Life After Dark.
The week came and went and soon enough Friday was already here. Why does all the things you don't look forward to come so fast but when you do look forward to something it takes forever to get there? That's why I'm standing outside of Jade's house. Jade face popped out through the doorframe and she groaned. "You gotta be kidding me Shay! You're going to wear that?" she exclaimed pointing down to my outfit.
"I said wear somethign cute!" I looked down at my outfit, and I thought what I was wearing was cute. I wore a pair of dark jeans, a lace top, and some sneakers. Comfy and cute. But then again, I've never been to a street race and I had no idea what to expect.
"Come on, I've got the perfect thing for you." Jade grabbed me and lead me upstairs towards her bedroom. She sat me down on the bed as she raced into her closet and to grab whatever she was looking for. I signed and leaned back on the pile of pillows.
Jade returned with a handful of clothes my eyes widened. This girl was crazy. I then noticed her outfit. matte black leggings that hugged each of her curves, an American flag bandeau, a red blazer and some combat boots. Her usually curly hair was straight to the T that flowed down her back. She looked bad as hell.
"Here put these on,"
I groaned and took the clothes out of her hands and headed into the bathroom. I stripped from my clothes and began pulling on the clothes that Jade picked out for me. Once I got finished putting on the clothes I looked at myself in the mirror. I wore a pair of high waisted dark blue jeans, a black RUN DMC crop top that clung to my body exposing most of my stomach and a camouflage oversized jacket. This wasn't something I usually would wear, but I was kind of liking it.
"Are you finished?" Jade called from outside the bathroom door. "Well you better be cause I'm coming in!"
Jade burst through the door and then froze. A small smile formed on her lips as she crossed her arms across her chest. "Well don't you look bad to the bone!"
I laughed. "What shoes do I wear?"
"You can borrow my Timbs." Jade said and coming over to me. "Now sit there while I go get my make-up bag and curling wand."
I shook my head. Tonight was already looking like a night I wasn't going to forget.
****
"Jade-" I took in the scene in front of me. There were a bunch of unnamed cars that I didn't know two shits about, females infesting the area wearing almost nothing but bras and panties. Then there were guys leaning against their vechiles showing off their pride and joy. There were a lot of guys I've never seen before here and some of them were pretty damn cute too. "-I don't think this a good idea." I whined.
So what if I was chickening out? Jade rolled her eyes at me. "Oh stop being a baby Shay! Loosen up!" she smiled at me. "Hey look there's my cousin, let's go over there."
Cousin? Before I had time to wrap my mind around anything, Jade had already pulled me in the direction of whoever her cousin was. We stopped in front of a black car that was fixed up pretty damn nicely. I looked over and saw a dark skinned boy with a top fade smiling up at bunch of girls. I could see he had a nice smile though. I then noticed he went to our school.
"Tyke!" Jade exclaimed and practically pushed all those females out of the way to hug the one called Tyke. All the girls sucked their teeth and walked away. I had to laugh at that.
Tyke just laughed as he hugged her back. "What you doing here Jay? I thought this wasn't your scene?" he raised an eyebrow at her in amusement.
Jade shurgged. "I can change my mind, right?" she smiled and then looked over towards me. "Tyke, this is my friend Shay, Shay this is my cousin Trevon but around here people call him Tyke." she announced us.
I smiled poiletly. "Hey,"
Tyke smiled at me in return. "Nice to meet you Shay,"
Now that he was facing me, I could see him better and Tyke was kind of cute. "You too,"
He's smile widened and then our attention was now focused on the loud roar of an engine coming towards us. Tyke chuckled from beside me. "And the King's arrived." he said before the blue Lamborghini came into view. Everyone was clapping and cheering when Bryce pulled up and parked right beside Tyke's car.
Byrce opened the door and stepped out, wearing a black hoodie, jeans, a pair of red Jordan's and a red snapback placed perfectly on he's head. He sported a wide smile as he took in he's fans nodding towards a few people. This Bryce was a completely different person than the one I see at school. I've never really seen Bryce smile before, not like that anyway.
He made he's way over towards Tyke, Jade and myself. I could already hear Jade getting all nervous and happy because he was coming near her. I bit down on my lip to stop the laughter from bubbling over.
"Hey wassup man," Tyke said before giving Bryce a man hug.
"Wassup," Bryce said.
That was the first time I ever heard he's voice. It was so deep and husky and completely matched he's persona. He's voice sent shivers down my spine. I just watched as Bryce and Tyke had their converstation with one another. I guess they were talking about the races doing on tonight.
"Did I forget to mention that Bryce and Tyke are best friends?" Jade said to me making me snap my head in her direction.
"No I think you forgot that little detail."
She laughed. "It's just crazy you know? Bryce is basically right at my finger tips and I can't even reach him." she signed. "Oh well, I don't think he can handle all of me anyways." she laughed to herself.
"Why not go for him Jade?" I asked.
She shook her head. "Nah, I think he's got he's eyes set on somebody else." her smile grew. I frowned. "Who?"
She nodded towards me and that only made me more confused. Jade rolled her eyes and then pointed to me and then over to Bryce's direction. I followed her gesture and looked up in time to see Bryce's eyes looking dead at me. Once he saw me looking at him he smirked at me. Tyke realized it too and then chuckled.
"Aye man I don't think you met my little cousin and her friend." Tyke said turning the attention on us.
"Nah I don't think I have." Bryce said not taking he's eyes off of me. He's gaze alone made me freeze. It was like I was trapped under he's spell or something.
"This is my cousin Jade and her friend Shay." Tyke said.
I heard Jade say a simple hey from beside me. Bryce nodded at her with a sly smirk on he's lips. Then he's chocolate brown eyes were back on me again. The air between shifted between Bryce and I. All of the outside noise began to be drowned out into a simple blur and it almost was like everything around us was paused and it was just me and him. Watching each other closely.
"Tyke can you come with me to get a drink?" Jade said breaking the noise barrier.
"Why I gotta come?" Tyke asked.
"Because I said so now get your black ass up and come with me." Jade my be a small person but she can be very intimidating at time. I heard Tyke sign heavily before telling us both they would be right back.
Bryce licked he's lips and leaned against he's car still eyeing me. "So Shay is it?"
"Yeah,"
He smiled at me and patted the spot next to him. I was hesitate at first but then decided on sitting next to him. "So you and Tyke are best friends huh?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yeah we've been rolling together since back in elementary school." he explained. "What about you? I've never seen you around here before." he said.
"It's my first time."
He chuckled and look up infront of him. "Well you're about to be introduced into another lifestyle sweetheart."
I didn't really understand what he meant by that but I brushed it off. "Your more than just new to street racing aren't you?" Bryce asked.
I nodded. "Yeah I just moved here two months ago."
"I know."
I frowned. "You know?"
He nodded. "I may not pay attention to a lot of things, but one thing is for sure. I paid attention when you first stepped onto the school scene." he admitted. Byrce's eyes darkened when he said that almost turning a complete black instead of a milky brown.
I bit down on my bottom lip. "Oh." was all I said. I didn't know what else to say.
Bryce chuckled. I snapped my head over at him. "What?"
He shook he's head. "Nothing, it's just your very different from the people around here."
Before I had a chance to ask him what he meant by that two loud roars came from in front of me making me jump. Also causing Bryce to laugh at me. I noticed two cars, a red one and a silver one sitting right in front of a poorly marked starting line. Both of the car windows were darkly tinted so I couldn't see who was racing.
Just then a girl began walking towards the two cars. She was pretty I'll give her that but she looked like she's been around the block a couple of times. Maybe more than a couple. Pointed to both of the drivers in each car as she mouthed 'ready' to them. They responded by reeving their egines loudly. The girl smiled and raised up her pink bandana up. Everyone around us started to cheer louder.
"Ready?!" she screamed.
"Set!"
"Go!" she dropped her banada and the two car sped off into the night leaving behind two sets of black tire marks.
This exactly looked kind of fun. Bryce then pulled out he's phone and looked down on it. I noticed that he was watching the race from he's phone! "How are you watching is?" I asked leaning closer to him to get a better view of the race.
"We have people that hack into the traffic cameras around the city and everyone who wants to watch any of the races get's the live footage sent to their phone. It's kind of like a live football game." he explained.
"Damn," I muttered.
I watched in complete awe as the two cars moved in and out traffic almost causing some accidents on the way. The red car was in the lead as of right now but only by a few seconds. The silver car was gaining on the red car quickly. "Why aren't you racing?" I asked still looking down at the phone.
"Who said I wasn't?" he teased leaning in he's hot breath hitting my cheek.
I looked up at him and that's when I noticed how close we were sitting. I could see how he had a faint amount of freckles splattered on he's cheeks and a small scar on he's chin. He was undeniably attractive. "A-Are you?" I studdered.
He laughed and I felt he's arm wrap around my shoulders. "I'm only playing girl! Lighten up a little." he smiled. "But to answer your question, no I'm not racing tonight." he said.
"Oh why's that?"
He smirked. "Because nobody wanted to race me."
I frowned. "I'm the King around here Shay. I'm undefeated."
I nodded. "Okay but what if someone does beat you one day?" I asked.
He shook he's head in disbelief. "That's not going to happen."
"What if it does?" I pressed.
He shurgged. "Then I'll lose my title."
I giggled. "That's it? You were making it seem like you lose your car and license and shit." I said.
"You do lose your car."
I froze. "Oh."
He laughed. "Damn Shay! You really don't know how to take a joke." He's laughter died down a little. "If your gonna be hanging with me you gotta learn to just kick back and relax."
I scoffed. "And what makes you think I want to hang out with you?"
Bryce raised an eyebrow at me with a cute little smirk on he's pink lips. "Oh you will."
The sound of sirens interrupted my thoughts. Everyone started to jump in their cars and depart. Then I felt Bryce release me from he's grip. "Shay get in the car!"
My body was frozen in panic. I was too young to go to jail! I felt some tugging on my arm pulling me towards the blue car. Suddenly I regained my senses and jumped into the car. I looked over to see Jade had jumped into the car with Tyke.
I barely had time to put my seatbelt on before Bryce had cut the engine on being the car to life and speeding off into the street.
"Fuck!" I exclaimed as my body was banged against the car door when Bryce took a sharp right turn.
"Sorry." Bryce said completely zoned out. "Put your seat belt on."
I rolled my eyes and quickly clicked the seatbelt around me. I could still hear the sirens coming from behind us. The city of Sacramento blurred past us as we move through its windy roads at neck breaking speed.
Soon the lights of the city began to fade. And I noticed how dark it was outside. No longer did I hear the sirens behind us. Instead I just heard the faint sound of the transmission shifting gears.
Bryce took another sharp turn and slowed down some. He looked over at me and smirked. "You can stop gripping the seat for dear life-" he chuckled. "-we've lost them."
I looked down at my hands and indeed they were grabbing on to the fabric of the seat. I hadn't even noticed. I slowly released my grip and I could feel the blood coming back into my fingers. I looked out the window and saw we were far from the city.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
He smirk appeared again. "My house."