Calling Out Your Name (Jess)

[LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ]

[Thread titled after the song I'm listening to right now, "Calling out your name" by James Blunt. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON4uTpuJd_M&feature=related ]

Lena bit the bottom of her lip as she held the paintbrush carefully in her hand. The canvas in front of her was not blank, but few would be able to recognize what it was yet. She tilted her head to the side as she considered her painting and shook her head. Lena decided that she would wait until another time to finish it, and began cleaning up her workspace. While in the bathroom painstakingly cleaning her paintbrushes, she heard her phone buzz. That specific buzz meant that the text message was from her brother, Nikkos.

A small smile appeared on her delicate features. Despite being almost a decade older than Lena and living in California, the two were fairly close. Personality-wise, they were nearly polar opposites. While Lena was quiet, introverted, and artistic, Nikkos was sociable, energetic, and a lover of logic puzzles. He could always bring out a different side of her, and she always enjoyed it when he visited. Maybe that's what he has to say, she thought to herself.

After hanging the brushes to dry, she walked into her room and was about to dig through her bag to find her phone. Instead, she was surprised to find that her bag seemed to be making noises. Lena paused in her searching before arching her eyebrow slightly, "Nisha?" she questioned. Lots of mewing responded. Giggling to herself, she lifted the flap of her bag. A furry white and orange face emerged from the depths, its small blue eyes looking up at Lena pitifully. Still giggling, Lena lifted the kitten and petted her. Quickly, the kitten began to purr loudly.

The door to Lena's room opened, and a black and white border collie appeared, heading straight towards Lena and Nisha. "Hey there, Chiron," she greeted, using her free hand to scratch the dog under his chin. After a moment, Lena set the kitten on the floor. Immediately, Nisha rushed to Chiron, who by this time had jumped on Lena's bed and laid down , and began to cuddle within his fur. Chiron didn't seem to mind. He was used to it. Amused, Lena finally retrieved her phone from her bag and plopped herself on the bed as well to read the text.

Lena! Go get your car fixed!

[/size]

Lena frowned as she replied back.

how do you even know about that?

mitera.

how does she know???

she is omniscient

...

she was going to fill your car up with gas

oh. that was nice of her.

GO GET IT FIXED!!!

[/size]

She looked away from her phone and looked out the window. The day was cold, but it was bright and sunny. Maybe if she told him the weather was bad, he would stop pestering her...

the weather is bad. I don't want to go out in it

[/size]

"Is it really now?" asked an amused, masculine voice from the doorway.

"Nikkos!" Lena nearly leaped off her bed, startling Chiron and Nisha, and rushed to her brother, who embraced her in a warm hug. "Why didn't you say you were coming?"

As they released each other, he shrugged, "I thought this would be more fun," said he vaguely, then with more directness, "Now. Go get your car fixed."

The happiness that Lena felt as her brother's arrival dampened at his command. True, she had been riding around in a car with no heat for about two weeks. True, she despised the cold. True, a normal person with the money (which Lena did) would have fixed it right away. But Lena was painfully shy and avoided people as much as possible. Her older sister found it comical and often made fun of her for it. Her brother just tried to force her into situations where she had to come into contact with people. Like now.

"Fine," she said, sighing and not looking her brother in the eye. Grinning triumphantly, Nikkos steered his little sister out of her room and down the stairs. Their father watched with amused eyes as Nikkos continued to push Lena through the house and out the door to where her car sat. "Couldn't I have at least grabbed a coat?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at Nikkos as he watched her get into her pick-up, shivering. Nikkos frowned. The thought apparently had not occurred to him.

"Here, take mine," he offered after a moment of thought, taking off his winter jacket and handing it to Lena. Lena put it on, and despite it being much too large for her, she smiled gratefully. "Now drive on!" said her brother as he shut her door and watched her drive down the road.

------------

As Lena pulled into the mechanic's lot, her phone buzzed again. She momentarily ignored it and parked out front, biting her lower lip nervously. To take up more time, she pulled out her phone to read the message.

i'm going to check your car when you get home. don't think about not going!!!

Her brilliant blue eyes studied the inside of her car. Various books and notebooks containing her drawings were strewn throughout. Nikkos could have at least let her tidy up a bit before going to the mechanic. At least there was nothing in her car that was embarrassing. Deciding she couldn't put it off any longer without appearing weird to whoever was inside, she opened the door and got out. Her dark brown boots crunched on the gravel as she took in the workshop. It almost looked like no one was there. Maybe she would get to go home. There was an altogether not unpleasant odor that permeated the place. It reminded Lena of the comforting smell of her mother's cafe.

Pulling her brother's coat more tightly around her, she quietly said, "Hello?" She figured she probably was so quiet no one could hear her, so she spoke a bit more loudly, "Hello?"

[JESS MORETTI]

“Small towns,” Jess muttered to himself early that morning as he opened up the garage. He would be the only one working today in the cold, ill-heated shop. Being the sole mechanic around today was not Jess’ problem, however. It was the fact that there would probably be very little business, leaving him with nothing to do. The beginning of winter was long past, so anyone who needed help putting new tires on their cars for the snow had long been aided. He had finished the last body work on a SUV that had lost control a couple weeks ago on the outskirts of town. The garage was empty, save for the 1970 Plymouth Barracuda he was spending much of his free time restoring.

Bundled up in a pair of fingerless gloves and a jean jacket with flannel lining, the cold that managed to pierce the old building did not much bother the New York native. When Jack Frost blew into Cresting Grove, many southerners swiftly pulled out their heavy coats and wrapped scarves around their faces. Jess would scoff and traipse around in the few inches of snow in jeans and his jean jacket. Jess grabbed a thicker pair of work gloves and a box of tools. Might as well work on his car until he got off work later in the evening.

The day’s hours passed with Jess on his back beneath the Barracuda, still taking inventory on what needed doing. Perhaps only a few more months of work until she was able to be driven, and another couple for the car to be comfortably driven. After a while, Jess slid out from beneath the car and settled down in the brand new driver’s seat with a book and a beer bottle. The beaten paper back of The Outsiders was clearly well read, even before Jess had come to own it, with yellowed pages and a worn cover. The beer, of course, was new and pleasantly cold.

Just as Jess had gotten comfortable, feet propped up on the dash and book flipped to the page he had left off, a voice echoed from the front room and into the garage.

“Hello?”

He sighed. Of course a customer came now when he was busy taking a break.

“In the garage!” Jess called back to the customer as he stood up, leaving his book and beer in the car. He wiped some of the grease from his face, though he missed a fair bit on his nose and forehead. He stuck the rag in his back pocket and started for the door in case the person had not heard him.

[LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ]

Lena sighed in relief. No one had answered! She would be able to go home and truthfully tell her brother that the mechanic had been out when she went to visit. Maybe she could even persuade Nikkos to take her car himself tomorrow and save her the trouble. Just as the comforting thought crossed her mind, she heard a voice from inside call out, and she cringed. After taking a moment to steel herself, she walked toward the origin of the voice, ducking under the half open garage door. Inside, it wasn't nearly as windy, and without the wind, the chill factor dramatically dropped.

A frown appeared on her lips as she thought about her appearance. Due to the wind, her pale face was probably flushed and her hair was probably all tousled and tossed. On top of that, she was wearing a much too large jacket that seemed to swallow her. Great. Her eyes adjusted to the more darker garage and she let out a small to clear her throat. "Hi," she said, though it came out as more of a squeak than anything else. Her bright blue eyes darted towards where outside light peaked in to the figure who had spoken. Lena knew him and had gone to school with him, though she couldn't say she knew him very well. Being painfully shy meant that while she knew the names of most of the people in Cresting Grove, she didn't know much else about most. She recalled that his name was Jess.

"I, um...," muttered Lena, not looking Jess in the eye, "Something wrong. With, um. My heat. In my truck," she managed to stumble out, gesturing through the window to the blue pick-up outside. Mentally, she congratulated herself. You managed to maybe through out a coherent thought to a mostly stranger! Her phone buzzed again, and she looked apologetically at Jess before flipping it open.

did ya make it? remember your lips have to move to make words!!!

She sighed, shaking her head at her brother's text message, then slid her phone in her back pocket. Lena shifted her weight from one foot to another, biting her lip, as she waited for his reply.

[JESS MORETTI]

As the girl ducked under the garage door, Jess stopped in his tracks, blinking as if struck by a glare of sunlight. The first thought that crossed his mind was, That girl. It was that girl from school, and from the book store. Dark wavy hair, contrasted by fair skin, and shockingly blue eyes. Half the time, Jess felt like she was around every corner. But that tended to happen, living in Cresting Grove.

Once he had gotten over the initial shock of seeing this girl in his garage, Jess adopted a countenance of cool apathy. He watched her with only mild interest as she struggled painfully to get out the words necessary to inform him of the problem. The amount of effort it took for her to just tell him her truck wasn't heating up was both amusing and curious.

"The heater?" He asked her when she had finished. "Easy, let's take a look."

Jess stepped around Lena and shoved the garage door all the way up. A blast of chilled wind hit him, bringing a flush to his cheeks. "Keys?" He turned, walking backwards towards the parked pick up. He walked with a sort of confident swagger, hands in the back pockets of his slightly baggy jeans. The wind barely disturbed his hair, the dark locks sticking up in various directions with the help of gel.

"What year is the truck?"

[LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ]

Lena cringed as he studied her. 'He probably thinks I'm an idiot...,' she thought to herself, slightly annoyed, but used to the thought all the same. When he spoke up, she nodded and pushed her previous thoughts away. She hesitated a moment before following Jess out of the garage, unwilling to head back out into the wind. However, as she had no other choice, she eventually did join him. At his request, she gave a small nod and pulled out her keys from where she had secured them on her belt. She paused, frowning at the various keys and key chains on her keyring.

Lena's key ring was full of colorful key chains that represented a good portion of her likes. There was her Jane Eyre keychain, as her favorite book was Jane Eyre. She had a Harry Potter time turner key chain that her sister had gotten for her when she went to Florida once year. There was a small representation of a painting by Money of Venice at dusk, and there was a pretty swirly key chain that Lena had always thought was just pretty. Two of the key chains represented her parents; one was the largest on her ring that symbolized Greece, and the other one had a llama on it. Her father had thought it was funny. The last was one she had created out of small, metal rings that formed a Celtic star. Lena shrugged to herself and held out her keys. She didn't care what he thought. (It was a lie. She cared about what everyone thought.)

Her blue eyes peered at her surroundings, doing her best to pretend like Jess wasn't there. It wasn't that she disliked him. She didn't even know him. She just figured that by pretending he wasn't there, then maybe she wouldn't be so nervous. Besides, the mountains were gorgeous today. The bright sun hit their peaks at just the right angles. A sudden urge to draw the landscape hit her, but she knew this was not the time nor place to pull out her drawing things. Lena glanced at her truck longingly for a moment. If she was alone, she wouldn't have hesitated to pull out her things, weather be damned.

His inquiry brought her back down to earth, and she began to bite her lower lip again, "Um, 2010," she replied, perhaps a bit too quickly to be understood. She took a deep, calming breath and forced herself to speak more slowly, "It's a, um, 2010. Ford. Ranger."

Images of the key chains:
images4.cpcache.com/product/520927544v3_460x460_Front.jpg
www.freewebs.com/chainmailbymelody/Celtic%20Star%20Keychain%201.jpg
www.greekinternetmarket.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/2353-08018B.jpg
rlv.zcache.com/como_se_llama_keychain-p146410939599877881z8x8w_400.jpg
www.universalorlando.com/images/L_MAGICALWORLD_Souvenirs_KeyChains_HarryPotter_Souvenirs_TimeTurnerSpinnerKeychain_1230859.JPG
rlv.zcache.com/artistic_elegant_gold_scrollwork_keychain-p1467698427187562868phu_325.jpg
ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/418vYeAUmLL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

[JESS MORETTI]

Jess tilted his head at the key chain Lena handed over to him. As he turned towards the truck he observed the various things that hung from the main ring. Funny how much you could learn about a person just from their keys. As he unlocked the truck and pulled himself up into the driver's seat, the Jane Eyre ring caught his eye. Huh..

Rolling down the window, Jess waved Lena out of the way as he started up the truck and threw her into reverse. Carefully Jess backed out of the parking spot, then put the truck in drive to ease into the garage. As he parked the pick up again, he looked down at the sketchbooks and art supplies that covered the floor boards and seats. So she read the Bronte sisters and she was an artists.

Who drove a pick up truck. "Weird girl.." He muttered to himself.

Jess hopped out of the truck and turned to Lena, tossing her keys back to her. In silence, the young mechanic went to look under the hood of the truck, his head disappearing from sight. Humming thoughtfully, Jess straightened up and went around to the passenger side of the car.

With the door open, Jess began tossing notebooks and pencils and the like into the back seat without a care. He sniffed lightly and felt around the floor.

"Heater core is leaking." Jess explained when he walked back around the truck to face Lena. "I can see if we have a replacement." He canted his head to the left, waiting on her to respond with an affirmative.

[LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ]

Lena watched as he hopped in her truck and started it up. A blush crept up on her already windswept cheeks as he waved her to the side so he could get through. 'Of course I have to stand in front of the large, moving vehicle like a moron...' she thought to herself, irritable. She turned back to the mountains and pulled her brother's jacket more tightly around herself. If she watched carefully enough, she could see the individual trees on the mountains moving in the wind.

She turned and walked into the garage, where the walls blocked the vast majority of the cold wind. Lena ran a hand through her hair and shook her head, attempting to regain some sort of order to it, but to no avail. Letting out a sigh, she gave up and leaned against the side of her truck, listening to Jess look under her hood to find the problem. Lena closed her eyes for a moment; it could be her dad working on her car now. Well, except that her dad didn't know much about cars except the basics.

Her eyes suddenly opened, alarmed, as she heard the sound of someone shifting through the stuff in her truck. She quickly turned around to watch as Jess carelessly tossed her art and art supplies into the back. 'I guess I don't treat them much better...They were laying on the floor, after all....,' she told herself silently, although she was still anxious. Her body relaxed as he stopped and came over towards her. Lena frowned as he spoke, "Heater core?" she replied dumbly, "Um....Okay. Yes. Unless you c-can fix, um, it?"

[JESS MORETTI]

"Patching it up is possible, and cheaper." Jess explained as he leaned up against the truck, arms folded over his chest. He glanced back at the Ford before turning a critical eye back onto Lena. Something told him this girl did not exactly need cheaper. "It's only a temporary solution though." His lips quirked up into a smirk. "And something tells me you don't want to be back here in a few months time."

Pushing off the truck, Jess turned on his heel and sauntered towards the storage room. "Wait here," He called over his shoulder. Jess ducked into the storage room, his gaze sweeping the shelves. Batteries, wind shield wipers, various parts to repair and replace brakes and brake fluid, and headlights and brake lights. Jess dodged an overturned container of oil (cap still on, thankfully) and looked through the A/C equipment. Heater core.

A few minutes later, Jess returned to Lena and her truck without a word. Once more his head disappeared beneath the hood with much clattering and clanking. "You work at the book store, right?" Jess called out, merely trying to make some form of small talk so the girl wasn't just standing around in his garage. Though the moment the words slipped from his lips, he wondered if he was even going to get an intelligible answer.

[LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ]

Lena perked up, hopeful, as Jess mentioned that it was both cheaper and possible to just patch it up. Surely just patching it up would be quicker than replacing it completely. At his next words, though, her shoulders slumped and once again, a scarlet tint came to her pale cheeks. 'But he's right,' spoke a small voice in her head, 'You -don't- want to come back in a few months.... The blush continued to burn as he walked away, but Lena was oddly grateful. He had assumed that she would indeed want it replaced, and while not asking her might have bothered some people, it didn't bother her in the least.

Once he disappeared into the storage room, her body relaxed, and she took the opportunity to look around the garage. Various oil stains blemished the concrete floor, and miscellaneous tools were spread over benches and toolboxes. Her eyes closed for a moment as she inhaled the smell of the place again. When she opened them again, she looked longingly towards the large garage doors, wishing that they were closed. It would be a lot warmed in here if they were. Despite the thought, she absentmindedly lowered her arms, which had been previously crossed tightly in front of her chest, causing the unzipped jacket to reveal her semi low cut ocean blue sweater. A gold chain with a large, blue lapis stone hung from her neck.

A flash from the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she walked over to the passenger side of her truck and looked on the floor. A singular pencil must have fallen to the ground when Jess had gone through her stuff. She picked it up slowly, then opened the door and grabbed a notebook on a whim. After quickly closing the door, her eyes darted towards the storage room. He hadn't come out yet. She quickly walked to a worn, fold up chair nearby and sat down, clutching the notebook and pencil to her chest.

Her azure eyes watched as he came out, holding what she assumed was the heater core, and walked to her car without a word. She quietly continued to study him, glad that from her position, he most likely wouldn't see her examining him. A few rays of sun hit the side of his face, causing an interesting contrast of light and dark. Her body softened, and her arms unwound themselves. Almost without realizing it, Lena opened the notebook and began sketching Jess working on her car, every once in a while pausing to watch him. At his question, she immediately nodded, then she remembered that he wouldn't see her nod, "Yes," she said succinctly as she continued to draw, "My mom owns the place." It was, perhaps, strange to hear her speak so clearly without a stutter or trace of shyness in her voice, but that was what art did to her. Lena fell into a sort of trance because she was, for once, in her element.

[JESS MORETTI]

At her response, Jess paused in his fastidious mechanical work. The book store girl's reply had come easily this time, her words flowing unimpaired from her lips to his ears. After some deliberation, he straightened his back under the present of removing his flannel lined jacket in order to cast a fleeting look in Lena's direction.

She was drawing. His dark brows, courtesy of his Italian heritage, knitted together and he quickly turned back to the Ford. Nimble, perpetually grease stained fingers began to work a little slower in their extraction of the leaking heater core. His mind had drifted to the notebook in Lena's hand and suddenly his ears were specially attuned to the sound of her pencil scratching against the paper. He was suddenly terribly self conscious, considering the fact that she could be drawing him.

Stupid. Probably drawing the truck. Or the garage itself. Or doodling. Drawing me. Stupid.

Jess shook his head and redirected his thoughts back to the heater. It took some coaxing, but he detached the hoses. Now for the fun part. Jess walked around to the passenger side of the truck, tool box in one hand and the new core under his arm. He opened up the door and slid the seat back as far as it would go. He knelt down and folded back some of the carpet, and put down several rags on the floor.

As he began working to drain some of the coolant, a fair amount of the liquid managed to get on his shirt. An impressive string of profanities tumbled from Jess' mouth as he straightened up and held his shirt out. Scowling, he tugged the long-sleeved shirt over his head, leaving him in a sleeveless undershirt. "Stupid stuff..." He grumbled as he returned to his knees to get back to work.

[LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ]

Lena didn't even notice his glance back at her, as she was too occupied with her drawing. An intense look transformed her entire face to one that would fade in a crowd to one that stuck distinctly out. Her hand held on lightly to the pencil as she sketched the outline of his nose and cheekbones, then carefully darkened his forehead where the the shadows from his dark brown, nearly black hair fell. She bit her lower lip again, but this time it was not from nerves, but from diligent concentration. Her delicately formed hand held the pencil lightly over the drawing as Lena looked from it to what she could see of Jess' face. After another moment of hesitation, she began to fill in the eyes.

To Lena, drawing the eyes was the most important feature of drawing a person. She believed you could see a person's soul in their eyes, and to error in that particular depiction was almost shameful. Lena therefore took her time in this section, filling in bits here and there, then going to another part of the drawing, then going back to the eyes. A great pleasure grew inside her heart as she continued in her work; Jess was surprisingly engaging to draw. She began to wonder what he was like as a person and where he had come from. Thoughts such as these would normally make Lena blush crimson, but in her element as an artist, she allowed herself to wonder. His long eyelashes were difficult to sketch with her pencil, but she thought she did a fair job of it.

His cursing momentarily brought her back to reality, and she stared at her sketch as if she hadn't known she was drawing. Her eyes obtained that "deer caught in the headlights" look, and she pulled the notebook to her chest again, and diverted her gaze away from Jess and instead looked very intently at an oil stain on the floor. After a moment that seemed stretched into eternity, she tentatively looked back to Jess. He wasn't staring at her like she was an alien; in fact, he wasn't looking at her at all. Jess was still busy working on her car. A small, shy smile emerged on her lips. Normally, Lena was forced to engage in awkward and incredibly uncomfortable bouts of small talk with strangers when she was in situations like this. Some might have thought Jess was rude, but Lena appreciated the quiet. It was peaceful. Once again, she relaxed and directed her gaze back to him.

He had taken off his shirt and was only wearing a sleeveless white undershirt. Lena put her notebook back in her lap and began to draw again, this time paying attention more to his body, as the face was mostly finished. She meticulously drew his tall and lean figure, paying special emphasis to the bits of the tattoo she could see peeking out from under the shirt. Lena could see the vague shadow of the rest of the tattoo under his white undershirt and made sure to include that in the drawing as well.

Next, she went to his hands. They were strong and steady, despite the oil stains and few scars on them. 'Trustworthy,' thought Lena quietly, then inwardly let out another smile. She remembered him as a troublemaker and wondered if it was true or not. Shrugging, she began to lightly trace the outline of his hands as he moved within her engine. Lena had just finished them when he stood up and walked around to the passenger door and opened it. Oddly enough, the change in position didn't bother Lena's progress on the drawing, as she could now see his jeans and shoes in better detail.

Those were the easiest part for her to depict on paper, and soon she was done. Lena took a moment to study her sketch. Jess was drawn in exquisite detail, especially his face and hands, as he leaned over her hood. She beamed happily, highly satisfied with her work. For a few minutes, Lena's eyes darted from the sketch of Jess to the real life Jess kneeling in her car a few feet in front of her. Quietly, she watched him work, the sketch held lightly in her hand. A dryness in her mouth reminded her that she hadn't had anything to eat or drink all day.

Lena frowned, then remembered that she still had a cooler in the backseat of her truck full of Loux soft drinks. Her mother, Arianthe, particularly favoured the Greek soft drink because she was Greek herself. Her love of the drink was shared by Lena. Lena's favorite was Loux Garzoza, a lemon lime soda that she supposed was similar to the American Sprite. She stood and walked to the other side of the truck so as to not disturb Jess' work, then opened the backdoor. Lena glanced at Jess, unsure, then spoke.

"Would you, um...," she began, her hands slipping on the cooler opening in nervousness for a moment, "...like one? A soda." Lena picked up a Loux Garzoza from the cooler to show him then glanced away, her timidity coming back to her rapidly. "There are other flavours, too," she added swiftly.

[JESS MORETTI]

Jess bent over, working inside Lena's truck with immense focus. The muscles in his back and shoulders strained as he finally managed to remove the original heater core. With a grunt he dropped the leaking car part onto the oil stained concrete. He flexed his fingers and straightened up, wiping his face with his already stained rag, getting the sweat off but getting more oil on it.

Not that Jess particularly minded the mess. It was his life, getting his fingers stuck in valves, having heavy equipment dropped on his foot, and getting oil on every possible area of exposed--and sometimes unexposed--skin. He had been working in this shop since he was fifteen to add on to the meager income he got from mowing lawns and cleaning rain gutters around town. He was not particularly well liked, but Jess was willing to do the dirtiest work he was offered and took what sum of money he could get. Anything to add to the grocery budget that week.

While he caught his breath and gave his muscles a quick respite, his gaze wandered back to Lena. He vaguely remembered her from school, but from where? Jess had never been in the gifted and honors classes after something like sixth grade, he was busy working and helping his mother raise Faith. Lena, he somehow recalled, was very smart.

Gym, Jess suddenly remembered with a stifled chuckle. Oh the horrors of high school gym classes. He could keep up with most of the guys when running around the track, or when they were forced to play basketball or volleyball. Though team sports had never been Jess' thing. Lena, however, seemed to have some kind of allergy to gym shorts and anything that had to do with a ball. She stumbled and fumbled and cringed. Jess had to duck back into the cab of the truck so Lena would not hear his snickering. As he rooted around in the engine compartment of the truck, Jess tossed a few random pieces of debris that had found their way up there- pieces of paper, part of a pen, some coins, and leaves- and began moving around various wires.

Lena's voice shook him out of his trance-like working state. Blinking, Jess rose up out of the cab of the truck and turned to face the timid, lip-worrying girl with sodas in her hand. Jess' brow furrowed as he leaned forward to examine the odd bottles she had offered. "The hell is that?" Jess straightened up and observed the girl's face again. "...Y'got orange soda?"

[LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ]

Lena expertly twisted the cap off the glass bottle and took a sip. Her mother preferred the sour cherry soda that Loux produced, but garzoza had always been her favorite since she was a small child. At his inquiry, she frowned and looked in the cooler. Loux did make an orange soda, but she didn't have any bottles. She did, however, have a few bottles of the Loux Mix--a combination of orange, lemon, and mandarin flavors. Lena glanced at Jess, then back to the soda, as if she was unsure whether offering it instead would somehow be offensive. "Um, sorta. It's orange, lemon, and, um, mandarin," she said, looking back to the drinks in the cooler.

"They're Greek sodas," she added randomly, quickly taking another drink of her garzoza. "My mother...she's, er, Greek," she tacked on for clarification. Lena gazed at her eyes, which were back on the chair she had been sitting on. The largest and most easily identifiable key chain represented her mother's parent's country of origin. Arianthe had been born in the United States, but Arianthe's parents had been born in Greece. She remembered her grandmother helping her make it when she was a small child. Her thoughts were interrupted by a buzzing from her pockets.

haven't heard from ya in a while. hears to hoping that you're not in a ditch or being kidnapped!

Lena narrowed her eyes and let out a quiet sigh, then gave Jess what she hoped looked like an apologetic look, but as she felt the burning in her cheeks again, she wasn't sure that's exactly how it came out.

[JESS MORETTI]

Jess canted his head to one side as Lena returned with the odd flavored soda. Carefully he reached out for the bottle and eyed the funny language on the label and the fruits depicted. "Orange, lemon and...mandarin?" Jess lifted the bottle to the pale florescent lights overhead and examined the orange-ish liquid that sloshed around in the bottle. It looked safe enough to drink.

"Thanks." He tipped the drink towards her in an appreciate gesture before expertly twisting the bottle cap off and tucking it into his jean pocket. As Lena began explaining the origins of the drink, Jess tossed back a healthy swig of the Greek soda. He let the orange, mandarin and lemon flavors settle in his mouth before swallowing. It was different, but not disgusting.

Lena's distraction caught his own attention and he looked down at the phone in her hand as she examined it. He twisted his lips and turned to place the soda on the edge of the truck's bed. "Need to be heading home soon, probably, huh?" Jess gestured at her phone, to indicate his reason for his assumption, and turned to go back to his work.

"I'll be done soon, and you can be back to..whatever." He crouched inside the cab of the truck again, twisted at an uncomfortable angle as he carefully reattached different wires and hoses. He would not admit it, of course, having been glad for his privacy earlier, but Jess was going to miss the girl's company once she was gone, back to driving around in her now heated Ford Ranger.

[LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ]

Lena shrugged at his mild confusion and pointed to the label on the bottle before remembering that most of the bottle used Greek symbols. As she thought about it too, though, she became confused. Mandarin? Weren't mandarins a kind of orange? So wouldn't mandarin flavor and orange flavor be a bit repetitive? It wasn't something Lena had ever really thought about before, and she was curious as to whether or not her mother would know the answer.

"You're welcome," she murmured without looking him in the eye. At his question, she appeared befuddled. What would cause him to think she needed to return home anytime soon? Her gaze moved to her phone in her hand, and the confusion was cleared up. As she struggled to find the words to tell explain about her brother's text message, Jess mentioned that she could go back to doing whatever she was doing before soon enough. For another moment, Lena was silent. She would go back to her room to paint some more, she supposed. Her bright blue eyes looked towards Jess, who was working again. Lena wasn't too sure she had muse for her previous painting anymore.

Lena closed the back door and walked back to her seat, holding her drink in one hand and the notebook and pencil in the other. She studied her sketch again while she finished her drink, but she was really thinking about what Jess had said and struggling with how to answer him coherently. Lena figured that by this point, Jess was probably thinking she was pretty weird. 'That certainly wouldn't be unusual...,' she thought to herself, looking up at her truck. "He wanted to make sure I wasn't dead in a ditch or kidnapped," she blurted out and began to--once again--blush profusely.