Awaysick: Lehiff and Katia Part 3

This is the second chapter I've posted today! How exciting for myself, lol. Anywho, this section is sequential to the ones I've posted already regarding Lehiff and Katia. This chapter is somewhat different, as it's the first time in the story that I've written from a male perspective. I don't think this will harm the plot, and if you read this, please let me know if I should do it again! :D
So, because I'm not used to this angle, I'm not 100% happy with the way it's written. Sorry if it's not so great. I just really wanted to establish this character, because his feelings and issues are pretty important throughout the rest of the story, therefore I think it's important if they're known.
Finally, thankyou very much!
Please be so kind as to review.
:D:D:D
xxket

***

The workshop was mostly quiet. Any kind of productivity was muted, as the hot afternoon sun infiltrated the grubby, yellowing windows and flooded the area where labour usually took place. A sweltering crimson glow settled upon the immobile, sometimes disassembled and always damaged cars situated haphazardly about the shop floor. The low rumble of the radio provided a staticky, mellow soundtrack to the lethargy.

Lehiff was sluggish from the warmth, and the pencil he was revolving between his fingers swayed idly to and fro, having not connected with the paperwork it was supposed to have completed a long time ago. He tilted his head to the side, totally ignoring the open car bonnet he was seated before.

The sun had not yet set enough for the puncturing heat to reach the workshop office, but she had still decided to use the tall pedestal fan. She had set it to oscillate, and it rotated leisurely from right to left, urging her hair away from her ears with a swift breeze every few seconds.

Her nose was only inches from the paper as she scribbled notes and numbers that Lehiff could not see. She was biting her lip in relentless focus, and she involuntarily screwed up her nose as she pressed the buttons on the calculator next to her. He noticed that this was the same way she had screwed up her nose when he’d told her what he was planning to do the night of the robbery. She must have been doing some kind of equation she didn’t like very much.

Lehiff wasn’t glad that she had come into the workshop to do the accounts for her father. The car he was supposed to be working on today was kind of like a special project that he had offered to take up for Michael, fully aware of how much labour it consisted of. It was a particularly old and decaying vintage vehicle, and Michael had virtually fallen in love with it when it had come in, embracing the challenge of restoring it to its former beauty.

Lehiff was relatively indifferent towards the car itself, but thought that volunteering for the job would assist him in possibly being thought of first, should the boss decide somebody would move up in the business.
However, while he had planned to give the car sole commitment in the afternoon when he had finished his usual jobs, he had not begun any kind of work.

He had been especially busy today, and the memory that Katia would be coming into the workshop after school completely sidestepped him. He had just popped the bonnet, when the sight of her meeting her father with an immense hug distracted him from the corner of his eye.

He had watched Michael hand her the supplies for the accounts, and then Katia organising them meticulously upon the desk. She’d then taken a deep breath and fanned her face quickly with her hand, before disappearing into the store room for a moment, only to rematerialise hauling the chrome pedestal fan. She had struggled with it slightly. After all, it was over a foot taller than her, and he’d felt the testosterone within him compel him to go over and help her. But it seemed that he had misplaced the use of his feet and merely stood where he was, watching as she used the entire weight of her body to stop it from toppling over onto her. She pushed up onto her toes to press the button, and immediately a temperate, artificial flurry of air thrust the length of her hair behind her and her school top against her stomach.

It was then that Lehiff realised he had opened the bonnet of the car several minutes ago and the only work he had done was with his retinas. He also realised that Michael was not in sight, and he much preferred to look into the small office adjacent to him than into a car engine.

Almost unconsciously, he slumped back onto a stool and watched Katia pull a pen from her school bag and begin scrawling.
He had kept watching, and now he wasn’t sure of how long it had been since his eyes had last moved from the vicinity of the desk and chair on which she was sitting.

He had returned home the night of the robbery acquiring only unfamiliar thoughts rather than money. When he had glimpsed Katia’s face beneath the street light, he had been propelled only by anger and frustration. He definitely did not want to deal with a daft teenage girl at such a time, no less his little sister’s best friend and his boss’ daughter.

He had attempted to frighten her, appearing as menacing as he could and actually telling her the truth about the robbery. He thought that she would recoil immediately at the fact that the house belonged to a dealer, but it backfired on him completely and she had more than startled him when she’d called him an idiot, among other things.

However, he was not always stupid, and when the police had arrived, it was obvious that she had been scared. Some kind of archaic male instinct within him coerced him to take her hand and remove her from the scene. Also, he didn’t fancy getting caught.

When they had escaped, he had been worried that she would blab to her father or Cokey... or anybody, and he’d once again tried fear tactics to stop this by telling her that he would implicate her in the robbery as well. Once again, this hadn’t worked. She had simply turned and walked away from him.

Impulsively, he’d followed her, saying that it would be less suspicious if they walked together. This was partly true, but his feet had also decided that they wished to trail behind her without acknowledging his brain. A part of him just wanted to know what she would do when she realised he was walking behind her. Also, that chivalrous part of him didn’t like the idea of her walking home by herself.

As they walked, he found that he was watching her, desperate for any sign in her character that would contradict her earlier behaviour. He had never experienced anybody, especially any girl, treating him the way she had. She was two extremes; one minute she told him how juvenile and stupid he was, the next she was promising to give a good word to her father for him.

She mystified him; he didn’t know which facet of her actions to believe, and he searched her face as they walked for any inclination.
But she gave him none. When they were gaining closer to her house, he suddenly became aware of himself and turned to leave before they had even reached the driveway.

That night he’d remained without sleep, the ceiling of his bedroom transforming into a canvas as he tried to paint an image of Katia in his head. He became more frustrated the more he tried. This was partly because he hated misunderstanding her, partly because he didn’t know why he wanted to.
Eventually, he had succumbed to his aggravation and snuck into his sister’s bedroom, retrieving Katia’s number from Cokey’s phone.

He’d dialled the number without realising how negligent it would be for him to call her without having any other motive than wanting to know what her answer would be to the most trivial of questions. She was unlike any other girl he had ever interacted with, and it dogged his mind to no end that she didn’t respond to his usual taunts. She didn’t match any kind of description of a woman in his head.

He’d had a flash of anxiety as the phone rang and she’d answered it. Immediately, her voice resonated through his ears and enclosed around his brain, obviously resulting in temporary stupidity, as he introduced himself by his full name and relevant siblings.

She’d seemed confused by his calling and he regretted it straight away. After all, she hadn’t shown any interest in maintaining any kind of contact with him and he didn’t even have a reason for calling.

He’d ended up surviving the phone call, but she hadn’t given him any more guidance to her character. She was still both equal parts good and evil.
Over the next few days, he’d considered calling her again, but hadn’t been able to until only last night. This was not because he hadn’t wanted to; she was always on the phone to Cokey.

He was totally surprised at himself for his sudden, desperate want for knowledge of her. The burden had even propelled him to press his ear against his bedroom wall to hear Cokey’s phone conversation with her once. However, he hadn’t gained anything from it, as it was obvious that Cokey dominated all talking.

Every time he had ever seen Katia in his life, she had barely spoken two words to anybody else in the room, and zero to him. Now he couldn’t help but look at her differently, and he was anxious to see more of the Katia he had caught a short glimpse of the other night.

And then, finally, after days of bearing his affliction, he had called her last night and gained another tiny insight into the mysterious creature. She’d been frenzied, and he’d managed to convince her to tell him about her problem.

The phone call had still confused him; she had not only snapped maliciously at him for saying her voice sounded funny, but also apologised for not speaking to her father yet and forgiven him for his behaviour the other night. That had stirred him, and part of him even wanted to be mean to her again, just to see if she would grant him forgiveness when he asked for it.
Still, the phone call had been a victory; she had trusted him enough to let him a little way in to the world of Katia, and he had even made her laugh.
Now, she was still seated perfectly quiet in the chair, scribbling away.
His eyes moved across her frame, and he wondered whether it was the afternoon sun or his own blood that was causing so much heat to circulate around him.

Her hair was fastened into a pony-tail that sat casually low at the back of her head. It was precisely the colour of straw, and whenever she titled her head forward to study the paper more thoroughly, he noticed a glint of copper as the red in it glistened in the growing dusk of the office. It cascaded gently down her back and came to end in the form of loose, delicate spirals that sat at the small of her back.

Katia ran her hand across her forehead and over her hair. She must have been feeling the heat. She must have known what the warmth did to her complexion.

Her skin was perfect; he had noticed that even in the flurry of witnessing her petrified face under the streetlight. It was practically white and almost like porcelain, and he wondered how he could never have spotted this in the nine years that she and Cokey had been friends. At this moment, a tender pink glow was emanating from her cheeks. She looked as if she had just experienced a fit of laughter.

Not once had she looked up during the entire time he watched her, and he was glad. He was perfectly content watching her without interruption. He wished that he were invisible, so that he could move closer, see what she was writing, listen to her speak if her father came in. Examine the freckles on her nose if he wanted to.

He leaned back slowly on the stool and endeavoured to gain some self-control that could prevent his eyes from travelling any further south. She was wearing her school uniform, and this made him feel a lot more perverted than he desired to be. Katia was, after all, only seventeen, but the way she spoke to him, and the way she looked made him want to forget this small detail.

He permitted himself a tiny delicacy, and let his eyes rest upon the most innocent element of her completely forbidden lower half. She had kicked off her school shoes and socks, and one of her feet was rested on top of the other, gently stroking the skin on top. Her toenails were painted a shadowy metallic shade of blue.

Lehiff suddenly scolded himself internally. He definitely should not be looking at Katia this way. There were too many reasons not to. Firstly, she was his little sister’s best friend and the daughter of his boss. All in one inconvenient little package. Secondly, excepting a very select few fleeting instances that he sometimes suspected were born out of pity or annoyance, she had never expressed any inclination that she thought of him as any more than a worthless no-hoper.

He blinked frantically and swivelled on the stool, finally releasing his gaze. He stared down into the car engine, but registered nothing of its existence.
Of course, there were also reasons to look. He did very much like to look, for one thing. And, he could always be wrong about what she thought of him. When he had asked to visit her or take her driving last night, she had ardently refused both. But she had also told him that she would be at the workshop today, and now she refused to even look at him. Maybe she was teasing him, trying to thrill him with the chase. Playing hard-to-get.

Perhaps she knew how good her hair and her skin and her feet looked at that moment, and she knew he was watching her. Deliberately flaunting her beauty in front of him, knowing she was exciting him and making him want to be near to her more with every passing minute.

No, he was only making optimism from nothing now. He honestly didn’t think Katia would be the type to play hard-to-get. He didn’t think she even had enough experience to know how. She had told him last night that she had never seen a guy without her mother knowing. Then again, Katia’s mother could just be an active part of her daughter’s love life. He scoffed at this thought.

Lehiff turned back to the office, but started when he saw that she was no longer sitting at the desk. In fact, she was nowhere in sight and the pedestal fan was turned off.

He spun around towards the nearby window and caught sight of the workshop’s exit. Outside, Katia was standing on the gutter, waving her hands and, judging by her movements, apparently talking animatedly. Lehiff turned to see Cokey emerging from her parked car and crossing the road to her friend. When they met, Cokey still wearing her apron from the restaurant, Katia clutched his sister’s arms and leant in close to her. They looked to be talking in rapid detail.

After a few moments, Cokey took hold of Katia’s hand and led her across to the car. As they both opened the doors to enter, Lehiff found himself standing from the stool and looking around him. While he had been locked away in thought, the workshop had been vacated of all life. He glanced in the direction of the clock.
5:15pm. Work was over.

Looking out the window again, he saw that the girls were now settled in the car and Cokey had started the ignition. He watched, only able to make out Katia’s shimmering hair as it was hit with intense sunlight through the tinted windows. They began to move away, and though the question of where they were going plagued him, he forced himself back onto the stool and turned towards the car he had so far ignored. Now that she had left, he realised how much Katia had muddled his brain when she was here.

Taking a deep breath, he leant into the open bonnet, and tried in vain to listen to the sound of the radio instead of focusing on the imprint of Katia’s frame that was still burning behind his pupils.

He started humming the tune of the song currently playing, but stopped when he heard footsteps behind him. He looked up to see his boss watching him. Michael’s ginger hair stuck to his forehead with sweat. Lehiff wondered if that was where the copper in Katia’s hair came from.

‘Lehiff, what are you still doing here?’ Michael asked, perplexed.
Trying not to gratify my impure thoughts about your teenage daughter. Lehiff’s brain wanted to scream.
‘Uh, I still have some work to get done, I got a little bit sidetracked this afternoon.’
Close enough.
‘Oh. Alright then. As long as you’re not here too late. You know you’re my best worker, and I need you to be rested if you’re ever planning on becoming assistant manager.’
Michael winked and Lehiff’s eyes widened.
‘Wh-what? Really?’ He stammered.
His boss smiled and gently threw the keys to Lehiff.
‘Let’s just say I’ve had a realisation today of just how much work you do. Lock the doors when you’re finished, alright?’

Lehiff caught the keys easily and stared down at them, stunned. When he heard Michael shut the door behind him, Lehiff began to chuckle to himself, until he was laughing uncontrollably at the fact that today he had come the closest to happiness for the first time in a very long while.

***

Naaw, Lehiff!