Street Racer

Chapter 11

They had set up a race for later that night, and I figured I never get time to practice anymore. So I drove down to the empty parking lot where we had our last race. I slow down as I pull into the lot, and gasp when I see the black Dodge Dart parked neatly in a spot, with him leaning against it. It's almost like he knew I would be there.

I pulled into an empty parking lot and stepped out. Aaron pushed himself off the car when he looked up from his phone and saw me. A small grin crossed his face, and it was almost like he was expecting me.

I park the car and step out. I glare at Aaron for a quick second, then speak.

"I had no idea you'd be here, or I wouldn't have come," I say, turning and opening the hood of my car. I scan the inside a little, searching for something to fix. Stupid nervous tic.

Aaron casually pushed himself off his car and walked over near me. He walks over to my car, beside me, and I sigh and roll my eyes.

"Why do you do that a lot?" He asks. I don't look at him. My eyes scan over the engine, not seeing anything that need worked on.

"Do what?" I ask, reaching in and fixing a small screw.

He neatly sets both his hands behind his back, watching me as I tinker with the car. He leans down a little, as if inspecting the car. He knows not to touch it, after I yelled at him last time.

"Work on your car. I noticed you do that a lot," he says. His voice is low and soft.

"Well, aren't you observant," I say, being my sassy self, "what are you even doing here?"

I look over at him, and he looks over at me. Darn those bright blue eyes that made me weak.

"I'm here the practice. What about you?" He asks. He moves his hands from behind his back to in front of him. I notice the tattoo on his arm, and it intrigues me a little bit. Why did he have it?

"Practice," I say, turning my eyes back to his and closing the hood of my car gently. I hear it click shut and then walk to the driver's side of the car.

"Well, let's just practice together," he says. He follows me to the door of my car, and I don't close it just yet. I sit in the seat and just wait.

I shake my head. I reach to turn on the car, but stop myself.

"No. We aren't doing anything together," I tell him. I don't look up at him, but I can feel his eyes on me.

"C'mon, Luna. I want to actually try to beat you again," he whines. He sticks out his lower lip in a pout, and his blue eyes widen. I glance down and then back up at him again. I sigh.

"Okay, okay," I reason, "just put those big blue eyes away."

Aaron smiles and gets into his car. I get into the Celica and turn the keys. I drive slowly over to where Aaron is all ready to go. He glance over at me and then gives me a thumbs up. After that, we floor it.

His car doesn't falter at the start, it takes off just like mine, staying parallel with mine throughout the whole race. I try to lose him, but his car is really good. I try to cut him off, to push him off my trail or even off the track, but it's like he knows all my tricks now, and I can't beat him.

We stay exactly even throughout the race. I try my hardest to pull even an inch ahead of him, but his Dart stays right beside me.

I glance over at him, and try to think of a way to get him out of my way. That's the thing about street racing, you can do anything you want to get the opponent out of the way, it's like racing and fighting together. You can be as tough as you want, crashing into every car out there.

But I didn't use that often. I mainly relied on racing, not on punching others of the tracks. But, if the need came, I would fight. And I knew lots of tricks.

So I decided I needed a little bit of my trickery. I glanced over at Aaron and saw the front of his bumper nearing mine. I saw the turn coming up, and I figured if I did a loose drift, I could shove his car back behind me, or, even better, off the track.

Once the turn came, I hit the brake, but then let my foot off, letting the tail end of my car spin loose to the side. It collided with the front side of his Dodge. He swerved a little and hits the brakes as I turn fully and hit the gas.

And I had won again.

I swerve to a stop and park the car. I get out and look over at Aaron, who gets out of his car, hanging his head in shame. He runs his fingers through his hair, and then looks up at me.

"Don't give me that look," I say, closing the door and walking to the other side of the car to talk to him. He shuts his door and leans against the car.

He stares at me with those giant blue eyes. Every time he looks at me, I can feel my hate for him starting to ease up. And I hate that.

I cross my arms over my chest and just stare at him, with one eyebrow raised. He keeps giving me that pouty face, and I just shake my head.

"You're an idiot," I say. I turn and head back to my car and get in. But he runs over and stops me, holding the door open from closing.

"Are you leaving?" He asks, almost like a sad little kid. I look up into those sad eyes. But, the way he says it, and the way he acts, the question seems to have more meaning to him. He seems genuinely sad, almost scared.

"Yeah, I am. I have to go back before my dad gets suspicious," I tell him. Dang it, why did I say that? That was supposed to be between me and my friends.

Aaron seems to compose himself. He lets go of the door and backs up, fixing his t-shirt a little.

"I'll see you around," he says, and walks back to his car casually. I watch him leave, and wonder what the heck that was about. I shake my head, knowing I don't want to know. I hated that conceited boy.

I just had to keep reminding myself of that.