Page 28 of The Scientist
Rodrigo clapped his hands together. “Fantástico! I’ll get you the keys.”
As he left to go get the keys, I told Lex, “Come on, get in.”
I ran my hands over the steering wheel and checked out more of the car’s gadgets while Lex slid into the passenger seat. Rodrigo came back with the keys and told us the best route to take.
As we buckled our seat belts, Lex turned to me. “Sugar bear?” he asked, obviously still mulling over his new nickname.
I batted my eyelashes at him. “Yes, sweetums?”
He shook his head. “There’s no way this guy believes we’re a couple.”
“No thanks to you. You could try to be a little more convincing there, Strovinski.”
He sighed. “Alright, let’s just take this thing for a test drive. Hopefully, he’s not trying to pass off another lemon on you.”
We made the loop around the block and everything seemed fine as far as I could tell. I was still a little nervous there might be something I was missing, so I made Lex switch places with me and drive it the rest of the way back to the dealership.
“Everything seems okay,” Lex said as we pulled up. “But maybe you should have a mechanic look at it before you buy it.”
“I don’t really have time for that. I’d like to have a car before my mom’s first chemo appointment so that I can take her.”
Something gentled in his expression as he looked over at me. “Okay. But let’s check out a few more. And try not to look so excited about this one when we get out.”
I gave him a quick salute. “Yes, sir.”
“Well, what did you think, my friends?” Rodrigo said as soon as we stepped out of the car.
“We’re interested, but we’d like to see a few more,” Lex said, answering for “us.”
We walked around for twenty more minutes or so and test drove a smaller Honda Civic, but I knew I wanted the Impala.
“Alright, let’s go see what kind of deal we can get,” Lex told me.
We went inside while Rodrigo gave us his best sales pitch on why we were getting a great deal on the Impala. “And as you can see, this car is in great condition. I spoke with my boss, and the lowest we can go is $6,000.”
“That’s over what the Blue Book even puts it at,” Lex said sharply. “There is no way we’re paying that.”
Another Hispanic gentleman walked up, having heard the tail end of what Lex had just said.
“Hello, my name is Miguel Diaz. I am the manager here at Esteban’s. I saw you guys looking at the blue Impala. A very nice choice.”
“Yes, and I was just telling your colleague here that there is no way we are paying $6,000 when the Blue Book lists it at $5,500 in great condition.”
“Which it is, I can assure you, sir.”
I remained quiet, letting Lex take the lead. I hated this kind of stuff. I probably would have just forked over the six grand. When did he even have time to look up the Blue Book value?
The two gentlemen started speaking Spanish to one another, going back and forth for a few minutes while we waited quietly. When they seemed to be reaching the end of their conversation, Lex all of a sudden jumped in rattling off a stream of full-blown, fluent Spanish.
My head whipped around towards him, my eyes widening as big as an owl's—Any more shocked, and I'd have been hooting. The stunned looks on their faces must have matched mine, and it was absolutely priceless. I felt a swell of affection for Lex in that moment and was beyond grateful for his presence.
Once the manager regained his composure, he smiled ruefully and said, “Okay, best offer is $4,000, and we’ll do an oil change and full tune-up. What do you say, my friends?”
I looked at Lex to see if he had any objection, and he tilted his head slightly as if to say it was my call, but he must have thought it was a good deal or else he would have said something.
“Yeah, that sounds great,” I said, unable to keep my enthusiasm under wraps.
“Excellent! Let’s go get all the paperwork signed.”