Chapter Text
“Hey Holtz, what’s up? Oh! I love that song!” Holtz had a tendency to sing along to the instrumental breaks to songs on the radio. She just so happened to be in the middle of one when Abby answered, and because Abby is a music goddess she can identify any song from the 80s after hearing only three beats.
“Hi Abby! I’m going to be a little late. Something came up- I’m sorryyyyy,” Holtz responded, dragging out her apology because she hated the idea of her friends waiting around for her.
“No need to apologize. I just got here and I don’t see Dr. Gorin yet either. Just get here when you can, but no rush.” Holtz could hear her friend’s smile through the phone, knowing that it really was no big deal.
Abby always showed up early to settle in and find a table before her friends arrived- not as an anxiety thing- just as a way to stay prepared and make sure everything was running as smooth as possible. She never really thought about why she had this habit, but her chronic earliness was her subconscious’ way of being considerate for other people’s time. Dr. Gorin always arrived exactly punctual for every meeting time for as long as they had known her (but realistically, probably her entire lifetime as well). Abby and Holtz used to watch Holtz’s watch and count down the seconds whenever they planned to meet Dr. Gorin out of pure amusement at her excessively precise arrivals.
Holtzmann knew Abby and Dr. Gorin wouldn’t really mind that she was late. The two of them weren’t as close to each other as they both were to her, but they had definitely grown comfortable with each other since being introduced by Holtz when she got the job with Abby. They could carry on conversations about their work, the latest findings in research and science, and the endless unpredictable stories about their mutual friend. They never talked about their non-professional lives even though Abby likes to dig a little deeper and get to know that side of people. But she doesn’t take it personally because she knows Dr. Gorin prefers to keep a professional relationship with people that aren’t in her immediate circle. Still, Holtz felt bad that she was making them wait for her, but she could not withstand helping a vulnerable (and cute, from what she could tell) woman who was in need.
She pulled the steering wheel towards the shoulder of the road with the one finger that was hooked around the bottom of it. She pulled her other hand in from the window, reaching it through the top opening of the steering wheel to turn on her hazards. As her Cadillac rolled to a stop in front of this Prius on the side of the road, she saw the owner of the car standing on the other side of the car away from the road on the phone. She was pacing on the gravel, wearing a suit jacket with a matching skirt, a ruffled undershirt with the tiniest bowtie Holtz had ever seen, and pointed stilettos. Her face looked hot for a surprisingly nice day, which was probably the result of pacing in the direct sunlight and the stress induced from whatever conversation she was having on the phone. Aside from how physically uncomfortable this woman must have been, Holtz immediately noticed how her aura was also radiating frustration and annoyance.
Holtz parked her Cadillac, leaving her windows all the way down and got out of her car, adjusting her fingerless gloves as she approached the other woman’s car. Upon seeing this messily endearing woman, the other woman walked back over to her car. “What do we have here?” Holtz asked as she scanned over the car, rhetorically to herself but loud enough for the redhead to hear. Holtz was never great at introducing herself so she generally just made conversation with herself to initiate any conversation and to make sure the other woman was not too creeped out (she tended to have that effect on strangers).
“Well, I’m supposed to be at an important dinner with colleagues right now. But I must have ran over a nail or a broken bottle or something because my tire exploded and jerked my car over. Nobody is answering their goddamn phone and this dinner is with people I need to impress because I’m on track for tenure and I’m just so pissed off. Why do people throw glass bottles out their windows? Some people are just so stupid.” Erin was spitting out these words at Holtz that she has been trying to say to whomever she was calling on the phone, but who clearly had not picked up. Her face was pink, as well as her feet that she had been pacing on for god knows how long. Holtz just nodded along, slightly uncomfortable with how much this stranger was unloading on her, but also empathetic to this woman needing a release. She stood there with one hand on her opposite hip, holding her other elbow while she rested her chin on her fingers, squinting her eyes and staring at the car to avoid acknowledging this woman’s free thoughts. “Hmm, okay, no biggie. It’s an easy fix.”
And before Erin could open her mouth to say anything else, Holtz was already rummaging under the many miscellaneous pieces of metal she had pulled out of the dumpster earlier that day in the hatchback of her Cadillac, pulling out a jack. She did not even hesitate to get started pumping up the Prius while continuing to hum the song from the radio quietly to herself. Standing out of the way, Erin observed intently, recognizing the song as one of Abby's favorites, but not saying anything. She had never learned to change a tire, or any general car maintenance for that matter because her dad wasn’t around much and Phil insisted that he would take care of it- dismissing Erin’s willingness to learn for the sake of being self-sufficient. She hated the idea of being ‘taken care of’ by a man. (Actually she hated the idea of being dependent on anyone for anything; the idea of mooching off someone or being a burden is what motivated her work hard in school and her career. Her fear of being too needy led her subconscious to being a perfectionist with details and organization, as well as her tendency to build walls and shut people out.) Plus, she didn’t like the idea of having another reason she should be with Phil. She didn’t want her incompetency in any area, like cars or finances, to be the reason she stayed with her bland, condescending boyfriend.
Breaking her out of her spiraling thoughts about her partner, her phone rang. “Phil. I called you 40 minutes ago. My tire popped and I’m stranded. I’m still twenty minutes away from the hall.” Holtz couldn’t make out any of the words from the other end of the phone at this woman’s ear, but she could hear a snarky tone and an elevated voice. “Yeah, I know it’s almost over! I was—Yes. I’m sorr—It’s not my fault. What, you think I wanted a flat—Okay, sure. I’ll try to be more careful. I should have been paying more attention.” It was obvious that the man on the phone kept cutting her off. From what it sounded like, he was also trying to push the blame onto Erin, who obviously was stressed enough already- although seemed ever-so-slightly less tense upon realizing she had missed a good portion of the event. Holtz wanted to say something about how he has no right to talk to her that way, but decided cracking a joke might lighten the mood.
“Man, I shared a car with my older brother in high school. Men get so possessive of their cars, I don’t get it. But he also knew I could kick his ass, so he didn’t give me too much shit when I stayed out late with it.” She sort of mumbled to herself as she tightened the bolts securing the new tire, but again, loud enough for her counterpart to hear.
“Oh that wasn’t my brother. God I haven’t talked to my brother in years. That was a colleague- well I guess we’ve been seeing each other. So I guess my boyfri- no, my man…friend? We haven’t really had that talk yet.” Erin was squinting out into the distance, looking confused as she tried to figure this out in her head while she rambled on, also to avoid eye contact with her personal, shaggy mechanic because she felt vulnerable in her uncertainty.
“Hmm, well you’re all set,” Thankfully she finished swapping out the tires right in time to dismiss the comment and prevent this conversation from going any further. Before Holtz even could finish standing up from kneeling on the ground, Erin had her checkbook and a pen pulled out of her purse. “Thank you so much. You’re a lifesaver. How much can I pay you for helping me? Is $40 enough for… twenty minutes?” She asked after pausing to check her dainty little watch, sounding shocked and impressed that it only took her twenty minutes to jack up a car and swap out the tires.
“No, no no. That won’t be necessary. I’m just trying to do my part in society, plus I’m dressed more for the mechanical side of work than it appears you are in your fancy work clothes,” is what she ended up saying as she looked the woman up and down in her business attire. However, what first popped into her head was ‘Are we still talking about the car???’ with a couple suggestive eyebrow raises. She decided against that though, knowing that hitting on an already frustrated, supposedly straight woman, was not going to benefit her in any way and would probably make the other woman feel uncomfortable (another one of Holtz’ skills/hobbies).
“Oh come on. I insist. Plus, if you do this kind of work regularly, then at least let me pay you whatever the rate would be for the service.” To that, Holtz chuckled. To this tidy woman, she probably did look like a mechanic- the protective eyewear, the grease stains on her coveralls, the callused fingers beneath her fingerless leather gloves, the myriad of loose tools in her trunk.
“I may be a handyman, but I’m not a mechanic. I’m an engineer, but I have a lot of experience taking things apart and putting them back together. But really, it’s no big deal. I’ve actually got to get going though. I was actually on my way to meet some colleagues of my own.”
“Oh! I’m sorry I took so much of your time. You didn’t have to stop. I could have called someone!” Holtz could see the concern and worry return to this frazzled woman’s face.
“Really, it’s fine. I consider this kind of stuff therapeutic, so really I should be thanking you for giving me the opportunity to collect myself while I changed your tire. Thank you miss, I hope the rest of your evening is less stressful.” Holtz said as she started to step back, nodding her head and giving the other woman a respectable salute.
“Well, I’m not going to take no for an answer. Let me buy you a drink sometime… to thank you.” Holtz could only think of how now her plan to leave her gloves and have a ‘Carol glove lunch’ would no longer be necessary to see this woman again.
“Okay, that I won’t oppose,” she replied with a twinkle in her eye. “Wait, do you mean like a coffee drink or like a draaank?” She had to ask she watched the other woman’s reaction.
“Oh, well, umm. Either way is fine by me.” Erin said, now seeing the appeal of getting a drink and relaxing with this intriguing, mysterious, yet soft woman, but also not wanting to come on too strong.
“Then I’ll let you decide.” Holtz said with a grin and a wink as she wrote down her cell phone number on a napkin from her pocket, after having wiped her the grease from her fingertips on it. It may have come off a little suggestive, but she didn’t want to put pressure on the other woman, so letting her decide put them both at ease. Plus, Holtz didn’t want the responsibility of keeping track of the redhead’s phone number, knowing she would likely lose it. She also had a feeling this woman had stretched this invitation out of obligation and wanted to give her the freedom to null out the offer without possible confrontation had Holtz contacted her.
Erin usually was not this forward with anyone. Any time she saw an acquaintance on campus and made a comment about ‘getting lunch sometime’ or ‘getting coffee’ or whatever, she always said it as a way to escape the conversation- never really with full intent of actually getting ahold of that person to actually plan to meet with them again. The only time she really actually spent time with her colleagues was at organized events or if they both just happened to be in the breakroom at the same time. Although she seemed very decisive and demanding about getting her savior’s information, she wasn’t even sure herself if she would end up contacting this woman. But she carefully folded the greasy napkin and tucked it into her purse for in safe-keeping, just in case she found courage to properly thank her.