Loving Maverick

I Owe You One

The weekend couldn't have come around fast enough for Maverick. His calendar was booked with appointments and meeting for the next month and a half. It was hard for him to keep up with it all; and he still couldn't find a decent enough assistant to keep up. To top it off, his father did not let him forget about the notion that he may have judged this miss, Vidal too quickly and that she may have been a good candidate had he given her the chance.

Maverick didn't want to hear anymore on the subject and would always switch it up whenever the time allowed for it. Since the workload wasn't particularly heavy that day and he had nothing particularly pressing on his schedule for a Thursday evening, he preferred to be underneath a car right about that time in the day. However, he hadn't seen his mother in over a week and knew that she was wanting to see her only son. She'd been blowing up his phone for the past week and a half.

"Hey, dad. I was about to come over to see mom, if you two aren't busy." He said. Fortunately, for him, his father had plans to take his mother out for the day since they hadn't been able to spend much time together of late due to the boost in clientele at Maverick Industries. Because Maverick was there and had taken a large portion of the workload, Abhimanyu had more times on his hands and so decided to use it wisely. "Alright, well, then I'll stop by tomorrow, then."

 After they agreed on this, Maverick hung up his phone and headed for the garage to see what he could do about that old car. Then his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was Stef.

"Hey, man. I was just about to go work on something."

"Yeah, cool. I need to see you." He said. 

Maverick stopped walking. "Okay.." He reluctantly replied. "Is everything alright?" He asked.

"Um, well. Maybe...maybe not?" Stefano replied.

"Alright, what is it with the riddles, Stef? What's going on?" Maverick asked.

"Well, I told you that I need to see you. And...it's actually pretty important. I need to test our friendship, a little." 

Brow raised, Maverick sighed. "Fine. I'll be over there soon." He said and hung up the phone. He was standing there in front of the garage door. He sighed. "Guess we'll pick up where we left off later." 

He then grabbed his helmet and left on his black on black Ducati crotch rocket and made his way to his best friend's house to see what was up.

It didn't take long to arrive at Stefano's body shop. Maverick stepped off of his bike and walked over to the opening of the garage. Per the norm, there was Stefano, working on a car. 

Maverick held a little resentment toward his best friend as he watched him successfully succeed in his passion. He kicked his best friend's boot as he was underneath the car, to let him know that he was there. 

When Stefano saw him, his face lit up and he quickly removed himself from underneath the car. He wiped his hands before bringing his hand down to his best friend's shoulder.

"Ah, Rick! Just the man that I wanted to see!" 

"What's going on here?" Maverick asked. "What are you playing at, Stef?"

"Nothing-oh nothing, nothing, nothing. It's-it's nothing." He exhaled. 

"If it were nothing then you wouldn't have called me over here." Maverick countered, noting his friend's odd demeanor.

"Oh-no, well, I was just wondering...you never...really told me what happened that night after we got separated." 

"And neither did you." Maverick replied. "So, I figure we're even."

Stefano chuckled and patted his friend on the back as he went to the small mini fridge that he kept in his office after a long day's work. He grabbed two and handed one to Maverick.

"Should you be drinking that while on the job?" Maverick asked.

"I'm on my thirty." He said. "One won't hurt."

"Sure." Maverick suspiciously said, though feeling that this wasn't the first beer that his best friend had for the day. "Now, what do you want?"

"I..." He popped his beer open and drank some before finishing. "Want you to tell me what happened that night."

"Why does it matter?" Maverick asked.

"Because...I may or may not owe you in the future, depending on how the story goes." He smirked.

"And what exactly does that mean?" Maverick asked.

"You'll find out when you tell me what happened that night after...we got separated." Stefano replied. Maverick still didn't answer right away. "Look, it's no secret what happened with me after you left...I got lucky." He smirked. "But you, on the other hand...I'm feeling that your night may have ended on terms a little rockier than mine."

Maverick was annoyed with how correct Stefano was in assuming such a thing. "Yeah, rocky is one way to put it. I ended up in jail." He hissed, popping open his bottle and taking a big gulp from it before plopping down in the chair across from Stefano's desk.

Stefano chuckled. "No way." 

Maverick looked at him suspiciously. He couldn't help feeling as though he had already known; but there was no way that he could have because didn't tell anyone-not even him.

"Yeah, but I have a feeling that you know all about it. Something that I find...ironic and very suspicious considering I haven't told anyone."

Stefano smirked. "How did you end up in jail?"

"Why? Does that matter to you?" Maverick asked, his patience wearing thin. 

"Because, as I said before, depending on what your answer is, I may owe you in the future...big time." 

Maverick was suddenly confused by this. Was he in some way connected to the girl that had gotten him arrested that night? 

"A girl....got me arrested." He decided to explain further. "Claimed that I was attempting to assault her because I wouldn't let her walk home alone due to her being inebriated." He scoffed as he thought about that girl. "Then-then as fate would have it-wouldn't you know it! She's the freaking assistant that is supposed to be working under me!" He had gotten so caught up in his feeling at this point that he had forgotten the whole reason why he was talking about what happened to him that night in the first place. He only came back to his senses when he heard his close friend laughing. "What?"

"So you are him." He scoffed. "Guess I owe you big time, Mav."

Maverick put his beer down on the desk and looked at Stefano and exasperated expression. "What are you talking about, Stef. What do you have to do with that-"

"That girl, was my little cousin." Stefano explained.

Maverick, who had begun to take another swig of his beer, paused and incredulously turned his stare to Stefano."Wait-what?" 

Stefano shook his head. "You really couldn't place two and two together, man?" He said. "Vidal? Didn't ring a bell to you?"

How could he not have known? He sighed. "Well if I'm being honest, her last name was the last thing on my mind at the moment." Maverick placed his hands to his face, feeling completely foolish. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't even-I don't know why I didn't-but wait, I thought-I thought that your cousin was-was the little chubby girl with the short hair."

"You can't be serious!" Stef laughed. "Rick, that was what?  Fifteen-fifteen and a half years ago!" He scoffed. "Of course, she'd change a little over fifteen years." He sarcastically pointed out.

"I know-I know, I just-I didn't think that much." Maverick replied. "I'm sorry man, I-"

"Yeah, it's fine." Stefano said. "Can't be mad at you. You saved her from two bozos."

"Had I known that she was your cousin, the hurting would have been far worse for them." Maverick said.

"I know man." Stefano replied. "I'm just grateful that you were there to intercede when you did." 

"Did you even know that she was at the club?" Mav asked.

Stef shook his head as he took another swig of his beer. "Nope. Else I would have taken her home myself. I wonder why she didn't call me."

"She was way too inebriated to call you." Maverick said. "She took down a shot of Jameson like it was nothing and I'm sure it wasn't her first drink."

"Makes sense." Stef replied. "Stevie isn't much of a drinker but when she does drink, she prefers that whiskey. Ironically, she's usually good at holding her alcohol...I think." He shrugged. "She doesn't drink often, so I guess I really wouldn't know."

"So then...why was she out so late?" Maverick asked. "The night before a big job, no less."

Stefano sighed. "Kacey, no doubt." He said, shaking his head. "She's always getting that girl into something. I'm sure she didn't mean any harm-probably wanted to celebrate or something and if I know Steve, she wasn't down for it." He scoffed. "It had to take a little convincing." Stefano, whose gaze turned away from Maverick was suddenly looking his way again. "Look man, I know that she didn't necessarily give off a good impression when you first met but I assure you that my little cousin is nothing like the girl that you met that night and not nearly as irresponsible." He defended. 

"Stef, I don't know-" Maverick started to say.

"Mav, her father....is very, very adamant on her getting this job. And she...is....petrified about telling him that she didn't." He said. "Please, just give her a chance. I'm sure your dad hired her for a reason."

Suddenly Maverick understood why Stefano said that he would test their friendship a little bit. How could he say no to his best friend? Maybe he should give her a chance.

"Fine, fine, I'll-I'll give her another chance. Maybe I'll call her tomorrow-"

"Hey, Stef, I think you have another customer outside. I would have taken him but I'm sure he-"

Both Stefano and Maverick paused. "I-hey, Stevie." Stefano said sheepishly. "What-"

"What is...he doing here?" Stevie asked.

Maverick watched her stand there, her gaze suddenly timid. She had on black skin hugging leggings and a matching long-sleeved shirt. Her hair was way longer than he had seen the day that they met in his office. It was more like the night where they first met outside of the club. She had her large, black rimmed coach glasses on. They were transitioning so that he could see her amazingly golden grayish eyes. He did not remember little Stevie Vidal looking like this.

"This-this is the friend that I have been telling you about, Stevie." Stefano nudged, Maverick out of his reverie. 

Stevie backed away. "So, you really expect me to believe that this guy...is the same guy that's ex Navy...honorable discharge? He's the Maverick Singh?" Stevie scoffed. "This is ridiculous!" She stormed out of the door. 

"Hey, hey ,Stevie, wait!" Stefano followed behind her and slowed his pace when he saw the guy standing there. "Be with you in a moment sir." He then kept on after his little cousin. She was about to open the door to her car, when he closed it. "Stevie, what is wrong with you?"

"Did you call him here, to-to proposition him to get me a job?" She asked incredulously. 

"Well, no..." He sighed. "Maybe-okay a little."

"So he's not your friend then! You-ugh-you don't even know him!" She hissed. "How did you get his number? How could you do this, Stefano?" She frustratedly exclaimed, her Italian accent presenting itself as she became more frustrated.

"Stevie, Stevie!" Stefano tried to calm her down. "Chill, relax before you get one of those migraines. You don't want to have to take those pills do you?" She sighed and took numerous deep breaths. "Look, I did call him over here after the story you told me to talk to him about giving you another chance...but I am not lying about the fact that he is my friend." He shook his head. "I can't believe you don't remember him."

"Why should I remember him, Stef?" Stevie countered. "Dad, kept me locked away from boys-especially boys that hung around you-you know that."

"True." Stef chuckled. 

"Am I...interrupting?"

When Maverick walked outside and stood barely a few inches away from her, both Stefano and Stevie looked at him-only Stevie couldn't keep her gaze on him for too long.

"No, not at all." Stefano said. "I'll leave you to it." He looked at Maverick. "Just...talked to her." He muttered as he stood close enough to his friend for only him to hear and then walked off.

Maverick waited until his friend's footsteps were gone, then he looked at Stevie. She was leaned against the car, her hair covering half of her face as her arms were crossed. Maverick was so taken aback by how...much she had grown, it was hard for him to find the words to say to her.

"Look, you don't have to do this because you feel like Stefano is forcing you to-"

"Stefano knows that he cannot force me to do anything." Maverick replied. "That is why he asked me to talk to you."  She rolled her eyes. "He did, however, bring to my attention that, I may have been a little harsher on you than was necessary."

Stevie scoffed. "No, you weren't." She said, rolling her eyes. "What i***t goes to a dumb club on the night before her first day?" She turned away. "This i***t-that's who! Listening to a freaking...butt hole of a best friend and..." her words veered off into a mumble. 

"Everyone makes mistakes." Maverick said. "No one is immune to making them." 

Stevie scoffed. "Yet, there you were assuming the worst after I made mine. Not willing to give me a chance."

"Well, can you blame me?" Maverick retorted. "You cried r**e and got me arrested!" 

"Okay, yeah I know that! And I'm sorry, geeze!" She said. "I went back to the police station and explained everything that happened after you sent me home. I didn't press charges-I-I don't-what else do you want me to do? Grovel? I've already apologized to you!"

"True." Maverick muttered. He looked at her again, his brow raised. "You did that?" Maverick was still caught up on her actually going back to the police station after he fired her just to straighten out the mess that she had made.

"Did what?"

"Went back to the police station."

Stevie rolled her eyes. "Despite what you may think of women, we're not all out to ruin the lives of innocent men. I had decided that day that I'd go to the police station after I got off work, but since I got off earlier than expected," she said that part with a hint of resentment. "I decided, I guess I have a lot more time on my hands than I thought, so-"

"Thank you." Maverick said. "You didn't have to do that."

"Of course, I did." Stevie countered. There was a moment of silence before she decided that she was going to go home. "Well, this day has been a little too exciting for me, so I am going to go home. Nice  meeting you again, I guess. Goodbye." She got opened the door and started to get into her car.

"Hey." Maverick stopped her. Stevie turned around. "Still think you want the job?"