Over the Wall: A Collection of Short Stories (NaNoWriMo 2014)

Day 28: A 1967 Black Chevy Impala

Note: Another short one but keep in mind, I'm on the home stretch! At last count I have 1,421 words left. Wish me luck :)

The car was shiny and black and new and finally hers.

She had been looking for a car ever since she had gotten a license, even a permit, but she hadn’t found a car that was either nice or affordable enough. Maybe this was because she was in love with one car and one car only: a black 1967 Chevy Impala.

It was all because of Supernatural. Then again, she could always blame Cory. It was always easy, and fun, to blame Cory. That’s was what she did no matter what, most of the time joking. She wasn’t necessarily not joking now but there was some logic to it. He had been the one who had gotten her into Supernatural.

Supernatural is a show that as a little over two hundred episodes over a span of ten seasons (the tenth is currently underway) about a pair of brothers named Dean and Sam Winchester. The show is best summed up in the most repeated line of the show, which is: “Saving people, hunting things, the family business.”

The brothers are hunters, people who hunt and kill supernatural things like vampires, werewolves, and demons. The whole thing. Cory had been a fan of the show for a while and had recommended it to her and she had been hooked.

There were many reasons she decided to start watching it. Well, more like three. One, Cory thought she would like it because it was funny and had action. Two, Cory thought she would like it because the two main actors, Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, were hot and he knew that would make her happy. And three, Cory was suggesting something he thought she’d like and they hadn’t spoken in a long time so she didn’t want to ruin that.

This third reason grew when she watched the first episode. In one word, it was terrifying. Even now after watching the entire series she couldn’t watch it without being scared.

You see, when she started watching the first episode it was late, almost midnight. Her family had all gone to bed and the house was dark save for the TV. That’s when she started the show. As she watched, she texted Cory.

She meant to be calm and passive so they could ease their way back into their friendship. Then she got scared and ended up sending him texts in all caps. In the end, they did go back to almost normal but not the way she expected.

Anyway, because of this she was hooked. Soon she was watching all of the episodes, and texting Cory as she went along. Soon it became about how much she loved the show, not the fact that she wanted to stay friends with Cory. That’s how she fell in love with the car.

The car, the black 1967 Chevy Impala, was the family car Dean and Sam drove around the country in. She didn’t want any other car. She wanted that car. That’s why she could blame Cory.

And now she had it. And Cory, the one who had caused her obsession, had brought it to her.

It had belonged to a great uncle, someone he hadn’t met before and if he had somehow met him he didn’t remember it. But that didn’t matter last Thanksgiving, which was only about a month ago, when he met that uncle and that uncle told him about how he was trying to sell his car, a black 1967 Chevy Impala. Cory already had a car but thinking of her, he inquired to how much he was selling it for. It was a steal.

So he bought it off him. He didn’t actually pay for much of it, my parents did, but he paid for it to be repainted. Then, the next month, they gave it to her for my birthday. My parents had Cory drive it over that morning and show it to her.

She had been eating breakfast, french toast, her favorite which her mom always made for her on special occasions, when Cory drove up. She got a text on her phone saying “come outside, you might want to get dressed first.” She was confused but ran upstairs and threw on a pair of jeans and a sweater she had gotten that morning as a gift and ran outside, not bothering to put shoes on.

He was standing on the sidewalk leaning against the car like it was no big deal. She ran to him and he grabbed her in a hug, spinning her around as she did so.

“This better be mine.” She said when he put her down.

“What would you do if it wasn’t?”

“I would kill you.” He laughed and handed her the keys.

“Please don’t. This car is beautiful, I don’t want you running me over.”

“Don’t give me any ideas.” She said, pushing past him and getting inside. Cory walked around the car and got in the passenger seat.

“I’ll put in some music to give you a nice little soundtrack for this.” Cory said, plugging in his phone.

“Uh, no. Driver chooses the music, you should know that. She reached for the phone and he pulled it away.

“Just trust me, okay? You can pick the music every other time.” She sighed and turned on the car as “Carry On My Wayward Son” burst through the speakers. She smiled.

“Fine, I can handle this music.” And took off driving.

They didn’t go far, just around the block a few times. When they came back her parents was standing in the yard. She barely had time to turn off the car before she ran out to hug them and gush a little more. Cory made sure the car was parked correctly and that the music was off before he joined them.

Her parents took a picture of them in front of the car. It was a good and classic picture, Cory’s arm was around her and they were leaning against the car just a little bit and they looked casual and wonderful. She loved the picture so much.

It was the first picture she unpacked when she went to college and it was what she pointed to when people asked who had the great car outside. Long after the car had died (it had a nice long life) she kept the picture and liked to see it whenever she passed where she placed it.

Her shoeless feet along with her sweater and jeans. Cory’s easy smile and arm around her. There was no better picture of them. It was the best present she ever received.