Penny, the alien Dave had found crouched in his kitchen cupboard two months ago, was starting to cause a lot more trouble than she was worth. His boyfriend had basically adopted the creature though and insisted they helped her. It was unlikely that he was going to be able to get rid of her anytime soon.
However, experimenting on his car to the point that it needed repairs was certainly something that he could add to his side of the debate next time he argued with his partner. Especially considering his car was new. The many weekends he had spent breaking his back maintaining the engine, fine-tuning the suspension and changing the oil were all useless now.
It had been his pride and joy. He looked after that car more than he looked after himself, even going so far as to finally make sure to regularly book a log book service. Lockleys was a huge suburb, with plenty of cupboards to crouch in. Why did Penny have to pick his?
“The car is off limits,” he said through gritted teeth as they sat outside the workshop. The mechanic was currently seeing if there was any hope left that the car would ever recover.
“It wasn’t my fault!” Penny said in between bites of the snack she had forced him to buy on their brief walk around the block. She swung her legs over the side of the fence she was absentmindedly picking at. She looked almost human in the moment and it irritated Dave even more. “You know I can only drive an auto! Electrical engineering or quantum mechanics is easier than that thing’s gearbox.”
“You can’t drive at all,” he said, standing up. “You don’t have a licence.”
Penny brushed him off with a wave of her hand and the same mischievous grin that she always had. His anger rose and he tried to focus on how nice the sun felt on his back. His partner always reminded him to think of things like that when he felt overwhelmed. It somewhat helped. He sighed, suddenly dejected.
“Let’s just see what the expert says,” he said before his brain protested his newfound attitude and he added, “you better hope it’s good news.”