Tuesday
Name
Vanessa Ford
Tuesdays, generally, are suck days. You still are in denial that the weekend is over and just getting back into the swing of your schedule. Tuesdays are long, but even more so when you work at a car rental place with only a few other people. So nothing struck me when I woke up on a Tuesday at 7am sharp. I stumbled into work with two coffees in my hand; one for me and one for my desk neighbor, Kahari. I smiled as she reached her hand over, motioning toward the hot brew.
“Ah yes, one caramel macchiato, no whip, two shots of espresso coming right-“
“Luke. Just hand me the dang coffee.” Her eyes cut through mine like daggers and I shook as I lifted the cup out of the cardboard holder and into her flawless hands. Kahari grabbed it and swung back around to her computer screen without another word. I exhaled slowly; smiling under my breath as I pathetically replayed her voice saying my name in my head. A sharp ring brought my head back into reality as I looked at the forest green outdated phones ringing furiously.
“You goin’ to answer that?” A condescending tone nagged as I reached for the phone.
“Hello, Midwestern Car Rental, this is Luke. How can I-“
“The car I rented from you idiots isn’t starting. I am late to work and I’m about seven miles out.” The angry voice made me furrow my brows in frustration. All of our cars were put through many tests after each use.
“I’m sorry about that, ma’am. I’ll call a cab for you, on us, and I’ll go check out your car, miss.. uhh…”
“Lee. Alex Lee. I work at Bucky’s Buck Stop. Bring it by once you fix your mistakes.”
“Sure thing. And again, I am so-“ A high pitched tone told me the other end was dead. I closed my eyes tightly and gently put the phone back onto the hook. If there was something wrong with this car, it would be me taking all the blame.
“I have a car that was rented out and isn’t starting. Can you call a cab for, uh, Alex Lee?” I poked my head around the side of my desk to see the curvy silhouette of my coworker. I could imagine her dramatically rolling her brown eyes as she punched numbers into her phone.
So beautiful.
I pulled my personal Dodge work truck into a long gravel driveway of the house address Alex had given me. A pristine blue house with a expertly cut lawn greeted me. I put my truck in park behind a silver 2015 Impala with a Midwest Car Rental sticker on the back. I remember putting this exact car through all the tests; it was in prime condition, equipped with the always faithful 3.6L V6 engine. I sighed from confusion and popped the door of my truck open and made my way to driver’s side door of the rental car. Surprisingly, it was left unlocked, despite our company’s constant measure of security, and to make matters worse, the key was already in it. “Wonderful. Glad to know you guys take care of our cars.” I mumbled roughly as I turned the metal key. The engine whined in spurts, but there was no catch. An idea popped into my mind and I was suddenly to the hood of the car, propping it up on a stand. The engine glistened from the morning sun as my eyes glanced over the missing part of the car. I nodded to myself and pulled out my phone and dialed in Alex’s number.
“What do you need, I’m at work?” Her voice was strained, probably from the stressful morning.
“Hey, uh sorry to bother you. I’m looking at the car now and noticed your sparkplug is missing.”
“What?” In an instant, her voice became louder and more furious. I ran my hand through my hair and tried to keep my cool.
“Yeah, the whole thing is just… it’s just gone. Is there any reason why you’d take it out?” For almost a minute there was utter silence. I could almost imagine the girl trying to collect herself so she didn’t scream something at me so gruesome; it would send me to therapy.
“Look.” The reappearance of her voice, surprisingly calm now, made me jump. “I didn’t take the friggin’ spark plug out of the car. Honestly, I don’t even know what a sparkplug is.”
“Oh, well it’s a device used to deliver electricity to the-“
“AND honestly I don’t care.” I bit my lip to stop my talking. “But I think I have an idea of who would’ve stolen the dang thing.”
I squinted my eyes toward the sky, realizing there was no way this Tuesday could get worse.
“You think someone stole it?” There was a muffled sigh on the other end.
“I’m almost positive. Sam Pepper. He owns that cheap burger joint on Monty and Freeman. He’s a disgusting slimeball and basicall hates my existence for putting a resraining order on his disgusting as-“
“You think Sam Pepper jacked your sparkplug?” There was a mumble of agreement, confirming the worst. “Well I guess I can call the cops if you’re positive.”
“I am. Come pick me up, I’ll take off the rest of today. I don’t care about the stupid restraining order; I have to see this bozo get arrested.” I hung up the phone and gripped it tightly in my fists. If the law was going to get involved, I figured my boss had better know. I held my phone back up and dialed a number without thinking. After a few rings, a placid voice answered.
“Hello, Midwestern Car Rental, this is Kahari. How can I help you today?” Oh god. I dialed her number instead of my boss’s. This would be the third time this week that I accidentally called her instead of someone else. The first time, I wanted to simply call my mother, but instead a placid “Hello, Midwestern Car Rental-“ voice answered. I was madly obsessed.
“Hello? Is anyone there?”
“Uh… ha funny story..”
“LUKE?” The placid voice was replaced by the nagging, sarcastic tone of my coworker. She really hated me.
“Look, I’m sorry, I should’ve called Mr. Hoover but I wasn’t thinking.”
“Do you realize I’m answering all the calls by myself since you’ve been gone? It’s madness!” Her accent sent shivers down my spine. How I wish I could hear her laugh instead of her constant nags.
“Okay, I’m sorry, but I’m here with the 2015 Impala and-“
“Luke you are lazy, you don’t know how to handle anything life throws at you, and the cologne you use makes me sick.”
“Okay… harsh… but I need Mr. Hoover’s consent to bring the cops in to this case I have here-“
“Goodbye Luke.” For the second time today, a dead line rung in my ears. Gawking at my phone, I wondered how such a beautiful woman could be so cold inside. I shoved my phone back into my pants. Did my cologne really smell?
Once again, I found myself chasing my tail as I pulled my Dodge into the grocery store parking lot. A slim figure with a brown pony-tail waved me down as I put pressure on the brake. The passenger side door popped open, letting in a young lady with eyes as big as saucers.
“About friggin’ time you got here, dude. Have you called the police yet?” I nodded, recalling the conversation I had with the local sheriff. He knew of Sam Pepper, in fact the whole police crew did. He was notorious for slipping his greasy self out of sexual harassment charges and vandalism. They needed just one more slip from him to throw him away, and this sounded like the perfect lead.
Alex slumped back into her seat and looked at her nails. Glancing at her periodically, I noticed how her eyes were in fact a green hazel. Her hair was thick, pulled effortlessly into a complementing ponytail. A few times she caught my gaze, which I quickly played off like I was looking for the road. The silence soon became deafening.
“You can turn on the radio, since it’s quite a drive.” Alex pursed her lips and flipped on a station. A poppy song came on and she began mouthing the words. It sounded like an old Paramore song, but I wasn’t so sure anymore.
“So… Luke is it?” I nodded, trying to hide a smile induced by her remembrance of my name. “Yeah. So what is someone like you doing in the car rental service? You look like someone who should be attracting all the sorority girls at a University.” I laughed under my breath and turned my gaze to meet hers. Her eyes were so big.
“And what is that supposed to mean exactly??
?? Alex smiled and found something interesting on the floor to stare at.
“I’m just saying, eyes that brown are hard to come by.” I bit the inside of my lip, playing the compliment off modestly. I swore under my breath as I felt my cheeks flush.
“SO... uh. What do you have a restraining order on Sam Pepper for?” Alex rolled her large eyes and slumped back into her seat.
“The old perv grabbed my butt one time while I was bagging his groceries.” She laughed a little before adding., “I, in return, bagged him.” I joined her in a solid laugh as I pulled into the hamburger joint. A sheriff care was already in the lot, giving me a wave as I pulled in.
“Hello. I’m Sheriff Grimes, but you can call me Rick, that is unless I arrest you sometime in the future. In that case don’t call me anything. And you must be Luke?”
I smiled and gestured toward Alex. “This is the woman whose sparkplug was allegedly stolen by Sam Pepper.” Alex smiled, revealing flawless teeth. Rick nodded and gestured inside.
“How about we get this whole mishap cleared, eh?”
The repulsive green interior of the fast food joint looked innocent compared to the slimy aura of the owner. His thick, black hair was slicked back, revealing devilish black eyes and a perfect smile. Seeing us, he pushed past a female cashier, who cringed when she felt his body slid past hers. The discomfort in her eyes was caused by something he did in the past; that kind of discomfort doesn’t just happen.
The man came out of the service area and suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, looking directly at Alex. Sam’s eyes became as big as moons as he seemed to be at a loss for words. After Rick cleared his throat, he seemed to regain himself and ambled forward.
“I thought you had a restraining order on me, Alex.” The man said cooly. Alex smiled a chilling smile at him and tilted her head.
“I could say the same thing, Sam. I hope you had fun with your little shenanigans, because you really screwed up this time-“
“Now let’s not jump to conclusions here.” Rick put a reassuring hand on Alex’s shoulder and she looked down at her feet. The sheriff then looked back up to the slimy man. “We have reasons to believe that you stole this here young missy’s sparkplug. Now it would make things a whole lot easier if you would just hand that back over and-“
“I didn’t take your stupid sparkplug you idiot. You probably just hid it and used our past to frame it against me. Sir,” Sam walked toward the police officer and put his hands up, “Look at me, a humble fast food joint owner. Honestly I don’t even know what a sparkplug looks like!” Sam let out a forced laugh and I noticed Alex ball up her fists in anger. Before she could blow up on him, a quiet voice from behind us brought our attention to the cashier girl behind the desk.
“Is… Is this a sparkplug?” The girl held up a small, silver device. My eyes lit up in recognition that it was, in fact, a spark plug. I smiled menacingly as Sam let out a squeal and rushed back through the door behind the counter. He swipped the plug from the girl’s hands.
“This is mine!” He said, almost desperately. “I keep extras in case mine goes out!” Rick shook his head in disbelief. The cashier girl let out a shaky laugh.
“Why do you keep your extra sparkplugs in your cash register?” Sam turned and looked at the girl with hatred. He clenched his teeth, forcing a smile.
“I don’t want to have this stolen, now do I Chrissy?” Chrissy shrugged, and looked down at her feet.
“All I’m saying is that that wasn’t in there yesterday-“ Losing all control of his temper, Sam sent a crashing blow across his worker’s cheek. Rick yelled something, but before Sam could lower his hand, I was across the desk with my balled up fists smashing into his jaw. Chrissy screamed, bringing me back to my right mind. I looked up to the sheriff, who only nodded at me and tossed me a pair of handcuffs.
“I think that’s enough to put the skeeze ball away for a while. Good God, are you okay missy?” Beside me, a tearful voice muttered a “yes” before breaking down into more tears. Rick motioned her towards himself and she gratefully stepped over her unconscious boss over to the sheriff, who rubbed her shoulders. I exhaled slowly, tightening the right handcuff a little too tight. Satisfied, I pushed off the ground. And walked over to the sheriff.
“I suppose you’d better leave. I’ll take care of everything. Chrissy, are you going to be okay to speak up against him?” Chrissy nodded. A red handprint colored her pale cheek.
Poor girl.
Eager to leave, I crossed the parking lot to my Dodge. I popped open the driver’s side door and jumped when I saw a person already sitting in the navigator’s side.
“Alex!” My voice cracked at the surprise and I slowly died inside. Her gorgeous mouth, as cold as it could be, cracked into a furious grin as she grabbed my sleeve, pulling me into the Dodge.
“Hey Luke.” She scooted closer. I could smell her perfume. “Thank you so much for putting up with me. I said some nasty things to you.” Her hand was tracing circles on my sleeve. Holy crap those eyes. I cleared my throat as I noticed I was staring a bit too long.
“Yup… ha no problem. You know it’s just part of my um…” She was so close, I began to follow the freckles lining her nose. “My um… My…My job!” I jumped as I felt her hand run up my sleeve to my shoulder.
“Speaking of your job… Do you exactly have to go back to it right now?” My mind raced as images of Kahari ran into my mind, tackling all the calls by herself. As I looked into the cartoon-like eyes of Alex, Kahari suddenly didn’t seem so perfect anymore. Her glow was outshone by this hot-tempered girl with her hand on the nape of my neck.
“You know.” I flashed her a smile, “I think it’s my lunch break.” Alex smirked at me and let out a chuckle.
“It’s 4 o’clock?”
“Oh, shut up.” I laughed as I pulled her into a much-needed kiss, melting away all thoughts of that day. I felt Alex’s soft lips pull back into a smile as I pulled my head back, shadowing her bright smile.
“Wow.” Alex mumbled. Corny as it was, it was cute. I beamed as I shoved my key into the ignition and turned right.
“Where to?” I asked, except the lulling engine never caught. Shocked and slightly embarrassed that my old truck wouldn’t start, I looked at Alex with flushed cheeks. She only looked at me with the same glowing smile as before.
“Welp.” She shrugged back into her seat. “It doesn’t look like we’re going anywhere if your engine doesn’t start. And your engine can’t start without a sparkplug.” With that, she help up her hand, dangling a small, silver plug between her fingers. I let a laugh escape my lips as I swiped at it, only to have her pull back just out of my reach. “Maybe we rent a car instead?” Alex’s tone was sarcastic and it brought a stupid grin to my face.
“That is the worst thing I’ve heard all day, and I even had a client yell at me over the phone!” This time, Alex pulled me into her, muttering the words “shut up” under her breath just before they were cut off by another kiss.
Takashi
Choice
Vanessa Ford
Waking up sucks. Even more so when you have your brother’s well-worn socks laying within 20 feet of your smelling range. Pushing out of my warm bed, I hear a satisfying pop in my lower back. Grunting slightly, I ruffled my thick black hair, already growing over my eyes again. I’d look like Kane if this kept up. Eyeing the florescent green alarm clock next to me I smiled as I saw 7:08 am blink rapidly. I ambled over to my drawer where all my clothes were neatly pressed and folded and pulled on a black collared polo and some jeans. An abrupt snore brought my attention to Kane, my little brother, naked and exposed on his bed. “Oh come on…” I grumbled as I tossed one of my shirts from the pile over his… well exposed self. He wouldn’t wake up for a good five hours which meant I had time to sharpen my blades and get in a run. It pays to get up early.
I filed into our pristine kitchen with its black quartz countertops and grey cabinets. The smell of pungent cleaners made me squint my no
se. Kane would complain, once again, that the smell affected his appetite. Ah yes, his appetite of bread and pastries. I pulled open the door to the fridge to see two protein shakes specially made, one chocolate one vanilla. I noted to thank Thail, our butler, and pulled out the vanilla shake. Thail had been our family’s butler since before I could remember, cleaning up the messes that Kane and I made in our large estate. One of the largest in West Virginia. I also grabbed oats and a few bananas, already deciding Kane wasn’t going to drink anything premade for him, and laid them out on the table for my brother when he finally awoke. Maybe he’d get the hint. Poor baby brother needs to eat. My mind mocked as I thought of the teenager who ate more than the average cow.