Quarter Mile Back || Fast and Furious

11

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Australia
Age 18

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Blake was under a car when Jamie approached her, calling her up. She mumbled a response, finishing off what she had been doing before she pushed herself out. She met his eye immediately as she sat up, rubbing her hands on the grease covered rag.

'Blake, there's someone who wants to speak to you,' He stated.

'Client?' She queried.

'Not exactly.'

'What do you mean, not exactly?'

'Well... She wants a job here.'

'Job?'

'Apparently so. She's a designer? She's got her sketchbook and she's pretty good.'

'You checked her out?'

'I wouldn't be getting you if I didn't think she was worth it, Blake. We got three cars that need to be done today.'

'And you're telling me this now?'

She stopped walking and turned to face him with wide eyes, 'Where's Rhys?'

'Working on the Mustang.'

'And why aren't you working on a car?'

'I will, Blake. Just come check this sheila out, then we can get back to it. It'll add to out market.'

With a long sigh, she nodded slowly and followed after him again. She raised an eyebrow when she saw a girl around Rhys' age sitting at Jamie's desk, fidgeting as she looked over the desk. Blake stopped at the top of the rail, leaning back against it before she watched the girl for a few seconds as she lit a cigarette and held it between her lips.

'You've got thirty seconds to impress me,' She finally stated as she blew out a breath.

Quickly, the girl shot up out of her seat wide eyed, looking like a deer in the headlights. The Toretto girl motioned for her to hurry up, sending her into a flurry as she grabbed her sketch book and rushed over.

'Hi, I'm Kylie. I'm a huge fan, you're like, incredible,' The girl blurted making Blake raised a brow at Jamie who motioned for her to be patient; 'Uh, if I could get a job here, it would be a dream come true. I brought my sketch book and I can start whenever and I don't want much pay.'

She took the book into her hands, ignoring the rest of the girl's rambling as she gazed her eyes over her work. She was impressed, she was good; not Suki standard, but still good. She held her hand up to cut off Kylie's blabbering, the girl silencing immediately.

'Breathe,' She smirked; 'There's a car down in the paint room waiting to be done, reckon you can do this design on it in four hours?'

Blake held up an black and red design with a huge gold and cream scorpion amongst it, something she knew the client who owned the car would love.

'Uh,' Kylie stammered before she paused; 'I can do it in three and a half.'

'Even better,' Blake took a breath from her cigarette; 'Jamie'll show you down. I need to get back to work. You need anything, you see him. You're on trial, Kylie. Don't mess this up.'

She turned and began to walk down the stairs as Kylie called after her, 'Thank you, Blake. This means the world to me.'

But the Toretto girl merely waved over her shoulder in response, wandering through the cars and out the back to continue working on the car she had been previously.

'Who's the sheila?' Rhys asked as he walked over wiping his hands.

'The Mustang done?' She asked instead.

'Yup.'

'It needs to go to the paint room and you can meet the knew chic there. Don't let her mess up the car. That's the most expensive we're selling, and you let her know that.'

The boy chuckled, 'That's one way to scare her off.'

'That's what I'm hoping to do.'

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It was exactly three and a half hours before Rhys called for Blake from the paint room, hollering her name into the warehouse.

'Blake, you gotta come see this,' He called.

The Toretto girl grabbed and rag and began to wipe her hands off, shoving Jamie when he chuckled to himself before he took the fifty dollar note from her hand. They had betted how long it would take Kylie to finish, she had said over four hours while Jamie had said three and a half or under. She wandered over to the paint room, pushing the door open as she tucked the rag into her back pocket; a smirk coming onto her lips at what she saw.

The car was done to almost perfection. The lines clean and images clear. She nodded as she walked around the car, taking in the design that decorated both sides of the car. Blake came to a stop in front of Kylie, looking over the car for a few seconds more before she turned to look at the girl who was extremely nervous. She nodded with a smirk, her eyes flicking back to the car for a second.

'And you did this yourself?' She asked.

'Yes,' Kylie squeaked.

'I'm impressed. Well done.'

'Thank you.'

Blake nodded and looked at the car again, nodding slowly for a few seconds as she thought over what she was going to do. They needed a decent designer, her own designs were good but she didn't have the time to do the more complicated ones with all the orders coming in.

'You think you can do this all week?' She asked Kylie.

'Yes,' The blonde nodded quickly.

'Alright. That's your trial period. You'll get paid minimum wage until I decide I want to keep you on or not. Are you at school?'

'No. Had to drop out to help Mum with the bills.'

'Ok. Sure. You start now. There's two more cars that need paint jobs by this afternoon so they can go out tomorrow. Is that clear?'

'Got it.'

'Rhys, you're with me. I'll bring the next car down, I want that serpent design on it. The car after, I just need painted a midnight blue with silver detailing along the doors. Good luck.'

Blake walked around to the drivers side of the car, Rhys carefully getting in the passenger side before they drove out of the paint room; letting Kylie jump around in excitement without being seen.