On Friday morning, she pulled the Bronco up to the small airport deciding to fly out with the team. She grabbed her carry-on and put it where it needed to be before she picked a seat with a table and got her laptop out.
"Are you always working?" A male voice said as he plopped down in the seat beside her.
"Hi Ryan," she chuckled, "And to answer your question, mostly,"
"Do you ever stop and take a break? Smell the roses? I don't remember the last time you took a week off,"
"Well, I'm always home. I can easily work from home," she chuckled, checking the list she made for things to get before the race.
"Yeah but do you ever put the laptop away and just be?" He asked, shutting her laptop.
"Guess I am now," she sighed, leaning back as she looked at him, "Why the interest?"
"Kam. You're always working. You know you can take a week or 2 off,"
"You'd lose it with just Macey working," she chuckled. "She'd drive you crazy,"
"I'm not gonna argue with that but still. I could handle it. Just promise me that you'll take at least a week off after the championship?"
"If I say yes, will you stop bugging me about it?" She chuckled, opening her laptop back up.
"Yes," he nodded, sitting back in his seat and getting on his phone.
The flight was pretty quiet and a lot of people slept through the flight. Kamdyn continued to go over her lists and check things off that she needed to get done before she got to her hotel room and tried to come to terms with the fact that they took off at 7 a.m. in North Carolina and landed in LA at 9:30 a.m. The jet lag was already kicking her butt.
She didn't realize she had fallen asleep until a loud knock woke her up and forced her to leave the comfortable bed. She tried to get her bedhead under control as she looked through the peephole and opened the door to Ryan standing there.
"Hey," she sighed, opening the door a little bit more to let him enter the room.
"We tried calling you. We were gonna get lunch,"
"Uh yeah. I knocked out. Guess that flight and the jet lag kicked me a little,"
"I can tell. Bedhead," he joked, as both of them sat on her bed.
"Shut up," she chuckled, "You guys find something?"
"Yeah, just a little pizza shop since that's really hard to mess up,"
"Macey didn't schedule anything? I'm shocked," she said as she opened her laptop again.
"Are you double-checking the schedule?" He asked, looking at her like she was actually insane.
"She's not great at time management in my eyes," she said as she rolled her eyes.
"I can agree with that, but I checked. Nothing,"
"Alright, I'll leave you alone," she nodded, "You ready for the Clash?"
"I think so,"
She nodded a little and just slightly smiled at him.
"Alright. I'm gonna head to my room," Ryan nodded as he got up.
"I'll be here," she said as she got up and walked him to the door.
She'd always been friends with Ryan, he was easy to talk to and easy to be around but what was this new feeling? Something she never felt before.
'What? No. No way. There is no way that Ryan and I could ever be together. You're just jet-lagged and going crazy,' Kamdyn thought to herself as she sat on the bed again. She convinced herself that she was just tired and not thinking straight.
——————
The next morning, she got up and started to get ready for the clash practice and qualifying.
She loved watching anything race-related. She and her dad had watched it a ton together before he passed. Every weekend, she was at her parent's house to watch the races. Her father told her that one day, she needed to work in some sort of racing. She knew she'd never be able to handle the car so she stuck with becoming an assistant to a driver.
She changed into a simple t-shirt and jeans with her tennis shoes before going down and getting in the car to head to the Coliseum.
As soon as they got to the LA Coliseum, they set up and sat in their marked spot, waiting as Ryan got ready to go.
Ryan wasn't in the first group of 18 so she didn't pay too much attention to it, just watched more as a fan of racing.
Martin Truex Jr. ran his laps first, right before Ryan. She always got a little bit nervous for him and watched every move he made. They were friends and she didn't want to ever see him get hurt.
She watched him get lined up to start and as soon as he started his lap, he got around 2 turns, stopped the car, and turned around to go back to turn 2, turn around again, and start over. He ended up placing 20th after his first lap, and she could tell he probably wasn't happy with it. He'd have to really work in the heat races to get into the race on Sunday.
She stayed and watched the rest of qualifying, waiting to see how far back her favorite driver was and what heat he would be driving in.
After the rest of the drivers had run their lap, Ryan was in 35 and it pissed her off. She couldn't imagine how he felt.
They all waited for a while to hear that Ryan was in Heat number 3 and starting 9th out of the 9 drivers. He had some work to do, that was for sure.
She knew he'd be meeting with his crew afterward so she went to the little store at the hotel and got a few snacks and drinks that she knew he liked, hoping to cheer him up a little bit.
She got that prepared and had the hotel put it in his room while she returned to her room to take a hot bath. The stress of the day washed away as she relaxed and scrolled through her phone. She wasn't surprised when Ryan's name came up with a text.
She smiled a little and took a quick shower before getting in bed and watching stepbrothers on her laptop.
——————
The next morning was pretty crazy with preparation as everyone tried to get things together for the clash.
She got changed into her best white shirt, put her favorite black sweater over it, and her favorite pair of ripped jeans. She did her makeup and threw her hair up into a neat ponytail before grabbing her things and going down to the lobby.
They got into the car and headed off, meeting the rest of the team there that had gone a little bit earlier.
She met up with Ryan immediately, getting wrapped in a hug immediately.
"Thanks, Kam. That meant a lot," he told her, letting her go as soon as he spoke.
"Like I said, I figured you needed it," she shrugged, "you ready for today?"
"I have to be. We have no other choice," He said as he looked around at the setup and everything in the coliseum.
"You know you don't have to be so hard on yourself right? You're human and you thought or whoever thought that Nascar allowed that. It could've just changed this year," She said as she leaned against part of the wall.
"I don't know Kam but it put us in a bad spot and now if I don't make it. I don't make the race. It's only a 27-car field,"
"Ryan, it's not like it's Daytona. Are there even points involved?" She asked, looking it up on her phone but getting no signal.
"No, but I still want to win it, it's still a race. The all-star race doesn't have points involved either but It was still a good feeling to win that,"
"I guess I see where you're coming from but don't beat yourself up so much. It's not gonna help in the long run,"
"Alright," He nodded, taking what she had to say and thinking on it while she went up to her seat to sit next to Macey.
"What were you and Ryan talking about?" She asked, typing something on her phone.
"Nothing that concerns you," She said in the nicest voice possible, without looking at the other woman.
"I'm on his team, everything concerns me," She snapped, looking at Kamdyn, "What were you talking about?"
"My butt pimples," she smirked, before adding, "The fact that you have no respect for anyone here but Ryan. What are you in love with him or something? Geez,"
"I respect everyone here!" She snapped again, looking almost offended that she would say such a thing. "And for your information, I know Ryan is crushing hard on me,"
"In your dreams Macey," She laughed, sitting back in her seat and refusing to talk or even look at Macey until the heat races were done.