Destined to be... 1st part exclusive to steemit

Destined to be...

He was walking along a darkened street, head down, shoulders hunched over and his cold hands thrust deep into his pockets. He was soaked through to his skin and becoming colder and more miserable with each step. He had walked these streets every night for the past month, ever since he split from his girlfriend in fact, but tonight was the worst. He was cold, wet, miserable and desolate with no-one to warm him when he got home, no-one to even care if he got home.

Under the one streetlight left lit along the road of a hundred vandalised lamps, he saw a car, sleek and shiny in the wet night. He could not quite make out the colour because of the distortion from the sodium glow, but the car was sporty, low and just fast looking.

Then he noticed the flat tyre leaning against the wheel arch. His first thought was not one of sympathy, however. He actually found himself gloating at the predicament of the owner of such a beautiful car. He wondered to himself how much the car had cost and how even the owner’s money could not prevent such mishaps.

Just as he was approaching the car, the owner emerged, mobile phone in hand and sounding furious at the person on the other end of the conversation.

“What do you mean there’s no-one available to get to me right now? I already told you, I am a lone female and I need assistance right now!” She enunciated the words of the last sentence she uttered, in a deliberate manner, as though speaking to someone who would not – or could not – comprehend her needs. She probably was.

She paused in her ranting to listen to the reply.

“Yes, I’ll lock myself in my car and wait. Oh no, thank you.” Her tone dripped with sarcasm as she closed the phone and put it into her coat pocket. Then she muttered, “Shit, shit, shit!”

He had not realised that he had stopped to watch until she directed her attention at him. “Yes? Can I help you?”

He shook himself from his trance-like state and stammered, “Oh, actually, I was about to ask you if there was anything I could do to help you?”

She looked him up and down, her wet hair glistening in the lamplight. Then she seemed to decide to allow him to aid her.

“Yes, can you manage a jack and wheel brace?”

“Well, yes, I can. Do you want me to change the wheel for you?”

The woman looked as though she was about to say something, but changed her mind and instead said: “Yes, the spare wheel is here.” She pointed inside the rear of the car and stepped back to allow him to heft out the spare.

She watched in silence as he changed the wheel with numbed fingers and made no noise of sympathy when he scraped the skin from his knuckles.

When he had put the damaged wheel in the car, he faced her but could not hold her gaze for some reason. He wiped his hands on the cloth that she offered him and held it out to her. She looked at it in disdain and he hastily put it into his pocket.

“Get in, I can give you a lift to where you’re going.”

He actually felt as though he had no choice in the matter and got in.

As they were driving, she spoke again. “I don’t think I should drive far on this spare tyre as it’s a space-saver rather than a replacement. If you don’t mind, I will take you to my house first and then drive you home in another car.”

“No problem. I appreciate the lift,” he said.