City Lights, Country Nights

16.a reason for the sudden interest?

Liora drove down the road before pulling the car in front of the house and putting it in park. She glanced over at Will. "You'll be fine when you take your test," he said. Liora nodded with a smile.

"So, I was wondering if you know anywhere I could get a job?" Liora asked, looking at him.

"Well, I can ask Haley about getting you a job at the coffee shop," Will said. Liora nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, that would be good," Liora said. "Thank you."

"I have to ask, is there a reason for the sudden interest?" Will asked, making Liora look at him. "I mean, getting you driving lessons I get, but why the job?" he asked. Liora licked her lips.

"In New York, I had a part-time job and was trying to get my license," Liora said as she grabbed the steering wheel. "I just want to get back on track, I guess," she said.

"Okay, yeah, I'll see if I can help," he said, unfastening his seat belt as Liora did the same and got out.

"Umm, thank you, Will," Liora said, walking to the house and inside. She made her way to her room, grabbed her laptop and homework, and then headed down to the kitchen, laying everything out on the table.

As she opened the computer, the first thing that came up was the dance team Jackie had told her about.

Liora bit her lip as she looked through the page. "Hey," she lightly jumped as her head snapped over to George. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Um, homework. It all has to be turned in tomorrow," Liora said, closing the web page. "Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something," she said. George nodded and pulled out a chair, sitting down.

"Well, me and Jackie have been talking, and we would like to get our own car." George nodded slowly.

"Okay, I don't want to shoot this down so fast, but I don't think we can do another car—" Liora cut him off.

"No, no, I mean like me and Jackie buy it," she said. He looked at her. "Look, I was saving up for a car before. I have the money," she said.

"Okay, have you found something you liked?" He asked.

"There's an older couple selling a jeep. He's asking $800 for it," she said. "He says it runs good and everything, and that they just got a new one," she said.

"So you talked to them already?" He said. Liora nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I just didn't want to waste your time if it wasn't good," she said. "We just thought it would be easier because we have to constantly ask for people to give us rides everywhere."

"I get it," he said. "But there are things like insurance and stuff like that," he said. Liora knew that, of course.

"Yeah, I know. I talked with Will just a little bit ago," Liora said, moving some of her papers around. "I asked if maybe he could get me a job at that shop. He said he would ask Haley about it, and if that doesn't work out, I can try other places," she said, looking up at him to see how he felt about it.

"Neither you nor Jackie has your license," George said. Liora huffed and nodded. "And you're not old enough to get your license yet," he said. Liora knew that she still had a couple of months before that.

"Yeah, my birthday is a little bit after the holidays, so it gives me time to have more practice and get everything stable and done before we even drive it," Liora said.

"Okay, um, let me talk to Katherine, and we can talk about this later," he said. Liora nodded her head as she watched him get up and walk away.

"A car, huh?" a voice said. Liora already knew who it was. "What, you don't like riding with me?" Cole said, nonchalantly settling next to her.

"Would you like me to be honest?" Liora sweetly said, looking up at him with big eyes and a fake smile.

"Not really," Cole replied, glancing at the papers. "Are you doing homework?" he asked. Liora just nodded.

"You know I can help you with your math," she offered, glaring up at him. "God knows you need the help," she teased. Cole rolled his eyes.

"Feeling generous today, I see," he remarked with a lazy grin. Liora hummed as she did her work. "You know, if the job doesn't work out with Haley, I bet I could get you to work with me," he suggested. Liora's head snapped up.

"Are you out of your mind?" she said, her eyes wide. "You will never see me working in a mechanic shop," she stated. Cole just hummed.

"Well, what if this car or jeep you want needs work done?" he asked. "It could help."

"I don't need to know, that's why you're here," Liora said, looking up at him. "Free working hands," she smiled.

"Who said it would be free?" Cole asked. Liora held up her hand.

"Katherine, I was wondering if you could have Cole look at the jeep," Liora said in a teasing voice. "There seems to be something wrong with it," she said, and looked at Cole, who only nodded his head.

"Oh, yeah, Rory, let me see where he's at for you," Liora mimicked Katherine's voice. "And that, Cole, is all it would take," she said.

"Funny," Cole said, leaning closer to her, making Liora's eyes snap up to his. "Or you could just convince me yourself. I'm sure you could come up with ways to... pay me." Liora scrunched her face in disgust.

"You're nasty," Liora huffed, pulling away from him. "Now go get your math before my generous mood dies out."