Summer stood up and kicked the tire rim furiously, growling. Then she had to lean against the open door of the honda del sol, holding her foot, and let out a shriek compounded of pain, frustration, and anger. Ten cars had passed by while she wrestled with the lug nuts and the tire wrench, and not one of them had even slowed down. Her hands were starting to go numb from the cold, too.
The redhead stepped around the car and leaned on the trunk, wavering between screaming again and just breaking down into tears. There was no one to call, and she didn’t think she could afford a tow truck or anything — and she didn’t have any data signal anyway to look one up.
“Fuuuuuck!”
Head down, keep walking. It’s none of your business. Don’t engage. Don’t speak to her. “Need a hand?” You fucking idiot. You don’t walk up to screaming ladies on the side of the road. Subconsciously, he reached up to run his fingers through the tassels of his scarf. As much as his friends teased him, he had quite the aversion to cold. He wasn’t keen on it so when it started getting cold, he bundled up. As of late, his body temperature was regularly higher than usual (only by a degree or two, but it was better than freezing his ass off), but habit called and he piled on coats.
“I think — uh… your jack is upside down.” It was indeed very upside down and he crouched down to adjust it for her. Sure, he cheated a bit with that werewolf strength, but he was trying to impress somebody. Sue him. “I could call a tow truck if you want?” He regretted it the moment he said — his phone had died some twenty seconds after he left the library. So it’s going to be a Murphy’s Law kind of day.
Summer knelt beside the stranger, regretting it instantly when her knee found a patch of ice. “I thought California was supposed to be warm,” she muttered, and peered under the car. “Aha. I couldn’t find the bar the jack was supposed to hold, so I figured I was doing it wrong. I can’t afford a tow truck. And I can’t get the lug nuts off.” She held up the wrench to illustrate, and fixed it to one of the bolts, tugging ineffectually.
“I /had/ a pole, for extra leverage, but I had to take it out to make room for the last con, and now I can’t do it alone, and ARGH.” She looked up at him with a disgusted expression, hating the damsel-in-distress position she was in. “Will you help me?”