In Plain Sight, page 13
That made me pause. Nice was an introvert? But he was so confident and commanding over the phone. It was weird to think that he might be shy and quiet in his real life.
Sinbin: I’m an introverted extrovert, at least that’s what one of the drs who prescribed me anxiety meds said. I like to be around people but when I hit my social battery limit, I hit it hard and I shut down
Sinbin: but you asked what I enjoy. Is it weird that I can’t think of anything lmao
MrNiceGuy: not weird. I put you on the spot
Sinbin: I love hockey, obviously, but I’m not really that into anything now. I used to like working out but haven’t been to the gym in ages. I really like to cook but I’ve been so stressed I’m barely eating, so I haven’t done that in forever either
Sinbin: I like cars, that’s pretty much the only thing I still enjoy
MrNiceGuy: you like cars? Like in general or to work on?
I started to type out that I was a mechanic but stopped myself. I was so comfortable with Nice I’d forgotten that we didn’t exchange those kinds of details.
Sinbin: both, but definitely like working on them
That was neutral enough. Lots of people who weren’t in the industry liked working on cars
Sinbin: what about you?
The way he’d asked made me wonder if this was a shared interest.
MrNiceGuy: definitely into working on them
Sinbin: really? Then brace yourself, because the only thing I like more than dumping all my problems on people I meet on the internet is talking cars
MrNiceGuy: lmao
He sent a GIF of a cheerleader saying “Bring it.”
MrNiceGuy: what’s your favorite car?
Sinbin: that’s a tough one, but I’d have to go with the ’67 impala
MrNiceGuy: nice choice. 2 door or 4?
SinBin: 2, and before you ask, it was my fav before I knew it was the car from Supernatural
MrNiceGuy: what’s supernatural?
SinBin: what??? are you serious?
MrNiceGuy: yeah. Why? Should I know what that is?
SinBin: it’s an old TV show about brothers who hunt monsters
MrNiceGuy: hunt monsters?
SinBin: yeah. It sounds cheesy, but it’s awesome. And the main actors are hot as fuck
MrNiceGuy: actually, now that you’ve said it, I think my ex made me watch a few episodes of it years ago
SinBin: did you like it?
MrNiceGuy: I think so? I can’t really remember
SinBin: what’s your fav car?
MrNiceGuy: 70 ‘cuda
SinBin: now that’s a sexy car
MrNiceGuy: yeah, and that Hemi engine *chef kiss*
SinBin: I love that rumble, like your car is purring
SinBin: I helped a buddy restore a 97 5 series. It was a salvage title. We rebuilt the engine, replaced most of the body and added light kits to it. Cherry-red paint and a white interior
MrNiceGuy: damn *that’s* a sexy car
SinBin: it was
Sinbin: one day I want to do my own rebuild
MrNiceGuy: yeah? Do you have a dream car?
SinBin: not really. And I’m way too poor to even think about that now
MrNiceGuy: what do you think of the 85 Camaro IROC-Z?
SinBin: is that a trick question? They’re the fucking bomb dot com
MrNiceGuy: lol I’ve got one in my garage right now
SinBin: no fucking way
MrNiceGuy: I got it at a police auction years ago. It was stripped to the bones, but I’ve been working on it when I have time
SinBin: I’m totally not jealous right now. Not at all
MrNiceGuy: lol
The time on my phone caught my attention. We’d already been talking for an hour? It felt like no time at all had passed.
SinBin: shit, is it already 11:30?
MrNiceGuy: time flies when you’re having fun
He added a smirking emoji, and I flushed warm for some stupid reason.
Sinbin: it really does
Sinbin: I’m guessing you have to be an adult tomorrow?
MrNiceGuy: unfortunately. I have to work in the morning
MrNiceGuy: what about you?
Sinbin: no adulting for me this weekend
MrNiceGuy: I’m totally not jealous right now
Sinbin: lol
MrNiceGuy: I should probably log off and get ready for tomorrow
Sinbin: sorry if I kept you up too late
MrNiceGuy: you didn’t, and it was my choice to keep talking with you, so it wouldn’t be your fault even if it was
Sinbin: you’re way too logical
MrNiceGuy: lol
Sinbin: I enjoyed talking to you tonight
I chewed on the corner of my lips. That was the most benign thing I could have said, but it still made me nervous, like I was crossing some sort of line. Which was kind of ridiculous, considering everything we’d talked about tonight.
MrNiceGuy: I enjoyed talking to you too
Sinbin: maybe we can do it again sometime? And maybe we can do the *other* type of talking again when I’m not a giant mess?
I cringed. We’d had an entire conversation that had nothing to do with sex or getting off. Why had I brought sexting up? He was probably getting whiplash from how chaotic I was tonight.
MrNiceGuy: I’d like that
MrNiceGuy: and remember, I don’t mind messy
MrNiceGuy: goodnight
Sinbin: goodnight
The green light under his name went out. I exited the app and put my phone on the couch as the past few days caught up with me and a wave of exhaustion hit like a ton of bricks.
Maybe it was a good thing I had the weekend off and no plans. I felt better after talking with Nice. Nothing had been solved, and I was still confused as fuck, but now I didn’t feel so alone.
Working with Zander tomorrow would have been a nice distraction, but I was still a mess and I had a feeling that my brain wasn’t going to let me chill for long. The last thing I needed was to have a breakdown at work or a panic attack.
With a weary sigh, I climbed to my feet. Might as well try to get some sleep before my second wind kicked in and I spent the night spiraling.
11
LUKA
“Do you have a minute?”
I looked up from the drawer in my toolbox I was rearranging to find Nate a few feet from my workstation.
The shop was ghostly quiet today, thanks to it being Thanksgiving weekend. We closed on Thanksgiving Day so everyone could celebrate with their families, but we were open our regular hours for the rest of the weekend.
Yesterday had been so dead that we’d spent most of our shift doing inventory and other tasks to pass the time, and today wasn’t much better. I’d already rearranged my toolbox once since I clocked in, and we still had about an hour before it was time to start our closing routine.
“Yeah, of course.” I closed the drawer to my toolbox. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine,” he said. “Let’s go to the office for a second.”
Nate’s smile was genuine, and his demeanor didn’t suggest anything was wrong, but my heart started pounding in my chest as I followed him to the back office.
I snuck a quick look at Zander as we passed his workstation. He smiled and gave me a reassuring nod, like he could sense that I was freaking out. That little smile helped calm some of my nerves, and I felt almost calm as I stepped into the office.
“Do you want me to close the door?” I asked Nate.
He nodded and perched on the edge of his desk.
I nudged the door shut with my foot, my whole body going on high alert like I was expecting a serial killer to jump out from behind one of the giant desks in the room.
“Relax, Luka,” Nate said in his dad voice. “You’re not in trouble. I just wanted to talk to you about a few things.”
“Sorry.” I shot him a weak smile and tried to shake off my anxiety.
“Nothing to apologize for. I bet it kind of feels like you’re being called to the principal’s office.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, a little bit. Only every time I got called into the principal’s office, it was because I was getting in trouble.”
He chuckled. “Actually, same with me. That wasn’t the best analogy.”
I couldn’t picture Nate being the type to get in trouble, not now that I knew him. Nate was a walking contradiction, the same with his brother. He was six-four and built like a bodybuilder with huge arms, a massive chest, and legs that could double as tree trunks. Add in his stoic nature and the confident way he carried himself, and he gave off an air of being one scary motherfucker.
But in reality, he was one of the kindest people I’d ever met. He took care of everyone around him, and the only time I’d seen him even raise his voice was when he was protecting someone.
“I just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing.” He crossed his arms over his chest, the bottom of a tribal tattoo on his bicep peeking out from under his t-shirt.
“I’m good.” I clasped my hands in front of me, then shoved them into the pockets of my coveralls, not sure what to do with them.
“Relax. You’re not in trouble,” he said again. “You’ve been here for just over three months now. This is just a routine check-in we do with all our hires to make sure you’re settling in and see if there’s anything we can do to make things easier for you. And to see if you have any complaints or suggestions.”
“This is so not what I’m used to,” I said to try and explain my weirdness. “Getting called into the boss’s office has always been a bad thing at every other job I’ve had. My brain is still getting used to the idea that you’re not like them.”
“I get that. I worked in enough shops where my bosses treated me like I was five and couldn’t be trusted to do anything without micromanaging my every move. It takes time to get past that kind of conditioning.”
“It does.” I leaned against the wall behind me, feeling more at ease.
One thing I really liked about Nate and Dev was they weren’t just bosses; they were also mechanics by trade, and they had no problems getting their hands dirty and doing shifts with us on the floor when needed. They understood the job from a practical perspective and didn’t just look at the bottom line.
“How are you finding things?” he asked, giving me a little prompt when I didn’t say more.
“Great, really great,” I said truthfully. “This is the best place I’ve ever worked.”
He smiled proudly. “That’s really good to hear. How are you adjusting to the hours? I know that can be a rough transition when you’re used to working days.”
“It’s fine,” I said quickly. I wasn’t about to complain when I was the one who’d applied for a job working evenings and weekends.
And that wasn’t a lie. I was used to my schedule now. The hours were fine. It was everything else in my life that sucked.
“How are things outside of work? Is there anything we can help you with?”
I started to tell him I was fine but stopped before I could get the words out.
Nate might be my boss, but he was also becoming my friend. I didn’t work a lot of hours with him because he had young kids at home and tended to work days while Devon filled in outside of regular business hours, but he’d made it clear he cared about me as more than just an employee.
“Things aren’t great right now,” I said honestly. “Just dealing with some issues with my friends, and I’ve got family stuff going on too.”
I didn’t tell him that I was also trying to get over my crush on my coworker while also trying not to fall for the guy I was chatting with online. That wasn’t something I could share with anyone.
“Is there anything we can do to help?”
I shook my head, my stomach flip-flopping at his concerned look. “No, unfortunately these are the kind of problems that will only go away on their own.”
He nodded. “Will you let us know if that changes?”
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “Thanks. It actually really helps to know that you care. That I’m not just a cog in the wheel, so to speak.”
“I hope things get better. And feel free to come and talk to Dev or me any time. Our door is always open.” He huffed out a laugh and glanced at the closed door to the office. “Metaphorically speaking, of course.”
I laughed too. “Thanks. I will.”
Taking that as my cue that the meeting was over, I hooked my thumb at the door. “Is there anything you need done out there?”
He shook his head. “I think we’re good.”
“All good?” Zander asked as I passed his workstation.
“Yup.” I shot him what I hoped was a breezy smile. “Do you need help with anything? I’m out of busy projects unless I rearrange my shit for a third time.”
He chuckled. “I did that a while ago when it was really dead, but then I ended up putting everything back in the same places a few days later because I couldn’t find anything.”
“Why do you think I did it twice?” I grinned, more of my nervous energy bleeding away. “Once to change it, and then once to fix it.”
“Hey, Zander?” Cass called, poking her head through the door that connected the back of the shop to the front end.
“Yeah?” he called back.
“Can you help me translate Isaac’s handwriting? I’m trying to close out some of his files, but it’s like trying to read an alien language.”
“Be right there.”
“You’re the best.” She beamed a big smile at him.
“Duty calls.” He shot me a shy smile.
“Good luck,” I said. I’d seen Isaac’s handwriting when he was in a hurry, and it made most doctors look like they knew calligraphy.
While Zander headed to the front of the store, I slipped into the break room to refill my water bottle. I also grabbed a granola bar from the staff snack bin.
Unlike my last job, which used to charge us a monthly fee for coffee, whether we drank it or not, the system here was honorary. Nate and Dev provided coffee and tea, and the staff brought snacks in to keep the bin stocked for everyone to share. It was nice to be treated like adults and not be nickel and dimed to death.
Once I was done with my snack, I went back out to my workstation to find something to do until it was time to close up. Being busy helped pass the time, and after two dead shifts, I was mentally and physically exhausted.
My phone pinged in my pocket. I hadn’t bothered to silence it because of how dead it was. Nate didn’t care if we used our phones when it was quiet, especially in the back of the shop where no one could see us.
I pulled my phone free and checked my texts.
Dean: change of plans tonight
Luka: ?
I’d spoken to Dean yesterday, and we made plans to go to Glenn’s tonight with a few of the guys. He and Elle were on another break, so this was the first time in weeks that I didn’t have to worry about getting left out.
Dean: elle and me got back together
I stifled a groan.
I didn’t understand their relationship. I hated drama and fighting, and when someone broke up with me, that was it. They didn’t get another chance. The same as how I’d never even think of trying to get back together with someone after breaking up with them.
Dean wasn’t like me. He thrived off drama, and every relationship he’d had in our eight years of friendship had been exactly like this. It was exhausting just to be adjacent to it. I couldn’t imagine actually living it.
Luka: that’s great
Luka: what are the new plans?
Dean: we’re going to phoenix at ten
I leaned against my workstation, my brain doing that weird record scratch thing again.
Pheonix was one of two gay clubs in the area. It was known for its drink specials and theme nights, unlike Chimera, the other club that was better known for its back rooms and loose rules when it came to public nudity.
Luka: you know that’s a gay club right?
Dean: yeah
Dean: obviously not my thing but there’s some drag show Elle and her friends want to see tonight
Dean: Scott said there’s always a shit ton of hot women at the club so at least there will be something for us to look at
This was one of the main reasons I didn’t go to Phoenix and stuck to Chimera when I was in the mood to pick up. Phoenix wasn’t really a queer space anymore, especially not on nights when they brought in acts.
I preferred Chimera, which no straight guy would ever go into unless he wasn’t as straight as he thought.
Luka: I can’t make it
Dean: why?
Luka: I’m still at work
Dean: we’re not meeting until ten. you have lots of time
Luka: I’m not in the mood to go to a club
Dean: is it because it’s a gay club? You worried you’ll get hit on?
Dean: just spend the night with one of Elle’s friends and you’ll be safe
He sent a winking emoji, then the smirking one.
I rolled my eyes. I knew Dean didn’t really mean anything by these kinds of comments, but I was getting tired of them. The problem was they weren’t blatant enough for me to call him out without raising suspicions.
After so many years of letting these things slip, it would look weird if I suddenly had a problem with them. Unless he said something outwardly homophobic or dropped a slur, there wasn’t anything I could do without risking my secret getting out.
The fucked-up thing was, I had no idea if Dean would be okay with me being bi. Even after all these years as friends, I couldn’t get a read on if he’d be able to accept it or not.
I knew a few of our friends would have issues if they ever found out, but most of them were also a mystery. They tossed out these mildly homophobic jokes all the time, but it was the same shit I’d heard guys say my entire life. It was locker room talk, so to speak, but because we weren’t the type to have deep conversations about things, I had no clue if they were actually homophobic or just assholes who didn’t think about the words they used.
Luka: I’m going to pass. Have fun
Dean: I plan to
