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Hotter than the sun in the middle of July (Emmett)
April was today clad in ripped jeans, a tank top and a hoodie, which she was immediately regretting due to the temperature drop. Doing her best not to visibly shake or allow her teeth to chatter she quickly scooted past the giant chaotic mess that was the garage on the ground floor, grimacing as she walked past she worked her smile back up as she ascended the stairs, taking them two at a time. Keeping warm was as much a physical exertion as a decision to dress appropriately, which today she had not.
The more impressive thing was that she'd managed to not spill any coffee as she ran up the stairs, to the apartment, tucking the warm carrier under one arm before knocking on the door somewhere between 6 and 12 times in quick succession, ready to pounce through it the moment that it was opened, rocking on her heels back and forth.
She had left the garage for all but a few minutes, just to grab something that might scrub off the bright red spray paint that ran across one of her garage doors. It was when Emmett realized it was going to take more than anything she had handy in her apartment to get it off, there was rapid knocking at her door. Even with her agility, she couldn't make it to the door quickly enough for there to have been less than a dozen knocks.
"Jesus Christ." Emmett exhaled heavily, not in the best of moods since she returned home to find her shop completely destroyed. With a green scrubby in one hand, she used the other to swing the door open. At her doorstep, she found blonde hair, a familiar face, and the sweet smell of coffee. "Oi, tell me some of that is for me." It was enough to draw a smile out of the mechanic as she backed up, inviting April inside.
April grinned as the other girl swung the door open, looking slightly up-heaved, the blonde pyro quickly swooped onto the girl, wrapping an arm around her in a half hug before kissing her on the cheek. "Hey, you." she murmured before ushering herself into Emmett's apartment. She shared a house with some friends herself, so it was odd to see a friend with a nice space all to herself. April loved living with people, and bothering them with affection, and sudden nights out.
She snorted, audibly. "Hah! I'm not that much of a caffeine whore, honey." She turned back with a smirk at the other blonde. "I don't need all that much to have fun, I AM the caffeine for my friends." She chortled.
Flicking some of the hair out of her face she set down the coffees onto the nearest surface with a sigh and spun around to pounce Emmett with another hug. "I thought you could do with some extra, and then we're going out. And we're having fun? Sound good? Get your coat and drink your coffee beautiful!"
A warm and welcoming embrace brought a more genuine smile to Emmett's features, as did the familiar feeling of her friend's lips against her cheek. She let out a laugh, closing the door once April was through the threshold. It was then that she immediately moved towards the coffee brought to her. She lifted the lid, bringing the paper cup towards her nose and sighing with content. April knew her so well. "I do know that." Her high energy was hard to ignore, and it was often contagious.
As she was securing the lid back onto the cup, she looked back towards the pyro, eyebrows shooting up. It was rare for Emmett to consider saying no to any time out, but her garage was a disaster. Then again, she probably needed a break from cleaning up the mess made. Especially if it included good company.
The mechanic took a quick swig of the warm beverage before turning to grab her jacket. Shit? Where'd she put it? "Where are we going?" Emmett asked, heading towards the bathroom where she had thrown all the clothes previously resting on a now empty chair. There it was. She came back towards the kitchen, slipping an arm into the sleeve.
April giggled at the mechanic's reaction. Doing a little twirl before scooping up her coffee again and taking a few sips. "My god. That is so good." She moaned. It wasn't necessarily the best tasting coffee around, but it was hot. Hot was good, especially in the blasted cold weather. At least there wasn't snow, last time there was snow she didn't leave her house for a full week before the temp had gone up again, much to the complaints of her housemates being sweated out by all the radiators being on for days.
"Paintball or something, so you can shoot at things. Indoor paintball, seriously screw this weather with a cactus." she muttered, clinging to the coffee as a life line. "Then maybe hit some bars, find you a lovely partner to come home with for some fun, or just get horrifically drunk and snuggle with a movie. I don't really know, lets just see where the evening takes us." She responded, in her usual rapid fire fashion.
Moving towards the door she gave the mechanic a wink. "Now lets go shoot something, or someone. Multiple times, with paint." She snickered as she walked past.
When Emmett returned to the kitchen, she noticed the way her friend clung to her coffee like a lifeline. It was then that she noticed April's attire. Emmett shook her head. It was January. Even if Oregon didn't have very harsh winters, it was still something to dress appropriately for. With her own lined denim jacket on, she turned back to the pile of clothes in her hamper. Half of them were clean, only moved when a very attractive and intimidating lawyer had come into her home. She reached in and found an sweatshirt as well as a thin jacket.
"You're right. Shooting someone sounds perfect right now." Really, she wished it could be whatever asshole wrecked her shop, but she didn't doubt that this would help take out her aggression anyway.
Stretching out her hand, she offered the sweatshirt and jacket. "I don't care if it's indoors, just wear this for now." Emmett grabbed her coffee again, as well as her keys. "Aiight, let's get out of here."
April blinked in confusion as her friend went off foraging for things again, she honestly thought that Emmett would've wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible and do something else, she'd seen people on the receiving end of hate before and she'd never thought of any of them not being excited to blow of steam. Her stomach did a little flip when the girl brought her out a coat and jumper. "Awwwwwwww, Emmett!" She squeeked, giving the other girl, yet another hug.
"Thank you!" She cooed before grabbing the jacket and throwing it on over her hoodie. "I don't know why I'm not wearing more layers, but I guess my brain wasn't 100% working this morning, go figure." she muttered with a smirk.
She quickly looped her arm through her friend's and dragged her towards the door softly. "Sure, lets get going~ My car is outside, somewhere. I definitely remember where I parked."
Arms wrapped around her form again and Emmett gave a short laugh, squeezing April in return. "Clearly you can't be trusted to dress yourself," the mechanic joked, eyebrow shooting upwards once. Once she was free, she was already headed for the door, hauling it back open for the other blonde to make her exit. Because April was right, now that her mind set on it, she absolutely did want to get out of there. This could be dealt with in the morning.
AS they exited, Emmett locked the door behind her, making sure to lock the garage as well as best she could considering someone had broken through the lock that was there in the first place.
"Want me to drive?" It was a question that Emmett would always ask, no matter the situation. Cars were her thing. She liked being the driver, even if she had a heavy foot.
April giggled and turned her head quickly with a wide, mischievous grin perched on her lips. "Well Hun, you're welcome to help me in or out of my clothes anytime." she teased.
Taking the stair's more slowly while clinging to her friend, enjoying the warmth that she provided April hummed to herself during the descent. Her humming slowed as the garage was locked. "If you find out who did it and want them set alight, you know where to find me gorgeous." She joked.
April's car was a rather large old looking red Land rover, which was quite high off the ground all things considered and overall not that difficult to spot , but she always felt safe in it. Which may or may not have had something to do with the fact that it looked like a small tank. "Sure thing Hun." she hummed and fished out her keys, moving over to her car and opening the doors so she could grab her purse.
It was one of those old interiors, with a CD player that had clearly been put in there after it was made, and nothing digital age looking inside. "Your car or mine?"
Being clung to like she was actually needed to make it down the steps was admittedly comforting to the mechanic. She rarely put herself in a vulnerable position, yet she felt nothing but since she had returned home, so she put an arm around April's waist like she was classy or something. "Yeah, I might need you to burn his body after I beat the fuck out of him." A little aggressive? Absolutely, but Emmett didn't care.
"We'll take the beast." It's what she liked to call the Land Rover that April loved to have. Because it was a beast, especially compared to the tiny speedster hatchback that Emmett drove on a regular basis.
She followed April over towards the driver's side door, holding out her palm for the keys. "So do you know where this place is anyway?"
The blonde had gently leaned into her friend when the arm was wrapped around her waist, she just adored the warmth that the contact brought along with it. She absolutely could not wait for summer, it was nice to be able to wear short clothes and not risk actual hypothermia. Also Bikini's and tank tops were hot, in the attractive sense no the temperature one.
She tossed the keys deftly to her friend before hopping into the passenger seat with a practiced jump. "Lemme just get out the nav." She murmured as she battled with her phone to get the navigator app working, pinning it to a little holster on her dashboard, the car being way too ancient to have anything like a build in sat nav.
"So what have you been up to recently, I mean other than cleaning up messes. I feel like it's been ages, which is probably my fault for getting busy with school and clubbing." She added hastily.
Emmett jumped up into the drivers seat, turning the engine over and listening wit an attuned ear for any possible hiccups. It was habitual for the mechanic to listen to any engine the started, especially given that her own car was made before she was born. It sounded good though, and she gave the steering wheel a pat before she started to back up, dark eyes glancing over towards the blonde's phone. It wasn't too far.
"Oh, you know," Emmett started, but it wasn't as if her friend really did know. Thus whys she had asked in the first place. "I've been pretty busy too, it's not your fault." The week building up to this had been pretty surreal.
Emmett pulled out into the road and headed off, easily going a few miles over the speed limit as she so often did. "Got my hands on an old Volkswagen Beetle, which was pretty hot." More so was the person who drove it, but she didn't go into the details.
April leaned forwards while Emmett got comfortable and flicked on the heating. The only feature of her car that was truly up to par, because she probably wouldn't drive if it wasn't, and sat back rubbing her arms to stay warm until it started to kick in fully. "Mhmm, I've been there a couple of times for fun. Not too bad for entertainment." She smiled to herself. "I actually got into it from taking a trip with my brothers once, sponsored by the local police department, it was this silly obstacle training thing, but my dad was running it so I got to take part."
She mused over the memory and reminded herself to phone her dad and see how everyone was doing back home in the morning, she wouldn't do that while she was taking a friend out for fun, least of all to hear the disapproving tone of her dad. Man had sense for her actions like a bloodhound.
Once the heater had gotten the car up to nice and toasty, she leaned back a little and closed her eyes, smiling playfully. "It's nice to have a sexy chauffeur, you should think about driving around pretty rich people for a living someday." She teased.
Emmett should have known to take her jacket off before she started driving, because it wasn't long before she felt the real blast of the heat through her thick denim jacket. She pressed a knee to the bottom of the steering wheel, hauling the seatbelt off of her despite the groan of the warning from the car not to, but she started to pull on the sleeve of her jacket to get it off.
"They're awesome cars." Emmett mused aloud, lips pressing together as she thought of the brunette that brought it in. But with the next comment another figure popped into her mind - the one who was sitting down at her kitchen table not all that long ago.
She gave a loud laugh at the thought, pulling the seatbelt back on. "Don't think they'd much like the way I'd drive," she replied. "Speaking of though, have you heard of the hot new lawyer in town? Teddy James?"
She snorted at the thought of Emmett enjoying a beetle that much. "My god, you're such a car geek, it's so cute!" She snorted. "I bet you were all over that customer, metaphorically and literally." She teased with a small wink. Going back to the position she was in before she snickered to herself and shook her head. "Beetles."
The corner of her mouth quirked playfully and she turned very slightly to the driver. "I don't know, I find it sort of exhilarating myself." People who knew April would have realised by this point in the friendship that about a third of her vocabulary was flirt.
Tilting her head, searching her mind for the name and eventually coming to a shrug the blonde shook it. "I don't think so, but it's a big town and I spend most of my time either working, or finding fun. Lawyers aren't normally a great deal of fun if you ask me." She snorted. "Law school looks like such a drag."
