Who: Gaby Teller-Mason and Tim Riggins What:Tim stops by the shop and gets himself a job When: Recent! Where: Teller-Mason Auto Repair Rating/Warning: Low Status: Complete
Tim wasn’t sure if Gaby was serious when she mentioned she could use extra help. But he figured he might as well stop by and check it out. It would give him something to do when he wasn’t busy with football at least. Tim hated being bored. It led to him drinking more than usual. And if he stayed busy enough maybe he wouldn’t be so homesick for Texas. For Billy and Jason.
After his incredibly boring English class Tim made his way over to Santa Ana. Luckily it wasn’t that far of a drive from Irvine. Her shop was easy enough to find. Tim parked his truck (that he drove all the from Texas) and made his way inside.
Gaby had just finished up with one of her regular (and more irritating) clients, so was wiping her hands down on a rag, her hair pushed up and out of her face with a bandana that kept the hair away from her eyes and - more importantly - away from the engines and various bits of machinery that would be painful if she managed to get her hair tangled in things that moved very quickly.
Hearing the bell above the door dinging, she turned her head to look and saw Tim, from the bar. Her lips curled up into a smile and she stuffed the rag into the front pocket of her olive-green overalls.
“Tim,” she greeted, pleased to see him. “I am glad you stopped by. How are you?”
Well she remembered his name. That was something at least. Tim had been half worried she forgot she had told him to stop by.
“Hey,” he greeted with a grin pushing his long hair out of his eyes. “I’m good. Figured I’d come check this place out. “Are you still looking for someone to do extra work?” If not no big deal. At least he had tried. Football would keep him busy again soon enough anyway.
Gaby slipped her fingers into the front pockets and looked at him, watching him carefully for a moment before she just nodded. He looked a little relieved that she’d greeted him, wondered if he was used to people saying things they didn’t mean. Americans. So quick to go back on their word.
“I am,” she told him honestly, “very much so. I have four cars in the shop right now and only one pair of hands.” And some of the parts were pretty heavy. She had rigs set up around the place to support the movement of heavier items which made her life much easier. “If you’ve still got some spare time?”
“It’s just you here?” Tim asked with a raised brow. Not that she needed anyone else. Fixing cars was a pretty solo job. Still he figured there would be a few more helping her out. Well he supposed that would be him.
“Yeah,” Tim replied. “I’ve got the time. You want some help right now?” He was already here so why not. He could take on at least one of the cars for her.
“Yes,” Gaby responded, “it is just me here. It used to be my father and I back-” she pressed her lips together and let out a slow breath, rocking on her toes and taking her hands out of her pockets. “I am used to running a small show. But there are a lot of people here who do not know how to take care of their cars, it seems.”
Her eyebrow lifted a little and she tipped her head up. “Are you sure?” It would be a good trial run, to make sure the guy knew his stuff. She already knew what she’d ask him to work on; the Camaro needed a new timing belt and the oil sensor needed adjusting. She’d already run diagnostics, which was what flagged the sensor issue, but she’d let him have at it. “Got a Camaro you could do diagnostics and a fix on if you wanted?”
Tim’s brow furrowed. There was something there. Something she had trouble saying. He could see how upset she had gotten, unable to finish her sentence. Tim chose not to press it. Wasn’t his place. Besides he had an idea. Something had clearly happened to her dad. Best guess? He had passed away. But again wasn’t his place.
“Small is good,” Tim replied. “More work for you actually working on cars.” Since he assumed the bigger the business the more paperwork was involved. Which was clearly not her passion. At least from what Tim could see. Cars were her passion and he couldn’t blame her.
“Yeah,” Time replied. “I could do that,” he looked around surveying the cars in her garage. “You got the keys?” he asked already making his way over to the Camaro.
Gaby nodded, “I’ve got no time to do anything else,” she shared, waving her hand as Tim moved past her towards the garage. She followed him in and lifted the Camaro’s keys off the wall where all the car keys were kept in a locked wall-box when she wasn’t working on them. “Catch.”
Throwing the keys over, she added, “Tools for diagnostics are just behind the car, on the bench in the blue box. If you don’t know how to use it give me a shout.” But she figured he probably at least knew how to run electronic diagnostics on a car if he’d worked in a garage before. Once she was sure he’d caught the keys and was at least unlocking the car, she kicked her creeper out from underneath the VW Bug she’d been working on and eased herself down onto it, laying back.
“How often do you think you could come by and help out?” she asked, having worked out that he was in college during their first meeting. “Between football and classes, how much free time do you actually have?”
It was an easy catch for him. Being a football player and all it was kind of his job to catch things. He grabbed the blue box pulling out the tools for the diagnostic so he could get started. Prove himself in a way.
“There’s no football right now,” Tim replied. “So I have a good amount of time until the seasons starts back up.” And then he would just have to figure it out. But that was a few months off. “I can be here most weekends.” Though he might be hungover - or even still drunk, but he figured it was probably best not to say it. “And I can get you a copy of my class schedule.” Not that he really cared if he ditched class or not.
“You will have to let me know when the season starts,” Gaby responded, laying back on the creeper and wheeling herself underneath the VW. “I will come to a game or two.” It never hurt to support others and honestly, if she had a personal stake in the game maybe she would understand it a little better.
She lifted her hips to pull a wrench from her pocket and scowled up at the undercarriage. “Most weekends is better than not at all,” she told him with an audible smile in her voice. “It will be nice to have the company. I can pay you by the hour, if that is okay?”
“Yes ma’am,” Tim replied those Texas manners coming out. Which was weird considering Tim never really gave a shit about it back in Texas. Or hell here even. But this was going to be his boss. So respect it was. At least for now, while he was getting the job.
“Yeah,” Tim agreed. “Hourly is fine.” Really he didn’t give a shit about the money. Tim wasn’t exactly rich or anything. Actually he was far from it. But he wasn’t doing this for the money. He was doing it because he truly liked working on cars. And he was bored. There were only so many frat parties a guy could go to.
Underneath the car, Gaby felt her lips curl up into a small smile. Polite and probably hard working, she was quite pleased. “Then I think we might have ourselves a deal,” she told him, though anything that came next was immediately gone from Gaby’s mind as she located the source of the leak - largely because it dripped onto her face.
Oh, the glamorous life if a mechanic.
She coughed and pushed the creeper out from under the car to find a rag to wipe her face with. “If you don’t have overalls let me know, I shall make sure to get you some,” she added, almost as an afterthought. “No point getting your clothes covered in oil and grease.”
“I don’t have any,” Tim replied as he finished getting out the tools. He had never cared about getting grease on his clothes when he worked on his own car. Though he supposed if he was going to be doing this on a daily basis, it wouldn’t be a bad idea.
“Deal,” he added with a grin, proud of himself for getting a job. With that settled, Tim got to work on the diagnostic.