One.

Girl meets Boy.

I hate this feeling; it’s awkward when a complete stranger offers their help to you and you really need it. How do you repay them? Is “Thank you” enough? Should you even offer to pay them? What if you don’t have means to do so? I look at the man changing my tire for me. His t-shirt is tight across his broad shoulders and I can’t help but admire his strong jaw line. He seems to be around the same age as me; my guess would be somewhere in his mid to late twenties. Maybe I should offer him the twenty bucks I have in my purse. I am grateful I grabbed it at the last gas station, I almost never carry any cash on me. Is that necessary though? I don’t have that much money and he’s the one that offered to stop. I always try to look at it through the other person’s eyes. If I had stopped to change someone’s tire, would I expect some kind of pay back? I decide that no, I definitely would not expect someone to pay me.

“Thank you again, I am so sorry to put you out like this,” I say for about the fifth time. 

“I wouldn’t have stopped if I didn’t want to help ma’am.” 

Typical. I come to Texas and the “ma’ams” come pouring in. I opened my mouth to say “I’m too young to be a ma’am” but I decide better. He probably hears that from every outsider younger than 50, and besides, I like it. I search for something to say to fill the silence. He beats me to it.

“Are you just passing through?” he asks. 

“No, I’m moving here. I’m starting at Merriman High in the fall.” 

This will be my first real teaching job and I am uncontrollably excited. I graduated a few months ago in the spring and have had dreams of my own classroom and future students every day since. The man looks up at me and wipes the back of his hand across his now sweaty forehead. It must be 100 degrees out here. I pick my long wavy brown hair off my back and tie it up into a low bun. 

“You look a little old to be in High School,” he says with a smirk.

“Very funny” I prop a hand on my hip and laugh; “should I be insulted? You should never tell a woman she looks old.I thought you southerners knew your manners.”

He smiles back at me “Well, welcome to Merriman.”

I know it’s a little sarcastic and I smile because I’ve heard enough about the small town; the kind with two gas stations and one grocery store. The school has set me up with a “sponsor” of sorts; a woman named Susannah Pierce, who was only a few years my senior who had also moved into town from somewhere up north. A fellow “yankee” they had called her. She and I had exchanged a few emails. Just some apartment listings with a satirical subject line of “Good luck choosing!” and her description of the town; that it was a town that seemed straight out of the movies. “Small, southern, and full of republicans” she had joked. She warned me that although it was a good place to raise children and a nice community; there wasn’t too much to do locally for people our age in comparison to the bigger cities she and I were both from. 

I focus back on my apparent knight in shining armor. “Thanks, I just hope that this flat tire isn’t some sort of omen since I’m literally, what, one mile from actually getting to town?”  I’m trying to be clever but I feel like I’m coming off as some sort of slovenly bimbo. I’m normally not this self conscious but first impressions are big in a small town. I’ve been driving for two days, I must be a mess, and all he can see is a woman who got herself stranded on the side of a road with a flat tire and a newborn baby strapped in the back. 

“Actually, you’ve been in town for about five miles now,” he laughs, “but don’t worry, it gets better.” 

He stands up and wipes his hands on his jeans. I notice that he’s pretty tall, especially in comparison to my 5’3’’ frame. There’s grease where he had wiped his forehead and I wonder if I should tell him. 

“You should be all set now, but I wouldn’t drive too far around here on a spare. The roads are a little rough in some places. There’s a tire shop in town, they should be able to help you out.”

I can’t help but notice he has great teeth.

“Oh, okay great.”

I’m at a loss for words but I don’t want him to walk away just yet. I may not be looking for a relationship just yet but I can’t help my attraction.

“What did you say your name was again?”

“Thomas, or Tommy, whichever. And you’re Faye?” 

Damn, his accent is cute. 

“Yupp, and this is Daniel.” 

I look down at my baby, now only two months old. I can’t help but pause to appreciate how beautiful he is. I know that reputation that comes with being a young, single mom, but I am proud of him and I tell myself to feel no shame. 

“Aright little man, I know you watched me do this so next time you can do it for her, okay?” he says in a serious voice.

I laugh and shift Daniel from one arm to the other.

"Thank you again." Six times now. 

He smiles and begins to walk back to his truck. He turns around and still walking backwards yells with a smile,“Men around here don’t pass up pretty girls on the side of the road.”

Smooth. I smile back at him and shake my head. 

“See ya around,” I say, and against my better judgement I hope that it’s sooner than later. 

Reviews

[Eagle Cruagh]

Great !

I liked it because you dug directly in to the plot.
You started with a incident ( the tire) and carreid
it through with an association (the man) and you
concluded with a definite interest in your new
character. I said , great and I mean it. Most
writers will begin slowly with lots of description ,
then wobble in the general direxction of a plot.
This may not be my type of adventure, but you
have my attention anyway. Well done.
---- John

[Mushiegirl]

Good beginning, I quite enjoyed it. I would just put a space in between the lines though as it would make it much easier to read which is easily fixed

Mushie

[MrsHardin12]

I tried to add a few spaces. I'm not sure how, grammatically, to do it correctly. During dialog does each sentence get it's own line, etc..

[Mushiegirl]

If you are interested there is a series of writing books I have and I can look up the titles for you. I got them at Amazon and are pretty cheap. There is one on Character Development, Plot, you get idea. I find them invaluable as a writer. There is one on Dialog that shows different ways to do dialog, including grammar, complex dialog etc.
Here, each speaker/new sentence gets their own line. I hope this helps

Mushie

[MrsHardin12]

You just reminded me that I have some!! I bought them last year and forgot all about them.. Writers Digest Books. Same ones?

[Mushiegirl]

Yes, those are the ones; I found them simple and easy to use finding what I need quickly :)