Gwenog Jones (makeit2breakit) wrote in summerview, @ 2019-03-01 14:47:00 |
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Everleigh + Oksana
February 12
A Gear Loose
PG
Complete |
Leaving Daniel to figure exactly what wasn’t wrong with her car was a petty indulgence at best...but sometimes a spoonful of pettiness was medicine in itself. Oksana hadn’t enjoyed being unable to figure out what the man was; Daniel could enjoy a dose of the same with the damn Mustang. The weather was mild and the walk easy, so Oksana resisted the lure of showing up in something truly appalling - she was saving a mink stole for a truly special occasion - and ended up at the garage in a double-breasted vanilla and strawberry cream blazer. It was still adamantly tailored and incongruous, but there was only so much casualness she could allow herself on enemy turf. Which made it a little disconcerting to see a friendly face behind the counter instead. She’d known that nose anywhere. “Ever?” ** That green Mustang was taunting her, she just knew it. Ever since she’d started the work back up on Giselle (started it again? Over? She wasn’t sure how to classify it, since she’d basically had to redo so much of what had been done, since the car had sat for a decade), Everleigh had seen more Mustangs come and go from the shop than she ever remembered seeing before. They were all shining examples of what Giselle could be – with the exception of the one that James had brought in. Mechanically sound, that poor girl was in desperate need of a facelift. Her attention was buried at the bottom of a stack of invoices she was sorting, but when she heard that voice? The young blonde was instantly transported back to happier time in her childhood. The image of her mother screaming at the sight of a haunted house that had appeared in her back hard was probably one of her fonder memories. Looking up, she found herself locking eyes with someone she hadn’t seen in quite some time. Her nose scrunched up as a smile lit up the younger girl’s face. “Sunny!? Holy shit!” ** Well if the nose didn't prove it, the smile did. Unhesitatingly (and even more telling unmindful of hugging someone working in auto shop while wearing white), Oksana stepped up to envelop the taller - taller! - woman in surprisingly strong arms and a cloud of Après l’Ondée. "Bozhe moy, what are you doing here?" Oksana pulled back, half laughing. "What am I saying; of course you'd wind up here. Half buried in gears and happy as a clam in sand. Oh, let me look at you." She raised one hand on the other's cheek, still smiling. "Sei bella." Another hug, and Oksana finally released her completely. "Well, that was the highlight of this visit. Now for the downside, is Daniel around? I'm here to pick up my car." ** Taller, but only just, Everleigh let out an excited squeal as she hugged the older woman. How long had it been since she’d last seen Oksana? She honestly couldn’t remember, though she was fairly certain that it had been before her dad had died. Letting herself hold on to that last hug a little longer than she usually would have, Ever bounced back to her spot behind the desk. “I think he’s in the shop, with his head up in an undercarriage.” It didn’t dawn on her until after the words had passed her lips that her phrasing could have been a little better. “I can help you out, though. Which one’s yours?” ** Hmm, probably too much to hope for that something would crash on the man. Oksana's luck in Summerview wasn't good enough for that. "The '67 Mustang. Green," Oksana added on the off chance there was more than one collectible Ford collectible hiding the garage. In Summerview, one never knew. "It had some engine complaints. I was hoping Daniel could take a look, figure out what's wrong." And hopefully grind his own gears trying. There wasn't a damn thing wrong with the car mechanically; Oksana had been very careful to Enchant the engine without leaving physical marks or side effects. ** Ever’s face contorted into the strangest mixture of jealousy and unsurprise. “Of course it is.” Knowing Sunny, she really shouldn’t be all that surprised. “Y’know, I had half a mind to take that car, and head out of town with it? We could’ve been happy together, Sunny. If I didn’t think my dad would possibly crawled from his grave to kill me for stealing another car, I may have done it.” To be fair, Cody Johnson had dropped the charges against her in high school, which she was damn lucky he’d been willing to do. Dropping back into her chair, she rolled over to the stack of papers at the far end of the desk, and shuffled through them until she found the one she was looking for - the invoice for Oksana’s car. ** “Mine would probably crawl out to complain about leading you into temptation,” Oksana said drily. Her wry gaze softened, humanized, when she looked at Ever behind the desk. “I was sorry to hear about Keith. Allison, too,” Oksana added. “Your folk - they were good people, truly. This town is poorer for having lost them.” ** The normally happy little witch’s shoulders sagged, ever so slightly. “Yeah, losing dad was the hardest, I think. One minute he was popping down to the store to pick up milk for my mom, and the next?” They were getting a call from the cops. “At least with mom, we knew what was happening. It made it easier, even if we weren’t ready for it.” And then Danny had gotten himself out of dodge, and Ever was left alone. “I miss them both every day,” Plastering a smile back onto her face, she pulled the invoice in question from the stack. Checking the tag number, she grabbed the keys out of the lock box, setting both items on the counter in front of Oksana. “Alright, here we go!” ** She was there, she was just there - God, how many times had those words cycled through Oksana's head in the aftermath of Kitty. One moment and then a revaluation of everything that followed. The saddest goddamn math in the world. "Did dear ol' Danny figure out what was wrong with the engine?" Oksana asked. Her tone was pure, unfiltered innocence. "Not that I don't have anything but the utmost faith that he would." ** Picking up the invoice again, Ever looked it over for an answer. “Looks like the old girl has a clean bill of health. He’s got you down for a diagnostic and a-” Reading the words, the young blond couldn’t help but shake her head. “A ‘Sunny’s Bullshit Fee’.” Her eyes narrowed at her old friend slightly, though a smile graced her face. She remembered the rumbles and growls that Sunny and Kitty used to create to amuse her when she was younger. How could she forget, when the two of them had helped her make a very realistic haunted house one Halloween? “There was nothing wrong with the car, was there? What are you up to?” ** Oksana grinned. It was an expression about thirteen years out of use but still recognizable: yeah, it's bad but aren't you smiling too? "Just helping your boss keep the lights on," she said. "A challenge is better than a fruit basket. And I'm sure Danny-boy could use a challenge." That or a pear shoved up his – "It's only a little bit of Enchantment in the engine," Oksana said. "Frankly, I'm shocked he didn't ID it outright, with all the work he did for Dad's truck." My truck. "Not a lot of Enchanters left on the island nowadays?" ** She wasn’t entirely surprised when Oksana seemed to dodge giving her an actual answer. That seemed to be the way of the Enchanter, wasn’t it? “We’ve got plenty of challenges already, thank you very much.” Though she had to admit, she was happy that Sunny had pulled her little stunt. It had given her the chance to catch up with her old friend, hadn’t it? “Since you’ve been gone? Practically none.” Enchanters had never been that common on the island, at least to Everleigh’s knowledge. “I suppose the art of spotting an Enchanter’s tricks is a little bit rusty.” *** “You’re vastly overestimating any previous success had in the first place.” For a moment, Oksana’s grin was pure mischief. “Nobody ever busted us about that thing with the butter and laundromat, did they? Busted any of us, I should say.” In hindsight, Oksana reflected, she and Kitty were better enablers than chaperones. But at least they had been entertaining ones. “Come on, lets get the bloodletting over with.” Oksana pulled out her credit card. “The sooner your lousy boss collects have his petty cash, the sooner we can go get lunch and catch up properly.” Her smile was bright as a new hook. “You’re driving.” |