‘Wait a second, wait a second,’ I held up a hand to slow my brother down. He took a deep breath, regaining his composure.
‘You good?’ I asked him.
‘I’m good,’ he breathed out, finding his centre. ‘I’m good.’
‘Alright,’ I nodded slowly. ‘Now what is it you wanted to tell me. It’s not about my car, is it?’ I joked, laughing.
He didn’t laugh with me.
‘Why aren’t you laughing with me?’
‘I, uh…’
‘Josh, I swear to god, if you crashed my car–’
‘The air conditioning broke,’ he said, wincing and holding his hands in front of his face.
‘What?’
‘The air conditioner,’ he repeated, cracking an eye open. ‘I think it’s broken.’
‘Broken how?’ I asked, my anger reduced to a simmer.
‘It’s not, like… cold?’
He raised his hands in confusion and I rolled my eyes.
‘I probably just need to visit a mechanic that can perform a car air conditioning regas,’ I said.
‘What?’ he frowned. ‘That’s a thing?’
‘That’s a thing,’ I nodded.
‘How often are you supposed to do that?’
‘I don’t know, like every year?’
‘Seriously?!’
‘I know right, there should be some sort of manual or something.’
‘Phew,’ he chuckled. ‘For a second there, I thought you were going to kill me.’
‘Did you scratch my car?’
‘No.’
‘Then you get to live,’ I nodded. ‘My rules are pretty simple.’
He threw his head back in mock laughter. I kept my face perfectly still, so he knew I was serious.
‘Now I just have to find a qualified mechanic local to Moorabbin to look at my car, I sighed.
‘Surely that won’t be too hard?’ Josh asked, frowning.
‘You wouldn’t think so,’ I sighed. ‘But it can be a slog. Want to come for a drive?’
‘Uh, maybe,’ he frowned, pulling out his phone.
‘Maybe?’ I asked, confused. ‘What are you looking at?’
‘The weather,’ he said like it was obvious. ‘You think I’m getting in a car with no air conditioning if it’s hot out there?’