"Yeah, unfortunately. I think he does it to bother my brothers."
"I don't think so."
"I mean, in the beginning, I think he might have been serious. He would get to me when I wasn't around my brothers. I'd turn him down every time. I am one of the very few girls he hasn't slept with...all I am is a challenge to him. Now he does it right in front of them." Chase doesn't say anything, just nods. We go back to leaning against the car, listening to the guys talk. Two more cars go zooming down the track. I feel something curl around my pinky, confused, I glance down. Chase's pinky is wrapped around mine. I look up and try to act normal. My eyes are bugging out of my head. The butterflies are swarming my stomach.
"You alright back there V?" Vaughn yells to me. I yank my hand away from Chase's and cross my arms over my chest. My heart is pounding; of course they ruin a moment. Even though Vaughn had no idea, I still blame him. I look at Vaughn. He has a shit-eating grin on his face. I collect myself, bring out the sass, and give him my smug smile. "Peachy."
Vaughn laughs, "You look like you're about to shit yourself." Chase laughs beside me, and of course, Vaughn feeds on that, "Right? She looks like she's about to drop a load." I glare at Vaughn. Chase starts to say something, but I shove my finger against his lips to shut him up.
"No dear brother, I'm not scared."
"Well then…let's do this."
I smile. "Let's..."
Douche Nozzle
Vaughn rubs his hands together like one of those evil cartoon characters, smiles wide, and runs to his car. I turn and glare at Chase, "What is so funny?"
"I'm sorry, you look freaked out."
"Yeah, just a bit." I put my hands on my hips. "You have some big balls doing that!"
He laughs again. "Maybe one day you'll see for yourself."
I stiffen. Holy crap! He did not just say that!
He gets in my face, "I'm kidding, V. Let's go…you have a race to win." Chase walks me to my car. I open the door and get into the driver’s side and leave the door open because Chase is standing in between my door and the car. He kneels, stares at me, and looks like he wants to say something but remains quiet. He stands and looks down—"Kickass, V"—then walks away without another world, or waiting for me to say anything back. I close the door and start my car.
Putting the car in reverse, I back out and drive to the lineup. Vaughn is waiting for me and I pull up next to him. There's a couple of cars ahead of us, so the wait time is a bit longer than I'd like. No matter how many times I've done this, or plan to do this, it never fails to get my blood pumping and my heart racing. It's a feeling like no other. I'm starting to sweat, even though the windows are wide open. With the number of cars around us the air is mostly hot exhaust fumes.
For a couple minutes, we coast forward until we're up next. I look over at Vaughn, who is putting on his face mask while bopping around to his music. I shake my head. He's such a dork. He looks over and stops what he's doing to slice his pointer finger across his neck, the universal sign for 'you're dead'. I laugh, make a fist and smash it into my palm, then point to him. He puts on his helmet. I follow suit, first with my mask, then with my helmet.
The cars in front us take off and two minutes later we're motioned forward. I move the car up, slowly, lining up until the light on the tree shines bright. "I got this," I chant to myself, "Kickass." My sole focus is on the tree. My feet are ready to shift, and I have both hands on the steering wheel. My heart is pounding. I take in a deep breath and exhale.
Amber.
Boom. Boom.
Amber.
Boom. Boom.
Amber.
Deep Breath.
Green!
My right foot presses down on the gas pedal as my left foot relieves it’s pressure on the clutch and zoom--my car shoots forward, propelling my body back into the seat. The speedometer pushing towards the rev line.
Shift.
My surroundings blur by me, I can see Vaughn's car in my peripheral vision, he's slightly ahead. I press down on the gas pedal.
Rev Line.
Shift.
The exhaust is loud, filling the car with nothing but a loud hum.
Rev Line.
Shift.
The nose of my car is passing his. "Yes!" I whisper, my lips split in a smile wide.
Rev Line.
Shift.
All of a sudden, his car disappears, and I pass the finish line. I begin the process of downshifting and braking, glancing in my rearview as I do. Vaughn is pretty far behind. Obviously, something happened. I slow down and pull up next to the time booth and the guy hands me my time slip. "Nice job!" he says. I give him a thumbs-up as I pull away from the booth. I take the ‘U’ and drive towards our spot, parking next to Wes' car. The crew comes over shouting and hollering. I pull off my helmet and mask. Vaughn pulls up shortly after and he rips off his helmet. He jumps out of his car before I've even opened my door.
"What the hell happened dude?" Vance yells to Vaughn, busting his balls.
"Redo, V!" He completely ignores everyone and stalks to my driver’s side.
"What?!" I toss my helmet in my passenger seat.
"I missed a gear."
I burst out laughing and open my door. "This just proves who the better driver is," I point to myself and put my arms over the top of my door.
"Bullshit. We need to do it over."
I move away from my door, walking until I'm standing in front of him, and put my hands on my hips. "I don't think we do."
He huffs, "I fucked up. Hardy har har. It wasn't a fair race. I had you!"
I sigh because he's right. It wasn't exactly a fair race. "Fine."
He jumps back in his car.
"Wait, now?!" I yell.
"Hell yeah!"
I huff loudly in frustration. He backs out before I'm even in my car. I should've just told him to suck it up...that he's a crap driver, and leave it at that. "Douche Nozzle," I mumble to myself while climbing back into my car. I shift into reverse and meet him at the lineup.
Make It Up to You
I watch Veronica get back into her car with annoyance and smile to myself. Watching her race is the sexiest thing I've ever witnessed. Better than porn. I follow the rest of the gang to our spot at the fence, standing next to Vance. "If V can get a better reaction time off the line, she could beat him." I just nod. Two cars zoom down the track. Their exhausts so loud as they pass that Vance has to shout, "They're pretty evenly matched. But"—at the word point he points his finger out—"what Vaughn doesn't know, we did some small mods to V's car recently."
I laugh and shake my head. "That's hilarious."
"I hope she can get him. Vaughn can be such a shit stain sometimes. He needs to be taken down a notch."
"That's funny coming from you."
"What?" He turns to me, "I may talk shit, but I speak the truth."
I laugh. The Russo brothers sure are cocky motherfuckers.
"They're up! WHOOO!" Taylor yells.