Who: Gaby Teller-Mason & Michael Guerin What: Drinks after work When: After this Where: Their usual bar Rating/Warning: PG
Gaby had made a point to be at their usual location on time. Usually, she was more than a few minutes late or exceptionally early since her ability to get anywhere exactly on time left a little to be desired. She had been able to close up on time today, which had been a blessing, since the man who had dropped his car off at 4pm demanding that she fix his snapped cam belt had finally conceded when she told him she didn’t have the parts in and to get them delivered would mean they were ready the next morning. Of course, he’d argued with her for almost half an hour anyway, so punching that order in was the last thing she’d done for the day.
She’d managed to change and shower and stick on something appropriately… summery, in order to match the changing of the season from something grim into something much brighter. So she was in a yellow sun dress and sandals, her oversized sunglasses sitting atop her hair which, unlike it so often was, was down, with the dark brown lengths curling at the middle of her back.
She’d started with a lemonade and lime, figuring she’d save the beers for when Michael actually arrived. When he did, she spun on the barstool, legs swinging because she couldn’t actually reach the bar at the bottom to rest her feet on and he’d probably have to help her off of it later, and beamed at him, lifting her hand and wiggling her fingers in a wave hello.
Michael went straight from work to the bar. He didn’t bother to shower or even attempt to clean himself up. Gaby worked in a garage too. She knew what it was like.
He was running a few minutes late, wanting to finish installing a part before taking off. He walked into the bar spotting Gaby already there. Michael made a beeline for his friend an out of place smile on his face.
“Hey,” Michael said climbing onto the stool next to her. He eyed her lemonade. “Taking it easy tonight?” He thought she needed the drink after the whole parts showing up at the wrong shop thing.
“Oh,” Gaby drawled, leaning forward to kiss Michael’s cheek in greeting. “I was just waiting for you before I decided to drink myself into oblivion after the day I have had.”
She looked at him for a moment and ordered them a beer each now that he’d arrived before she lifted her finger and poked his cheek. “What is this on your face?” She asked, meaning the broad smile that had lit up his features.
“Didn’t get any better?” Michael asked with a raised brow. His day sure as hell got better after he spoke to Gaby. Hence the stupid grin on his face. A rare sight for Michael Guerin.
He called the bartender over ordering two beers. One for him and one for Gaby. Screw her lemonade. “What?” he asked wiping his face. “Do I have grease on it?”
“Didn’t really get any better, no. I got my parts, but they were delivered in a vehicle that was so… poorly taken care of it was painful to look at.” She sipped at her drink and then watched Michael ordering them both a beer, shooting her soda a slightly dirty look which made her laugh.
Though, what made her laugh more was Michael wiping over his face. She cleared her throat, thanked the bartender for putting down two beers in front of them and waved her hand in his direction. “No, you- your mouth is doing this thing I’ve never really seen before.” She was teasing him, and it was obvious. “Is that, are you smiling, Michael? Less broody is a good look on you.”
“Let me guess,” Michael replied with smirk. “You ended up insisting to work on the car?” He would have done the exact same thing. He couldn’t stand to see cars in poor condition. Like Gaby had just stated - it was painful.
Michael took another sip of his beer, shaking his head slightly, not quite looking at Gaby. “What?” Michael finally asked looking back over at her. “Am I not allowed to smile?”
“Yes,” Gaby responded, deadly serious. “I worked on it a little then and I asked him to bring it back at the weekend so I can work on it properly.” She shook her head, “I have never seen something so wrecked still running.”
She reached out and poked his cheek, “You are, I’m just saying I haven’t seen this before. You must have had a really good day.”
“Not surprised at all,” Michael replied grin still on his face. “I would have done the same thing,” he added picking up his beer and taking a sip. “You should have kept it in the shop. Who knows if it will even make it to the weekend.” He was joking for the most part. Because really if it was as bad as Gaby was making it sound? Then it very well could break down before the weekend.
“Yeah,” Michael finally said taking another sip of his beer. “It wasn’t completely horrible.” Isobel had stopped by the shop which was nice. But more importantly he had made a date with Alex Manes. Or at least a plan to see him the following night. He wasn’t about to tell Gaby about that though. He’d stick to the Isobel thing. “One of my friends stopped by.”
Gaby snorted, “It definitely won’t last the weekend, but I get the feeling he’s used to that. I’ll get it fixed up this weekend, I don’t have much else to do.” Gaby’s weekends tended to be at the shop, her social life was significantly lacking, if she were honest.
Her lips curled up into a smile, watching Michael’s face soften a little at whatever he was thinking about and she leaned forward, resting her elbow on the bar and chin in her palm. “And your friend visiting made your face do that?” she asked, other hand holding the beer tipped the bottle in Michael’s direction. “Some friend.”
Michael was right there with her. His social life was usually lacking as well. Although it had picked up a hell of a lot lately. But still, for the most part, he’d prefer to spend his weekends working on cars as opposed to… like anything else.
“Not the worst way to spend the weekend,” Michael commented picking up his beer for another sip. As for Michael’s face. He was really going to have to get that under control. Alex had that effect on him though. But he didn’t exactly want to advertise it. “Yeah,” Michael replied smirk on his face. “She needs her car fixed too. What’s there not to smile about?”
Gaby laughed, “I don’t know, I’ve never fixed a friend’s car and looked so happy about it,” she told him. She hesitated for a moment, then nudged Michael in the side with her elbow gently, her eyes alight with curious mischief. “Is she a special friend?”
If Michael had been sipping his beer he probably would have spit it out at the thought of Isobel being a special friend. “Uh no,” Michael said easily. “She’s almost family.” At least as close to family as Michael had. Even though he always felt on the outside.
Gaby’s eyebrow lifted. “Hm.” In her experience such broad smiles were often reserved for people that weren’t ‘almost siblings’. But she didn’t push: if Michael didn’t want to tell her she was not going to push.
“Was it nice seeing her?” She asked instead, sipping at her drink.
“Yeah,” Michael replied picking up his beer and taking a swallow. It was nice for the most part at least. Minus the trying to get information about Max part, but he was used to that by now. “How about we talk more about your day.” That was enough about him.
Gaby’s eyebrows lifted. “My day? I told you about my day already, it wasn’t enough to have me smiling,” she pointed out with a nod of her head, “but okay, I will bite. What do you want to know?”
“You got the part,” Michael recapped. “Decided to fix peron’s that brought it to you car.” He finished off his beer motioning for another. “Anything else interesting? That can’t have been the only car you worked on today.”
“Someone brought in a Bentley,” Gaby said, “and I finally got-” She paused, rubbed her fingers on the neck of the bottle and turned a little to fully face Michael. “Did I tell you about the man that dropped off a car which was less than a year old, the clutch of which was completely worn down?”
“Shit,” Michael commented. The way some people took care of their cars it was just sad. Michael’s car was practically everything to him. It used to literally be everything, but now he had his airstream so it was a tie. Still the point remained. “Whoever brought that in should not be driving.”
Gaby nodded, taking a sip of her beer and then putting the bottle back down again. “He told me he had had the car for a couple of months, but the clutch was worn through completely, his rear brake disks were in pieces and the mechanism behind the handbrake needed to be replaced, also.” She shook her head. “It was as though he was a stunt driver, in an ordinary car.”
Michael shook his head at the thought. Taking another sip of his beer before responding to Gaby. “I wonder how long it will be before he brings it back.” His guess was just a few months at most.
“I shan’t give it back to him,” she announced, “if he brings it back within six months needing something else to be repaired on it.”
She smiled and nudged Michael again. “Whatever it is,” she told him, “that’s made you so… light, I am happy.”
And she meant it, she had precious few friends here, and Michael was one of the first she’d met, which made him one of the dearest. And happiness was important. Whatever had made Michael smile like that, she hoped stuck around.