Four Play: A Collection of Novellas Read Free Page A

another five minutes. Is there anything I can get you while you wait?” His eyebrow shot up. “A bottle of water. A soda? Perhaps a nice dress?”
    I glared and felt my nostrils flare. I looked down at my outfit: baggy jeans, a sleeveless T-shirt, old tennis shoes. And of course, a baseball cap.
    I ignored his chauvinistic response. “I thought this was supposed to be Jiffy Lube. This is more like…” I trailed off, suddenly at a loss for the right word. “… Slow and Gradual Lube.”
    A laugh bellowed from his chest. “Ah, yes. I suppose. But that would denote a completely different kind of service that we offer here, wouldn’t it?” He continued laughing as he tapped the roof of my Fairmont. “Sit tight, Butch. You’re up next.”
    Butch.
    Butch?
    Butch!
    I waited until he turned the corner before I took several deep breaths and gripped my steering wheel.
    Anyone else would’ve seen my wrath long before this. Why I hesitated breaking his face, I couldn’t say. Instead, I sat in a half-pissed, half-pouting huff in my car.
    I’m not that butch.
    The line crept forward and the SUV ahead of me drove away. After an audible swallow, I set my foot lightly on the gas.
    Nolan stood at my ten o’clock, waving me forward. His strong hands and wrists flexed as he motioned my vehicle ahead. He kept his eyes down, watching my wheels align with the track, and once I got close enough, he motioned for me to stop.
    He approached my window while sticking a dirty rag into his back pocket.
    “How many miles are on her?”
    I glanced down at my odometer and tried to make sense of the numbers, all while feeling a rapid pulse in my neck.
    “One hundred seventy-four thousand, two hundred eleven.”
    He nodded, and typed the numbers into the computer.
    “Can you see the screen?” he asked, tilting it in my direction.
    “Yep.”
    “Is this still your address and phone number?”
    Nodding, and feeling deplorably exuberant about the fact that I would never need to volunteer that information, I sighed and scratched my temple.
    I rolled my eyes inwardly at the giddiness that had suddenly taken over my entire being. I glared at my reflection in my rearview mirror. The giggling fifteen-year-old girl inside me was jumping up and down wearing a fucking miniskirt while waving two pompoms.
    “Good. Hi, Jack.” He winked. “My name is Nolan, and I’ll be underneath you today.”
    I took a sharp inhale and my eyes popped out from my head until he continued.
    “This is Johnny. And he’ll be on top.”
    I tried not to laugh, but my snicker betrayed me. Johnny nodded and I watched as Nolan jogged down the steps, laughing at my facial expression.
    “Hello, Jacqueline. I’m Johnny. I’m going to have you turn your high beams on, and we’re going to check your blinkers, tires, and fluids.”
    I nodded and completely blocked him out. The acute awareness that Nolan was now underneath me had given my lady bits a jolt; precariousness bounced in my gut, and lightheadedness clogged my mind.
    I was no longer concerned about my classes for the summer. And I don’t think I thought about my lunch date with Wanda once. Moreover, I didn’t care about the roster for next week’s game.
    This was very bad.
    I’d heard Johnny shouting numbers like, “One forty-nine please!” and “What about one-oh-ones? Check Bay Two!” With the loud oil-dispensing machine and tools being dropped to the floor, I couldn’t hear Nolan’s responses to Johnny’s number codes.
    Minutes later, Nolan jogged back up the steps. He still had a smile on his face, and the rag in his back pocket was dirtier than before.
    After removing his plastic gloves, Nolan motioned for me to start my car and leaned down underneath my hood. I could barely make out what he was doing, but I could see his hands moving over different fluid caps from the small slit of open view I had with my hood up.
    He took out the long metal dipstick from its casing and wiped it with a cloth.