Divine (4 page)

“
Are you going to
do anything special?” she asked.

“
My parents are
taking me out to dinner. I feel like I'm getting a little too old for
all the presents, so I told them that I just wanted to go somewhere
nice here in the city, like a really ritzy restaurant.”

“
Oh, how fun!”

A quiet pause filled
the air between us as our hands stuffed away. “How old are
you?” I asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

“
I'm seventeen.”

“
Oh, cool.”
I had been right thinking she was the same age as me.

The sound of shoes
squeaking against the floor had us turning our heads to see that a
young man, about fifteen or sixteen years old, was approaching us. He
was wearing a black button-up shirt and black slacks, and had brown
skater-like hair with bangs that swept messily across his forehead.

He reached our table
and smiled. “Hi, I'm Kevin,” he introduced himself as he
whipped his head to the side to move his brown locks away from his
hazel eyes.

“
Hi, I'm Summer.
You
work here?” I asked.

“
Yeah, I cook.
There's also another cook here named Steve. He's sick today, though,
so it's just me; it's gonna be a long day.” He smiled warmly
and glanced over at Brittany. “Oh, and by the way, we're out of
hair nets. Isn't that great?” he gushed to her, excited that
they shared a common relief.

From the way he held
her in his stare, I could tell that he had a crush on her.

“
Yeah, I'm super
excited,” she answered back in a tone filled with monotony.

Kevin seemed to pick up
on her aloofness and took the hint. “Okay,” he slowly
began, “well I have to get back to work. It was nice to meet
you.” He gave Brittany another hopeful glance before turning
around and walking back to the kitchen.

“
He has the
biggest crush on me,” she said down low, glancing over to be
sure that he was out of earshot. “It's so sad.”

“
What's wrong
with him?”

She
grabbed a napkin and tore off a piece to twiddle between her fingers.
“Nothing, really, he's just a year younger than me. I want a
mature
boyfriend.”

My attention drifted
from our conversation yet again when I heard Fox's office door open.
We perked up in our chairs and hastily finished with the napkins as
if our jobs depended on it.

His footsteps echoed
off of the tiled floor as he approached our table. “
Hello,
ladies,” he said with a voice so smooth that it sent chills up
my spine.

My body shivered as my
eyes rolled over the spectacular sight of him: his light green
business shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the top button undone,
his tanned skin, his perfect hair . . . once again, the name “Fox”
was exactly right.

“
Um, hi,” I
said in a stammer, standing up from my chair and pushing it back
underneath the table.

His eyes gazed over my
outfit. “You look very nice, Summer, a big step up from the
sweatshirt,” he joked. “Is Brittany showing you
everything you need to take care of around here?”

“
Yeah, she's
doing great,” I complimented my new friend.

Brittany smiled at him
as he turned his eyes on her. “That's good to hear. And come
on, Brittany, where's your hair net?” he said dryly, as if it
were the millionth time he had asked her.

“
Oh,” she
shrugged, “we're out.”

“
Well, maybe next
time give me a heads up before we run out. I can't have your pretty
little hairs in the customer's food. I'll order more today.”

“
Okay, sorry
about that. I'll tell you sooner next time.”

He shot her a skeptical
look. “Okay, well, I have some business to attend to. Have a
good first day, Summer.” The corners of his mouth raised up
into a handsome smile as he turned and headed back to his office.

“
Dang it,”
Brittany sighed, “I was hoping he wouldn't notice that I wasn't
wearing one. By next week . . . I'll be less cute.” She gave me
a pouty frown and stood up from her chair. “Come on, I'll show
you how to refill the soda machines.”

* * *

The rest of the day
went pretty smoothly. An old man gave me a two dollar tip, which was
pretty cool because most people didn't think to tip me, most likely
because they ordered their food from the counter.

I really liked the job
a lot, and was actually looking forward to coming back the next day.
But since I got off at two, I missed out on seeing Fox's awesome
super ability where he turned off all of the lights. Darn.

On my way home I
blasted the same dance channel on the radio. The sun was out, and I
was feeling happy. The moment didn't last long, though, because I hit
a humongous pothole in the street. A loud bang rattled the car and
sent me screaming a little louder than I probably should have;
thankfully I was alone and didn't embarrass myself in front of
anyone.

I clutched the steering
wheel tightly in my hands and pulled the wobbly car off to the side
of the road. Once there was a break in the traffic, I jumped out and
slammed my door behind me, flying to the front to look at the damage:
the front passengers side tire was flat.

“
Crap,” I
huffed, putting my hands on my hips and bending over to get a closer
look.

“
Looks like
you've got yourself a flat tire.”

I stood up to see that
the comment had come from a smiling old homeless man who was
shuffling his way toward me on the sidewalk. He looked like the usual
vagrant, with his faded red baseball cap that was pulled over a pile
of matted gray hair. It was easy to see that he was much too thin
beneath his ratted clothes; his arms were frail and void of any
muscle tone, and his pants were hanging loosely off of him, being
held up only by a thin piece of white string in place of a belt.

“
Oh
,
hi there,” I greeted him with a smile. “I guess I hit a
pothole. Do you know where a mechanic's shop is around here?”

“
Well,
let me think,” he said through a toothless grin. He looked up
and down the street as if trying to recall where he had seen one last
and then pointed up the road ahead of us.
“
About
two blocks up the street, take a right. It's a place called Doug's
Auto Repair. At least I think it's Doug's; it might be Dean's. I'm
sorry, I can't exactly remember the name, but it's up there
somewhere.”

Wanting
to show my appreciation for his advice, I reached into my pocket and
pulled out the two dollar tip that I had been given earlier that day.
“
Thank
you for your help,” I said, handing him the folded bills.

He took them from me
with eagerness and gripped them in his soiled fingers. “Much
obliged, Ma’am,” he said with a tip of his hat.

My heart went out to
the old man as I watched him turn around and leave, taking in the
sight of his blue ratted backpack and the bag of soda cans that was
tied tightly to it. He moved slowly to the corner, looking around at
the cars that were moving by as he pressed the button to walk across
the cross walk. Before the cars could stop for him to pass, he gave
me a pleasant surprise: his ratted old hat floated up in the air,
hovering about two inches away from the top of his head.

“
Oh wow,” I
remarked to myself with a smile, “he's a Divine.”

His fingers gently
placed the folded bills on top of his wad of tangled hair, and then
his hat slowly floated back down, fitting snugly on his head in its
original position. By the end of his public display, the cars on the
street came to a stop and he scurried off across the cross walk with
an unexpected haste, eager to get to the other side of the road.

Poor guy,
I
thought to myself as I went around and opened my driver's side door.
How could a Divine like that be homeless? Surely that ability
could be used for something lucrative . . .

Once I was back in the
seat I turned on my blinker and peered into my mirror, waiting for a
break in the flow of rushing vehicles so I could get back onto the
road. I took my chance and merged back on to the busy street, feeling
thankful that it was a double lane so that everyone could move past
my turtle-like pace.

The embarrassment
officially set in when people started to pull up in the lane next to
me and motion that my tire was flat . . . as if I didn't know. One
lady even had her young daughter roll down her window and yell at me.

“
Thank you,”
I mouthed with a wave of embarrassment. “Yeah, I know my tire
is flat . . . leave me alone people . . .”

I finally reached the
street I was supposed to turn down and saw the mechanic's shop that I
had been told about: Dan's Auto Repair.

The homeless guy
almost had it right.

After the car lurched
into the parking lot, drawing much attention, I'm sure, I parked in
front and jumped out of it as if it had a disease. I pulled my purse
along with me and left the keys dangling in the ignition as I made my
way inside of the old building.

A red and white “Come
On In, We're Open” sign was stuck on the glass behind the front
entrance, and I obeyed its command, pushing open the heavy door and
sending an array of bells that were attached to it jingling above me.

“
Hi there. How
can I help you today?” The deep voice came from a large fellow
who was indulging himself in an auto magazine while sitting at the
front counter. He was wearing a pair of bifocal glasses that were
sitting low on his pointed nose, and he had a bushy mustache that
matched the color of his salt and pepper hair perfectly.

“
Hi, I, uh, hit a
pothole and I think my tire's flat.”

He put his magazine
down and raised up in his chair to peer out the front window at my
mom's car. “Yep, I can see it from here. I'll call Jonah and
he'll be right out to help you with that.” Turning in his
chair, he grabbed a black corded phone off of the wall and spoke into
it, calling for Jonah to come to the front desk. After he made the
announcement he lazily sat it back on the receiver with a loud clank
and swiveled back to face me. “He'll be out in a sec.”

“
Okay, thank you
so much.”

Since it was sunny out
I figured I should get my fill of the rays and go outside. I walked
out the door, sending the bells above me ringing wildly again, and
stood by the front of the car to wait for whoever Jonah was.

The sun's warmth felt
heavenly on my skin as I took in the area around me. Across the
street from the shop was a cute little pet shop that caught my eye;
it had been quite some time since I had been in one.

I should go over
there and look at the animals while the tire's getting fixed . . .

“
Hello,” a
deep voice called out, grabbing my attention.

My body turned toward
the smoothness of the strangers tone. That was the first time that I
saw Jonah.

Oh my god, this man
is gorgeous.

What a stunning human
being he was: his watchful eyes were a magical crystal-blue color;
his hair was a sea of messy brown spikes. A light growth of stubble
lined his strong jaw and made him look even more rugged and
masculine. He was unlike anyone I had ever seen . . . he was
absolutely breathtaking.

“
Uh,” was
all I could manage to say, like I was some kind of idiot or
something. But, it was kind of mutual. The expression he had when I
turned around was that of surprise, like he wasn't expecting
me
to look the way
I
did; I was hoping that it was a good thing.

I cleared my throat and
tried a second time to speak normally to him. “Hi, um, my tire
is flat; I think I need a new one.” The words pushed quickly
out of my mouth; I was trying to cover up the fact that I was in
complete awe over his handsomeness.