the devil told me his name - adam

[MIRABELLE BROOKS]

[atrb=border,0,true] tell me what do you see when you look at me mira ran a hand through her unruly curls as she made her way around the casino in the requirement uniform for blackjack dealers. the standard black and white. white collared short sleeve, black v-neck vest, high waist skirt, and black heels. standing at twenty four years old, she knew that she was relatively younger compared to the other card dealers in the casino, but she hadn't thought that she would catch that many wandering eyes. she tried to justify their hungry stares with the fact that they were most likely drunk, but she knew better. men were only after one thing and one thing only, after all. and she knew better than anyone that the one thing that mattered the most to them was the next best thing. it didn't matter who they were or how much they claimed to be in love with their significant other. as soon as someone better crosses their path, they're hooked right in, and there's no reeling them back in. she had been fooled many times by the same man before. like the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you, but fool me twice, shame on me. and you better believe that she would not be fooled again. she would not let herself go through that kind of torture again, knowing that the man you love didn't love you anymore. she shook her head slightly, her pushed back curls falling back in front of her eyes as she did so. no, she couldn't think about him. he was no good. she was better off without him. instead, she should focus on her beautiful daughter. she smiled at the thought of seeing her once she was home. with that though, she immediately gathered her things from the locker in the staff room and exited the building. she crossed the massive parking lot before arriving at her own beat up shit box of a car. she threw her bag in the passenger seat and stuck the key into the ignition, letting the car heat up for a few minutes before pulling out. she glanced at the time and right on time, a yawn escaped her lips. three in the morning. her shift ran later than she had expected. she hoped the nanny she hired for the night was doing okay. alannah wasn't a particularly fussy baby, but she was only one and a half years old. she leaned back in her driver's seat as she drove down the dark and abandoned highway. she was beyond exhausted, as she was every day since she left tallahassee two years ago. from taking care of five to ten kids for nine hours a day to working another eight hours at the casino. it was absolutely exhausting, but what could she do in a situation like this? she needed the money, and she had to work hard to give her baby girl the world. she cringed as the rain started to downpour. she had not expected it to rain today. she just wanted to hurry home and be around her daughter, go to bed, and then be awake in less than five hours. but, of course, fate had to be cruel. mira was starting to think she had done something absolutely awful in her past life and was no suffering through the consequences. because halfway home, in the middle of pouring rain, her car decided to break down. she cursed under her breath, trying to restart her car, "oh come on baby, don't die on me now." she begged helplessly, but when that was clearly doing nothing to help, she stepped outside in her barely nothing uniform and popped open the hood. she wasn't an expert on cars by any means, but spencer had taught her a few things. still, though, nothing. she sat on her bumper in defeat, producing her cell phone from her skirt pocket and searched up an auto shop to call. she let out a breath of relief she didn't know she was holding when she heard some sort of rustling on the other end, "um... hello, i'm really sorry to be calling at this time of the day err... night... but uh.... my car kind of broke down and umm... is there any way that you could come uh... check it out? please?" tag: adam / wearing: described in post / notes: fml it sucks

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[ADAM GROBIN]

Adam had been up early for god only knew what reason that morning, conscious at four am was not the normal for him but he’d rolled with it getting in some time working on his demo-car before he went off to open the garage greeting the other two guys that worked with him as they came in and the girl who made sure the phone didn’t get ignored or paperwork lost into some random pile on the desk. They had an average amount of work to get done that day plus anyone who’d bring in their cars without an appointment for emergency type things. They’d had to send out the tow truck twice but again that was pretty normal. Days like this weren’t something he would scoff at since he knew the next day they could be running their asses off getting things done and trying not to leave anything to the next day so customers wouldn’t have to worry about losing money when they couldn’t get to work or something. There had been one incident with one of the guys not setting the lifts right and the car rocking while up in the air. A game of “balance the car” as they lowered it back to the ground was risky but needed to make sure the car didn’t fall and once they’d set it up right they’d gotten themselves pizza and beer to make up for the minor scare as he was sure they’d all claim it to be.

By the time they’d closed the garage doors for the night he’d been sweaty, dirty, and tired ready to get home and shower before he figured out something for dinner and what he’d do since there wasn’t a poker game or a demo that night. The shower did wonders for making him feel human again and he’d even dragged himself out to a bar to get another beer and something to eat since cooking wasn’t something he felt like doing. He had spent longer there than planned talking to a few of the guys who were customers or who just knew cars well enough to talk about them and a round of bullshitting had led to him not getting home till close to midnight. Checking his phone he’d undressed and turned on the TV checking up on the nightly news not impressed by what all he’d seen and finally ready to sleep he’d turned off the light and drifted off.

Woken about an hour later by his cell ringing he reached blindly for it going by where the glow from the screen was for locating it. Hitting answer he didn’t even get a “hello” out before a woman’s voice filtered through the speaker at him seeming a little nervous and starting with an apology for calling so late. He wasn’t bothered by it since this was the reason he had shop’s calls transferred to his cell during the night hours and he sat up glancing at the clock and running a hand through his hair. ”Yeah I can come take a look at it for you, need to know where to find you though and your name. Do you have any idea what happened or did it just suddenly die on you out of the blue tonight?” he said climbing out of the bed and pulling on a pair of jeans looking around for a shirt as well. He figured he could grab the tow-truck and a few tools real quick then be out to wherever she was to take a look at the car and see if it was something he could fix easy or not.

[MIRABELLE BROOKS]

[atrb=border,0,true] tell me what do you see when you look at me mira felt absolutely sick to her stomach with guilt for waking someone at three in the morning just to take a look at her piece of crap car. she knew no normal person ran a schedule like her's. given the choice, she wouldn't be living this kind of lifestyle either. but she didn't, and she would just have to make the most of it. alannah's heartwarming laughter usually did the trick to get her through the day, but sometimes a girl just really needed her sleep. with the rate that things were going, god was really testing the patience of a woman whom was running low on it. "uh... my name's mira," she paused, running a hand through her now soaked dark locks and pushing them back, glancing around for a second, "umm..." she trailed off before murmuring a quiet "good question.". she had absolutely no idea where she is. just that it was the first bridge she had to cross from the casino. "to be honest, i don't know the exact location i'm at, i'm sorry. but uh.... it's the first bridge after casino royale if you're going southwards. does that umm.... help?" she bit down on her lower lip. first she wakes up this man in the middle of the night, and now she's not even the least bit helpful. this guilt was going to kill her. she leaned her forehead on her car's open hood as the rain poured down on her, barely paying attention to the goosebumps on her arms or the fact that her black vest barely did anything to cover up her soaked white collared shirt. she heaved out a sigh, shrugging even though the guy at the receiving end of the phone call wouldn't have seen it, "it died on me out of the blue, but if i had to take a guess, i'd say it's because it's an old beat up car." she knew she should probably sit back inside her car, but to be honest, she couldn't really be bothered with it. she was too tired to move, and the rain felt good on her tense body. she was bound to catch a cold, but at the moment, all that she could think about was how welcoming her bed sounded right now. tag: adam / wearing: described in post / notes: fml it sucks

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[ADAM GROBIN]

Adam knew that having the calls transferred to his cell meant he’d get people at all hours needing help, it was one of the reasons he did it because you couldn’t make it so your car only broke down during business hours. This wasn’t the first call he’d gotten in the middle of the night and it would be the last he was sure. He had gone out in all kinds of weather too so glancing toward the window and seeing the rain falling down out there didn’t bother him either. Tucking a shirt into the waist of his jeans he grabbed his boots stuffing his feet into them before tucking his wallet in his back pocket as he listened to her giving her name. ”Well Mira my name is Adam.” he said figuring she should know who she was talking to and who was going to be showing up to help her. He knew people did strange things and while he didn’t think anyone would be pulling up with a tow truck at random she now at least she knew who she was expecting.

Listening as she explained where she was without a direct answer picturing it in his mind what she was describing. ”Yeah I know where that is I can pretty much picture it so we’re good.” he said knowing the general area of where she was talking about so he knew it would be easy to find once he got out there. Pulling his shirt on by the door careful not to drop his cell he grabbed his jacket stuffing his arms in. ”Alright I’ll bring out some tools and we’ll see if we can get it running again for you or I’ll have the tow truck if not and we can get it into the garage to look at okay? Just sit tight and I’ll be there soon.” he said grabbing his keys and heading out to get the truck and tools so he could head toward her and hopefully get her car running again for her so she wasn’t stuck out in the rain all night.

[MIRABELLE BROOKS]

[atrb=border,0,true] tell me what do you see when you look at me mira held back a yawn as she listened to the man introduce himself. she smiled softly, "pleased to meet you adam." well, at least, under the circumstances and even though she hadn't exactly met him personally yet. still, she was still grateful for anyone that was willing to save her from god's cruel fate in the middle of the night. she raised her hand over her mouth as her lips emitted another yawn. she mentally sighed, that fifth cup of coffee she had an hour ago was so not working. and if it did work, it surely wore out fast. she clearly needed something stronger. she grinned, "oh, good. i'm uh... sorry i'm not very good with directions." despite having been here for two years, mira had not taken the time to memorize street names or the short cuts. she just stuck with what she knew and went with it. what with two jobs that took up most of her day and a baby girl that ate up most of her attention, there just no time in her schedule for useless things like street names. but now that she was stranded with a car that either had a faulty engine or a dead battery, knowing street names would have come in handy. she nodded gratefully, "that sounds absolutely wonderful. thank you so much." her heart swelled with the prospect of being home in her nice hot bath with a glass of hot coffee in her hands, and the comfort of her daughter's presence. "i'll see you in a bit, and thank you so much.... again." after the goodbyes, she hung up and stuck her phone back inside the pencil skirt pocket. she sat on her car bumper helplessly, oblivious to the pelting rain that forced her clothes to cling onto her like a second skin. not that she could do much about it. she hadn't brought a jacket, a change of clothes or an umbrella. any sort of heating was out of question considering that her battery was probably dead. even if, by chance, it wasn't dead, her heater didn't exactly project warm air. it was more like puffs of random hot and cold air. she sighed, this day just could not get any worst. she rubbed her arms unconsciously, trying to get some warmth in her body going, just staring into the space in front of her before the oncoming headlights caught her attention. she squinted slightly, trying to make out whether or not it was just a passing car or the tow truck that adam said he was going to drive. she pursed her lips, standing up from her seat on the bumper. tag: adam / wearing: described in post / notes: it's totally horrid

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[ADAM GROBIN]

Pausing as the woman said “pleased to meet you” he shook his head to himself a little still surprised when people had manners some days since it seemed to not be that common. ”Nice meeting you too.” he said back and finished getting ready to head out in the weather. ”Not many people are, it’s no big deal I’ll get there and we’ll get you rolling again.” he said to her mentioning not being good with directions. A lot of times he just heard “I don’t know” and the names from the buildings around someone when they were calling him or they’d tell him where they’d started off at and give the destination and he got to guess where in the middle they were. It came with the job and he knew the area well enough to handle it and made sure the guys he’d hired knew the area just as well since he wasn’t always the one making the run to pick up a break down.

”Thank me once I get it running for you.” he said as she thanked him twice and hug up the phone after saying a quick bye before heading to the garage going inside to get some tools and climbing into the tow truck instead of the flat bed not wanting to risk it slipping in this rain as he pulled it up if he needed to tow her car. Heading off he drove toward where she’d described being keeping an eye out for the car as he got closer and finding the woman leaning against the front bumper like a crazy person instead of being inside the car while it was raining like this. Not going to comment on that though he pulled the truck around and in front of her car climbing out and making his way toward her. ”Mira?” he called out so she’d know it was him either by his knowing her name or the sound of his voice.

[MIRABELLE BROOKS]

[atrb=border,0,true] tell me what do you see when you look at me mirabelle couldn't possibly imagine what it was like to work as a mechanic or running an auto shop. while her jobs demanded a lot of her time, it was nothing like adam's. she figured since he was the one to answer the call, he must be some sort of owner. and with a position like his, then, she wouldn't be surprised if he got similar calls like this one throughout most of his nights. she would never be able to pull off something like that, having to disrupt her sleeping schedule every few hours.it couldn't possibly be healthy for the mind or body. but she was sure that if she had done this for a few months, it would become a routine. just like how she had to be accustomed to her new schedule between handling the daycare, working at the casino, and taking care of her daughter. but, even if he was used to getting calls in the middle of the day, she still felt relatively awful from waking him up from his slumber because god knows how much she loved her sleep. especially since she never got enough of it. she would kill to have a day off. she smiled, "great, i can't wait." she was glad she wasn't the only one who didn't know her directions,but if she was planning on staying and making a life for herself and her daughter, then she should really try to find the time and get to know the place. she nodded and muttered a quiet "okay" shortly before saying goodbye. she knew that anyone that were to see her now would think she was absolutely insane to be sitting out in this weather with so little clothes on. but to be honest, it was probably warmer out here than in her car. plus, if she went to warm up in her car now, it would prove to be useless. she was already soaked head to toe. sitting inside the car would only guarantee her seat to be soaked as well. not to mention the fact that she didn't really care what people thought of her at this point. she was too tired and cold to care. unless they were offering her a warm cup of coffee or a nice and dry jacket, then she would probably care a little, otherwise they can just shove their opinions down someone else's throat. she watched as the car stopped in front of her own, and a stranger get out of said car. she gave a small wave at him when he started coming closer to her as he said her name, "umm hi adam." she greeted awkwardly as she gripped her arm out of nervousness and for more preservation of body heat. "thanks for coming out." she said even though she already thanked him at least five billion times. still, she just really needed him to know just how grateful she was. tag: adam / wearing: described in post / notes: crappity crap

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[ADAM GROBIN]

Adam was used to late night calls and the ins and outs of running the shop, it had been his dad’s before being handed over to him and he’d been “in charge” before his old man had left as part of his training before being in charge for real. He didn’t mind being the one to take on most of the responsibility and things since he was able to handle it and do what was needed with a clear head and sharp mind. He was always the one to get the late night calls unless he had some serious reason not to be, he expected his employees to do their job and be hard workers but he didn’t expect as much of them as he expected of himself. If he needed to call someone else in to take care of things or if he was sick or something and not able to be the one taking the after-hours calls his guys didn’t bitch or complain because he never did that unless it was absolutely needed.

Packing up the truck with a few things he thought might be needed before heading out he knew he could probably handle anything except major stuff on site and if it was major they had spare parts and things at the garage so he could just tow the car and fix it up there instead. As he pulled up and climbed out to greet her he heard her call back her own hello he nodded as she thanked him grabbing one of the lights from the back to see under the hood of her car as he moved over and gave her a friendly smile before he lent over the engine. ”Alright let’s see what it will take to get this running for you…was it making any weird sounds or doing anything that’s not normal to the car before it died?” he asked as he checked things over already seeing a few problems just from his first glances and knowing the car needed more than this quick patch job but he wasn’t the guy to take it in and dump loads of work on people so he’d fill her in on what needed fixed and she could get it done at her own convenience once he got it running well enough for the night to get her home.

[MIRABELLE BROOKS]

[atrb=border,0,true] tell me what do you see when you look at me sometimes it was easy to fall into a pit of what if's. what if she hadn't been so stupid? what if she had told him she didn't want to be friends? what if she told him that she didn't want to do the no strings attached thing? what if she hadn't fallen in love with him? would she still be at home, with her parents? would she still be struggling to make ends meet? would she still have to raise a baby girl on her own? there were so many questions in her mind that were left unanswered. so many things that she could take back. that she could undo. if she could, she would have never gotten into that fight with her parents and they would have never disowned her for falling in love with a man she would never marry. she had hated her parents then. she had thought they were being unsupportive asswipes. little did she know, they were just trying to protect her from what they knew would happen. even though they could see the love in his eyes, they knew that love for their daughter would fade. mira had been stupid. she hadn't listened to her parents. instead, she had done the one thing they had tried to keep her from doing: get involved with spencer and move in with him. she hadn't talked to her parents since she was seventeen. not one word. she had regretted it ever since she had left that house, but they hadn't seemed to want her back every time she tried to contact them. they had told her that as long as she was with him, they didn't want to have anything to do with her. sometimes mira had to wonder if it would have been easier to still be in contact with her parents. maybe then she wouldn't be suffering like she was now. maybe they would even help her raise alannah. maybe she wouldn't have to work her butt off or lack any sleep. but then everything happens for a reason, doesn't it? as much as she wanted to drown herself in the what if's and the possible outcomes if she hadn't done this and done that instead, she had to focus on the present. what's passed has been done and there was no taking it back or changing it. no use in dwelling in the what could have been's when she should be focusing on the present and making sure that alannah got everything that she never got to have. to make sure she raised her own daughter right. she wouldn't go as far as disowning her child, but she wouldn't stand back and watch her daughter ruin her own life with mistakes. she would let her daughter make her own mistakes, but she would also be there to support her and help her back on her feet because that's what mothers do. they're there for their daughters when they need them the most. because at the end of the day, alannah happened for a reason. and whatever reason it was, mira was glad because she loved her baby to death. and at the moment, she would do anything just to snuggle up to her daughter. good thing adam was here because the faster they got things done, the sooner she would be home. she stepped aside just a little so he could get a better look at what was underneath her car hood. she watched him study her engine curiously as she crossed her arms over her chest, trying to keep herself warm. she glanced over at him as he spoke. she opened her mouth to respond, but instead, had to turn away before she let out a barely audible sneeze. she giggled in embarrassment, her cheeks flushing, "sorry, excuse me. ummm... well it was sort of making a chugging sound, but that's pretty normal for this car. it's kind of old and um... a little used if you couldn't already tell." she replied, cracking a small smile at her lame attempt at a joke. she knew the car would die sooner or later. it was such a rusty car and she was lucky it had even survived this long, but she was in desperate need for this car to function. she couldn't possibly afford another car at the moment. she pursed her lips, "so uh... do you think you could revive it back to life or is she a lost cause?" tag: adam / wearing: described in post / notes: crappity crap

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