Midnight Rider

Chapter 12

 I heard Tanner come around the corner.

“Hey did you get the water?”

“Uh yea, sorry I just saw this bike and wanted to look closer. This yours?” I turned to look at his face.

He smiled slightly but I couldn’t read his face. “It’s just a project,” he covered it back up and grabbed the water. I followed him out. In my opinion if I figured out who the midnight rider was I would think he would admit it. If it were Tanner wouldn’t he say so, since I found the bike? Maybe I’m just being crazy again, there can be more than one black bike right?

I didn’t notice that Tanner was looking at me while I was lost in thought. “Hey you ok?” he started covering the water with ice.

“Oh ya sorry…….just thinking about how badly I’m gonna beat you later.” I laughed it off.

“Uh uh ya, we’ll see,” he threw a piece of ice at me. We finished loading the cooler and piled into the truck. I played a playlist on my phone with songs from high school. We sang and laughed the whole way to the track.

You could tell it was a  busy Saturday as we pulled up to the track. We signed our waivers and tried to find a place to park and unpack. We unloaded our coolers, chairs and set up a canopy before unloading the car. You can hear the roar of everyone’s cars. The smell of the fuel is sweet, it gives me goosebumps.

Tanner did a quick check over the car and then turned to me as I opened a bottle of water. “Do you wanna hang out here while I go to the drivers sign up?”

“Uhhh…..I was told I would also get to drive….unless your scared.” I laughed at him.

“Oh you wish, let’s make a bet.”

“ok, lets”

“If I have the better times between us today then I get a kiss from you”

“Wow,” I laughed and rolled my eyes, “how original of a bet. Fine, but if I have the better times you have to admit that I’m the better driver AND we go for frozen custard after.”

“Deal.”

If you’ve never been to a drag strip you should it’s pretty fun. Our local track is on the smaller side, we only have two racing lanes. There’s a tower at the beginning of the track where the racers “stage” their cars. The announcers sit up there to say who’s racing and their times, this is also where you have to go to register as a driver. At the end of the track are large screens on each side that show the riders time for everyone to see. Drag strip racing is different than street drag racing. In a street race its just your car against theirs to see who’s is faster. There’s no “Christmas tree” or light system, usually just a person or flag. In a drag stip race there is another car next to you but you watch the “Christmas tree”. You want to leave the line first before the other car and get to the end faster. You have to have a better reaction time off the line.

As we got back to the car from signing up people were already in line to have a few practice trials.

“Ready?” Tanner asked “I’ll go first,” he said sliding into the driver’s seat.

“Sure,” I answered, “ladies first.” I got in the passenger side and slammed the door closed. From the inside there’s only two seats with 5 point harnesses instead of regular seatbelts. There’s also a added roll cage inside. The engine roars to life and gives me goosebumps again. I’m shaking with excitement and smiling so wide I don’t even notice Tanner staring at me.

When it’s our turn to “stage” at the lights I brace myself with my right arm on the door and the left gripping my seat. I can hear Tanner laughing at me over the roar of the engine. “You ready?” he smiles, never taking his eye off the lights.

“Floor it!” I yell as the last light turns green and we leave the line.

I let Tanner take a couple more practice runs before I remind him about our bet.

“Do you remember what you’re doing?” he asks while buckling his harness.

“Like riding a bike,” I smile. I have to more the seat forward all the way to be able to reach the pedals.

“Maybe there should be a height requirement for racing.”

“Scared your gonna get beat by a little girl?”

“I don’t think I’d mind getting beat by a girl, especially if it’s you” he winks at me. Oh, please. I roll my eyes at him in response.  When it’s my turn at the lights I’m shaking again with excitement. It feels like I’m flying when I leave off the line.

Unfortunately, during our many passes on the track, Tanner beats my times. Only by one! Although I know he’s taken note of this he doesn’t mention it right away. Tanner got beat out for being in the top five for the end of the night races.

“Hey do you wanna go over to the food stand and grab a bite?” Tanner asks.

“Sounds good to me.” On the opposite side of the track, away from everyone parks, are bleachers and a food stand with a few picnic tables. I start to get money out of my pocket buy Tanner stops me, “Oh no your not paying. Not when you’re with me.”

“Ok fine, I’ll have a lemon shakeup and a corndog.” I turn and find an open picnic table for us.

As I watch Tanner standing in line I realize today hasn’t been so bad. Tanner smiles at me as he walks up with our food. He sits down next to me while taking a swig of his lemon shakeup.

“Today’s been a good day,” he smiles down at me, “brings back a lot of memories.”

“Yea it does, you were always fun to hang out with.”

“You probably don’t know this but I liked you in high school, even while you were dating Jason.”

“Really? I always thought you were such a player in school. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Well when you first started hanging out with all of us I started to like you but you were pretty obsessed with Jason, and then you guys started dating so I just didn’t say anything. I secretly hoped you two would break up though so I could tell you.”

“I don’t know why, you always had girls around.”

“Yes, but I never took them seriously because I didn’t have the same feelings for them like they did for me.”

 “Oh….” I just stared at him. I wasn’t sure what to do with this information. Tanner would sometimes make flirty comments to me in school, but he did to every girl so I didn’t think anything of it.

“I think you owe me something. If I remember our bet correctly, I made the very original wager about you owing me a kiss. And I’m pretty sure I won,” he smiled at me and pointed to his cheek.

I smiled at him. I mean yes, the bet was stupid. But, I also felt the need to see where this would go. He put his arm around my shoulders and I leaned in to give him a peck on the cheek. In true Tanner fashion he turned his head at the last second and I ended up kissing him on the lips. “Hey!” I pulled away and playfully smacked him on the arm.

“What?” he asked trying to look innocent, “you agreed to a kiss, we never said where.”

I laughed, “That’s true.” I leaned in and kissed him again. This time we didn’t pull away. We were sweaty and gross from being outside all day but he pulled me closer. It was soft, sweet and gave me butterflies.

He pulled away first, “Even though you lost we can still end the night with frozen custard.”

“Deal,” I smiled and gave him a quick peck on the lips before standing up.