Drifting into Darkness

by La Rocca, J. M.

  He didn’t disappoint.

  “I’m a cautious driver too,” he smiled at me. “I don’t always speed.”

  “Then why the need for speed?” I asked using my fingers as quotations. “Explain to me what the big deal is.” I knew this would be an interesting conversation.

  Looking ahead at the road, he rubbed his hands around the steering wheel. I watched him curiously. He looked lost in thought. Then he finally spoke.

  “There’s just something about being in control. You control the speed. You control the drift. It’s all about knowing your car. Becoming one with it. The adrenaline rush is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. And then to race your car, knowing you did all the work on it to make it better, faster, more precise.” He looked at me with a smirk. “Nothing is better than that.”

  I smiled at his enthusiasm. “Well, then. Show me what ya got.” I said I was nervous, but now I was curious to know what he was talking about.

  “Oh, so now you’re ready?” he gibed.

  “Yes, I am,” I mocked.

  He came to a stop in the middle of the road with cornfields on either side. We were definitely in the middle of nowhere.

  He turned to look at me with a mischievous grin on his face. “Are you sure you’re ready?” I nodded. “Okay, put your head back on the seat. I don’t want to jolt you too bad.”

  I did as he said and gripped the door handle for added measure. My heart was racing and my breathing was heavy. Anything girly that was going on in my stomach earlier had taken a hiatus and was replaced with a nervous eruption of bubbles. It was never a good sign when bubbles were involved.

  He looked straight ahead and revved his engine causing me to laugh. The saying, ‘boys and their toys’ kept popping up in my head. The look on his face could only be described as focused, like he was becoming one with the road.

  Then, without warning, he took off. The force of it pushed me further into the seat and I realized why he told me to rest my head back. He shifted faster and faster as the car reached speeds I’d never imagined before.

  A smile was plastered on my face as the needle rose higher and higher, but I could promise I wasn’t smiling out of joy. I was nervous as hell. My nails were digging into the leather trimming on the door and the bucket seat I was gripping with my other hand.

  The whole time, he had full control of the car. I watched him as he shifted gears. His body tensed with every move he made and he never took his eyes off the road. The facial expressions he made every time he shifted were quite funny and I was sure he didn’t realize he was even doing it.

  The car slowed down as we approached a curve in the road and my grip loosened on the door and seat. He turned and looked at me, but only for a moment.

  He was still going way too fast as the curve got closer and closer.

  “Uh, Landon. You better slow down,” I said nervously.

  A small smirk appeared on his face right before he turned the wheel and shifted gears. The car spun to the side and drifted us around the curve. A small scream left my lips as my hand held onto the door in a death grip, thinking the car would spin out of control. But just as soon as it happened, Landon turned the wheel and straightened it. He slowly brought the car to a stop and put it in park.

  My eyes were closed and my chest was heaving. I knew he was staring at me, but I had to wait a minute so my stomach could dislodge itself from my throat.

  Slowly, I pried my eyes open and looked at him. He had a huge smile on his face. I was sure he wouldn’t be too happy if I threw up in his car because those bubbles in my stomach had now turned to nausea.

  “What the hell!” I chastised, as I slapped him in the arm. “You scared the shit out of me.”

  He laughed and cowered away, trying to block my playful hits. “Come on, Sadie. Admit it. You now have the need for speed.”

  “Like hell I do,” I wailed. “You could have killed me.”

  He laughed openly, holding his stomach. I had to bite my lips in order not to laugh with him. I’d never admit that he kind of looked adorable making fun of me.

  “You were never in any danger, Sadie. I promise. I know what I’m doing. I’d never do anything to put you in danger. I swear it,” he said sincerely. “But admit it,” he beamed. “You felt the rush.”

  A smile slowly spread, not being able to contain it. “Okay, yes. It was awesome. Your car is awesome, but that doesn’t mean that’s something I’d ever want to do again.”

  He gave a slight chuckle and agreed, “Okay, you’ve got my word.”

  I straightened myself in the seat. “So is that all you do for your test run?”

  “It is. Everything seems to be working fine now that I got the clamp fixed.” He put the car in drive and did a U-turn. “Do you have any plans for the rest of the night?”

  The butterflies were back in my stomach. I didn’t want to say yes, just in case he wanted to take me for another drive, but I didn’t want to say no either. “Um…nothing concrete yet. Why? What did you have in mind?” I smiled. I was doing my best to flirt, but I wasn’t sure I was pulling it off.

  “Do you mind spending a little bit more time with me?” He arched a brow at me.

  “I suppose not,” I needed to pinch myself. Was he really asking me to spend more time with him? Should I consider this a date now? No, it’s not a date. It’s just two friends hanging out, two friends who kind of flirt with each other. “I guess it depends on what we are going to do,” I replied.

  He turned to look at me with a smirk. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

  He drove down back road after back road until I had no idea where I was. I wouldn’t even remember how to get back to the farm. Twenty minutes later, he turned down a road with a sign that read Stu’s Race Track.

  “This is where I go racing,” he said, pointing.

  I looked around and saw cars parked everywhere. “This place is packed.”

  “Yeah, it usually is on a Friday night,” he said as he found a parking spot in the grass. “Come on and I’ll show you some real racing.” He got out of the car and I followed suit.

  “Shouldn’t you be racing, too?”

  “Nah,” he replied as we started walking. He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked around. “I had some work to do on the car so I backed out of the races tonight. So tonight is just for watching.” He turned and smiled at me.

  “You know, the tone of your voice completely changes when you talk about cars,” I blurted. I bit my lip and turned my head away as my cheeks started to flush.

  “Oh, really?”

  I didn’t have to look at him to see his smile. I could hear it in his tone.

  “Yeah,” I said, looking around. Avoiding eye contact. “You’re really passionate about it and it emanates through your words.” As soon as the words left my lips, I knew they sounded corny, but it was the truth.

  I looked at him with a sincere smile so he would know I meant every word.

  “Thanks,” he smiled, and diverted his eyes.

  “Why, Mr. Johnson. Did I just make you blush?” I giggled.

  He looked back at me trying to bite back his smile. “Maybe just a little bit.”

  “Yo, farmboy. You here to race or what?” yelled a guy walking toward us, breaking us from our flirty banter.

  Landon turned to the guy who was approaching us and dropped his smile, but not before reaching his hand out to grasp mine. He entwined our fingers and squeezed my hand. “I should’ve known better,” he mumbled to himself.

  I had no idea what he was talking about and I assumed that moment wouldn’t have been a good time to ask him either.

  “Hello, Javier,” Landon greeted coldly.

  “Ah, come on, bro, no hard feelings. We all have to lose some time.” Javier was a short Mexican guy with a round face and bushy eyebrows. He turned his eyes on me and licked his lips, causing me to step closer to Landon. “I say we race again and the winner gets a night with this pretty señiorita.”

&n
bsp; “Fuck off, Javier,” he growled through gritted teeth.

  “Oooh, this is new. You’re territorial with this one, huh. How long has it been, Landon? Three years?” Javier taunted. “Such a shame.”

  Landon had a death grip on my hand as Javier talked. I had no idea what they were talking about.

  Without saying a word, Landon walked around Javier, pulling me with him.

  “Two weeks, farm boy. Bring your A game. If you get tired of him, baby doll, I’ll show you a good time,” Javier yelled to me. I turned to look behind me to see him pumping the air with his hips.

  “Ewww, gross,” I scoffed. “What the hell was that all about?” I asked, looking at Landon as we continued to walk.

  “Just competitive trash talk,” he replied, not saying another word.

  Competitive trash talk? That was more than just competitive trash talk. That seemed personal to me. I looked him over as we walked up a hill where a few groups sat watching the races happening below. The view we had from this point showed the whole grounds.

  The sign said it was a racetrack, but from what I could see, it was just two separate lanes. There was a light in the middle of the lane that gave a green light when it was time for the cars to go.

  Surrounding the track, a few yards away, were bleachers for onlookers to sit and cheer, which a lot of them were doing at the moment. Cars were lined up one after another ready to race.

  I watched as the light turned green and two cars sped off on a racing match. My mouth hung open in amazement as the car on the left won by just milliseconds. A scoreboard at the end of the track showed times and speeds for both cars. I remembered Landon saying something about wanting his time to be better and that must have been what he was talking about.

  “This is what the fuss is all about,” Landon said, as he leaned in toward my ear.

  It was then I realized we were still holding hands. I chewed on the inside of my lip contemplating what to do. Should I make a big deal about it? It was just handholding, right? It wasn’t like we were in the fifth grade when that meant you were going steady. Maybe he just grabbed my hand to make sure I wouldn’t get lost. There are a lot of people here. Or maybe he grabbed my hand to make me feel comfortable in an uncomfortable situation when that guy Javier came over and he’d forgotten to let go of my hand. Ugh, either way, the handholding shouldn’t matter. What should matter was the fact that I liked him holding my hand.

  I turned my head to face him. He was closer to me now that more people were arriving up on the hill. It seemed to be where all the groups hung out.

  “I have to admit,” I said, leaning up to his ear. “This is all pretty cool. I like the controlled environment.”

  He pulled back slightly and smiled. He was so freaking sexy. He was standing so close I could smell his cologne and feel the heat permeating his body. His eyes roamed down to my lips and I smiled.

  “Have you eaten anything tonight?” He leaned in again to ask. I shook my head against his. “Do you wanna get something with me? I’m starved.” He pulled back and waited for me to answer.

  “Yes,” I smiled, “I’d love to.”

  Without a word, he pulled me by our joined hands back to the car and we headed off to get something to eat.

  Eleven

  “Is this okay?” he asked as he pulled into The Family Diner.

  “Yeah, this is great. I haven’t eaten here since the first day I met Lisa.”

  We made our way into the diner and found an empty booth at the far end. I could feel eyes on me as we made our way to our seat and turned to see a few groups watch us.

  Lisa wasn’t kidding when she said there were designated days. The place was packed. “So I’m guessing tonight is college night,” I stated as I looked around the diner.

  He laughed. “Lisa told you about the designated days then, I see.”

  “Yeah, I think it’s pretty cool. We didn’t have stuff like this in Chicago. Of course, this town is a lot smaller than what I’m used to too.”

  “Hey, Landon,” came a perky familiar southern voice. I looked up to see Katie standing at our table with her small order pad.

  “Hey, Katie,” he replied politely. “I’ll have a sweet tea. What about you, Sadie?”

  I looked up to Katie and smiled. “Hi, Katie, it’s been awhile. How are you?” I asked in an overly sweet voice. She was rudely ignoring me and I was pretty sure I knew why. These girls were catty as hell. It was like being back in high school again, when all the girls wanted the star football player. The girl who got him was hated and treated like crap until she tired of the game and gave up. But I’ve got news for ya girlies, if I do get the star football player, this girl isn’t giving up on shit. I wasn’t raised a quitter.

  The smile she gave me was anything but genuine. It almost looked like she might be constipated. “I’m great, Sadie, thanks. What can I get ya?”

  “I’ll take a coke, sweetie, thanks,” I smiled brightly. She turned and walked off, but not before glaring at me. I laughed out loud and shook my head as I looked at Landon.

  “What was that all about?” He jutted his thumb out behind him where Katie walked off.

  I raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you being serious? I know you’re not oblivious to it.”

  He shook his head, feigning innocence. “Oblivious to what?”

  I could see the smirk on his face. I laughed. “You’re killing me here,” I said as Katie walked up and set our drinks down.

  “Do y’all know what you want, or do ya need a few minutes?”

  I shook my head. “I’ll have the burger special.”

  “I’ll have the same, but I’ll take pepper jack instead of cheddar,” Landon requested with a smile.

  Katie smiled as she wrote down his request and walked away with a little more sway in her step.

  I arched a brow at him when he looked back at me.

  “What?” he laughed.

  “You know what. With the harem following you around, why in the world are you here with me instead of one of your blonde followers?” I bluntly asked.

  I knew it would be a question he wouldn’t be expecting, but it needed to be asked. I wanted to know what all of this was. I wasn’t a game player and I was more cautious now than I was back in high school. Flirting aside, I thought he was a really cool guy. I could joke and flirt all day, but I needed to know what was going through his head. Why me, and not some blonde he could get in the sack with the snap of his fingers?

  He took a drink of his sweet tea and looked at me with a blank expression. Setting his drink back down, he folded his hands on the table and licked his lips. “I like you, Sadie. That’s why I’m here with you and not one of my blonde followers.”

  A smile spread across my lips and I lowered my head to hide it, causing him to laugh. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

  He smiled. “You’re not like the harem, as you put it, and it’s refreshing.”

  “Refreshing or just a fresh face?”

  He thought for a moment. “Both. Refreshing because you handle yourself well and you don’t take shit from others. You speak your mind and you’re honest about it. And everyone likes a pretty face,” he smirked.

  I shook my head. “I don’t always speak my mind and I’m not always honest.”

  “Well, there you go again, speaking your mind and telling me how it is. I’m thinking it would take a lot for me to think you didn’t.” He laughed as he ran his hand through his hair, drawing my attention to the tattoo on his wrist.

  “Can I see your tattoo?” I asked, reaching my hand out. He looked down at his tattoo and hesitated for a moment before reaching his arm out to me. I grabbed on to him and leaned forward to look. It was beautiful. It was a blue flower with a decorative heart in the middle. “It’s a beautiful tattoo. Does it mean anything?” I asked.

  He pulled his arm back and ran his thumb over the tattoo. “It’s a reminder,” he said softly. He was staring at his wrist, but looked like he was millions of miles away.<
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  “A reminder?” I asked, wanting him to give me more information. This tattoo obviously held a deep personal meaning.

  He snapped out of his trance and looked at me, dropping his arm back to the table. “It’s just a reminder that you can lose something close to your heart in a matter of minutes.” He took a sip of his sweet tea and looked around the diner.

  I wanted to ask him more about it, but I left it alone. I could tell by the tension in his shoulders that it wasn’t something he wanted to talk about. So I changed the subject back to cars. It seemed to be a safe subject. “So what was that guy Javier talking about earlier? What is in two weeks?”

  Katie walked up at that moment with our plates setting them each down in front of us. “Can I get ya anything else,” she asked, looking at only Landon.

  “Nah, I think we’re good. Thanks,” he smiled politely.

  She smiled back at him and walked off without giving me one glance. These girls were serious bitches.

  “So,” I said adding ketchup to my plate, “as I was saying, what was Javier talking about, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  He shrugged his shoulders as he took a huge bite of his burger. I ate some of my fries and waited for him to reply.

  “There’s a race,” he answered, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “It’s the main race of the summer. Best time out of three wins a cash prize and bragging rights.”

  I nodded my head as I chewed my food. “So, I’m guessing that’s a really big deal than, huh?”

  He chuckled. “Maybe just a little bit. Others take it more seriously than I do.”

  “How’s that?” He can’t sit here and tell me a big cash prize and bragging rights aren’t a big deal.

  “I race because I love it. I love working on my car and making it perform better. It’s not always easy, but like I told you before, the rush you get is unbelievable.”

  “So the money and bragging rights mean nothing to you?” I asked with an arched brow.

  He laughed. “Now, I never said that. I said others take it more seriously than I do.”