Unchartered Waters ✅

Chapter 82: Chili Bowl Nationals

"I got to be honest – I was impressed by him on Monday night," CJ offers, catching the group by surprise. "You can really see how much he has improved as a midget driver since his debut here a year ago. There's so many little things that I noticed he's knowing to do behind the wheel now, and that's why he won his heat." Alex smiled as he knew it had to be a worthy compliment coming from one of the best in the business. It was always nice to hear the praise spread around.

Taking the green flag, it appeared as though Chase had the right moves underneath him to making his way forward from the 11th starting spot, immediately looking for racing room. He was able to get by a guy, only to get passed back in return. However, the determination shined through as he made another move, securing the 10th spot. He looked to keep the momentum rolling on the high side, though caught a pair side-by-side ahead of him. He caught the outside wheel of a car head, driving over, launching the midget in the air.

"Oh fuck!" "Holy shit!" "Oh my gosh!" "Crap!" "Damn!"

The entire group was full of big reaction in watching the flip before them as he almost cleared the fence that separated them from the track, before coming back down on his roof.

"Chase!" Alex lets out, unexpectedly, hands immediately going up to his mouth. It was a mix of worry coming together with shock that the reaction had occurred.

Taking a couple deep breathes, he knew he had to be calm. He couldn't show that he was worried that much before all of his friends. Besides, Spike built great chassis – it is why all three of his new cars were utilizing the same equipment. That was one of the safest cars, and the landing was softer than envisioned.

However, there was a new sensation, a worry he had never experienced since being involved in racing. That was his best friend – more than his best friend, and all he could picture was the absolute worse in seeing what had just occurred. What if he wasn't okay?

It felt like an eternity, but was only mere minutes, before he watched Chase take the helmet off, climbing out of the car, walking around if nothing had happened. A big sigh of relief escaped Alex's mouth in witnessing the sight before him, more than thankful after what he had just witnessed.

As he watched Chase sit on the golf cart and head off with the staff, Alex glances down at his hand, seeing it still trembling after watching what had happened. He kept repeating to himself he's okay, stop worrying, but yet it didn't seem to ease any of the panic that had set in.

"I am going to go see him quickly," he finally breaks his own silence as he stands up, excusing himself from the group.

He makes his way down the steps back to floor level, taking a series of deep breathes along the way, still repeating the same familiar words. However, it didn't seem no matter what he said or did, the worry was not going away.

"Hey man, are you okay?" Alex is instantly startled, glancing over his shoulder in seeing CJ standing there. He hadn't expected anyone to follow him. Was it really that obvious?

"Of course," Alex replies, trying to hide every bit of what he was experiencing away to the side. However, the look on the man's face beside him told him he was failing at doing so.

"Alex, we've been best friends for how long? You can't hide anything from me. If you were shook up by what happened, anybody would get it." Perhaps looking like a coward to his friends, scared by a wreck was better than revealing the full truth of the matter. However, he also knew lying to CJ would not get him anywhere, for the simple same reason why he had been seen through already.

"It's not like tha-"

"Then tell me what's goin-"

"Chase and I are together, okay?" CJ's jaw drops in total shock, followed by a total freeze over as he glances up and down the man before him.

"So that's why I've seen him at the shop more than once..." Alex lets out a sigh, nodding his head. He knew it was only a matter of time until CJ and Jake figured it out with how much time the trio spent working on the cars. He was actually surprised he had managed to keep it a secret this long.

"It started out as me reaching out to him to offer support, then it turned into showing emotions. One thing led to another, we discovered some feelings that we had for each other – foreign and strange, weird at first, but yet to the point I can't describe." Alex takes a deep breath, actually feeling some relief in being able to express this to someone, finally. Sure, he had told Ryan, but this was different. "Do you know that feeling when you've found the perfect person, you click together, so much chemistry that you can't bear to understand why or describe it? That's Chase and I together. We can't get enough of spending time together, and we are so in sync sometimes it's crazy. I mean, I don't know how else to descib-"

"You snuck to see him in California. That's why you couldn't be super hang out late during that trip because you were having a nightly rendezvous." The shade of red on Alex's face instantly answered CJ's question as his teammate could only smile in response. "Hey man, that's totally not what I expected you to say or expected to have happen. But I am happy for you, man. You deserve someone that makes you happy and someone that you can spend that special time with. I'm glad you took a chance on those feelings."

"Do you promise not to tell anyone?" CJ nods his head, totally knowing that there was no way he could share a word to anyone. He could only imagine the reaction if everyone knew the truth.

"But I also understand why you wanted to be excused. Go check on him, Alex. Go make sure he's okay. Actually, go tell him that we're all glad he is okay because that was pretty bad."

Alex didn't need to be told again, taking off through the pits as he made a b-line for the Kyle Larson Racing trailer, ready to make for certain his peach was okay.