Page 6 of Dirty Money
“Oh, shoot, um, I actually have to work tonight.”
“NO, SHE DOESN’T!” Brittany yelled almost directly into the mouth piece.
Aullie covered it and shot her a dirty look. “Can you hold for just one second?” She didn’t wait for a reply, just stuck the phone on mute.
“Britt! What are you doing? I, one hundred percent do actually work tonight.”
“Not anymore,” Brittany leered, with a Cheshire Cat grin. “I’m taking your shift and you’re going because he is hot and British and you haven’t had a date, or even a night out, in how long?”
“I can’t, come on, you know how badly I need the money.”
“No. Stop. You’ll make money on both your doubles this weekend. You’ll be fine. What you need is some time for you. You’re going!”
Brittany was right. It had been a while. She un-muted the phone and brought it back to her ear. “Well, I guess I got the night off tonight. I’d love to go to dinner with you.”
Weston chuckled and said, “Great. I’ll pick you up at say, half past seven?”
“Sounds great. I’ll text you my address from my real number, this phone isn’t mine.”
“Excellent. I’m glad to have heard from you Aullie.” The way her name rolled off his tongue made her feel weak. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Bye,” she squeaked. She hung up the phone and tossed it back to Brittany. “Well, I hope you’re happy.”
She smiled back, her full, flawlessly-lined lips twisted devilishly.
“I’m thrilled actually. And one of these days, probably tomorrow, you’re going to be thanking me.”
“Whatever,” Aullie rolled her eyes but she knew Brittany was probably right. If she was being honest, she was pretty excited. “What am I gonna wear?”
“Let’s go shopping and find out.” Brittany winked. The girls tossed their empty white cups in the trash can, gathered their purses, and headed out to Aullie’s groaning little Accord.
‘This was a mistake’, Aullie thought, once again straightening the hem of her dress. Her raven hair fell stick straight halfway down her back, her straight-cut bangs brushed her freshly plucked eyebrows. Her fair skin was subtly made up and her steel-colored eyes lined with subtle little black wings.
She wore a high-cut, sleeveless dress the color of an eggplant that hugged her slender body, with an asymmetrical skirt that showed a little more of her long, porcelain thigh on one side than she was used to. Since she was already bordering on tall for a girl, she had tried to convince Brittany that flats were a better option. Britt had simply said, “In a dress like that, heels are the only option.” So there Aullie was, teetering slightly on a pair of strappy black wedges.
She stood outside her apartment complex, hoping to spare poor Weston the chore of finding her cramped little studio apartment. Her nervous eyes watched the traffic, worrying that he either wouldn’t show or worse, that he was going to show up in some flashy, rich-boy car.
The seconds ticked by painfully slow. She checked the time on her phone in her small black clutch for the hundredth time and it was still only seven twenty-four.Why had she come out so early?
Suddenly, a car rumbled to a stop near the curb in front of her. The beaten Volkswagen bug looked like a bulbous little dinosaur. It quite possibly could’ve been one of the first bugs ever made. The exterior was dinged up and painted sunset orange. The artist in Aullie fell in love with the unforgettable little car immediately, the rest of her soon followed suit when the passenger window rolled down and Weston ducked his head to look out and greet her. He reached across the interior of the car and pulled the handle, the door swung open and he tapped the passenger seat, inviting her in.
Her heavy shoes clicked against the pavement as she trotted over and climbed in. The worn, sun-bleached brown leather covering the seats was soft and had been well maintained. The whole car smelled hearty and delightfully old. Then, there was Weston.
Even in a simple navy striped button down and crisp dark jeans, he looked like a living, breathing GQ cover. His hair was swept back neatly but didn’t look too heavily gelled, which Aullie was happy with. Nothing grosser than trying to push your fingers through a sticky mess of gel, she thought. His almost inhuman golden eyes flashed in the last bits of evening sun, up this close, Aullie noticed a ring of green around his pupils. And his smell, boy was it heady. Warm, musky and manly. His lips were set in an easy-going smile as his eyes took her in, from her metallic purple toenails all the way up.
“You look amazing,” he said.
‘God, your voice is like honey’, she thought to herself, suddenly desperate to taste his mouth. “Thank you,” she said, bashfully looking down into her lap. “You do too, seriously.”
“I knew I’d have to be standing next to you all night, so I did my best.” He set his wide hand, with its long delicate fingers, on the gear shift and wiggled it around. His knee jerked as he pumped the clutch and with a low groan and a pungent blast of diesel smoke, the ancient bug shifted into drive and then merged onto the street.
“I do have to say, I really love this car,” Aullie said.
“Thank you,” Weston said with a wide, genuine smile. “I actually rebuilt it myself. Always had a thing for VW beetles. My brother and I were big into the ‘slugbug’ game when we were younger. I always told him I was going to get one when I was older so that I’d always see at least one in the morning so I’d have a head start.”
Aullie laughed. “That’s cute.”
“When I saw this one it was basically a pile of rust, but I saw it’s potential and, well, here it is. Up, running and all.”
