START LINE!

The July heat was so thick and heavy that it felt tangible, and Celeste felt another bead of sweat roll down the back of her neck as she finished tightening the bolts down on the flanges. Once she was done, she peered carefully at the exhaust system of the old Toyota to make sure everything was in place. Satisfied with her work, she grinned at the shiny new pipes before using her upper body strength to roll herself out from beneath the undercarriage. She took one more look at the Toyota, admiring all the new modifications she’d been working on for the past two days. When it first came to the shop, the poor vehicle’s undercarriage was so rusty it looked like it would disintegrate at a gust of wind.

“There, now Mr. Johnson has a perfectly functioning car again!” Celeste announced as she stood to her full height. She tossed the torque wrench onto the table before stretching her arms over her head to soothe her stiff muscles after being under a car for thirty minutes.

“Finally done? You were down there so long, I was starting to get worried,” Drake, her fellow co-worker and closest friend, quipped from beside her as he teasingly nudged her shoulder. He stood easily over six feet, with hickory skin and locs that fell to his broad shoulders. They were tinted an orangish-brownish color that was slightly faded from the dye job he did a couple of months ago.

“Shut up.” Celeste shoved him back and rolled her eyes playfully when he shouted in protest.

Drake pretended to stumble back, almost knocking himself into the open hood of another car with his antics. The female mechanic shot him a blank look, shaking her head as she lowered the Toyota back to the ground with the lift. Sometimes it was hard to believe he was the oldest out of the two of them. She dusted the dirt and grime off her thick jumpsuit and peeled off her gloves as Drake recovered and leaned against the car.

“Damn Cel, when is your dad gonna get that AC fixed?” Drake complained, fanning himself with his loose black tank-top. He had already taken off the top half of his uniform and tied it around his waist. Celeste couldn’t blame him, seeing as her own jumper was in a similar state.

“He said he would get a friend over to come fix it this weekend. You only need to put up with it for one more day,” Celeste replied with a hint of exasperation in her tone, before taking a sip from Drake’s water bottle that he left on the table.

Her best friend sucked his teeth as he walked back over to where the shorter girl was. Drake pointedly took his water back before saying, “I swear, your dad can fix anything under the sun except an air conditioner.”

Celeste chuckled softly, she couldn’t disagree with him on that. They both glanced up at the meager metal ceiling fan that spun in slow, lethargic circles. It was their noble, but ultimately futile attempt to combat the heatwave that seemed to engulf the entire city. Her gaze shifted from the fan to the large digital clock on the far side of the garage.

6:19. Just eleven more minutes till freedom, she thought with growing enthusiasm. Celeste let out a soft grunt as she sat herself down on the stool next to the table.

“I can’t wait until we get off,” she mumbled, frowning down at the many streaks and stains on her jumpsuit. “I feel so sticky and gross. The first thing I’m gonna do is shower.”

She knew without a doubt that her clothes gave off the scent of rubber and gasoline that permeated throughout the auto shop. But Celeste didn’t mind the scent so much, if anything it was something of a comfort, because she loved being here.

“Hey, don’t forget about movie night,” Drake reminded her, “you swore you’d let me pick tonight.”

“Yeah, I didn’t forget.” Celeste pulled her kinky curls into a ponytail with a thick black scrunchie. “Just as long as we don’t watch another horror movie, you always talk too much when you get scared.”

“I do not-”

Both of them jumped at the loud roar of an engine that interrupted their conversation and the placid environment of the auto shop. It was so sharp and sudden, like a roll of thunder, that Celeste had to glance out the window just to make sure it hadn’t suddenly started raining.

“What the hell was that?” Drake exclaimed as he jolted up from his relaxed position against the wall.

Celeste found herself rising to her feet as well, and both of their gazes drifted towards the overhead door that was still wide open as a shadow of a vehicle fell across it. She could tell from the deep revving alone that the engine belonged to an expensive car, but her mouth still fell agape when she saw the vehicle that caused all this sudden commotion. It was a sleek, jade-green Mazda Rx8 with a black flame design that stretched from the hood all the way to the trunk. A pink hue embellished the headlights of the car, along with the smaller lights underneath, and all-black rims adorned the wheels. The windows were so heavily tinted that she knew it couldn’t be legal, and it reflected the fluorescent lights that hung above the ceiling. Once the Mazda was fully inside the shop, the powerful engine cut off and the shop once again settled into silence. All Celeste could do was stare with wide, astonished eyes.

“Holy shit,” Drake said, equally as shocked.

Celeste faintly nodded her head in agreement. Holy shit indeed.

It had to be the most beautiful piece of machinery she’d ever seen in her twenty-two years of living. Celeste had seen the typical Lambo’s, Bugatti’s, and Ferrari’s from car shows her father would take her to growing up, but she’d never seen a car as unique as this. She couldn’t even believe someone owned a car like this in her city. It would be hard to miss a flashy green Mazda that sounded as loud as this one was. She knew without a doubt that this car cost more than anything in the entire garage.

Her gaze ran over the vehicle again, this time inspecting the car with a mechanic’s eye instead of pure fascination. She noticed that the side mirror on the driver’s side was crooked, as if something had bent it out of place, and below the mirror was a considerably large dent in the door with thin, tiny scrapes trailing after it. A part of Celeste was appalled by the sight of it, because who in their right mind would go and bang up an expensive beauty like that? But another part of her was filled with immediate elation at the idea of working on it. She didn’t even realize her legs had moved her closer to the Mazda, and her fingers twitched with the powerful urge to reach out and run them across the smooth paint-job. The jade color glimmered softly under the fluorescent lights, and the more Celeste looked at the car, the more her anticipation grew.

“Are they serious? We close in five minutes,” Drake complained, snapping Celeste out of her stupor and bringing her back to the present moment. He crossed his arms as he squinted at the Mazda, a much less impressed expression on his face.

“I’ll handle it,” she replied without a second thought, and began to walk up to the driver’s door.

“What? Wait no, Cel!” Drake spluttered, lightly grabbing her forearm to still her actions. “Shouldn’t we at least wait till tomorrow when your dad’s here? That car looks like it cost more than both of our houses,” The taller protested, shifting his body so that he blocked Celeste’s view of the marvelous automobile.

“Don’t worry about it Drake, I said I can handle it,” she repeated, trying to look past the tall lanky guy in her way. “You can go ahead and clock out, I’ll close up shop tonight.”

Her best friend scoffed. “As if. I’m not leaving you here alone, Cel.”

Celeste crossed her arms impatiently. “Fine, if you’re going to stay then help me.”

Drake responded with a miffed look, but before he could argue, the door to the Mazda popped open and both of their gazes were drawn back to the vehicle. Celeste first looked at the hand that was placed on top of the window as it pushed the car door open, and noticed that it was heavily decorated with silver rings. Followed by the hand was a head full of raven locks that fell all the way down to the person’s shoulders. He was wearing a pair of fancy black shades, but as he pulled himself fully out of the car, he took them off and revealed dark almond-shaped eyes. Celeste was taken aback for the second time that evening, he didn’t look like he could be any older than her. How could he afford something like this? Her mind was racing at the possible answers, but none of them seemed sensible enough to her.

The stranger leaned against his car, his dark eyes scanning the space of the large garage before his gaze finally landed on her. When it became apparent he wasn’t going to speak first, Celeste cleared her throat before putting on her most professional smile. “Welcome to Joe’s Auto Shop, how can I help you?”

His gaze flitted to the cars in various states of repair before he focused his attention back on Celeste. “That depends, are you as good as they say?”

Celeste’s eyes momentarily widened, his voice was a lot deeper than she expected. A moment later she processed his question and crossed her arms.

“I am,” she answered haughtily.

He raised an eyebrow in challenge. “Good enough to fix this by tomorrow?”

Drake snorted from beside her. “Dude, we close in three minutes.”

Celeste shot him a glare to silence him, before turning back to the stranger. “I can,” She answered confidently as she moved closer, her fingers lightly grazing over the dent.

She took a moment to circle around the Mazda, eyes calculating as she inspected every inch of the car. The damage wasn’t too deep, it was manageable. It was going to need a buffer to buff out the dent and a new coat of paint to cover up the scratches, but they were all surface-level. He’s lucky that dent wasn’t big enough to mess up his door, the mechanic thought to herself.

She let out a low whistle, “How did you manage to get a beauty like this scuffed up anyway?”

His lips curled into a small smile. “Let’s just say I got into a little scuffle.”

Celeste raised an eyebrow at that. “What an interesting scuffle.”

The stranger’s amused smile grew a little wider. “So how much?”

“Oh, I can give you a quote but-”

Before she could even finish her sentence, the stranger pulled out a stack of neat bills and handed them to her. “This should be enough to cover it?”

Drake swore loudly in surprise.

Celeste gaped at the bills as she hesitantly reached out to take them from him. Her eyes grew wide again as she counted the money. “This is way more than the quote is, sir!” She had never seen this much money in cash before.

“Think of it as the tip included,” the stranger replied simply before reaching into a pocket in his baggy jeans and pulling out the keys that dangled from a single metal hoop.

“Cel,” Drake protested again, he lowered his voice so that the stranger couldn’t hear them. “We can’t accept that! Are you crazy?”

Celeste looked down at the cash in her hands again, feeling a slight bit of hesitation bubble up inside of her. A cool modified car and a large tip? It all seemed too good to be true, and when she looked back up at the stranger, she regarded him with wariness. She wondered if she should turn him away, but then her gaze locked on to the green Mazda again.

There was something enthralling about that car, she always loved the flashy and fancy cars at the car shows she’d go to, but none of them captured her attention the same way this stranger’s car did. Her fingers itched to touch it again, she wanted to explore and scrutinize every inch of the vehicle. Deep down she knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, she’d never get to work on a car as interesting as this ever again. So with newfound determination, Celeste reached over and took the keys from the stranger’s deft fingers. An exhilarated feeling surged through her chest as she stared down at the car keys in her palm. She still couldn’t believe this was happening, it all felt too surreal.

Seeming satisfied, the stranger stuffed his hands back into his pockets and turned towards the entrance. When Celeste realized he was about to leave, she took a step forward. “Wait!” The stranger paused and turned to look back at her with a raised eyebrow. She cleared her throat, belatedly realizing how frantic she sounded to stop him. “We need some sort of contact information so we can let you know when your vehicle is ready.”

“I’ll come back for it in the morning,” was his simple reply.

Celeste snorted at that. Normally, cryptic answers like this would irritate her, but it seemed to pique her curiosity even more. Her gaze kept switching between the flashy car and the mysterious stranger. “Can I at least get a name, sir?”

“K.” Another short reply, and then he turned to walk away.

Celeste’s gaze followed the stranger’s—or K’s —figure until he disappeared through the entrance. Her mind was racing as it replayed the events that just transpired and tried to make any sense of it.

“That guy was so weird,” Drake said with a scowl. “Who pulls up to a shop minutes before it closes and drops off an expensive car like this?”

“Mmhmm,” Celeste muttered half-heartedly, before handing him the cash.“Hey, can you put this in the safe for me?”

“And that’s another thing! Who is walking around with almost a grand on them in cash? Cel, don’t tell me you don’t think this whole thing isn’t shady as hell.”

“It’s not my job to judge how shady he is,” she replied as she pulled her gloves back on, “it’s only my job to fix his car.”

“Are you really gonna stay up all night fixing that dude’s car?” Drake asked with a bewildered expression.

Celeste opened the door, admiring the smooth all-black interior of the Mazda with a gasp. “Oh my god! This car is so fucking cool!”

She climbed into the driver’s seat, admiring the way the dashboard lit up in the same pink hue as the headlights, before she pressed the ignition. Celeste let out a whoop of excitement when the engine came to life, and she pressed down on the gas pedal, feeling the vibration of the car surge through her body as the Mazda’s engine rumbled loudly.

Drake just let out a resigned sigh with a shake of his head. “You’re impossible.”