sat there stunned, sharply sucking air through her teeth for a moment before assessing the damage. Her legs were otherwise protected by the denim overalls she wore but her forearm looked terrible. It was a stinging, bloody, dirty mess with small bits of gravel stuck to it.

She slowly got to her feet, and just walked her darn bike the rest of the way. Luckily, today would be the last day she'd ever have to deal with her bike like this. She reached the end of the road but couldn't spot Bill's motorcycle anywhere. He left, she decided. She knew she took too long. It took a minute to convince her father to let her spend the day at the "library". Especially since she had to wait for him to come back home after running an errand at church.

Gloria heard a loud whistle to her right near the barbershop. She ignored it, thinking it was one of the few strange old men that liked to hang around outside obnoxiously smoking cigars. The whistle came to her direction again and this time when she glanced over, through the curtain of her hair, she recognized the figure leaning against a familiar pick up truck.

She pushed her hair aside and saw Bill wave at her as he puffed away on a cigarette in the shadow of the barbershop building. Though her arm stung and her leg was most likely bruised up from her fall she giddily walked her bike over to him. He tossed his cigarette when she neared him and that's when he saw her bike chain dragging on the concrete and her terribly bloody arm.

"Are you okay?" They both managed to say together.

Bill forgot about the deep cut on his cheek and the angry red scratch on his neck. Battle wounds from the rumble the night before.

"Yeah... I'm fine. I've had worse," he shrugged it off. "Your arm though..."

"Oh," she sheepishly peered down at it. "I fell, the bike chain-"

"It broke again," he frowned. "That won't be happening anymore, I'll make sure of it." He picked up her bike and set it in the truck bed.

"You're driving Greg's truck?" Gloria asked.

"Yeah, we traded wheels for the day. No way we'd be able to juggle your bike on my bike, ya know?" He playfully raised his brows.

He motioned for her to follow him around to the passenger side and opened the door for her. When he slid into the drivers' side he finally got a good look at her scrape. She really fell pretty hard that much he could tell, any ol' girl would be crying over it but she wasn't.

"Uh, may I?" He pointed at her arm. He gently grabbed her wrist but even the lightest touch made her wince. "Sorry," he muttered as he looked at it closely. He reached over to open the glove compartment in front of her. She held her breath while his face was close to hers and without thinking she touched the cut on his cheek with her thumb. His eyes darted towards her taken aback by her touch.

"Sorry," she quickly drew her hand away, "that must hurt."

"Like I said, I've had worse. But uh there's nothing in here to cover your arm. Will you be alright until we get to my house?"

Gloria nodded. He started the truck and pulled out into the road. He drove fast, he loved speed, but it was the breeze, blowing through the open windows, he was chasing after in the hot summer day.