Natural Born Charmer

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

When Jax and the other cars roared to life and zoomed off, my heart thumped wildly. They all turned and twisted through and around one another, all trying to avoid crashing into the wall, or worse; each other.

I felt myself grip the sides of the metal seat as I watched in anticipation as Jax sped in front of two cars and turned a sharp curve. With every squeal of the tires or revving engine, I would suck in a breath and my grip would get even tighter.

"Loosen up, buttercup," Kale said, flashing me an amused smile, "he's done this a thousand times, don't worry... Jax is a pro."

Kale's words of encouragement lightened me up a bit. Jax will be fine...like Kale said, he's done this a thousand times before...

Grinning tightly, I kept my eyes glued on Jax's car as it looped back around towards us. When I looked up at the board in the middle of the arena, I saw that there were 29 laps left in the race. I had once heard that in NASCAR, there were around 200-400 laps per race. I was thankful that they weren't going to go on for that long tonight.

As Jax's car sped past us, my hair was whipped back from the pure force of the cars' air. One super speeding car after another, they all passed us. On to lap two.

In the ninth lap, Jax had to stop at the pit stop along with a few others, and the crew members worked faster than I'd ever seen before.

Walking over to the passenger side of the car, I looked in and smiled at Jax who was sweating.

"Good job, you're doing great!" I gave a thumbs up.

Winking at me, he grinned before the crew told him he could go and sped off.

Lap after lap, Jax still was in second place, then third, then first, then second once more. He and another guy named Rick were tail to tail in the race, always speeding up or behind each other.

Finally, it was the last lap. Number 30.

The torture was just too much. Jax and Rick kept going at it while the crowd got louder and louder with roars. I kept screaming at Jax to speed up, but knew that he couldn't hear me. They were soon approaching the finish line where a set of cameras were set up to see who would get first.

I watched with excitement as I saw Jax get in first, but then Rick took his place. Then back and forth, they switched from first to second, and I had no clue who was where.

100 meters away...

75 meters...

50 meters...

35 meters...

20 meters...

5 meters...

1 meter...

Then, in the absolute last inch, I could see Jax strain his muscles and drive right through the line; winning the race.

I stood up and jumped, raising my hands in the air and cheering until my voice cracked. The crew all came towards me and wrapped me in hugs. Jax had won!

The crowd was louder than ever, and I watched as some people slumped away in defeat that Rick hadn't won, and some were chugging their beers and screaming in joy.

After all the cars slowed to a stop in their pits, I ran over to Jax's car where he was getting out.

Not giving him a chance to say anything, I ran forward and almost knocked him to the ground with my hug. Hearing him chuckle and wrap his arms back around me made me the happiest girl.

I pulled back and let the crew all rush around him and pull him into tight embraces. Jax's face was pure joy; an emotion that I hoped to feel again one day.

People from the crowd all rushed down from the stadium seats and one large group hug was formed. Laughing, I waited until they all went back and left Jax and I.

He was standing a few feet away, but I could feel his happiness from here. We both smiled at each other and walked back to his room.

When he shut the door, I gave him another bone crushing embrace. "Thank you for bringing me here." I whispered into his hair.

I felt him nod, then squeeze tighter. "Thank you for coming."

After he got his clothes and changed (with me embarrassingly covering my eyes and staring at the wall), we made our way through all the cheering people in the front room.

When we walked outside, I could feel the cool night air in my pores. The still cheering and partying voices from inside the building were muffled as Jax and I made our way to his bike.

Driving through the city, I rested my head against his back and closed my eyes, feeling tired from the exhausting yet exhilarating night...scratch that...morning.

When we slowed to a stop in front of his house, I got off and waited for Jax. We looped back around to the stairs leading to the fire escapes and I stood there on my lawn, staring at him with a goofy grin.

"What?" he asked, amused.

I shook my head. "Nothing, it's just that I had a lot of fun tonight, more than I've had in a while. So thank you."

Nodding, he stuck his hands into his pockets and leaned back on his heels. "You're welcome. If you ever want to come again, I'll let you know."

We both climbed up to our ledges and went inside, but not before sticking our heads back out.

"Goodnight, June."

"Goodnight, Jax."

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Have a fantastic day you fantastic sunfish, much love,

-Anne :)