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“Wow…” That’s all she could say. Nya stood in place, her hand loosening around her black messenger bag as she distractedly stared at the vehicle in front of her. The car- well, it seemed an insult to merely call it a car- towered over her. The tire itself made her brother seem like a mouse.
“Do you think I could stand under it?” Lloyd looked up, his thumbs hooked in his green hoodie pockets. Nya furrowed her brows at him and pushed her bag to rest on her hip.
“Don’t even think about it squirt.” She grinned and raised her hand, threatening to ruffle his hair.
“D’ya know what kind it is?” he asked. Nya stepped towards it. Humming as she leaned down and rested her bent finger on the dip beneath her lip.
“It looks…” She inspected the truck. “…Like the S-250- It’s the latest model, but somethings different from the photos of it…” She walked to the side of the vehicle, crouching down to see the underside. Her head perfectly floated beneath the painted yellow and cyan stripes that streaked below the silver words blueJay. “These parts are old, I don’t think whoever owns this car bought it- it looks like they built it!” She lowered herself to get a better view of everything. Lloyd narrowed his eyes while Nya rambled about four-link suspensions and steering knuckles, but once she began to talk about the twelve-inch break, the boy knew he had to stop her.
“Nya?” He asked. She waved him off so he stepped towards her. “Nya!” The girl pushed herself up and moved out from under the truck, hitting her head on one of the rods. She wiped her hand on her red mesh shirt before letting her cool fingertips massage her scalp. “How come you can go under the truck but I can’t?” Nya glared at his smirking face and stood up.
“I…” She pushed herself up and rubbed her palms on her black jeans, pebbles falling back to the ground before she stepped on them again. “I was doing this for educational purposes. You would have stayed under there and gotten yourself run over once this guy left.”
“Right,” He grinned. “And you would’ve been totally safe.” Nya ruffled his hair and pointed towards the entrance of the store. Lloyd instinctively knew what she was saying. Nya always insisted that he walk in front of her, claiming that it was safer so that she could keep a better eye on him. He had no reason to complain, so this became their daily tradition whenever they did anything together.
“Okay, you little rascal,” She followed the boy as they began walking inside. The artificial beep of the doors ran in Lloyd’s ears, echoing as he slowly stepped in.
I wonder if I can convince Nya to get cookies... Grocery runs could usually vary for the three siblings. Kai was easy to sway, he often used his own money to get snacks, and therefore Lloyd could say “It’s not fair that we’re getting your snacks and not mine.” But Nya always stuck to the list. She had never been much of a snack person. Not to mention that she, for some strange reason, did not have a sweet tooth. A fact that Lloyd thought was practically inhuman.
Once Nya had secured a grocery basket, she and her little brother walked side by side to the bread aisle. “Listen, Mr. Sticky fingers,” She began. “I don’t want to go home and see you eating any candy that you didn’t pay for.” She glared at him.
“I’m telling you,” Lloyd argued. “It got in my pocket on accident.”
“Lloyd,” She raised a loaf of bread to inspect it, the red plastic basket in her elbow swaying and hitting her chest. “If you want stuff you’ve gotta work for it. We give you an allowance. You can buy candy.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” The boy mumbled, not as quiet as he thought he was.
“It’s fun because you feel accomplished…” She finished her sentence weakly, knowing that the idea must have sounded completely lame to the boy. “Which would you think is cooler, driving around in a car you stole, or one that you built yourself?”
“I guess one that I built…” He rolled his eyes hard, his head tilting as he followed Nya while she stepped towards the next aisle, then away. It was filled with baking goods and she knew that they had no need for any of that. “It’s not that fun having the police chase you around.” He leaned against a pole in the middle of the aisle, hitting his head on a grey box that he failed to notice.
“Exactly.” She turned and grinned but her face contorted to concern when she saw him wincing in pain.
“Ow…” He groaned. He stepped away and turned around to glare at the box. Nya crouched down and massaged his scalp.
“Are you okay?” She asked, her brows furrowing in concern.
“Yeah…” His hand lifted to rub the space where Nya removed her hand. “What is that thing?” He asked her.
“It’s a speaker,” She answered. She pointed to the telephone that rested inside the box. “If someone needs to, the workers can pick up that phone and speak into it.”
“Like ‘clean up on aisle three?’” He asked.
“Yeah,” Nya said. “You’ll be fine, I don’t see any brain damage.” She smiled at him, gently turning his head so he faced her. “But please be careful and look before you go near something.”
"Alright…” Nya’s cold finger pads softly pushed Lloyd in front of her, giving him space to walk to a cold wall of the store. Nya plucked a carton of milk from the shelf and peered at the top of the cardboard box. She put it back on the shelf below where she found it, not thinking anyone would care about the recently spoilt milk. She reached for the carton behind it and continued her inspection, looking down when her brother spoke up.
“Do you think you could build a truck like that one?” He asked, looking up from a pack of pudding that he picked up. Nya continued to look around in the dairy section.
“Maybe…” She pulled her bag closer to her torso and opened it with one hand, pulling out the note Kai left on their fridge with the grocery list. After reassuring herself that she was searching for the correct cheese- shredded, not block- she continued her quest for the bagged cheddar. “If I could afford the parts for it I totally could.”
“You can fix the car in like, two seconds!” Lloyd commented, hiding the pudding as he followed her through the aisle. “You can probably build a truck bigger than that one in like, a day.” She laughed, not noticing the pudding that he slipped into the basket.
“Thanks, Lloyd,” she giggled out. “Maybe one day I’ll build one.”
“Can you build me one too?” He asked, walking beside her as she hooked her path to the next aisle. The colorful boxes of cereal had Lloyd twisting and turning his head, almost ignoring Nya as she answered him.
“I’ll build three of them, one for each of us!” She said. She rested her right hand on her hip, smiling as Lloyd observed each cereal box. He treated this part of shopping like a school assignment. Trying to find a breakfast that had both good games on the back of the box as well as a tooth-rotting amount of sugar was a mission.
“A red, green, and blue one!” He stood up, placing a purple box back on the shelf.
“Maybe…” She turned and picked up a box of plain oats. “If we ever find the person who made that one in the parking lot, they could probably give me some tips…”
“You really like that truck outside, huh?” Her brother asked. Nya turned to him and set the box down, letting Lloyd pick the cereal.
“Well, yeah!” She took a few steps closer to him, stopping at the orange box on a high shelf in her eyeline. “Whoever made that has the right idea-” Lloyd put down the box and turned to his older sister, a white block in the middle of the aisle catching his eye. “I mean, recycling old parts? - It’s genius!” Lloyd walked towards the grey box, standing on his toes. “Y’know, if I do that, I could probably build us another car! -” Microphone feedback interrupted her and spread through the store.
“Attention shoppers. Would the owner of the blue monster truck please report to the cereal aisle? That thing is sick and Nya would like to shake your hand.” The girl turned in horror, her hair hitting her cheek as she turned to see Lloyd, on his tip-toes, pressing the grey button of the intercom and holding the telephone to his ear. Just as he put it back, she ran up to him and crouched down.
“What are you doing!?” She whisper-yelled at him. Her icy hands gripped his shoulders, not enough to hurt, but enough to send a message.
“Whoever made it can help you build your own truck!” He whisper-yelled back, only to match Nya’s tone. “You were just talking about it!”
“Lloyd, I was being hypothetical!” She let go of his shoulders and pinched her nose with one hand, cradling her elbow with the other.
“Wait,” He raised his brow. “That means you’re joking, right?” Nya almost wanted to laugh at the situation, but the embarrassment had overtaken her. Her little brother had done a lot of stupid things before, but this was ridiculous. Nya looked up at him and noticed his smile disappear. Lloyd’s face contorted to confusion and tilted to the side. Nya stared at him, her head mirroring his and her face gaining an understanding expression.
“You were just trying to help, weren’t you?” She asked, no longer whispering but her voice still low.
“Yeah!” Lloyd said in a normal volume. “You love building cars and stuff, maybe you and the truck dude can build a bunch of stuff together.” Nya smiled and shut her eyes, hiding her rolling pupils.
“Alright, you little goof-”
“Excuse me?” A voice asked. Nya and Lloyd both turned to a mysterious voice. A brunette boy stood at the end of the aisle. He blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting as they filled with wonderment and awe. His mouth hung open as he stared at Nya, who stood up. She gently placed her hand on Lloyd’s head. “Ah- Are you Nya?” The girl felt her face heat up as her eyes widened.
“Uh…” She winced. Moving her bangs out of her face, she opened her eyes. The boy was around her height, maybe a bit shorter than she was. His brown hair stuck out from a blue hat, the color matching the slightly oversized hoodie that he wore. He held a basket in his left hand, while his free one was awkwardly raised, waving a “hello” to the two. “Yeah, I am…”
“Hi! I’m-” He leaned and rested his elbow on the shelf, knocking a few boxes of cereal over. He quickly picked them up and turned back to the two. He nervously rubbed his neck as he spoke “Uh-I’m Jay. Walker. Like the- like the crime.” He held his hand up. “Not that I’m a criminal or anything! I- I’m a pretty law-abiding citizen. Obeying traffic laws, not littering, paying rent. Actually, I don’t pay rent I don’t have to I- I live with my parents…” Nya blinked at him. Twice.
“Nice to meet you.” She giggled.
“You too.” He said. “Uh- anyways I’m the owner of the blue monster truck outside. The one that says “blueJay,” I don’t know if there’s another one out there.
“Yeah!” Nya lit up. “Your truck is awesome! Is it an S-250?”
“It is!” Jay answered. “I actually built it myself. My parents own a junkyard so I get a bunch of parts completely free.”
“Wow, junkyard parts,” Nya commented. “That’s really smart. I like to work on cars too. I work at the auto body shop in the city.”
“Wow, you must be great with machines and stuff. Have you ever built a car?”
“No, but I want to. Seeing your truck is kinda inspiring me to go for it.”
“If you want maybe I can help you get started? I can get you any parts you want from the yard?”
“That’d be awesome!” The two teenagers looked down at the voice. Lloyd was grinning at Jay. “How many monster trucks have you built?!”
“Just the one,” Jay smiled back at the boy. “I’m working on another one right now, actually. It’s gonna be flatbed, so it’ll be smaller than the one that’s in the parking lot right now, but it should be way faster.” Nya stepped back from the blond near her and gestured to him.
“Jay, this is Lloyd,” Nya ruffled his hair and gently pushed him forward. “My little brother.”
“Thanks for the announcement, kid,” Jay knelt down.
“No problem!” Lloyd smiled back at him. “Do you think I can drive the monster truck?” Jay laughed.
“Maybe once you get your license…” He answered.
“How do you know I don’t have it right now?” The boy crossed his arms.
“Maybe something about you being four feet tall?” Nya asked him with a grin.
“I’m four feet and eleven inches!” Lloyd argued. “That’s basically five feet!”
“Don’t worry, you can drive it the second you get your license,” Jay reassured him. “Maybe you can take your test in it? I don’t know if they allow that though. They should.” Jay stood back up and turned his attention back to the girl in front of him. “Hey, so do you... have a phone?”
“Oh- yeah!” She opened her black bag and pulled out the black metallic brick wrapped in a light blue plastic case. After unlocking it, she swiped her thumb across the screen a few times and handed it to Jay with a smile. “Number swap?” Jay reached to take the device but stopped, pulling his own phone out from his back pocket.
“Sure!” He awkwardly grinned and took the phone. His eyes flickered up at Nya a few times as she put in her number. Jay quieted his sharp inhale as he glued his eyes to the screen, trying to ignore the beauty mark on her face and her dark eyes and the way her hair framed her face like a masterpiece in a museum-
Relax, Jay. He calmed himself, typing the numbers in. She’s just a hot girl. You’ve… you haven’t spoken to that many but she doesn’t know that. And she never has to. Just act cool. She’s a cool girl, she deserves a cool guy. Stop thinking about your coolness. Focus on typing! What should I put in as my name? Jay? Jay Walker? Jay from the grocery store..?
Nya typed in her number and full name, glancing at Lloyd. I hope this isn’t too awkward for him. She looked up and attempted to hand the phone back to him, but froze. Jay was staring nervously at the phone. His face was plastered with nervousness, his lip seemed only a few seconds away from being chewed on. He probably doesn’t know his number off the top of his head. She thought, fondly staring back at him. “Here,” She handed Jay’s phone back to him after flicking the screen and swiping up to the top of the contact list, his number clear beneath the front camera. Jay’s eyes widened at the gesture and he tapped her screen rapidly before handing it back to the girl.
“Here!” Jay nervously smiled and gave the phone back to its owner. He peered at his phone. “Nya Smith?” He looked back at her. “That name sounds familiar… What school do you go to? I go to Ninjago High…” He led them to the register and the conversation between the two flowed like a stream. Lloyd occasionally cut in and Jay’s words bounced off of his perfectly, the banter between the two was adorable. Nya was relieved that he seemed genuinely interested in Lloyd, starting long talks about comic book characters and their favorite snacks. The girl often worried that any potential boyfriends would only tolerate her little brother, despite him being a recent, but very staple, part of her life. But Jay talked to him like they were friends. Any fears that he would be annoyed at her near-constant babysitting and supervising stayed clear of her mind until the siblings were waving goodbye to Jay in his truck. Even then she knew that Jay was too sweet to care.
Cute. That’s all she could think. Nya stood in place, her hand loosening around her black messenger bag as she wistfully grinned and waved at the brunette in the monster truck.
