returning {to the past} -crystal

[~echo~]

She grinned and shrugged. "Well, sort of. I still need to go to law school, and take the bar. But I will be. And right now, I'm learning all I can from these two men I intern for."

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

Surprise flickered across Alex's face before he laughed. "You know, I never pegged you for becoming a lawyer, but now I can see it. You'd rule a courtroom. I pity any schmuck that gets in your way."

[~echo~]

She blushed and smiled at him. "I appreciate it. But you never did answer my question directly. What job has you dressing up like this?"

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

Hesitation flickered across his face, though Alex didn't know why he didn't want to share. He was keeping a low profile here, but Anita wouldn't betray him. Still, his answer was a lie. "I'm working for a small realty company. Mostly cubical stuff. They don't trust me to show houses yet. Crazy, huh?"

[~echo~]

Foolishly, Anita believed him. What reason would he have to lie to her? "Good for you. Honest work. I'm happy for you." She glanced back at her car and huffed. "Too bad you're not a mechanic, or you could help me with this useless hunk of metal. It's the third time the stupid thing's broken down."

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

"Actually, I still have some skills," Alex said. "I could try and take a look at it. I've fixed up my truck so many times the thing's probably had every single piece replaced at one point or another."

[~echo~]

"Would you mind?" she asked hesitantly. "I mean, I wouldn't want to ruin your fancy pants outfit." She regained her teasing attitude.

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

Alex shrugged. "I have a change of clothes in my car. I don't need to go back to work today, anyway. I'd be happy to help."

[~echo~]

Anita smiled at him. "I appreciate your help. You see what you can do. I need to call the Johnsons."

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

"You do that.' Alex winked at her and then walked around to pop the hood. He leaned in, his brow furrowing in thought, but in that moment he wasn't actually looking for the problem. Instead, he was thinking about Anita, and how this encounter would affect his life. Theoretically, they would part ways and never see each other again. Their lives were separate now. Somehow he knew it wouldn't be that easy, though. Seeing her again wasn't going to be some blip in his life, unimportant.

[~echo~]

Anita tried not to think about this as she dialed the number for the law firm. She just focused on how happy she was to see him, despite how they had parted. "Yes, hello? May I please speak to Mr. Johnson? Yes, the younger. Thank you." Anita paused for a moment, tapping her high-heeled foot against the ground, then spoke again. "Mr. Johnson, hi. This is Anita. I'm calling to let you know I'm going to be late coming back to the firm. My car has broken down. But I'm getting it worked on. Yes, I know. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Johnson, and sorry about this. Okay, bye." She hung up and looked at Alex. "Found anything yet?"

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

(I know nothing about cars... lol)

[~echo~]

(Perhaps the battery is dead. That's an easy fix xD)

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

(Alrighty haha)

After some poking around, Alex pulled his head out from under the hood and turned to Anita. "Looks like your battery is dead," he said. "You'll need to get it into a shop to have it replace. I should be able to tow you there with my truck."

[~echo~]

"Oh, is it just that?" Anita replied. "What a relief. Do you have any jumper cables?"

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

"Yeah, but it's more than just dead," he said. "It looks a little damaged; probably needed to be replaced months ago. You could try to charge it up, but I doubt it would work. Better to just buy a new one."

[~echo~]

Anita sighed softly. "Okay. Do you have time to do that?"

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

"Sure," Alex said. "I'm not in a real hurry to get anywhere. It can wait. Let me just go get my truck and we'll hook it up." He pulled his keys out of his pocket and jogged down the street a bit to reach that same old beat up truck he drove in high school. Some things never changed. He jumped inside and started the truck then drove it down so he was in front of her car.

[~echo~]

Anita watched him, then grabbed her food and put it inside her car. "Thanks, Alex," she said, glancing at him. "What can I do to help?"

[ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟғʀᴏsᴛ]

"Just get in the truck," Alex said. "It'll only take a minute." True to his word, a minute later he had the car hitched to his truck. He climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine, then shot a wry smile in her direction. "Five minutes together and you're already in trouble."