The last person that I had expected to see, climbing wearily out of my car, was Jane. I rubbed my eyes as if I were imaging her.

“Why aren’t you wearing shoes?” I don’t know why those were the first words that came out of my mouth. I was still feeling disorientated and when I looked down I was surprised to see her without shoes. As I said it I noticed that she was wearing a cute little summer dress which showed off her legs. She wasn’t tall, but she did have a good set of pins on her.

“What? You want to know why I’m barefoot? Are you serious right now?” She sounded incredibly pissed off at me and not at all the shy Jane that I had encountered the day before.

“Well, it’s strange, that’s all.” I didn’t know how to backtrack so I just carried on with the conversation.

“No it’s not strange, nor is it really important right now. You try driving with high heels and you see how difficult it is. I’m just more comfortable driving without shoes. My heels are lying on the seat next to me and they were ready for me to wear for work. What? Are you scared that I was going to pitch up to work without shoes? Worried about what everyone else would think?” Geez, she sounded so mad at me.

“No, no. You can do what you want. Sorry, it was just the first thing I noticed.” I still didn’t even know why I had said it.

“I cannot believe that the first question you asked me was about my shoes. Shouldn’t the first question have been ‘are you okay?’ – How was that not your first question? And why the hell did you keep cutting me off like that? You were driving like an idiot – trying to get ahead of everyone. It’s people like you that make the road so unsafe. I’m so annoyed right now. You’re not the only person on the road, you know.”

Well, she certainly had guts, yelling at her boss in that way. I had to give her credit for it. But the more I watched her, the more comical the whole thing suddenly looked to me. She was standing in her little dress, without shoes and with her hands on her hips. If she was trying to be threatening then she truly was losing the battle. I couldn’t take it anymore. I suddenly burst out laughing. Of course, the more I laughed the more upset she got, and the more upset she got, the more I laughed. Her face was going red with frustration. I quite liked it. There were certain people that just looked cute when they got annoyed and she was one of them. I knew that I was going to enjoy annoying her just in the same way I tried to annoy Abbie. I laughed again when I saw her squeeze her face up in aggravation.

“Why are you laughing? It’s not funny. I know I’m okay but you could’ve seriously injured me. Or killed me. It’s not really a laughing matter. I’m so angry right now. Is this your way of getting back at me for spilling coffee on your shirt? Because I could’ve just gotten you another shirt you know.”

“Really? And how exactly were you planning on doing that? You have no money in your account if memory serves me correctly?” I wished I hadn’t said that. She was easy to mess with but that came out very wrong. I saw her cheeks redden.

“I do have money in my account. I don’t know why it got declined. That was not the greatest moment for me, so thanks for bringing it up again. Anyway, I have a job now anyway. So get yourself a shirt and take the money off my salary.”

“Jane, don’t stress about the shirt. It was just coffee. I’m not mad about that at all. And I don’t care that your card got declined – these things happen. I didn’t mean to cut you off like that and of course I didn’t mean to drive into you. It was an accident. I didn’t go out of my way to do that to you.”

“So exactly how long is it going to take you to say sorry? Because you do realize that I wasn’t in the wrong, don’t you?”

I smiled at her. She was gusty alright. “I’m sorry. It was completely my fault and I’ll pay for the damage to your car. Really, I’m sorry. I’m always in such a rush to get everywhere. My car drives fast and it’s so frustrating being behind slow drivers.”

I probably shouldn’t have said that. That just seemed to make her even angrier. “You do realize that I was going at the speed limit. Which means that I’m not a slow driver but rather a driver that was abiding by the laws of the road. Going at NORMAL speed. Ever heard of such a thing? You know… the law!”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. It’s coming out all wrong and I really am trying to apologize. I’m glad you’re okay. Come on, let’s go have a look at your car and salvage your shoes.” She glared at me then even though I was just trying to lighten the mood. I noticed that her hands were shaking slightly and I felt bad – I guess it must’ve been a shock to her. Her car was worse off than I had initially thought. In fact I would go as far as saying it was completely wrecked. I saw her staring in horror at it as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

“Mr Honda.” She whispered.

I looked at her then, slightly amused. “Uh… did you just call your car Mr Honda? Does your car have a name?”

She looked at me with so much hatred in her eyes that I flinched. “Yes. Well he had a name. Look at him now. The poor thing. He’s never going to come out of the hospital alive.”

I burst out laughing. “The hospital?! You do realize that your car is not a human being? I think you’ve slightly lost it.”

I saw a smile playing on the corner of her lips, as if she was trying not to laugh. “I don’t know why I said hospital. And yes, I do know that. It’s just… well I’ve had this car for a very long time. It’s like family to me. I know that probably sounds stupid to someone like you.” Someone like me?

I heard music coming from the car, despite the fact that the car was trashed and I moved in closer to listen.

Something’s wrong, shut the light Heavy thoughts tonight And they aren't of Snow White Dreams of war, dreams of liars Dreams of dragon's fire And of things that will bite

“Enter Sandman! Nice choice in music.” I said to her suddenly impressed by her good taste in music. She didn’t seem the Metallica type.

“You’re a fan of Metallica?” She sounded incredulous – apparently I didn’t seem the type either.

“Yes, and don’t look so shocked. It’s great music. Who doesn’t like it?”

“Actually you’ll be surprised at how many people don’t even know who Metallica is. Not people that I’d want to hang out with let me tell you that.”

I laughed at that. “You know, Jane, for once I actually agree with you.” I watched as she reached into the car to switch off the music and grab her bag and shoes. I couldn’t help but watch as her dress lifted slightly with the wind and I caught a brief glimpse of her underwear. I saw a flash of white and then the dress was back down again.

“So, you got your shoes. Are you going to put them on now?” I asked her, back talking about shoes again for some unknown reason. Jane frustrated me. I didn’t even think she was cute and yet I felt different around her. Uncomfortable and comfortable at the same time.

“No.”

“No? Why not?” This girl was so strange. So different. Most of the time she said things that I would just not expect her to say.

“To be honest. I hate heels.”

“But you wore heels yesterday too and now you brought them in to wear again. Why?” I wasn’t sure why I had remembered what shoes she was wearing the day before – I wasn’t usually quite so observant.

“I don’t know. Because that’s what you do when you’re trying to impress on your first week at the job.”

I laughed at that. I bit my tongue and didn’t mention the fact that she had already spilled coffee all over her boss and gotten into a car accident with him. “You really should wear whatever you want. There’s no dress code at the casino and I have always believed that people work a lot harder when they are comfortable.”

“So I can wear my slippers?”

I chuckled at the image. “I dare you.”

“I might then. Okay, I need to call someone to get this car. There’s no way it’s going to be good enough to drive in this terrible condition.”

“Do you have a number to call?”

“I do. It’s on my phone as well as on a notebook which I keep in the car. I’m a pretty organized person.”

“I see that. Glad we hired you then. Go on, I’ll wait for you to finish on the phone.”

I watched as she walked off and made the call, impressed once again at how much she had things under control. She seemed to have everything under control except for herself and she came across as quite a contradiction. I saw her talking animatedly into the phone, waving her arms as she spoke.

“All sorted?” I asked when she got back.

“All sorted. The tow truck is on its way. From the sound of things, he won’t be much longer than twenty minutes tops.”

“Okay great, I’ll wait here with you.”

“You really don’t have to wait with me Sebastian. I don’t mind waiting alone.”

“Don’t be silly, a pretty young girl waiting on the side of the street holding nothing but a pair of heels? That’s just asking for trouble. Now, let me quickly phone Alison to let her know that we’ll be late.”

I phoned Alison and told her the story. She seemed very worried but I assured her that everything was fine and I told her to let the rest of the team know what had happened. Thankfully the busy day at work had been yesterday so there wasn’t even a huge rush to go in.

“Okay, all sorted. And the boss can’t even be upset with you seeing as though it was the boss that got you into this mess in the first place and the boss that’s standing right beside you now. If only we had some coffee to have while we wait.”

“Actually, I do have some! That’s if it survived the crash of course. Hang on.” I watched as she went to the car and came back with a thermos and a huge grin on her face. She took a sip and then handed it to me. “And hey, it’s still hot.”

“You really are organized. Thank you. Oh and look, you didn’t spill any on me this time.” I took a grateful sip.

“True. But I’m still wondering if I should throw some on you.”

“What? You’d do that to me?”

“Uh… let’s see… you almost killed me. So yes.” But she laughed so I knew that she wasn’t too angry at me anymore.

I was glad to see that she was at least talking to me now. “You’re kind of cute when you’re mad, you know that?”

Her eyes widened. “I highly doubt it.”

“Hey, you’re bleeding a little. Hang on…” I reached up and wiped the blood from the top of her head. It was a tiny cut but I felt suddenly bad that I was the one that had created it. I felt strange being so close to her. Why was I feeling so odd? Maybe I was more knocked up from the accident than I thought. Just then I saw the tow truck pull up. Two men got out and put her car at the back.

“Do you have a ride lady? We’re quite squashed in the front already, but we can try squeeze you in if you want. You might just want to duck down if we go past a cop car. It’s not something we like to do but we also don’t want to leave you stranded. You’re small enough anyway so it should be fine.” I thought of her ducking down onto one of their laps and I cringed. I’m sure this was exactly what they wanted.

“No, don’t worry guys. My car is still fine. I’ll take her. We’re going to the same place anyway.”

“Are you sure Sebastian?” She asked me, looking hesitant.

“Don’t be silly, of course I’m sure. We’re both going to the casino. It makes sense for me to take you.”

The guys took her details and drove off and then I smiled at her. “Okay, hop right in.”

“I shouldn’t be getting in the car with you. You promise to drive slowly?”

I grinned at her, “I promise.”

When we got out the car I couldn’t help but smile as I saw her bend down and put on her shoes. They made her look good but she was clearly a little uncomfortable in them. She caught me looking. “Right, my shoes are on. Are you happy now?”