Chapter 6- Brand New Cadillac
“Nice car man. Who’d you steal it from?” Max joked with the stranger.
“My stealing days are over young Maxamillion and I'm insulted that you would even ask that. This baby is a legit, classic, American made, 1977 Cadillac el dorado and she’s all mine.” He rubbed the side of the door affectionately. The whole scene was comical and I would have laughed if I wasn’t drooling over the car myself. The black paint shimmered subtly and the top was dropped, giving me a nice look at the leather interior.
The guy inside, I had to admit, was pretty drool worthy himself, and probably more dangerous than the car he sat in. He was dressed in black chinos, converses and a plain white tee shirt with the sleeves rolled up exposing a bit of a tattoo that I couldn't completely make out.
He sat up on the top of the drivers seat and lifted his black ray bans to the top of his brown, styled hair and lit up a cigarette. He was clearly bad news, which meant I needed to keep my distance.
Max did the “bro shake” with the stranger and then started feeling up the leather seats. I was quickly forgotten.
“Seriously, where did you get her?”
“Remember the friend I told you about?”
“The one in the band?”
He nodded. “He had this thing parked in his garage collecting dust. The idiot didn't know what he was sitting on.” The stranger pushed Max’s hand away from the seats. “I don't want your grubby hands messing with the interior. Took me forever to clean her up.”
“So you can smoke in the car but I cant touch it? How does that make sense.”
“Doesn't have to make sense. Just is.”
“When can I driver her?”
“If you even think about taking her for a drive, I will cut you.” His words were harsh but there was a teasing tone to it.
“You can try.”
“Oh yeah?” the stranger went for Max as he tried to move out of the way. The stranger was out of the car now and putting Max in a headlock. Since he was an inch or two taller than Max and was muscular in a lean way, he had the upper hand.
I was completely over the whole show of testosterone and tired of being ignored so I cleared my throat to catch their attention. Max was still struggling in the strangers clutches so I cleared it as loud as I could. This time their heads looked up at me. Realization came to Max’s face when he saw me standing in front of him while the other guy’s face remained unreadable.
“I’m going to go now Max. Thanks for helping out earlier.”
Max pushed the stranger off and stood straight up. His neck and ears were red from the choke.
“I am so sorry Layla! I forgot you were here.”
Obviously. “It’s not a big deal.”
The stranger leaned against his car and crossed his arms in a defensive position. What did he have to be defensive about?
“No, I didn't mean it like that. I just got distracted. This is my buddy Jesse Hayden, Jess this is Layla St. James. She’s been training me at the yacht club.”
He eyed me up and down and I had to fight my sudden urge to shiver. “She doesn't look like a robot. She's more of an ice princess.” He said to Max when he was done surveying me.
My cheeks heated in anger.
“Ignore him. He’s a socially inept asshole.”
“My socializing skills are fine Maxamillion, I just meant that I can see what you meant about her.”
Now I was pissed off. Max was talking about me behind my back when he didn't know a damn thing about me.
Max hit Jesse on the arm. “Dude.”
“Its fine. I know what people think of me but I've never cared. I may be cold and unfeeling,” I was in Jesse’s face now, “but at least I know my cars, unlike you. This so called “baby” of yours was made in the 60’s not the 70’s.”
“Bullshit.” He stood up straight and got closer to me. His green eyes were staring me down.
“It’s true. Cadillac stopped making convertibles after 1976 and as you can see by the lack of roof you got there, thats a convertible.” His face stayed unchanged. “You can look it up if you don’t believe me but I’m right.”
We stood there, both of us unwilling to back down, when the corner of his mouth turned up a little but only for a fraction of a second. Only someone as close to him as I was at the moment would notice it.
“Fine ice princess. I’ll look it up.”
“My name is Layla.”
“Whatever.” I stepped back from Jesse, needing to get some fresh air. Max stood near us with his hands in his pockets and whistled.
“Damn. You two are intense.”
“Shut up Max.” Jesse snapped and hopped back in to the drivers seat. “You want to hit up Tavern? I got the sudden urge to get black out drunk.”
“I’m down. Want to come Layla? Its this bar just outside of town.” I looked over at Jesse to see if he had any objections to this invitation but his head stayed forward, staring at the road.
“I know what tavern is. I grew up here remember? But I’m not 21.”
“I’m not either.” He whipped out an ID from his pocket and showed me a Massachusetts license saying he was 21. “You don't have one of these?”
First Ruby, now him. Was everyone around me a juvenile delinquent? “I sent on one a while back. Guess mine got lost in the mail.” I answered sarcastically.
“Are we going?” Jesse asked impatiently.
“I gotta go. See you at work tomorrow?”
I nodded. “Sure.”
Max hopped in to the passenger seat.
Jesse finally turned his head to me. “See you around ice princess.” He lowered his sunglasses and sped off.
***********
The normal Layla would be obsessing about what happened in the parking lot but I had other, more important, things to obsess about. I sat outside Mrs. Hawkins class, nervously shaking my legs and biting my nails. I had no idea what she was going to say when she realized that my mother was not going to show up. That fear quickly faded as I saw my mom round the corner and a new one appeared in its place.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for a parent teacher conference. One that my eldest daughter forgot to mention when she was yelling at me this morning. Good thing Mrs. Hawkins called to confirm.” She adjusted her head wrap clumsily and hiccuped. Thats when I smelled the alcohol.
“Are you drunk?”
“I had a little to drink before I came in. Just to calm my nerves.”
“Are you crazy? You cant go in there smelling like a bar. You have to leave now!” I grabbed her arm but Mrs. Hawkins chose that time to emerge from her classroom.
“You two can come in now.”
My fidgeting continued while my mother looked around the classroom while picking up any item she could find. she laughed out loud when she spotted a supposed picture of a dinosaur that looked more like a donkey.
“If you could please have a seat Mrs. St. James so we can get started.” She fell boisterously in to a seat. “As you know we are here to discuss the constant tardiness of Desiree. It is my understanding that you usually drop her off in the mornings.”
“Correct. I overslept.”
“Did you set an alarm?”
“Slept right through it.”
“I see. What about all the other times?”
“I over sleep a lot.”
I shook my head. This was not going well.
“You’re not working now right Mrs. St. James?”
My moms eyes narrowed. “What’s your point?”
“My point is this. If Desiree is late one more time I will be forced to take action.” Mrs. Hawkins was going in for the kill.
“You don’t know the whole story.”
“You’re right but I do know that your youngest daughter is very bright but is struggling to catch up. I know your eldest is working full time just to make ends meet. I know the smell of alcohol when it wafts in to a room and I know the government would love to hear about all of this. Get your act together Mrs. St. James, before you lose both of your daughters.”