Kassie wasn’t sure what was in the air today, but everyone was going crazy. Derek was late for his shift, but she was trying to keep it from Mel, on account that she was acting insane and already had an unfavorable attitude towards Derek. She subtly did Derek’s and her own work. Mel had been snappy all day. Kassie was curious but not curious enough to approach her. She’s been friends with her long enough to know she needed space to cool down. Except, she wasn’t cooling down, but scaring off customers with her scowl. 

“Why are you cleaning the tables?” Mel asked briskly, her arms folded across her chest. 

Kassie looked at the table she was wiping down, then back at Mel. “Crumbs?”

“Ugh! I knew it! That good-for-nothing didn’t show up?” She uncrossed her arms to gesture frantically. 

“No! He’s here.” She looked around, hoping he would magically appear behind a customer or a muffin. 

“Why isn’t he doing his job then, huh?” She asked, her face stern. 

“Uh, he’s cleaning the staff bathrooms,” Kassie lied quickly. 

Mel’s face didn’t soften. “They better fuckin’ sparkle,” she snarled before storming away.

Kassie quickly wiped up the rest of the tables so she could clean the bathrooms before Mel had to pee. 

She wasn’t sure why she was covering for Derek. He was late. He was a hard worker with a sob story, which Kassie was a sucker for. He owed her. She hated clearing the stupid bathrooms. She unlocked the girls' bathroom, pushed it open, and quickly shut it when she saw Derek inside. 

“Where have you been?” She questioned quickly. “Mel is out for blood today, and I’ve been cleaning all your crap.” She stopped, taking a good look at him. His back to her, shoulders hunched and tense over the sink. Steam was rising, fogging the mirror, but she could still make out his face. He looked stressed, his brow furrowed, his lips tight, and the bags under his eyes made him look older and tired. 

“Uh, dude, what’s wrong?” She took a few steps closer to him. His hands and forearms were scrubbed red, and several black spots stained his skin. One of which he was scrubbing hard with a rag. 

She tentatively walked closer and stood behind him, reaching over to turn off the tap. He froze when she got close. He was tense and hard and all wrong. Like a dog that knows it’s going to be hit. He took a deep breath. His body was loose except for the firm grip he had on the sink. 

“I get it,” he said roughly. 

“Well, I don’t,” she replied, baffled. 

He shoved off the sink and started tensely stalking around the room. “You have to fire me. I get it. I was late.” 

His words came out in a rush. He was still pacing the room, running his red hands through his hair, pulling on the strand. “I ran late at the garage and fuck, I had oil—“he ranted. His voice rose as he held up his arms for her to see. “—and the men’s bathroom has no fucking soap! So, I’m here. Using this fruity ass soap that’s doing jack shit to the grease, and I’m done, I’ll leave.”

Kassie was stunned. This was the most she’d heard Derek talk. Well, shout. He was actually terrifying. He was tall. Much taller than Clarke’s petite stature. He was even a few inches taller than Abraham, who was the tallest at the shop. He was very broad and thick with muscles, she guessed, and it came from hard work rather than hours at the gym. And now he was frantic, his eyes widened and unfocused, on the verge of yelling, and she had no idea what was going on. This was the first time she’d seen Derek without his cocksure and confidant mask on.  

“Wait,” she said, cutting him off. She waved her hands a few times to clear the air. “You’re not fired. I’m not firing you. You’re late, yeah, you should have called or something. And you’re freaking out in the bathroom, but that happens. I literally cry in here a few times a week. You're a mechanic?”

He looked at her. Hard. His dark green eyes traced her face a few times before he sighed, mussed his hair again, and just stopped. “Yeah. I work at the shop when I’m not here. When I can, I pick up shifts at the bar.”

“That’s a lot of work. When do you sleep?

He shrugged, pointedly looking at the floor. 

She looked him over. His head was down, and his short, brown hair was sticking up all over the place. He was hunched over again. He had the sleeves rolled up on his plaid-over shirt. His forearms were still red from the rough treatment he had given them. She walked over to the shelves next to the sink. She grabbed one of the lotion bottles from the shelf. Kassie stood in front of him and squirted some lotion in her hand. She held the bottle under her armpit and grabbed his right hand. 

“Alright, this is what’s going to happen,” she explained as she gently rubbed the cool lotion on his irritated skin. “We’ll give you more hours. Ah,” she talked louder when he opened his mouth to reply. “Mel, Abraham, and I do a lot of deliveries. Most of them are in the school's dorms. We buy a lot of our ingredients locally, so that’s crap we have to pick up in the mornings or after work. We can tack that on to your shifts so we don’t have to do it anymore. It’ll be like a step up or something.” She dropped his arm after she rubbed all the lotion in. She picked up the other and gave it the same treatment. 

“Uh, you’d do that?” He looked shell-shocked. Like, she was the bizarre one in this situation. His eyes flicked to her hands, rubbing lotion into his skin, then back to her face.  

Kassie shrugged. “Yeah. The three of us are tired. We don’t mind passing some work off to you. I know you’re helping your sister out with school, but you don’t need to kill yourself doing it.” She finished with his other hand and put the lotion away. “We good?” 

His eyebrows were raised in surprise, and his jaw was slack. “Yeah, sure.”

Kassie smiled. She was glad they got to keep Derek. Mel might be throwing a fit about having him around, but Kassie enjoyed him. She also enjoyed the idea of not having to do all the running around for the shop. She absolutely hated doing the deliveries.  She patted him on the arm as she walked to the door. “Alright, I’ll talk to Mel, and we’ll tweak the schedule so—“she was cut off as Derek purposely strode across the room, grabbed her by her upper arms, and pushed her against the wall. She had a second to be surprised before he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.