Waiting Fate by W.B. Kinnette

before. He wanted to know why. He wanted to erase whatever it was that caused her so much pain.
    The night before — the first time he’d seen her in five years — he had been surprised at how intense that feeling of wanting to protect her was. It hit him hard again now, that need to shelter her. Unfortunately, he’d seen the way Gunner and even Jay sometimes had looked at her.
    Archer was pretty sure he wasn’t the only one who wanted to get to know her a whole lot better.
    “Hey, Archer. They’re boring. Come entertain me,” Gunner called from across the room, where he sat watching TV. He patted the couch and winked. Archer rolled his eyes in mock horror.
    Jay leaned back, stretching his arms over his head. “How’s your truck running?” he asked. He sat between Ivy and Gigi at the kitchen table, which was covered in books and highlighters and paper.
    Ivy looked up, giving him a bright smile, and his heart jumped to his throat, threatening to choke him. He had to try several times before he could get the words out. “I think the tranny needs some work.”
    He still hadn’t moved from the doorway, unsure what to do with himself, which was unusual. Archer was never unsure of anything.
    “Bring it in tomorrow after I get out of school. We can work on it.” Jay was a gifted mechanic and had his own shop in the backyard. Why he didn’t just do that instead of trying to be a dentist, Archer would never understand.
    Ivy tilted her head at him, shoving some of her books out of the way to clear a space. “Didn’t you say you had work to do?” With a mischievous grin she patted the seat next to her, and Archer left the doorway and sank into the offered chair, spreading out his blueprints on his section of the table. Jay left his spot to look over Archer’s shoulder, and Gunner was on his other side in seconds.
    Ivy snickered as she nudged Gigi. “Nothing like boys and their plans.”
    “No kidding.” Gigi nodded, grabbing a highlighter and scribbling over Jay’s notes while he wasn’t looking. It was like a weird, sabotage-game they seemed to play every night. Again, Ivy was intrigued by Gigi and Jay’s strange relationship. There was nothing between them, except that there was .
    They worked for over two hours, and although Archer got a lot done — with Gunner and Jay’s help — he couldn’t have told them later what they’d decided. His attention was on Ivy, who every so often would tease them about their boring car conversations or confusing blueprint codes.
    ****
    Archer started looking for reasons for spending evenings at Jay’s house, knowing she would be there. He brought his big green truck and left it, pretending it needed work on the transmission. It was true enough, but it was just so he had an excuse to see her, and he knew it.
    Toward the end of the week, she lugged her book bag out to the shop and set her homework out on Jay’s workbench, offering to keep him company while he worked.
    “You’re gonna freeze,” Jay said gruffly from the doorway to the shop, watching her take over his workbench.
    “Yeah, but Archer’s been out here every night by himself. That’s not fun.” She batted her eyes at Jay and then at Gunner, who had appeared behind him, materializing out of the darkness like a ghost. “You could come help him. Then we could all come in sooner.”
    Archer tried not to laugh as Gunner shoved his way past Jay into the room. “Well, why didn’t you say something? I’d be happy to help.”
    Ivy looked over at Archer and he winked, feeling his heart pound as her face lit up. She watched them work that night and the next, every so often yelling, “Earmuffs!” when one of them would smash a thumb or burn a finger and swear. From anyone else, it would have been obnoxious, but from Ivy, it was adorable and none of them seemed to mind.
    Thursday night, as they were walking to their cars, Archer said, “If you keep doing your homework in the shop with me, I might have enough