WHO: Charlie and Avery WHEN: December 17, about 11am WHERE: The Gas Station WHAT: Charlie gets an oil change for the first time WARNING: TBD
So what exactly is an oil change? Charlie had no idea. Don't get him wrong, he adored his 2006 Chrysler Seabring. It allowed him to get out of the house for no good reason and tour around where no one could find him. Not a single person could touch him while he was driving with all the windows up and the doors locked; it was perfect, mobile solitude and he was never more than ten minutes away from home. The car was his salvation and it had taken years to finally get his license, what with all the hoops he had to jump through to prove that he could drive safely without the use of hearing. But that didn't mean he had a clue how the thing worked.
His dad, with the blocky and staggered signs he used when he was being stern, had informed Charlie that he needed to get the oil changed and that it was something he had to learn how to do on his own. So with a couple hours to spare before work (how long does it usually take, anyway?) he tossed his bag into the passenger seat and headed toward the only gas station he knew of.
Letting out a sigh of relief when Mike McBrayer was nowhere to be seen, he parked the car out front and took the entrance. He scanned the area for any menacing maybe-murderers and prayed that, if he did chance upon one, he wouldn't be recognized as a friend of Teagan's. It wasn't like he wouldn't defend her honor if he needed to but he really really didn't want to.
There was no one in the little shop area that he could see and he felt extremely uncomfortable with the idea of calling out when he had no way of knowing how loud his voice could get. He'd already begun tapping his fingers rhythmically against the counter when he noticed the "ring for service" bell next to his hand. He pressed the little knob in a few times but, since he couldn't hear it and no one had ever taught him how those things worked, the only sound it made was a small, metallic tink too quiet for anyone to notice if they weren't relatively close by.