Krystal quietly closed the storybook and set it down on the side table next to the bed. She laid a sleeping Emily down onto the hospital bed, careful not to wake her. After she adjusted the blanket onto the sleeping little girl, she kissed the top of Emily's little bald head and left the room. She paused and leaned against the door for a bit before sighing. Emily's condition was getting worse and the doctors feared she didn't have much longer to live. All they really had now was hope.
After a few more seconds, Krystal pushed herself off the door and started walking down the corridor. Her shift had been over for about an hour now but she had promised Emily earlier that morning that she'd stop by her room before she left.
Krystal had just entered the staff locker rooms before remembering that she still had the All Stars to go to that night. Since they were racing, they needed to rent a race track for this part of the competition. Sadly, the race track was located an hour and a half away from New York City and Krystal had no ride.
Carter was probably there by now. Ryder, Aiden, Aaron, and Dylan had all gotten off work earlier and had already left so she couldn't ask them for a ride. Liv said she was riding with Liam but she doubted they were still in the city either.
Krystal cursed being the only one who got off work later that night. But still, she grabbed her phone out of her locker and dialed Liv's number anyways. She waited as the phone rang until Liv picked up.
"Hey ugly", she heard through the phone.
"Hi Loser. Listen, did you and Liam leave already?" She secretly prayed inside her head, hoping they hadn't left yet.
"Who is it?", she heard Liam ask Liv.
"Krystal," Liv whispered to him. "Sorry babe but we already left. We're like halfway there already."
"Damn."
"Yeah. Sorry."
"She need a ride?" Liam asks. Krystal could imagine Liv nodding her head. "Give me the phone."
Krystal heard some shuffling through the phone before hearing Liam's voice.
"Hey Krystal!"
"Uh, hi Liam", she drawled out his name.
"So I hear you need a ride to the race tracks?" She could almost hear the smirk in his voice.
Krystal sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah I do. Everyone I know already left."
"Well not everyone you know."
Krystal furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Before she could ask who it was, Liam cut her off.
"Jason," he stated.
"He hasn't left yet?'
"Nope," Liam laughs. "That workaholic is probably still typing away on his laptop up in his office right now. You can ask him for a ride. He should probably be coming soon. You have his number right?"
A little hope blossomed in Krystal. "Yes, I do! Thanks Liam!"
"Welcome!" he replied. "Stop looking at me like that!"
"Like what?" Krystal heard Liv's innocent voice ask.
"Like that! I swear to God Olivia, I will pull the car over right now and we won't make it to the racetracks until midnight!"
Liv's laughter could be heard before the line went dead.
Krystal laughed while she dialed Jason's number. She waited as the phone continued to ring and was just about to hang up when Jason finally answered.
"Jason," she heard his deep voice say distractedly. She could hear furious typing of a keyboard in the background.
"Hey Jason!"
She faintly heard the typing stop. "Krystal?"
"Yep."
Awkward silence.
Jason cleared his throat. "What do you need?"
"Well...", she dragged on. " I was kinda wondering if you had already left to go to the racetracks already?"
"No, but I was just about to leave. Why?"
"Do you think I get a ride with you? Everyone's already gone and I'm the only one left. And I really don't want to take a taxi out there. So...."
A few moments of silence before Jason sighed. "Yeah, I guess you can ride with me"
"Great! I'm at the hospital right now so just come here."
"Okay, I think I remember which one it is. I'm leaving right now so I'll probably be there in around 10 minutes or so. I'll text you."
"Okay. Bye."
"Mmm."
Krystal hung up and changed out of her scrubs. She put on a black hoodie over a black tank top and wore some dark washed skinny jeans with her black and white Nike running shoes. She took her hair out of the loose bun it was in and ran her fingers through her hair before retying it into a messy ponytail.
She put her scrubs into her backpack and left the locker room to go wait for Jason in the lobby.
Upon arriving to the lobby, she decided to talk to a few elder patients that she noticed were sitting in the lobby while she waited for Jason to arrive. There were three men and two women. When Krystal curiously asked them why they were sitting out there, they told her that they had decided to walk around the hospital for a bit since they had felt a little stuffed in their rooms. They soon began sharing old stories of when they were younger to Krystal and to each other.
"When I was younger, I used to be quite the looker!" Joanne, one of the elder ladies said. "Men would be trying to get into my pants from left to right! But of course, I did have my own fun with them. Before my husband was my husband, he came up to me and he said, "That is a lovely shade of lipstick on your lips. I would love to test it out with you." And so I said back to him, "Well in that case, it's a lovely shade on my downstairs lips too."
Krystal, along with the others, were in hysterics after Joanne's story. The men gave Joanne hoots and hollers for her response.
"And so what happened after that?" Krystal asked once she recovered from her laughing.
"We tested out the lipstick of course! Though he didn't need to test it on both my lips if you know what I mean."
This caused another round of laughter.
Krystal felt her phone vibrate in her hand. She read the text while the others continued laughing and sharing their own stories.
"I'm outside", was all the text said.
Krystal looked at the small group with a smile. "Alright, well it seems like I have to go now but hopefully we'll see each other again during my shifts. It was really nice meeting you all."
They said goodbye to Krystal before she left out of the hospital. She looked left and right before she saw Jason standing outside of a black Range Rover a little distance away with his arms crossed. He seemed to stand out in his sharp, black suit from all the other people walking around him.
"Jason!" Krystal called out from where she was, waving an arm above her head and making her way over to him.
Jason snapped his head towards Krystal's voice once he heard it. He looked her over once from head to toe, barely acknowledging the fact that his heartbeat quickened its pace slightly.
Krystal looked at Jason's car again before giving a nod of approval. "Shiny car. It's the new Range Rover right?"
Jason raised his eyebrows, "You know cars?"
Krystal smiled. "Of course I do. I would much rather look at new cars than new clothes any day." She made it an emphasis to run a finger across the side of the car.
Krystal almost received a half smirk for her comment. Almost.
"Well instead of talking about the car, why don't we actually get in the car, yeah?" He didn't wait for Krystal as he proceeded to walk around the to the driver's side.
Krystal placed her backpack into the back seat before taking up the passenger seat. Jason also got into the car and soon they were off towards the race tracks.
> > > > > . < < < < <
"So if you could be any color you wanted, what color would you be?" Krystal asked.
"Black."
"Why?"
"Just because."
"Because it's black like my soul", Krystal said in a deep voice trying to imitate Jason. "That's depressing. I'd be yellow."
Silence.
"Why, you ask?" Krystal continued on though Jason never asked. "Because yellow is such a happy color. The sun is yellow. Flowers can be yellow. That smiley face thing is yellow. Rubber ducks are - "
"I never asked why you like yellow." Jason stated through a clenched teeth, clearly annoyed with Krystal. He clenched his hands on the wheel.
"Be careful. Your knuckles are starting to turn white," Krystal observed, completely unaware of Jason's annoyance. "Wouldn't want you to damage such a pretty car." She patted the dashboard softly with one hand.
Jason only clenched his hands tighter.
"Have you ever driven a race car before?" Krystal asked after a few minutes.
"No."
"Well I have. A couple times," she shrugged. "But I don't mean to brag."
....
"So, why didn't you leave yet when I called you?"
Jason let out a sigh. It's been a long day of meetings and paperwork, though he had to admit he felt a little bit better just having her near him to distract him. "I was working."
"Why do you work so much? Liam told me you were a workaholic."
Jason just shrugged. "I'm good at it."
Krystal nodded her head. Then a silence fell over them.
Krystal suddenly gasped. "Oh yeah, we're hanging out Saturday!" She turned to face him with her hands clasped under her chin and a smile on her face. "What are we doing?"
Jason furrowed his eyebrows in confusion while still looking at the road.
"Remember at Sunday dinner? You're mom told us we had to hang out together this Saturday or else?"
Realization dawned on him. "Oh yeah. That."
"Yes that. So what do you wanna do?"
"Don't know, don't care."
Krystal thought for a bit while biting her bottom lip. "Well if you don't care, then I'm going to use this as my day. You have to do whatever I want okay?"
Jason remembered back to when they were spying on Liam and Liv's date and betting with Krystal. If he remembered correctly, he and Krystal each had a day dedicated to doing whatever they wanted and the other having to comply.
Jason looked over at Krystal briefly, seeing her biting her lip, before the car swerved slightly. He refocused his attention back on the road and cleared his throat. "You're gonna use you're day then?"
Krystal was unfazed by the swerve because she was so used to Aiden's terrible driving. "Sure. I mean why not?"
It was a rhetorical question and no one said anything after that though Jason was internally looking forward to this Saturday.
> > > > > . < < < < <
They soon arrived at the race tracks about twenty five minutes later. They parked the car before getting out. Krystal walked towards the group of people standing around, Jason silently following behind her.
Krystal greeted some of the people there, clearly recognizing them from the gym while Jason stood near with his arms crossed and usual blank face on.
"Finally decided to show up huh Krys? Tsk. Late as usual." One of the guys said to her.
"Ha ha ha, Marty. Funny as usual. Not."
"Oh that wounds me deeply. Guess I'll just have to do this to make me feel better!" he put Krystal in a headlock and started rubbing her head with his knuckles. He laughed along with the others as Krystal tried to get out of the headlock.
She struggled for a few seconds before Michael stepped in to help her. "Alright cut it now." He swatted Marty's arm with the clipboard he held in his hands. Marty let go of Krystal while Krystal fixed her hair, glaringly playfully at Marty who just shrugged. "She needs to go get into her jumpsuit before the race. Jason, you too. The suits should be in the garage over there. Hurry and put them on. The race should be starting soon."
As Krystal and Jason made their way over to the garage, Krystal heard her name being called.
"Krystal!"
Krystal looked over to see Liv flailing her arms around and on her tip toes, Liam standing behind her.
"Babe!" Krystal ran to her with open arms.
"Reunited and it feels so good!" Liv sang.
"Reunited cause we understood". They both sang together. "There's one perfect fit And sugar this one is it. We both are so excited cause we're reunited, hey, hey" They ended with Liv twirling under Krystal's finger.
"Guys, you've been apart for what? 4 hours?" Liam said after he did a man hug with Jason, who had trailed behind Krystal.
"4 hours too long!" Liv cried out dramatically. "Girl where have you been? The race is about to start and you don't even have you're jumpsuit on yet!"
It was then that Krystal realized Liv was wearing an all black jumpsuit while Liam was wearing an all white one, the colors corresponding with the color of their team.
"Sorry, I had to go see Emily. You know what that little girl does to my heart."
"Does to all of our hearts. Now hurry up and get your butt changed into that jumpsuit!" Liv pushed Krystal towards the garage.
> > > > > . < < < < <
"Day three of the All Star Games everyone! Half way to the end and half way to crowning this years champions", Michael announced through his microphone.
The crowed cheered.
"As you can tell where we are today, this round is race car driving. All members of each team will be racing in one race consisting of 50 laps. The person who finishes first will gain one point for their team. Now let's welcome the racers!"
At that moment a loud horn went off throughout the stadium. Down on the tracks, four rows of cars came out with five other cars behind them in a line. The order of the line up was black then white then black etc. and alternating to the next rows. The White team were in the white cars and the Black team were in the black cars.
The rows of cars continued driving down the race track until they stopped at the starting line.
"Racers are you ready?" Michael announced. He held up a black and white checkered flag. He got the sounds of engines revving as a response.
Lights above the track turn red, yellow, to green as Michael counts down.
"Three, two, one. Go!" He yells as he lowers the flag and waves it.
And just like that the racers are off, leaving smoke and the smell of burnt rubber behind them.
(Not going to try describing the racing part and making it seem interesting. Basically, they all drove around the track course for 50 laps. You get it. )
As the last lap of the race came, all of the cars were considerably behind a single black car up at the front. The black car steered easily through each turn and swiftly passed the checkered finish line, all the other cars finishing about 20 seconds after it.
"There you have it ladies and gentlemen." Michael said turning towards the cheering crowd. "Another point for the Black team, putting the Black team now in the lead. 2-1. Tomorrow will be the Baseball portion of the competition. I hope to see you all there as we get one round closer to crowning our champions!"
Down at the pits, Krystal got out of the car so the pit crew could change her tires. Taking off her helmet, she walked over to the black car that won, knowing exactly who the driver was.
"Hey Krystal. Nice racing out there. Second place," he nods his head with a smirk. "Not too shabby," he says in his usual country accent.
She threw her helmet at him, which he caught easily and laughed.
"Hunter, this wasn't even fair. You're a professional race car driver! How were we supposed to compete with you?!"
Hunter Stevenson was a thirty-one year old from Texas and was currently a professional race car driver for NASCAR.
He put her helmet up on the hood of his car before putting his hands up in surrender. "Hey, I didn't pick this as one of the sports for the competition. I'm just going along with what they set up. It's not my fault they happened to pick something that was also my profession."
Krystal huffed in annoyance knowing he was right.
"Honey stop provoking her," Hunter's wife, Claudia, interrupted while lightly slapping Hunter's arm.
"Good job Krys," she said while giving Krystal a hug.
"Hey shouldn't I get a hug too? I'm the one who taught her everything she knows!" Hunter exclaimed, feeling left out.
"Apparently not everything," Krystal said when they parted. "Because if you taught me everything you know then I would have won!"
"No hug for you because you had an unfair advantage." Claudia scolded while seductively walking back to Hunter. "And besides, winners get much more than just a hug," she ended with wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Oouu. Do I get to have that prize now?" Hunter said while he wrapped his arms around his wife's waist.
"Later," she whispered but not low enough for Krystal not to hear.
"Oh lord," she made a gagging noise. "I think I'm gonna throw up. You know what? I'm just gonna go."
Krystal walked towards the garage where they put her car, though neither Hunter nor Claudia noticed her leaving.
> > > > > . < < < < <
It's been about forty-five minutes since the race ended and Jason was looking for Krystal. He had already changed back to the clothes he was wearing earlier and wasn't sure if she wanted a ride back too or if she was going to go home with Aiden and the rest of the guys. Liam and Liv had just left because they were going to go eat at a restaurant.
He tried calling her but she wouldn't answer so he resorted to just looking for her.
He caught up Michael as he was just about to leave.
"Hey Michael."
Michael turned around, a little starstruck that the great Jason Steel was talking to him. "Hi Jason. Anything I can do for you?"
"Yeah. Have you seen Krystal lately?"
"Yeah. I saw her in the garage earlier," he pointed at a garage. "Not sure if she's still in there but you could check."
"Thanks man." Jason said, clapping Michael on the shoulder before jogging towards the garage.
Michael stared at Jason's figure as he jogged away. He put his hand over where Jason's hand was on his shoulder. "Oh my gosh," he said to himself. "The Jason Steel touched me!"
As Jason entered the garage, he saw some of the cars that were used to race lined up in a row. He looked around and saw the hood of one car up with Krystal leaning over the engine. Jason felt his heart pounding against his chest.
The top half of her jumpsuit was zipped down and tied at her waist. Her black tank top had risen a little to the point where her belly button was visible. Jason gulped before slowly making his way towards her.
"Krystal," he said, his voice coming out huskier than he intended.
Krystal looked up, putting one hand on top of the lifter hood to keep balance, and smiled at him.
"Hey. What's up."
He cleared his throat. "I was just about to go but I wasn't sure if you wanted a ride back or not."
He couldn't help himself from looking over Krystal's body again. He had to admit that she looked incredibly sexy right now and that he was completely turned on.
A loud slamming sound brought him out of his thoughts. He saw now that Krystal had closed the hood of the car and was walking towards him while wiping her greasy hands on a rag.
"Sure. I'm not sure if the guy's have room in the car for me. Just give me a minute to go change and wash my hands and then we can go."
She walked through a doorway that led to a different part of the garage while Jason continued to stare at the place she just exited from.
He put a hand over his pounding heart and let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Shaking his head, he exited the garage and leaned against the side of the building waiting for her.
He waited there for a couple minutes before Krystal came out and they both headed out towards his car. It was dark out by now.
The way back to the city consisted of Krystal going on and on about random things and singing along to the radio. They had stopped at McDonald's because Krystal was hungry. Half way through the car ride, Krystal fell asleep with one hand still in the fry container and the side of her head resting against the window.
Jason let out a chuckle at seeing her. Finally with her sitting still and quiet, Jason was able to collect his thoughts. He thought about how his heart beat faster every time he saw her or how he couldn't deny having fun when she was around. How he secretly tolerated the All Star's competition because it meant he got to see her every day of this week and how his life drastically gets duller every time he leaves from being around her. Yeah, she was annoying and says random things most of the time but she no doubt has made his life much more interesting these past couple of weeks he had known her.
As they entered the city and stopped at a red light, he was able to look over at her sleeping face, her long eyelashes and slightly pouted lips.
One look at her and everything suddenly made sense to him, like a light bulb turning on.
He was falling for this girl.
He gulped once again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A/N:
Okay. I know I've been gonna a really long time. But hey, since it's the summer and I have now graduated High School, maybe I can update more often.
Date Today: June 11, 2016