Chasing Lights

Chapter 12: Cotton Candy

He seemed surprised but shook my hand, a grin plastered on his lips as he pointed at my head. "You got something in your hair. Ew..."

Furrowing my brows at him, I leaned over, inspecting his face more thoroughly. His blue eyes sparkled as if he was expecting something else from the action, but I quickly pointed at his cheek, responding, "And you got something on your face."

"What?" He untangled our hands and wiped his own over his face, studying his palm with narrowed eyes. "What is it?"

"I don't know... Looks like baby food. Might be time to eat something solid soon, huh?"

A row of laughter echoed through the garage, and the guy didn't seem like he had anything else to say to that as he shook his head. "Do you even know who I am?"

"No," I replied, "It's not like you made an effort to introduce yourself to me, right?"

"Well, it's also not... like... not like you can do whatever you want because you are who you are." He must've been very proud of his observation; the smile on his lips only broadened as he took another drag of his e-cigarette.

"For fuck's sake... I did what I did because you're smoking in a clean environment, you goddamn—"

"Flo," Michael's voice stopped me from saying something I probably would've regretted in the long run, his tall frame now appearing right in front of me. "Why don't you go take a break, you've worked a lot today. Just be back here for Qualifying, alright?"

"But I didn't even—"

"Flo." Michael raised an eyebrow at me, his gaze stern and determined. I knew there was no use fighting with him. He was a stubborn German bastard for sure. There was also the little fact that my career was directly linked to his opinion of me, so I really had to get a grip.

Breathe, Florence.

The only one defining your worth is yourself.

"Got it. I'll be back in an hour."

***

"Wait, so he smoked? In the garage?"

"Yes!" I yelled at my phone, running a hand through my wet and now oil-free hair. "Just fucking took drag after drag of this ugly ass e-cigarette! Who does that?!"

Amara threw her head back in laughter before she glanced back at me through the screen. "Wow. That's almost as shocking as you letting some hot guy save your ass when you're blackout drunk."

"Fuck you," I grumbled, pulling my hair into a messy bun while glancing at my screen.

"Wait, are you blushing?" She gasped. "Flo! Show me the mirror! Are you blushing?"

"Oh my god, Amara..." I knocked over my phone, letting it rest face down on the dressing table I was sitting at. "If you don't stop being a mean bitch I won't keep looking at you."

"Come on! I didn't mean it that way. You're the bitch for not telling me about this sooner."

Rolling my eyes, I finished my bun and picked up the phone again, seeing Amara's demanding eyes staring straight at me.

"Well, I knew you'd make a bigger thing out of it than it is. Just like with Viola."

"I merely said you went on a date with her. Which you did, for the record."

"We had dinner. Once. It wasn't a big thing."

"But it was a date," she pressed again. "Wasn't it?"

God. I loved my best friend, but she was really frustrating today. "Amara, just because I'm bisexual doesn't mean I want to date every woman I meet..."

A sigh fled her lips, and her eyes suddenly turned apologetic as she muttered, "Sorry. You know I don't mean it that way. I just... Man, life is boring here! I can't wait to get out to college. Your life has to be so much more exciting now that you're out in the world."

I grabbed my headphones and plugged them into the phone, catching the rest of my belongings before I closed the door behind me. "I know you think that, but really, not that much happens here. I mean, nothing that would interest you, at least."

"Oh, believe me, I'm at the point where I want to clean the whole house just to do anything BUT listen to Mrs. Gumbeyers news about her grandson starting to walk now..."

I laughed at the memory of her neighbor, a ninety-three-year-old woman whose greatest pride and joy is the large family she created. "Well, I could tell you about what I learned about the car today. It's actually rather interesting..."

"Well, go ahead!" I knew she was feigning her interest in the subject, but I was also excited to share all of it with her. She was my best friend, after all. The person I wanted to talk to when things went incredibly wrong, but also when they went just right.

And so I filled her in as I made my way back to the garage, obviously leaving out confidential information. We weren't exactly poor, but I didn't need a million-dollar-lawsuit on my hands for spilling the team-internal guts.

"Okay, wow, and they actually let you work on the car now?"

"Well, yeah. A little, at least. I'm still baffled though — it's really like working magic..." A grin spread across my lips as I reached the security check. I waved my card in front of the reader and walked inside, not missing the quizzical glance the guard shot my way. "Ames... I gotta go." I shot the man a stern glance before focusing on my best friend on the screen. "Thanks for listening to me. We will talk later tonight, okay? And don't bore yourself to death, please."

"Ha-ha. That's almost impossible."

"Just almost, though. You know I still need you." I quipped.

Her laugh rang in my ears as she waved at the screen. "I do. Now go, we'll talk. Love you!"

"Love you too. Take care." I hung up the phone and let it disappear in my pocket, but I barely had the headphones off my ear when someone grabbed my arm, steering me to the right.

"Connor?" My eyes widened when he pulled me to the side, right next to the paddock entrance. "What is it?"

He glanced around the area, obviously looking for someone before he spun back around to meet my gaze. His red hair was all over the place when he ran a jittery hand through it. "Listen. I know we don't always see eye-to-eye..." Well, that was an understatement. "But you should really not go into the garage right now."

"Why?" I bent over to look inside the paddock area, not that that would give me any context clues about what exactly was going on.

"Because Phoenix is very close to losing his shit, apparently. Salim got all worked up and sent me out here to keep you outside."

My heart stopped at that revelation. That didn't make any sense at all. I knew Phoenix and I had butted heads a few times, but things have gotten rather calm since that particular night, and I thought we were ready to bury the hatchet by now. "What? Why?"

"Well..." It was Connor's turn to glance into the paddock area now. "Do you remember the guy you saw this morning?"

"The vaping idiot?" My brows furrowed at the memory. Who on earth would smoke cotton candy?

"Yeah, that one. Well... That guy..." He looked through the entrance one last time before checking our surroundings, almost as if he was afraid of saying his next words out loud. "That guy was Liam Drexler."

***

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey friends!

Thank you so much for staying patient. I passed my first exam (yay!) and now just need to get through the next one next week. After that I'll have more time to write this story. Can't wait, cause I'm really loving them by now! Hope you are too.

Stay safe and focus on the good things on life, will ya?

Lots of love

Jane