The Rebel

Dylan-2

“Yes,” the man answers hesitantly, and now that I can take a better look, he is in quite a poor state. He must be about eighty. It’s out of the question that the girl in the car is his daughter. His granddaughter, at most.

“It might be better to call the blue angel, don’t you think, honey?” the old woman speaks beside him, with a voice close to crying.

“Because of a flat tyre?” I interrupt, but regret it at once. How is it any of my business whom she wants to call?

“It’s late. They might be a long time. We can sort the issue, if you want us to,” Liam shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, and makes a smile. I can see that the old guy gives it a thought, then quickly relaxes. He trusts Liam just by looking at him, but I’m not surprised about that. This is how he usually affects people.

“If you think that—"

“It’s no trouble. If you have the tools, we’ll be done in a tick. Right, Dylan?” he turns towards me with a get yourself together or I’ll kick you in the balls kind of face.

Suuuure! No problem. I was longing for nothing more than changing wheels on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere, at night, in pitch dark.

“No bother. Just open the boot, and we’ll see where we stand,” I say, trying to make a friendly face. This Liam kid wears me out. Next time I’ll be driving, for sure.

I start towards the back of the vehicle, but just then, the door opens, and the chick gets out. Shorts, strap top and a long pony tail. She’s in quite a good shape, and I almost stumble on my own foot while thoroughly studying her backside, as she walks to the old folks. It may not have been such a bad idea to stop, after all. She sizes me up and down, perhaps a tad longer than appropriate, then steps up to Liam.

“Hi,” she coos with an unusually deep voice, and I see Liam freezing too for a second.

“Hi.”

“Do you live in the area?” she comes to the point, and I feel like laughing. This will be fun!

“Chelsea!” the woman says reprimandingly. “It’s none of our business where these young men live,” she shakes her head from side to side, and sends my brother an apologetic smile.

“Oh, no problem. We don’t live here, only came for the weekend…” Liam answers while the old man opens the boot.

He steps up to me and watches me lifting out the spare wheel and the tool box. He tries to help, but he’s weak as a kitten, even his hands are shaking. He would never have changed the wheels on his own, for sure. I roll up my shirt sleeves and begin to loosen the screws with the spanner, then I place the jack underneath and start rolling it too, in the meantime keeping an eye on Liam. The side of the car slowly lifts up, and with the spanner in my hand I’m waiting for him to come and take it from me, or at least ask if he should help, but he doesn’t give a damn. He’s talking to the girl, and she is trying to act impressive. That’s really something! I sigh, remove the bolts, one after the other. I tell grandpa to step back while I toss the tyre around, because I don’t want to elbow into his face. I lift off the wheel and put it on the ground. I look at Liam and wait again, but they’re both just acting charming. The girl throws her hair back, giggles stupidly and keeps pulling at her top. What a con. What’s going on now? He arranges some work for me, and meanwhile he is smooth-talking to the chick. I almost laugh out loud, but I don’t want to destroy his little adventure. Let him star in the role of rescuer, and then who knows, this sweetie-pie might have a sister or friend who also needs help. I lift the tyre to put it to its place when Liam comes to his senses at last and comes over with the women close behind.

“Is everything okay? Need any help?” he runs his fingers through his hair, and I shake my head with a smile.

“Ah! leave it, mate. I’ll be all right, you know me.” As he still chooses to kneel down next to me, I say in a whisper: “Ask her phone number, though. The weekend is long.”

“What are you talking about? She’s too young, can’t you see that? Or are you missing the Greenhaven cell?”

I laugh out loud. It seems like our experience from ten years ago with the local police station is still a vivid memory for him too.

“I don’t know,” I say, glancing at the girl above Liam’s shoulder. “She doesn’t seem to be like a minor. Plus, she will surely be bored to death with grannie and grandpa, and will be grateful for the pampering,” I wink at him, at which he crossly pushes my shoulder.

When the car is on its four wheels again, I double check the bolts. Liam gets working at last, and puts the punctured tyre into the boot. The old woman is swarming around me, putting tissues into my hand to wipe off the oil, and can’t stop saying thanks. I also wear my generous face and assure her that she shouldn’t worry, the tyre changing for me nothing but real pleasure.

Chelsea sneaks up to us, shifts her eyes between us, blinking innocently.

“You’ve got some oil on you. Let me get it!” she coos as soon as the grandparents are out of hearing range. I can’t believe my eyes when she wets her finger and starts smearing an invisible spot on my brother’s lower arm. Liam looks at me with raised eyebrows, even shrugs his shoulders. I can see that he is surprised. Damn! Why is she licking him? I did the dirty work here, all he did was chat, and yet, he gets the spoiling.

“Hey! What about me?” I say with a grin. “I was the one who replaced the tyre, if I may note that, and have several oily spots on my body.”

Chelsea looks at me, and laughs out loud, covering her mouth with a hand. You’re playing with fire, baby. I wonder if she’s indeed so naïve or it’s quite the opposite. Swaying her butt from side to side, she steps closer to me, while licking her lower lip with challenge. She is as naïve as I am a virgin.

“We’ll be at Seaview cottage. It’s at the border of Greenhaven and Goodwick, a large, light blue house, about 200 metres from the beach. Tomorrow my friends will also be here. We’ll be celebrating a birthday this weekend,” she says with a big smile. I’m, just about to ask whose birthday it’s going to be, and especially, which birthday, but she continues fixing her eyes on Liam. “I’ll give you my number.”

With a tilted head she waits for a second. Liam looks at me, then begins to touch about his pockets.

“I don’t have my phone,” he answers.

I could just say that I do have mine, no issue, but I have the feeling the little pussycat will sort out the problem without my help. And I turn out to be right.

“No problem. Just a sec,” she says, turning her back on us, and opening the back door of the car.

She climbs onto the seat and on all fours, she is rummaging about for something, offering a full view of her backside. The denim shorts slide up so high that the lower part of her bumcheeks are flashing. The whole situation and her move are an obvious invitation, and Liam and I obediently stare at it, as we should in this setting. I even lean in a bit to get a better picture, at which Liam clears his throat. I look at him, he raises his eyebrows inquisitively and I shrug my shoulders with a big grin. Liam silently signals the old folk are coming our way, so I begin to cough to help the girl come to her senses before the old grannie realizes what’s going on. Chelsea is getting the picture and quickly climbs out of the car with a pen in her hand. She steps up to Liam, with her back to the grandparents, and grabs his arm. I watch her scribble her number on his skin. Hell! What am I doing wrong? I have even replaced their goddamn tire, and she is buttering Liam up. I shake my head with a smile under my nose when the man speaks up.

“We are thankful for your help. I don’t even know how…” he says with visible embarrassment.

He begins to feel his pockets, when my gaze meets Liam’s. If he takes out a banknote now, I swear I’m going to cry. Before the old guy would do something silly, luckily Liam interferes.

“Come on, it was nothing. Anyone would have done it in our place,” he smiles, and shakes the old guy’s hand.

This, let’s face it, is bullshit, because I don’t know many people other than him who would have stopped on abandoned section of the road, in the dark, to help complete strangers. I also say goodbye and cast a meaningful glance at the girl. While the grandparents get into the car, she’s telling us to call her by all means. I wink at her, and remark, half to her and half to the old man: “Drive carefully. And show the car to a repairman as soon as possible.”

It can do no harm to gather good points, you never know what the weekend might bring.

“So? Are you going to call her?” I ask Liam when we are back on the road. “She made a big move on you,” I push his shoulder, and he laughs out loudly.

“I don’t know. I didn’t like her so much.”

“Her butt was a little flat, for sure,” I nod, because I know his taste. It’s similar to mine, and the thing is, we both like a round, shapely female backside. And of course, I am aware of the fact that Liam doesn’t like girls who are so easy-going, but I don’t put it into words now.

“Plus, she was too young. I don’t want trouble.”

I just nod to that, grabbing the wine bottle. Looks like we’re going to have a different kind of fun this weekend.

Chapter 7