5

Jack insisted on becoming my personal chauffeur. I knew what his agenda was. He enjoys acting all bodyguard-ish. He said he missed me too much, that is. It’s not purely lies, but it’s also not the primary reason. Jake had him on body guard duty and I just have to live with that.

Girls at school were practically drooling over Jack. Who can blame them? The West brothers were oozing with confidence and hotness.

The fact that they were aware of their effect on the women population doesn’t help the situation. Jack was supposed to drop me off but here he is, walking me to class, waving here and there like a Hollywood celebrity. He’s one of the best basketball players in the history of mankind - as he modestly put it in words - just like Jake is a legend in football.

“Hey, Bobbie!” I know that voice, Maggie from Dance club. Me and her, we don’t see eye to eye on things. I hate that she’s acting all highly. The last time I saw her, she was making a freshman shine her shoes and to think that it was a damn sneaker irked me more.

I plastered on a smile. “Maggie, what is it?”

Jack’s brows furrowed. Maybe I wasn’t great at acting at all. But it’s hard to believe when I got an A on English lit. I played Juliet once and Jake was Romeo, maybe that’s the reason I got an A.

Maggie neared us, faking a sympathetic gaze in my direction. Well, at least I’m better at acting than her.

“Oh my God, I’m so glad to see you, Bobbie. How have you been?” She was batting her eyelids fifty times per second. I guess she had too much caffeine in her system already.

“Uh... we practically saw each other, like yesterday in class…” I stated as a matter of fact.

“I mean catch up, silly,” she feigned, slapping my shoulder before looking up to the ever so confused Jack. Reaching for the tip of her midnight black hair tied in a high ponytail, she twirled the end with her pink polka dot manicured fingernails. I can see drool spilling out from her parted pink tinted lips. “Did you and Jake break up? Why are you with someone else?”

She got her blue eyes fixed on Jake at the same time she learned to spell ‘I’. Her aim is to sink in her claws on my man. The amount of mascara weighing her eyelids down is hindering her from seeing Jake and Jack’s resemblance.

“Yeah, like I’m ever confiding in you about my life.”

She didn’t hear my response because she was shouting ‘get me a cappuccino’ to some poor freshmen under her leash. “Great, aren’t you going to introduce me?”

“This is Jack, Jake’s-”

She cut me off. “Nice meeting you, Jack. Are you a transfer student?” her arms were now snaking on Jack’s bicep.

Poor Jack is looking like a puppy for adoption. I waved him goodbye and mouthed ‘call me’ before turning on my heels. He’s a big boy and I bet he can handle girls like Maggie.

The day went on like usual, cold and blunt. After class, I found Jack inside my Land Rover wearing sunglasses. He unlocked the car, and I hopped on the passenger side.

“You good?” I asked teasingly.

He huffed. “You owe me pizza for that, Bobbie.” Making a reverse, and soon we are leisurely on the road to Chris’s car shop. “She tasted like prunes.” I giggled, and that only made Jack groan in irritation. “She can’t stop talking while we’re making out. I haven’t met a girl so talkative as her, damn.”

“You made out with her?” my laugh ringing inside the confines of my car.

“She pulled me to the janitor’s closet, and I practically had to take a shower after that. Glad that Coach Mack is still with the basketball team.”

I laughed even harder and soon Jack was laughing with me, but continued to shake his head. We arrived at the car shop fifteen minutes before my shift. I told Jack to stay in my car or drive somewhere, find a girl or do what boys do.

Tina gave me a tour of their humble car shop. We are the only girl employees, so we practically own the girl’s locker. Tina was a breath of fresh air and I bet that Mel and Candice will love her no bullshit attitude too.

She was telling me about her ex-boyfriend who used to work for her father, but she caught him cheating on her. The guy was ‘castrated by her brothers’, her words, and it practically sealed our friendship. It’s nice that she wasn’t a pushover for love.

I wiped my teary eyes before following Tina out to the counter. She introduced me to his younger brother Ben and the other mechanic Lee. Ben and I go to the same school. Getting along with him will not be a problem.

Lee is a totally different story. After the introduction, he showed his disliking towards me without a filter. He turned his back on me after announcing, ‘why did the boss hire a Princess.’ Lee did not intend it as a question. He had a label for me even before he got to know me.

People like Lee do exist in this world. Lucky for him, I learned to ignore people not worthy of my time.

I was wearing my worn-out sneakers, black jeans, and the car shop’s uniform. I asked Chris and Tina to keep my last name between us for this matter. Imagine the disgust Lee would feel if he knew I was a St. Clair, that I was indeed a true Princess in a sense.

There were many cars in the lineup, and Tina assigned Ben to supervise my work. They gave me the easiest task of changing tires for my first day, and I’m glad that Ben was impressed.

“I didn’t know you had it in you, Bobbie,” Ben patted my back. It was indeed not a simple task, I was sweating all over the place yet somehow, I felt alive. Looking at the cars we just fixed did magic in my chest. I got no words for it, but hmm, I feel content that I get to help fix something. Cars in this case.

“It’s amazing, working with cars.” I slumped myself down on the couch inside the employee’s lounge, wiping sweat off of my face with a clean white towel. “Grandad taught me all about them.”

Ben handed me a can of Sprite and a plate of his Mom’s lasagna. “You’re holding up okay from where I stand. They will be proud of you, Bobbie.”

I gave him a sheepish smile. “I hope so.”

“They are so,” Ben rubbed a fluffy towel against his brown hair that is gently reaching the nape of his neck. Slumping himself on the single couch, he filled his plate with a healthy amount of pasta and mumbled, “I met them once. The mayor was cool for his age and your Grandma is such a sweet lady.”

“They are indeed both amazing people,” I blinked back the tears that’s threatening to spill out of my tear ducts.

The door to the employee’s lounge swung open, revealing Lee. He has that menacing grin plastered on his face.

“Crying already, Princess? You should quit before you break a toenail,” he sat across from me, reaching for a can of coke, opening it and taking a huge gulp of the cold drink.

With his height barely reaching 5’9 and his curly dark hair escaping his baseball cap, Lee’s narrow shaped eyes compliments his pointy nose. His pale white skin is decorated with artistic ink. If he could remove that taunting smirk he has directed at me, he’d be cool just like his Eminem shirt.

“Lee, stop acting like a dick,” Ben scolded him, but I held his arms.

“It’s okay,” Lee didn’t know that I wasn’t crying about the hard work but other things. Personal stuff. “I should probably help Tina on... something,” I trailed off. Taking my plate and drinking with me, I walked out of the lounge to the counter. Choosing my battles was something Grandad taught me, and I know Lee’s attitude is not worth it.

To my surprise, Tina was talking to a ‘customer’ named Jack West. I sighed and placed my food on Tina’s table.

“How was your first day at work, Bobbie?” Jack’s playful tone gave me the happy pill that I needed after Lee.

“Tires,” I joked and was glad that he got it and rumbled laughing. “Want some? Tina’s Mom cooked this,” I twisted a mouthful of the pasta and placed it in Jack’s wide-open mouth.

“Your Mom is a superb cook, Tin,” he said. He already has a nickname for her.

Tina blushed, “I was the one that made the pasta.”

Jack’s mouth turned into a forced ‘O’ while he was swallowing the food in his mouth. He was flirting, and she was flirting back. I feel out of place, so I just checked my phone for Jake’s messages, zoning out from their conversation. He left two voicemails and five messages. Connecting my phone to my headset, I listened to his voice.

“Bee, I miss you.”

“And, I love you.”

His messages had the same content, and the others were instructions to eat a proper meal. I sent him a message that I was working and my coworkers were treating me well.

I don’t intend on making Jake worry about me. He already worries too much, and I know he needs to focus on boot camp. We can talk about Lee when he comes back. That way, I can explain things in detail as well.

My shift ended, and I had to practically drag Jack out of the car shop, away from ‘Tin-tin’. He was pouting like a four-year-old while driving to town for the pizza ‘I owe’ him.

In Jack’s book, there’s nothing a good food can’t fix. In my book, there’s nothing a dose of Jake’s sweetness can’t fix. Before I went to sleep in his bed, we spent hours talking about our day and I slept with a smile on my lips once more.

~~