Spencer Hastings makes shockingly bad choices. (ctrl_a) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-10-06 18:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, joe hardy, spencer hastings |
Who: Joe Hardy and Spencer Hastings
What: Random Encounter
Where: The Garage
When: Earlier this week
Rating/Warnings: Low/none
Status: Complete!
Spencer’s car was making a strange noise. It’d started on her way back from Palo Alto, but she’d avoided bringing it in. She had other things to do, obviously. Getting settled back at her parents’ place, buying school books and preparing for the quarter at UCI… She’d been driving back and forth around town a lot, actually, and when she saw the check engine light come on, she knew she couldn’t avoid it any more.
Actually, she was a little frightened when she thought she smelled something like burnt hair. So she pulled to the nearest garage she saw, and climbed out of the car to find a mechanic. Hopefully the thing wouldn’t explode on her.
Joe had been pulling extra hours at the garage to cover for his boss’s need to be there for his newly pregnant...wife? Girlfriend? Partner? Joe wasn’t really sure what Claire was to Dean, but it was obvious that he loved her and was just over the moon about the fact she was having a baby. Joe was only happy to pull the extra shifts so that Dean could be there for her through everything that went into being pregnant and preparing for baby. The extra money was good too, and it kept Joe’s mind focused rather than wandering too far into things he had no control over.
It did make for long days, however, and Joe had already had a long shift by the time a new car pulled up to the garage. It was putting out a very interesting smell that caught Joe’s attention. What caught more of his attention was the attractive young woman who got out of the car and headed towards the bays as though looking for someone to help her.
“I got this one,” Joe called over his shoulder at Stefan and after quickly wiping oil and smudge off his wrapped hands, he hurried out meet the woman. “Hi,” he said giving her a friendly grin. “Can I help you?”
Spencer wondered if she should be putting more distance between herself and the burning hair engine, when a mechanic came out of the garage and gave her a smile. A very handsome smile. Spencer returned it with one of her own, and nodded. “Oh, I sure hope so. I really don’t know what’s wrong with my car.”
Then she added in a playfully sheepish and almost self-deprecating tone, “I know I’m a little past due for an oil change, but this is ridiculous.”
The girl had a great smile and all of a sudden Joe forgot all about the long ass day he’d put in. He wasn’t a fan of the whole Damsel in Distress motif, but he was very eager to help this particular girl find out what was wrong with her car.
Joe had never known a car to smell like burning hair when it was in need of an oil change. Burning oil maybe, but not hair. “I’ll be happy to what I can,” he said, still smiling at her as he made his way towards the car. The smell of burning hair didn’t mean it was about to explode. If it smelled like gas, that’d have been a different story altogether. “Do you mind popping the hood for me?”
Spencer didn’t really have a type. She liked all sorts of guys, older and younger, bigger and smaller, wealthy and poor, smarter and … well, not as much. This guy had her antennas perking up. His eyes were very attractive, and that was one of the things she looked for the most. So when he smiled at her, she was willing to follow him anywhere.
“Sure,” Spencer said, moving with him back to the driver’s side door of the car. Then she popped the hood, keys in hand. Just in case he asked her to turn the engine on. “Any idea what might be making that smell? It’s not just me, is it? You smell it, too, right? Or am I having olfactory hallucinations?”
“Yeah, unfortunately,” Joe gave her a sympathetic look. It was never a good thing when your car started emitting unpleasant smells. In fact, it could be downright unnerving, especially when you couldn’t identify the smell or where it was coming from. “But, it’s usually pretty simple. Sometimes things get caught up in the engine and start disintegrating,” he left out that those things were sometimes small animals that mistakenly thought an engine to be a good place to build a nest. She didn’t need to hear that. “And sometimes it just means you need to change your air filters.”
“At least I’m not going crazy,” Spencer said, a little relieved. Either the car could be repaired, or not. At least then she’d know what the root problem was. She moved around to look as the man opened the hood of her car to take a look. Relief flooded through her at his words, and she smiled way more genuinely. “Oh. Oh. That really sounds like an easy fix.” Either they cleaned out the stuff in the engine, or changed out the air filters, or both… wham bam, fixed?
Joe was distracted momentarily by the girl’s more genuine smile. He caught himself and turned his attention to her engine. It was bad form to be caught ogling a customer. At first glance the engine looked clean and free of any debris, which was good for the car, but not necessarily good for finding out where the smell was coming from. Joe bent over slightly to get a better look in the spaces of the engine block to be sure. “It’s still too hot for me to really get in there,” he said, “everything looks clean.” He glanced up at the girl next to him and gave her a smile, “you got a good looking engine,” he said. “Let’s take a look at your filters.”
Thankfully, Spencer didn’t really notice that the hot mechanic was staring. She thought he was just being attentive, and that was a-okay in her book. It made her glad she’d chosen this place to come instead of whatever place down the road. She stood next to him and leaned over to take a good look into the engine. It was hot, for sure. She could feel it radiating off the metal parts as if they were a stovetop.
Then she was blushing as well as smiling. Had that been a double entendre? Oh, you want to look at my filters, huh? “Yes. Let’s.” She was not great at flirting, but Spencer Hastings had had her share of experiences with men. She let her eyes linger for a moment longer than was necessary, then turned them back to the engine. “...they in here? Or in the cab?”
Joe wasn’t staring really. He was checking her out and he may have been a little less than subtle about it. Not exactly appropriate here, but she was pretty and her smile was fantastic. Plus, it seemed as though the girl was at least a little receptive of it with the way she was looking at him and she seemed very eager to show him her filters.
Joe smiled at her as he leaned back from the engine. “They’re in the cab,” he said moving around her towards the passenger seat of the car. “Usually they’re either by the glove box or behind it. Do you mind if I take a look?”
“No no, go right ahead.” Spencer watched him walk for a moment, as he moved toward the passenger side door. Her eyes traveled down to his backside, mostly hidden by that damn mechanic get-up. Onesie? Coveralls? Whatever they were called, they didn’t do much for the eye, but left a lot to the imagination. That might have been better, actually. Then she followed, moving around behind him to watch as he dug under the glove compartment for air filters.
“You’re really good at this,” she mentioned, off hand. “How long have you been a mechanic?”
Joe had opened the passenger side door and had hunkered down to get at the glove box. He first checked under it for the filter panel. He glanced up at the girl when she spoke. He had to laugh a little bit. All he’d done so far was look at her engine and tell her it may be her air filters, there was nothing really amazing about that, but Joe appreciated the compliment anyway. “Thanks. I started working on cars in high school,” he answered her. “They were kind of a hobby for a while, but I’ve always really enjoyed it, so when I moved out here I decided to get a job doing it.”
Spencer grinned at his laugh. Mission accomplished. She liked the way it sounded. He had a lot of things going for him, this mechanic. One, great eyes. Two, great laugh. That was just the start. “I think it’s great when hobbies turn into something more. Me? I don’t have many. Unless you count reading. There aren’t many people out there in the world who make a living out of reading.” She leaned against the car, thankful that she’d recently had it cleaned so it wouldn’t make her sleeve a mess.
“Editors do a lot of reading,” Joe offered. “Of course you’d have to slog through a lot of bad reading material.” He laughed a little again. He got the compartment containing the air filters open and he set aside the cover. The filters looked dingy and were a dark grey color. “Ah, I think this is might be the problem,” he said. “Your filters need to be changed.” He got to his feet and dusted his hands off on his coveralls. “I can grab some and replace them no problem.”
“Yeah, I like to read things that are good to read.” Spencer teased a little, smirking. Then she nodded, looking down at the filters. Pretty gross. Maybe that’s where the smell was coming from? “All right.” She dusted her own hands on her pants, then turned to follow him inside. Both doors were closed, and she clicked the fob on her keychain to lock the car.
Joe was a little surprised the girl followed him inside the garage. He had expected her to wait by the car. Most customers preferred to stay with their vehicles as much as possible. Not that Joe minded. Once inside the office, Joe told her to wait a moment and disappeared into the storage room where he found some filters. He reappeared a moment later, filters in hand and grin on his face. “Let’s change those babies out and see if that fixes the problem.”
Well, wasn’t that an invitation? Spencer took a look around the office once they were in there, poking about. It was actually nicer than she thought it would be in here. She could imagine sitting on the sofa, reading her Kindle, waiting while they worked on her car. It wasn’t dingy and smelly like some garages seemed to be. She perked up a little when the hot mechanic reappeared.
“All right.” She stepped over to join him as he made his way out of the store room. One of her hands touched his arm. “Thanks.” Physical contact. Hint hint.
The hand on his arm wasn’t exactly subtle, but it wasn’t blatant to grab the attention of the other mechanics, either. Joe had to smile. He had to admire her forwardness. It was extremely attractive.
He walked her back over to her car and in a snap had her air filters changed and the old grimey ones disposed of. At some point as he was walking from the passenger side of the car to the driver’s side, he made sure to walk close enough to her that their bodies brushed. He was sure to that the contact was made side to side, where his coveralls were at least not covered in oil and dirt. He coupled the brush with a light grin in the girl’s direction. “Let’s start the car and see if that did the trick.”
So, the body language was totally there. Spencer grinned very softly when he passed by her, practically bumping hips. She raised an eyebrow, taking in his form as he finished up the work. “Let’s do that.” She agreed, moving around the car to let herself in on the driver’s side. She turned the engine on with the key and sighed a little, relieved. The smell was still lingering, but it wasn’t as strong. Maybe all she needed were the air filters.
“Sounds good?” She asked, turning to smile at the mechanic through her open window.
The smell lingered, but once she got back on the road it would probably dissipate. “Sounds good,” he nodded. He leaned lightly against her car, arms folded casually and looking very pleased with himself. His work was done and just in time for his double shift to come to an end. Helping a pretty girl was an excellent way to end the day, too. He looked down at the girl in the car. “Come inside the office and we’ll settle you up.” Slight pause and a smirk. “And I’m off work in about five minutes.” Hint, hint.
“Sounds good.” Spencer turned the car off and pulled the key from the ignition, then couldn’t help but smirk at his next words. Off in five minutes, hmm? She turned to give him a grin, and her eyes were sparkling with both delight and wickedness. She nodded. “I think I can wait about five minutes.” As she climbed out of the car her body brushed past his. Then she made her way toward the office to pay for his services. Then maybe he could enjoy her services.
Joe grinned. He would love to enjoy her “services” once their relationship as mechanic and customer came to an end. He took her inside the office and rang her up. He handed her a carbon copy of the receipt she had signed along with one of the garage’s cards that he had been sure to write both his name and number on. “Just in case,” he told her with a subtle wink.
Then with that bit of business out of the way and with Joe just moments from being officially off the clock he leaned against the counter and gave her one of his more charming smiles. “You wanna go grab a bite?” He asked. “Or a coffee?”
Spencer accepted the receipt and the card from the hot mechanic, and took a glance at his name. Joe, huh? It was a really simple name, wasn’t it? But hey, she liked it. And he got hers from the paperwork and/or her credit card. She pocketed the card and gave him another smile. Okay, more of a smirk than a smile. “I thought you’d never ask.” Beat. “Isn’t there a cafe two doors down?” They could just slip over there real quick for a coffee. Or food. Or both. And hopefully something more.
Spencer turned and headed out of the office, but stopped at the door and glanced at him over her shoulder, wearing a come-hither smirk.. “I’ll wait for you outside.”
Joe knew that look. Knew it and liked it. He quickly punched out and called into the garage to Stefan to let him know he was leaving and to have a good night. Then he was hurrying after Spencer. He joined her outside making their way to where the cafe was a few doors down. Quite the convenient little place, really. Joe had been inside a few times for lunch. And it was a perfect little place for a casual meet-up and - if Joe was reading things right (and he believed he was) - a great place to start a little rendezvous.
It was a quick little trek, spent with their bodies close together, gently brushing against each other as they walked.
Funny thing was that Spencer knew the cafe a lot better than she’d known the garage. It was sort of shaped like a giant U, with the bathroom on one end and the register in the middle. The far side was secluded and filled with comfy sofas. Might be a nice place to go hide from the world for a few minutes with a very attractive mechanic, who seemed to be giving and receiving Spencer’s signals with ease.
She held the door open for him (Spencer the feminist) and then ordered her own coffee and headed around to the back to scope out her favorite sofa. Hopefully he wouldn’t mind getting up close and personal in the back, as the sofa was only a two-seater.
Hide from the world for a few minutes with a pretty girl. Joe was extremely fine with this arrangement. He ordered a coffee for himself and followed Spencer to one of the sofas. He sat down next to her all nice and close. The sofa didn’t exactly provide a lot of room for them, but that was the point, wasn’t it? He got a look from one of the employees who had come back to collect a couple of mugs and plates that past patrons had left behind, but Joe simply ignored her. He wasn’t that dirty, despite how his overalls may have appeared. There was no concern that he’d leave behind any little oil marks on their nice sofas.
Then his attention was on Spencer and Spencer alone. His coffee was in hand, but after a few sips, he’d pretty much forgotten about it.
Spencer leaned in a little, her face only an inch from his. He smelled like grease, cars, sweat. It was a manly smell, and Spencer was very fond of it. Her fingers wrapped gently around the coffee cup in his hand, and she set it on the coffee table next to hers, then lifted her hand to his cheek. The stubble was manly, too. A thousand different things went through her mind about how masculine he was, about how good he smelled. And she drew him in to kiss his lips.
Spencer wasted no time it seemed and Joe had no problem with that either. There was something to be said for cutting right to the chase. It had become clear to the both of them, even back at the garage, that this was something they both had wanted and Joe could appreciate the fact that Spencer had dispensed with the formalities of small talk and flirting to get what she wanted.
Her lips were soft and supple and her mouth tasted like coffee and something sweet. Joe reached up to cup her face, his fingers lingering along her jaw. Her skin was smooth and warm, as was the rest of her body sitting so close to him. He smiled faintly into Spencer's kiss before returning it a little deeper.
Stringy arms lifted up to wrap around Joe’s strong shoulders. One good thing about being so close together was Spencer could feel every movement of his lips against hers. She could tell he was smiling, and it made her smile in return. Hey, kissing was fun. Lots of fun. She pressed her body closer to his while her fingers threaded hungrily into his hair. The kiss deepened and Spencer followed it; she invited his tongue into her mouth with a slip of her own against his lips. This was turning into a full-on make-out session in the back of the cafe, and Spencer couldn’t care less who saw or what they thought. She was having fun and from the feel of it, Joe was, too.
Oh, yes. Joe was having fun. He was really enjoying this. The fact that they were in a public place added to the excitement. Spencer’s body pressed against his made his heart race pleasantly. His hand moved from the line of Spencer’s jaw slowly down her neck to the curve of her shoulder where it remained when the two of them broke for air. Joe grinned at her a sly, but charming sort of grin. “Wow, if that’s how you thank your mechanics, feel free to bring your car in any time.”