Porcelian Lies

Austin Murphy at Your Service

    A groan slipped through Austin’s lips as he quickly flicked his head side to side, a smile found its place on his lips when his neck finally cracked. The sound of the bones popping seemed to release endorphins within him; he knew it was a bad habit, but it did cause some pleasure in his life..He took one hand off of the wheel and rubbed his neck trying to keep his eyes open. Today had been an extremely long and busy day. He had been on ten different calls today and had a couple of different cars to work on back at the shop. He just couldn’t wait to get back to the shop, close it down for the day, and finally get to relax on the couch. He would need to lock up the large tow truck in the back first, but hopefully, that wouldn’t take too long. 

    A sharp ringing bounced off his eardrum, he glanced to the passenger seat to see his phone vibrating against the seat. He squinted trying to read the name on the phone, Officer Crowley. He rolled his eyes, there was no way someone got arrested. He would have heard about it before the cops did. If not, then why were the doves calling him now?

    Against all doubts, Austin reached over and picked up the phone, “Hey, everything okay?”

    “Yeah,” A muffled voice shot through the phone, “I just need a favor.”

    “Another favor?” Austin groaned putting the phone in between his head and shoulder so he could put his hand back on the wheel. “Can’t you call someone else? Unless it's something really big, you should call a grunt. It’s nothing big, is it?”

    “No, no, nothing big.” The man chuckled, “But it needs to be you. You see, I got a young woman here who’s car not only has a flat but she locked her keys in the car. I was wondering if you could pick her car up.”

    “You realize my shift is over right?” Austin sighed rubbing his forehead, “Why do I gotta help you get laid?” 

    Austin heard the man chuckle, the voice was rough and hoarse from years of smoking, “Look, if you do this, I will make sure that your shop never gets hits with taxes or any tickets.” Austin could basically see the man wiggling his eyebrows at him through the phone. 

    “Don’t you do that anyways?” He couldn’t help the own chuckle that left his lips. Austin has known this old man for way too long to tell him, no, and Crowley already knew this.

    “Yeah, but now you get the guarantee from me.” The chuckle made Austin smile; he could practically hear the wink in his voice, “What whatcha say? Help an old man help a young woman?”

    “Yeah, sure, why not.” Austin shrugged, grabbing his phone from off his shoulder, “Just shoot me your location and I will be there as soon as I can. And Crowley?”

    “Yeah, son?”

    “You’re an ass. Be safe.”

    “Always, kid”

                                                                    ~*~*~*~~**~*~*~~*~*~

    It took almost thirty minutes for Austin to arrive on the scene with the poor girl who seemed to be having a horrible night. He flung the large tow truck, ungracefully, in front of the little black car. As he passed, he saw a stunning girl with her hair pulled up in a messy bun sitting on the truck of her car smoking right along with Crowley.  She had a blanket wrapped around his small frame, but he could still see that she was shaking. Pervy old man, Austin chuckled as he quickly threw the truck in park, grabbed his toolbox out of the back, and pushed himself out of the truck. 

    “And who do we have here, Crowley?” Austin asked as he made his way over to the pair.

    The woman glanced over at Austin with a revered look on her face, she took one last drag of the cigarette before flicking the butt onto the wet concrete. She quickly hopped off the truck of the car, clutching the blanket with one hand keeping it in place, and straightened out the form-fitting red dress that had crunched up. “Vanessa,” she reached her hand out, to shake Austin’s hand. 

    As he reached out to shake hers, he couldn’t help but stare at the scar the twisted up her hands. They entangled each finger before dancing up her wrist before ending right below her elbow. While they were old, he could still see the harsh red almost pulsing through her skin. He quickly refocused his eyes to hers before gently grabbing her hand, “Austin, Austin Murphy at your service.” To his surprise her hand didn’t crumple under his larger ones, she shook his head with a force. This was a woman not to be reckoned with. 

    A slight smile filled her face as she pulled her hand back, “Vanessa Henderson, your current damsel in distress.” He couldn’t help but chuckle at the comment. He saw her smile before he turned to Crowley, hoping to get the old guy out of the cold. 

    “Do you need to take a report or am I free to hitch her car up and bring her where she needs to go?”

    The older man shook his head and waved his hand at the pair, “Nah, you are all good sony. I was just keeping her company as you hutched that old truck of yours over here.”

    “Hey, she isn’t that old,” Austin faked offense as he placed his hand over his heart. “She just has a couple of rust spots. Nothing some good old polish can’t fix.”

    “You really should see if Murphy can get ya a new one,” Crowley suggested as he put his hat back on his head. The comment caused Austin to roll his eyes, before raising an eyebrow at the old cop.

    “You know I am trying to spend my own money, not dad’s.” Austin smiled, a small amount of aggravation hidden in the statement.

    “Yeah, I know.” Crowley gave him an understanding smile, “Take care, young man.” Crowley turned towards Vanessa and gave her a curt nod, “You as well. And if you ever need help, give me a call.”

    She gave him a large smile before nodding herself, “Yes, I will. Please get back safely. Thank you for your help, once again.” He gave her a tip of his hat, a large smile filling his features, and turned his back to get back into the police cruiser.

    Once the older man was safe in his cruiser, Austin turned back to Vanessa and it was the first time he got a good look at her. Her hair was pulled back into a loose messy bun as small reddish-brown hairs curled out. Her green eyes were surrounded by smeared black mascara, giving her a saddened and hollowed look. Yet the smile on her face, despite the soaked dress and messed up makeup, seemed to bring a warm aura around her. 

    “You looked like you have been through hell, why don’t you sit in the truck as I look at the tire and see if I can just fix it and send you on your way?”

    Vanessa gave him a tired smile, “Thank you. I know you didn’t have to come out here and help me.” Her voice just confirmed his assumption that she was drained. 

    Austin gave her a genuine smile, “Honestly, Crowley is an old friend and normally I would have sent someone else, but I am glad that I did.” He handed her the large bulky truck keys, “Here, you have been out in the rain, go turn on the truck and put on the heat, it may take a little but it will start roaring.”

    She gave him a nod with a smile on her face before she made her way to the front of the truck. He made sure she was able to jump up into the truck, as there was quite a difference in height between the two. Once she was in and the door was shut, he made his way over to the black car. 

    He placed his toolbox on the ground and bent down next to the tire. His eyebrow raised up as he grabbed the flashlight out of the box. He glanced over the tire once again, this time with the light and he was still shocked.

    He shook his head, “Flat tire alright,” he mumbled to himself, leaning over to look around the tire, “She was basically driving on rim this tire is so fucked.”

    Austin noticed that the tire was tilted, it may be the way she pulled over, but he knelt down on all fours and quickly shined the light underneath the car. He quickly noticed that the alignment of the wheels was completely destroyed. The axle was cracked and shifted, while the tire seemed to tilted inward. There might even been some damage to the axle shaft. He sighed, there was no way this car would make it down the highway before it veered off the road, let alone her drive it home. She must have hit something hard in order to deal with that amount of damage. 

    He pushed himself back up to his knees and quickly packed up his tools before heading back toward the truck. He could probably bring it back to the shop but with all the other cars already there, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to fix it soon. It would take him at least a week to even get to work on the car, let alone how long it would take him to get the parts and repair it. Austin was hoping he would be able to quickly to replace the wheel for now so she could drive herself home and then get it to fix somewhere. But, he guessed that wasn’t the plan anymore, he would tell her that he could fix it but that it would take some time. 

    When he made it back to the truck, he gave the door a quick knock, trying not to scare her, before opening up the door. He almost laughed when he saw the small woman curled up in a ball in the corner of the passenger seat, leaned up against the door. She had pulled his large jacker up over her body, most likely without realizing that she did it. Her eyes slowly opened as she glanced up at him. It took a moment but her face quickly grew red and threw the coat off of her body and onto the floor.

    “I am so sorry,” She began to string out an apology, quickly began shifting it off of her small frame but he quickly put this hand up to stop her. 

    “Hey, don’t worry about it.” He smiled and gestured back to the coat, “Put it back on. I don’t mind, it will help warm you up.”

    She nodded and quickly reached down and had wrapped herself back up. All he could think about was a song he heard when he was younger, as snug as a bug in a rug. “How’s the tire?”

    “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you can’t drive your car home.” He sighed, trying not to look away, but she looked so shocked and disappointed, “From what I can see, your axle is cracked and your tire is well out of line. I think there could be other problems, but it's hard to see this late at night.”

    “Is it one of those things, like you shouldn’t drive with it like that but it won’t kill me kind of thing?” She question, Austin could see she was pulling at straws trying to find a way out of this. 

    “No, I don’t think you would make it down the street before you veered off the road and hit something.” 

    “Fuck.” She groaned putting her face in her hands. She sat there for a moment trying to figure out something to do, but with each second that ticked by, Austin felt worse and worse. 

    “Why don’t I unlock your car, get your phone out and then hitch up the car to the truck and get you where you need to be.”

    “Do you know a mechanic that I can bring it to?” She asked slowly lifting her head to look at Austin, her cheeks growing a blotchy red. 

    “I own a shop in Boston, if you want.” He offered, “I don’t want you to think you need to bring it there because I am picking up your car. If you want to go somewhere else, I would be more than happy to bring your car there.”

    “No no, I have no other mechanics in mind.” She looked down at her hands, “I never had this happen for as long as I have lived there. Where in Boston are you?”

    “Down on North Street,” Austin smiled, “I know, usually boss men don’t go out and tow cars.”

    “Yeah, that is rare, isn’t it?” Vanessa smiled back, her hands wringing her hands underneath his jacket. 

    “So does that sound like a plan?” As much as Austin was enjoying the company of the young woman, it was getting late, and he didn’t want to be out much longer.

    “Yes, please.” 

    “Okay, well give me a couple of minutes to get your phone before hitching the car up before I bring you to where you need to be.”

    “Thank you.” Her voice sounded tired as the thanks slipped through her lips. He felt bad for the woman, it seemed as this day was just getting worse for her. He wasn’t sure what happened to her earlier, but the way she was dressed she was either coming home from something special or going somewhere important. 

    He grabbed his toolbox once again as the gravel crunched under the soles of his shoes, the small clusters breaking as the heavy boots made their way towards the black car. He quickly grabbed what he needed to prop the door open. He grabbed the small wedge and began trying to wedge it in the top of the driver’s side door. It took a couple of tries but soon there was enough of a space to fit the metal rod. He carefully slid the rod into the small opening and tried to angle it, so it hit the unlock switch. 

    The wind whipped around him harshly, ripping against his bare skin as his eyes focused on the small button that he kept missing by a hair. He took a deep breath before glancing in the opening once again and jabbed at the lock. He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding when he heard that click of the car unlocking. He quickly pulled the rod out before removing the wedge before any damage was done. He put the items away and then turned to the car door, rapidly he opened the door to grab the phone and keys that were sitting in the center console. 

    Before he turned away, he noticed there were a pair of heels on the passenger seat, he pondered the idea for a moment. He couldn’t remember if she was wearing shoes or not when he saw her sitting on the truck of the car. After a moment, he let out a sigh and decided to just grab the heels just in case she didn’t have shoes on. He put the phone and keys in his pocket while placing the heels on top of his toolbox so he didn’t forget them just in case, so she didn't think he was a creep that steals women’s shoes. 

    Austin smiled, feeling a little pride in himself for helping someone out. It seemed like recently that he has just been doing favors for people to gain favors from them. He flicked some switched on the underside of the flatbed to loosen the chains and cause the flatbed to tilt towards the car, making a ramp. He whistled a small toon as he unhooked the large hooks from the bed and quickly fastened them near the tires. He made sure the wheel was relatively straight before heading back to the controls and tightening the chain till the car began to move up the tilted flatbed. He had to adjust the steering wheel a couple of times, but soon the car was on top of the flatbed and it was put back in place. 

    Once he made sure everything was tightened and in place, Austin made his way back to the front of the truck once again. He knocked on the door again, before opening it and throwing himself into the cab. He placed her heels on the center console, glancing down at her feet and giving himself a pat on the back when he confirmed that she didn't have shoes on. One point for Austin. 

    “Okay, I got the car all hooked up and we are ready to go.” Austin smiled at Vanessa as he buckled himself in. “Oh,” He leaned back against the seat and shoved his hand down his front pocket. “Here you go.” He pulled out her phone and keys before handing them over.

    “Thank you.” Vanessa smiled as she gently pulled them out of his hand, “Thankfully my phone is still charged a little bit so I can let my friend know that I am okay.”

    “Just let me know where we are goin’.” Austin said trying not to stare at the beautiful girl sitting in his passenger seat. He glanced down at the wheel before looking over at the floor of his truck, feeling a little embarrassed at how the floor had a bunch of fast-food wrappers covering it. He knew he needed to clean out his truck but he didn’t realize it was this bad until he had someone else in it. Boy, she was going to think he was a slob.  

    Vanessa nodded as she also buckled herself in, “I was supposed to meet my best friend and her boyfriend somewhere tonight.”

    “Oh?” Austin glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, “A double date or are you just being the typical crazy friend?”

    “No,” Vanessa slap his arm jokingly, “It was meant to be a double date but I never found anyone and then this happened, my hair and dress got ruined. I honestly was just going to go home.”

“Well, I think you look absolutely stunning.” He said shrugging his shoulders as if it was obvious,  even though he saw the blush making its way across her cheeks. “So why don’t we get you to that date? What’s the address?” 

    “It's at Rivailles. I am not sure the exact address though.” She trailed off and began scrolling through her phone looking, probably for the address. Austin turned on the GPS that was sitting above his dash and quickly punched in the name of the restaurant as if he didn’t know where he was going. 

    “Found it,” He said leaning back into the seat and throwing the truck into drive.  Rivailles was the most expensive restaurant in Boston, and you usually couldn't get a reservation unless you do so a couple weeks in advance. Although, with Murphy, he could always find a spot there no matter what day or time. Austin let out a soft chuckle, he guessed there were some upsides to being the mob.