Only the Lonely {Chase Elliott} ✔️

ii.

8:03am
racer0909:
it was my turn to disappear
i'm sorry about that, my friend
took my phone.

8:21am
nascarkc12:
glad to know you're okay,
i was honestly really worried.

8:23am
racer0909:
i appreciate that.
did you have a good night?

8:24am
nascarkc12:
i had to work so not really.
but today is my day off so i
get to relax and watch nascar

8:27am
racer0909:
cool. me too

8:30am
nascarkc12:
awesome!

8:32am
racer0909:
who are you rooting for?

8:35am
nascarkc12:
ryan blaney, what about you?

kathryn claire dimmed her phone. she was relieved to hear from her twitter friend. she didn't even know his name, his name on twitter just said "wc", but her stomach was twisted in knots the entire night, hoping that he was okay when he stopped replying.

how pathetic was that? she ridiculed herself. why do you always get attached so fast? kathryn claire sighed as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. she wished she had the answer to the second question, but all she knew was that her gut was telling her that whoever wc was, he was sticking around for a while.

and that thought was strangely comforting to her.

◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤

"good race," people congratulated chase as he walked through the garage. it wasn't a win, but a top-five finish still felt good.

he kept his head down, desperate to get back to his phone. he had left her hanging once again. he felt bad about that but he had scrolled through all her tweets that morning and it had become apparent to her that she did not like him one bit.

the rational part of chase knew that there was no way that this would ever end well. even though chase had all the fans, he was the most popular driver in nascar now and he had good friends, he still felt lonely. but in his brief conversations with kc, he could forget his loneliness. it was because of this that he would lie to her about who he really was. and maybe, just maybe one day he would tell her the truth.

7:31pm
racer0909:
my phone died.
did you enjoy the
race?

chase cringed at his lie, hoping that she wasn't suspicious.

7:33pm
nascarkc12:
yeah, it was alright.
how are you feeling?

7:35pm
racer0909:
better. thanks for
listening to me last night
i really appreciated that.

chase meant that too. he had poured his heart out to her, laid his heartbreak on the table and she had made sure to validate his feelings. never a "just get over it" like he would've if he would've talked to ryan or even bubba. he really did feel better and he was grateful.

before chase could see her answer, ryan burst through the door to his motor coach. "there you are!"

chase forced a smile. he knew what his friend was going to suggest next and he really didn't want to leave his motorhome. he was exhausted, emotionally and physically and he really just wanted to talk to kc.

"hey, we all noticed alicia wasn't here." ryan sat down on the leather couch next to chase. "is everything okay with you two?"

chase looked away, hoping ryan didn't see the tears forming in his eyes. "we..." chase let out a shaky breath, "we aren't together anymore."

ryan clapped his hand on chase's back, "man, i'm sorry. wanna go get a beer and talk about it?"

chase shook his head, "i think i'm gonna stay in tonight. thanks though," he offered a weak smile.

ryan stood up, "okay man. have a good night."

7:52pm
racer0909:
when am i going
to stop feeling so
broken?

7:53pm
nascarkc12:
it's going to take
time. healing is a
process. it's okay to
not be okay.

7:55pm
racer0909:
i feel so weak and worthless.
maybe this is why she cheated.

7:56pm
nascarkc12:
you are not weak or worthless.
she is the one who betrayed your
love and trust. she's the weak and
worthless one, not you.

7:57pm
nascarkc12:
i know it doesn't feel like it now
but you're going to get through this
and you're going to be okay.