xp_logs | Forge & Jay, Tuesday noon (Reply)

Jay runs into Forge in the garage, and the whole 'Kevin' matter is cleared up.

Jay twirled his truck keys around a finger, catching the bunch and repeating the gesture while he walked into the garage, quietly singing Toby Keith's lyrics, I love this bar. It was the perfect day for a drive and he clutched a fabric, reusable bag for a few groceries for the suite. He paused half way through the garage, sighting Tin man and sauntered over, stopping just short of the hood. "Hey, whaddya up to?" he asked in a quirky tone.

Forge stood up, looking out at Jay from under the hood of his RX-8. "Pulling apart the exhaust manifold," he explained, holding up a curved piece of metal before wiping it down with a rag and placing it on a wheeled cart. "The carbon compressor trap works great, but I want to try using a more restricted vacuum filter to cut down the emission ratio."

Stopping for a moment, he chuckled under his breath. "I'm working on the engine," he said simply.

"Thank ya god", Jay said in an exaggerated tone, rolling his eyes and revealing a smile. He blew his bangs out of his eyes, leaning over the engine like he knew what he was looking at. "Should get'cha to take apart mine an' clean it, or teach me how. Ah hate paying fer stuff tha' Ah could be doin' myself. Yanno?"

"No problem," Forge replied, leaning back into the engine compartment, his voice resonating oddly off the metal frame. "Totally different engine style, of course, but the basics are easy for anyone to learn. One of these days I swear I'm going to convince Crystal to learn how to do an oil change."

"How's yer ol' girl by the way? She good? Healthy? Happy? Horny? Not in that order of course." He ran a hand over the edge of the paintjob, admiring it until he noticed a piece of fabric hanging off his jeans and reached down to pull it off.

"Yes, yes, and none of your business," came Forge's response. "We're doing well. She's moving back to Attilan after the end of the school year, so we're going to see how the distance thing works. She and her sister have offered me the use of their jet to travel when I've got time, and she's said that she's willing to come visit me here, so...we're going to see where things go."

His voice was upbeat, but the carefully-chosen words sounded rehearsed, as if he'd planned the explanation beforehand to mask what he was really feeling.

"Huh." He grinned at the last response but bit his lip, briefly looking over at Forge before twisting his hand around the cloth and giving it a good yank. "Tha' kinda sucks. Ya sure yer al'ight wit' tha? Ah mean, the jet - wow - but c'mon, long distance is hard. Ya wanna body in bed wit' 'nother livin' body an..." his voice tapered down to silence, the way Forge spoke registering finally.

"Sounds like a dead end, not that it's any o' my business. But she's gotta jet an' she's willing to fly ya back an' forth - yer schedule allows fer tha'?"

A loud clank came from under the hood, and a muffled curse. Forge poked his head out once more, a streak of grease crossing one cheek. "We're going to see where things go," he said more firmly. "She's a priority for me, so my schedule allows for it, Q.E.D."

Hands went up in defence. "Okay, Okay," he leaned down, licking his thumb once and swiped it across the streak of grease on Forge's cheek. The smirk was unmistakable. He stood up, brushed his finger absently over the side of his thigh and leaned against the car, one leg crossed over the other, his arms doing the same. "Ya go to prom?"

Forge nodded, returning to his maintenance. "Crystal and I helped chaperone. No big issues except... well, nothing worth mentioning. Understood you had to work, since..." Slowly, Forge slid out from under the hood, wiping his hands on a rag and looking Jay in the eyes. "All right, enough beating around the bush. Yeah, Kevin was there with one of the students. And he's worried that you're suicidal over it. I told him he was overreacting. Is he?"

Jay blinked. "Huh?" He jerked his head back in obvious surprise. He wasn't going to ask about Kevin and though he knew it would come up eventually, it hadn't crossed his mind to talk about it. "No, do Ah look like Ah'm gonna go killin' myself? Ah was 'bout to go get groceries. Ya think Ah'd bother to get food if Ah was gonna off myself?" he asked shaking his head. "No wonder he was all weird the other day. Forge, Kev an' Ah arn't together anymore." No wonder Terry came to the bar by herself too.

"Ah," Forge said with a curt nod. "Well, that's that, then. If you ask me, you're better off. Kevin always came across as a bit of a head case. Wah, Ah cain't touch anyone! Nobody understands mah pain!" he drawled in a horrible Southern accent. "Shit, Marie's had the same problem for years, and she gets on just fine. You'd think if Kevin had half a brain in his head, he'd realize it's a pretty minor problem."

"Yeh, Ah feel better 'bout it too. We hadda lotta problems," he shrugged. "It wasn' makin' me feel good either. Ah turned into this other person an'..." he shook his head, scrunching up his nose. "It just wasn' workin. Oh an' by tha way, don' ever do tha' again. Ya suck at it."

"Wha? Mah bes' Kentucky accent?" Forge joked, laying it on even thicker. "Ha-yuck, ha-yuck, ha-yuck. Shee-oot, Ah'm almos' a Guthrie at this rate!"

"John Henry Forge, don' make me hurt you."