Nina Dobrev got into her car around noon on a typical Wednesday afternoon. She wanted to stop by the supermarket to get her shopping done before heading to an interview for 'The Tonight Show'. She had about three hours before she had to be in Burbank, CA for the appearance. Nothing had led her to believe that she couldn't get her shopping done in time. She climbed into her Mercedes and headed to store, which was about six miles from her Hollywood home.
As she was about half way to the store, the engine in her car made a loud noise.
"No, no not now!" Nina said as smoke started escaping from under the hood. "Please keep going." She whispered as the engine shut off and the car started to coast. "Fucker!"
She punched the steering wheel before looking for a place to pull over. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a garage a few hundred feet from where she was. She smiled at the luck she had once she remembered that it was a mechanic shop. Just as the car was about to come to a halt, she took a left turn into the garage.
Once coming to a stop, Nina emerged from the car and approached the tall mechanic who was working on a small Ford Taurus at the other end of the garage.
"Excuse me sir." She softly said, getting the man's attention. Once he saw her, he smiled at her.
"What can I do for ya, miss?" He said while adjusting his hat.
"I was driving to the store and my car broke down. It's right over here, so you think you could figure out what's wrong with it?"
Nina followed him over to the car. He raised the hood and was hit with large puff of smoke. He took a quick look.
"It doesn't look like anything serious. Give it an hour and I can get this done for ya."
Nina let out a sigh of relief. "Awesome, I can still make my appointment. Thank you so much." She grabbed his hand and shook it.
"No problem. You can have a seat in my office if you want to wait."
"Okay." She slowly walked towards the room. The mechanic could not help but keep his eyes locked on her ass, which was covered by a tight pair of black jeans.
Nina sat down and played with her phone while her car was being repaired. She would occasionally look over to see how things were going, but she trusted the mechanic enough not to worry. She would also occasionally look over at the man. Even though she was in a relationship, she knew that he was good looking and, in her mind, there was no harm in just looking.
After a half an hour, Nina decided that making it to the supermarket was not going to happen before the television appearance. Instead, she would now just go afterwards. She didn't like having to do it, since she hadn't slept much the night before, but had no choice.
Exactly one hour after he started working on the car, the mechanic entered the office.
"Car is all fixed." He said, tossing a rag onto the desk.
"Oh my god, thank you so much!" She got up and gave him a hug. "So, how much will it cost?"
"$100."
Nina reached into her purse and pulled out her wallet. As she rummaged through it, she quickly realized that she had left her wallet at home.
"Damn, I left my wallet home. Is there any way I can just pay later?"
He looked at her as the smile faded away from his face.
"I'm sorry miss, I can't do that. You have to pay or I don't give you the keys back."
Nina had no idea what to do. She had every intention of returning with the money and wasn't sure why he wouldn't let her.
"Please sir, I will come right back. I only live a few minutes away. I'll even take you with me." Nina was close to begging.
"Sorry, I can't leave. What if someone else comes in with a car problem? Business is really important."
Nina looked at her phone and thought to call her boyfriend and have him bring the money over, but quickly remembered that he was in Georgia, filming a movie.
"Please Mr..." She looked at his name tag. "Tom, there has to be something I can do. I have to be in Burbank for TV appearance in less than two hours." He raised an eyebrow.