Page 59 of Cosplay & Consequences

“I get it. I have an ugly pair of shorts back home with holes in them, but I refuse to give them up because they’re so comfortable. I call them my emotional support pants.” I admitted, noticing that he was now biting his bottom lip.

“You’re thinking of me in those shorts, aren’t you?”

“I’m trying to imagine the color.”

His eyes and grin told a different story. I had a feeling my grin was equally as sly.

“Purple and black stripes.”

He chuckled. “That sounds hideous.”

“They are, but they just feel good on me, you know?”

“I had a pair of sweatpants like that. Paige burned them.”

We both burst into laughter. “She couldn’t throw them away like a normal person?” I asked.

“Paige never does anything half-assed,” Danny said, still laughing.

“Then why does she let you keep that ancient BMW?” I asked. “I don’t know how you have any kind of game with that car.”

“Yeah, there’s a story behind that car,” Danny said with a long sigh.

“Am I going to hear it?”

He gave me a little smirk. “I don’t want to let you in on all my secrets, Jessica Richards.”

A flatbed truck pulled into the parking lot. An older man with dark skin and thick glasses waved to us from the driver seat. He spun the truck around so that it was in position with my car before slowly getting out and limping over to us.

“You were still in the garage, weren’t you?” Danny said, his tone was light but almost accusatory.

“Oh, you know how it is, Danny,” the man said, as they both gave each other a quick hug.

“You have other guys to do the work, so you can take it easy,” Danny scolded him.

“I'm fine, Danny. Now, stop being rude and introduce me to your lady friend,” he snapped back at him.

Danny kept his arm around Robby’s shoulder as he turned to me. “Jess, I want you to meet Robby Thomas. Be careful starting a conversation with him, because it’ll never end.”

Robby cackled with laughter. “He’s not wrong,” he said, shaking my hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jess, despite your neglect of car maintenance.”

Danny’s jaw dropped. “Robby!”

“Oh, Paige called me on my way over and told me what’s what with you two,” Robby declared, as he pushed his glasses up on his nose with a dirty index finger. “So, if that’s the case, I have to give her grief.”

Stella’s words once again popped into my head. Some girl he’s falling in love with.

I blushed furiously and tried to shake it off. “I plead the fifth.”

Robby laughed. “Paige was right, I already like you.” He smacked Danny on the back of his head. “Come on, kid. Help me get her car loaded up.”

Danny rolled his eyes good-naturedly, then flashed a smile at me before going to help Robby. Within ten minutes, my car was up on the truck bed, and we all squeezed into the cab of the truck. Danny had asked Robby about his day, launching the man into an endless story about his morning. About his breakfast. About his dog. He provided every single detail about coming into work, what happened with his crew and every customer who came through the garage that day.

Robby was beginning to recount his lunch (He was supposed to eat the salad his wife packed for him but snuck out at noon to get a burger) when we pulled into the garage. I did a double take at the sign above it which read “Finnegan Auto Repair.”

It was a large repair station with ten different bays for repairing cars. The large room smelled of gas and exhaust. Large metal red cabinets with drawers of tools lined up against the back wall. Apart from a haphazard spatter of dark stains across the concrete floor, the entire room was neat and tidy. I tried to ask about the name of the business, but trying to get a word in edgewise with Robby talking was almost impossible.

By the time Robby had finished telling us about his day, Danny and Robby had rolled my car into one of the empty repair bays. Danny had popped the hood and was prepping for a repair when Robby finally said, “-and that’s when I got your call. Now are you sure you don’t want me to stick around and help you?”