#driven crazy

The radio was acting up again. Some news anchor was reporting but Rey couldn’t make out what he was saying for the life of her with the damn thing cutting out every two seconds. Giving it a good whack with her palm one last time, she let out a soft swear and gave up, turning it off. Given her profession, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t put time aside to fix her own truck.

Driving down the main road that stretched between the business and residential areas at night always gave her the creeps, no matter how many times she’d done it. It was the type of drive that was shrouded in pitch black darkness with only high beams and a small beacon of lit up houses at the end to guide you to safety. the surrounding areas were nothing but dirt and sand and distant hills. Her radio acting up didn’t help the vibe. People had been asking for years to fill in the potholes and put up street lights to avoid crashes and hitting animals that may wander onto the road but the Jakku council was slack and never got around to it. Rey’s small frame jolted out of her seat and temporarily strained against her seatbelt before falling back into place as she ran over one of said holes littering the road. She grit her teeth at the thought of how worn down her tires were getting just from driving to and from work. At least this shitty road is keeping me in a job, she considered.

Nearing the halfway point of the road, Rey squinted at a distant dark shape off to the side on the gravel. As she got closer, it was confirmed to her what it was. Shit, she thought. A car. She considered pulling over. Really, truly, she did…for about two seconds. She'd had a long day and she was tired and hungry. She'd forgotten her wallet and packed lunch in a rush to get to work that morning and had never been so eager to eat the leftovers in her fridge than she was in this moment. It didn’t even look like anyone was there anyway, they’d probably left it ‘til morning and walked, considering the mechanic wasn’t open this late.

Approaching the abandoned car, a flash of movement appeared in her peripherals near the bonnet and she had to slam down on her breaks, cringing at the rough skid of her tires against the butchered road. A tall, broad man stood in front of her car, inches away, hands raised and eyes wild. He was dressed head to toe in black; black t-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers. He looked far too clean to be a local. Half of his black hair had fallen into his face from the action. After the initial shock of this man practically diving in front of her truck, the anger set in. undoing her seatbelt with an audible click, Rey flung her door open and jumped out, slamming it behind her with the strength of a thousand angry New York cabbies.

“You big, dumb idiot!” Rey shouted, throwing her hands in the air and walking around to the front of her truck. “what were you thinking? I could’ve hit you!”

The man looked down at her with a blank and composed face, completely the opposite of the emotion he’d had when being seconds away from possible death by truck. “I saw your truck.  Look at my car.”

Rey’s face twisted and reddened into a new level of anger, that sounded like an order. She didn’t like orders. “you couldn’t have stood up and waved? Maybe not suicide jumped onto the road? You’ve got some nerve.”

Still looking down at her with that unreadable expression, he sniffed quickly through a nostril and looked out into the distance quickly before looking back. “you’re a mechanic, aren’t you?” he asked plainly, tipping his head towards the truck. There was a big advertisement along the side in bright yellow reading ‘Scavenger Mechanics’ and the details underneath.

“well, yes, but…” she was interrupted by the expectant raise of his eyebrows. She narrowed her eyes at him and made a grunt before walking over to his shiny black Audi. The tires and the entire bottom rim of the car were covered in a thick layer of dust which made Rey give the heap of metal a spiteful smile. Of course, a gigantic prick like him has a car like this, it probably matches his ego. Her eyes slid over to three small dents above the front wheels of the car. She turned her head over her shoulder and gave him a quizzical look. “Did you…kick your car?”

He shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms in response before adding, “I got mad.”

“No shit.” Rey Mumbled before dragging herself around to the bonnet and popping it open. “So how long were you hiding behind your car like a total creep then, hmm?”

“I wasn’t hiding, I was sitting. waiting. Three hours.” He said, casually.

“Three Hours! You’re kidding.” She whipped her head up from looking at the insides of the car and nearly hit it on the lid. “Surely someone else would’ve driven past in that time?”

“They did. They were all driving rust buckets and looked like they hadn’t passed a fourth-grade education, so I didn’t bother. You’re the first person that looked worth my time.”

Rey Mouthed a ‘wow’ and raised her eyebrows before shaking her head and turning back to the car. Definitely an entitled arsehole. “Was the car having any trouble before it stopped?”

“It kept Stalling. And it was making a hissing sound. And the Check engine light was on.”

“Well…did you check the engine?” Rey asked, trying to control her attitude.

“No. I was waiting until I found a mechanic.” He stated.

Rey’s fingers curled around the vehicle and she blew a breath out, trying to release some of the pressure building up in her head. “well, you found one didn’t you.”

She stood up straight and charged up to him, yanking the keys out of his hand and earning an irritated look from the big guy before swiveling on her feet and opening the driver’s side door. She sat down, jamming the keys into the key port and twisted. Nothing. She twisted again. It wasn’t starting. Rey climbed out of the low comfy seat and gave the now sour-faced man a half smile, “Sorry to say, but it seems like you’ve got engine failure.”

He huffed out a breath and threw his arms down to his side. “you’re kidding.”

“Nup.”

“well are you going to do anything about it?”

Rey tightened her hands into fist and scrunched her nose up. Why was she even here? She didn’t have to help him. she’d finished work a half hour ago. “No.”

“No?” he burst out, exasperated.

“No. there’s a hotel about a kilometer down the road. Call a tow truck in the morning to come pick it up. I’m sure someone at reception will have a Yellow Pages you can look that up in.” she threw the keys at his chest and they clattered onto the pavement. “you look like you could use the walk there too. Maybe the fresh air will deflate your stuffy personality.” She began to climb into her truck.

“You are getting into a tow truck right this second. You’re telling me you can’t just quickly tow the goddamn car? It’s not like I won’t pay you.” His face red, brows knitted, he practically shouted at her.

“No, I can’t. I’m not driving all the way back to work for you. I’m going to go eat spaghetti.” He could’ve sworn at her, she wasn’t sure. She’d slammed her door and pressed down on the accelerator before he could respond. She began giggling as she saw his tight shouldered silhouette in her rear-view mirror.

 Rey turned off the water from the tap and dropped her galactic bath bomb into the tub, turning the water a mix of blue, pink and purple. Stepping in and grabbing her microwaved spaghetti from next to the sink, she took in a mouthful and smiled. Who knew three-day old pasta could be almost orgasmic if preceded by the act of starving for several hours?

Her nightly routine was always to bathe and eat dinner in unison. This way she could cut down the time it took her to get to bed. She would completely skip bathing altogether if she could, but she was always guaranteed to be covered head to toe in grease. She never wanted to do anything but sleep when she got back to her flat. After finishing off her plate she laid back and breathed in, closing her eyes. And then…