Bachelorette - Oil and Overalls

"You keep bitching about not finding someone, you ever tried that Cupid's Wants site?"

"Meeeeeeeeeeh, that sounds like a scam."

"No I swear I know someone that used it, he found a girl in like 2 weeks and got married a week later. It really was like"

"Really? You're fucking with me."

"No I swear it's true. Try it."

And so maybe a week later, she was gone, with a note left behind talking about some romantic whirlwind romance into a wedding.

And THAT was about a week ago. And here she was now.

Mya (Mariah) Lovett sat staring at her bargain bin pawn shop laptop, her fingers mindlessly drumming on the keys as she looked at the website she was on. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe it was just stupid. She tussled her hair black hair a bit as she leaded back against the grungy wall that was next to her bed. The look of the wall continued to the rest of the small room she was in, a refit of a hotel room made into a one person 'apartment/room'. It wasn't terrible as wifi was actually cheap and water was always hot but that was about it. Still she had made due, given that she didn't have a whole lot of belongings.

Besides the laptop she had maybe a month's worth of clothes. Most of them were similar to the black leather vest and corset style top she had on covered her ebony C cup breasts, and tight jeans hugged her thighs. Boots, and knee high at that. Her job usually had her in boots for protection and she took a liking to some of the more stylish ones out there. Her dad would have freaked at her outfit but she took to dressing tight or less after wearing overalls or work-suits for so long.

Moving along she had a few tools for different uses, like fixing her bike or doing electric work like for her computer. Several work books and manuals, some old some more recent, were stuffed into anything that could hold them. Finally her prized item was a dark red wood guitar put away in the closet. Every so often she thought and feared she'd have to hock it to get by. But it was a present from gramgram. Her grandparents had been there when black guitarists first really got main stream and her grandma had wanted her granbaby to do something that fix gears. Ah Granny, Mom..., Dad...., how'd she get here anyway. Mya sighed and went down memory lane....

It hadn't been an easy life for the woman. Well the first part of her life was. Her parents were always so controlling but they had good reasons as their home was..., well it wasn't bad yet but starting to get there. She lived down town in one of those flats that was still looking good. Her mom taught some courses at the local church, her dad had his own mechanics shop. Cars, bikes, skateboards; anything that rolled in they'd fix or try to. Heck they fixed a few boats some people rolled in. Her dad tried to pass on these skills to her brothers and they took some of the lessons, but she's the only one that paid attention and practiced. Her dad wanted something better for his little girl than 'grease monkey' but she'd said she'd be a Gear Princess then. Her earnest desire won her dad over eventually and he started to teach her how to follow in his footsteps. Even wrote a couple books for her(Well got someone who was better at computers and writing to help). Not like actual books but decent manuals for her later, if she hadn't changed her mind. Yes it was a decent life.

And then the economy bubble burst.

She was still young at the time so she didn't really get what was happening, and to this day she struggled to wrap her head around it. But the result was plain to see, even for a little kid. Small shops started to close, less people at church and other gathering spots, less jobs from her dad's shop. Then prices, less kids at school, rumors of people going bankrupt and moving out. Properties being closed and emptied, for sale signs and weeds on what green was there, a sense of gloom over her little street. Opportunists came next. Low effort shops, money loaners, scummy tech stores and the like started to pop up. There were a few of these stores before but now it was the norm. And behind them, as the blocks started to decay faster and faster with ways she didn't understand, came the gangs.

Shaking down the stores for protection, starting **** sales and recruitment, even spilling blood in the streets; the slower peaceful days by this point were long gone for the middle school Mya. It was by this point her dad had enough of this whole thing. But he didn't leave, his dad was a fighter, a trait she seemed to share. He pushed back against the decay of his block, his street, his home. He tried to give mechanical classes at the local church, give anyone willing a job at his shop to get back on their feet, pushed for neighborhood events and watches as by this point the cops weren't a viable option. He went on to challenge those in power to actually give a damn. It was slow and hard work but he was starting to get a homegrown movement around him.

Probably why he was found gunned down and his shop on fire. This broke the spirit of the movement, and of her mother. She slowly became a shut in and fearful over anything that happened. Eventually this hyper stress and depressive nature took her too. The loss of both nearly gutted Mya but she was stubborn. She mourned the loss of her father but she'd never show it in public. She wouldn't let the world have that victory over her.

With his **** the blocks continued to decay, and Mya finished High-school among deteriorating conditions, her three brothers and one sister living with their grandmother. Those years with the thugs, dead end losers, gang wanna bes, dead inside kids, and a faculty that just didn't give a damn anymore; those were very rough years that hardened her personality into a no nonsense "F you, I'll do it myself" nature. But she did finish, and went off to a local tech college. Her brothers were doing good themselves and her sister too, but there was always a looming specter from the neighborhood. They were the family that tried to fight, so most people kept them at arms length now. Eventually her family started to leave, wanting to get out of the way. But she wouldn't, not without a fight. She still had dad's shop, burnt out as it was, and currently was trying to get enough money together to reopen it but kept slamming into problems and red tape. She wondered how much of it was the normal work of rebuilding a shop and how much of it was designed to get rid of her.

She couldn't make enough money to get things together while paying for her own bills. Lucky for her, granny was still around and helped with some things with her retirement funds she'd built up. Granny wasn't moving anywhere anyway. She was born in that flat, she'd die in it the elderly woman had said. Besides if they killed her son, she wasn't gonna let them scare her out of her place they'd better come and do her in too. Along with a mention of her shotgun.

So here she was, back in the present with a dying downtown that didn't want her anymore, living almost paycheck to paycheck. And Cupid's Wish on her screen.

Most days she worked odd jobs, and did part time mechanical work. One day she heard about this site while doing waitress work. Some of the cashier girls had been talking about finding love or dating and someone had mentioned this one. But was this the right one? Was it Wish... Wants..., Kiss? Whatever, she was here now. A tad cutesy with all the pink and hearts but... well what was the harm in it. She quickly filled out the resulting info boxes that came up. She was pleasantry surprised by the fact the site didn't mind she put 'Lesbian' as her orientation.

Mya wasn't sure what counted as her realizing she was lesbian though she liked to think of being around wanna be gangbangers and loner dregs in highschool kinda turned her off to guys. That and some of those games her brothers played kinda helped out. She had mentioned it briefly to her granny and ... she was a tad confused but took the "Well you love whoever you want to love, enough problems now to not really care who you share a bed with' mood. Gran-gran was cool for an old lady.

As she filled in the data entries, her laptop started to lag a bit. Eventually the laptop screen flickered and died. Annoying but not a shock. The thing died about once per week. Mya shrugged and grabbed her tools but two hours of work later and nothing. No response, or battery charge; just nothing. Then again she worked more mechanical stuff than electrical, if this had an engine she'd be able to fix the damned thing. She was about to chuck the busted junk at a wall when she remembered she'd probably have to pay to fix the wall...., and she might know someone from one of her jobs that could help.

Mya looked at the time and sighed. Whatever she was gonna do she'd do it later. She could maybe get a few hours of sleep before her next shift. Dejected, she moved the laptop to her nightstand, stripped down to just her bra and panties and rolled into bed. Of course, it was too good to be true. True love, happy endings.... ha!

Mya fell asleep grumbling, unable to see the laptop boot up with a puff of smoke and quickly log back into Cupid's Wish, the match making program doing it's job.