Chapter 9
We get to the Carting complex right after dark, and once we pay and get our helmets another employee leads us out to the tracks. Aiden is sitting on a bench by himself when he finally spots us.
"Hey you guys." He stands up, and waves.
"Hey." I say quietly, and Scarlett speaks louder. "Hey Aiden! Thanks for the invite!" and she goes in giving him a hug from the side.
"Who's all here?" I ask him.
"Shawn, and Josh."
"Cool." I say.
Shawn, and Josh are on the baseball team with Aiden. They are both seniors too, but hangout more with the cheerleaders and athletic girls. I've known them as long as I've known Scarlett, and Ross. They are nice, but I've never really been friends with them.
"Let's go." Aiden smiles, and directs his nod to the tracks. Scarlett skips ahead of us.
"What's she so excited about?" Aiden laughs.
"I don't know. I guess she's been around Conner for so long, now she can be a little more social again."
"Yeah, it must be hard for her though. I've never seen her without him." he says and I nod in agreeance.
"Aiden, I have to admit something to you." I say to him while we are still walking to the tracks, and he looks down at me with curiosity. "I've never been in a go kart." I give him a sarcastic scared look, and he laughs out loud.
"Oh Mora, we're going to change that tonight!" and I just smile back at him.
A guy let's us in the gate, and before we get our helmets on, we see Josh and Shawn drive by us really fast and Josh screams out to us "Come on guys! You're missing all the fun!" and his voice gets smaller as he gets further away.
"I'm about to out drive all you bitches." Scarlett yells rocking left to right like she's a boxer. My eyes get big. I can't believe she just called us bitches, but Aiden laughs loudly. Before we know it, she's in a go kart spinning out really fast.
"I really can't take her anywhere." I joke with Aiden. He lets out a small laugh.
I've never seen him so lighthearted and happy. In school he's more reserved, and to himself and the parties he does attend, he's usually with some random girl.
"Here, let me help you in here." he takes my hand and leads me to the kart, and once I'm in there he leans down close enough that I feel the heat from his skin as he buckles me in. My heart stops. Even though it was only about ten seconds, it felt so much longer.
His hand pulls on the seat belt to make sure I'm securely fastened inside. "Okay, see this light?" He asks, and points at a green light on the dash. I nod up at him. "This is neutral. You have to keep it in this gear anytime you want to start it up." I nod again. "Okay."
"Now you want to turn the key, and press the gas at the same time."
"Okay, then what?" he's being really patient with me. "Once it starts, just push down on the shifter, and that will take you out of neutral."
"Okay, and that's it?" and he smiles big at me while he's still leaned in my go kart. "That's it. Just drive. Gas, break. Easy."
"Okay. I guess I'm ready then."
I wait on him to get into his kart, and once he gives me a thumbs up, I start it. It's so loud, and I can feel my entire body vibrate from the rapid movement. Aiden doesn't leave, until I do.
I slam on the gas, and I dart out so fast I swear my head felt like it was going to pop off. I know he saw me. I quickly slow down, but I'm starting to get the hang of it and push down steadily on the gas pedal.
In about a minute, Scarlett and Shawn fly by me so fast, while Aiden and Josh creep up on either side of me. I look over to Josh and he gives me a thumbs up screaming "You're doing awesome Andrews!" and then he speeds off leaving Aiden and I behind.
This is so much fun. I start to go really fast, and I love it. I can't believe I've never done this before. When I was little I remember dad taking Conner and Ross, but it just never interested me. I was missing out for sure.
At some point Aiden surpasses me with the rest of the gang which I'm okay with. The breeze is so nice on my face, and all I can hear is the go kart, and nothing else. It's kind of peaceful being able to block everything out.
I'm the last one to pull out of the track. We rode for about an hour, and I could have kept going but everyone else was ready to leave.
"How does it feel to be beat by a girl?" Scarlett is teasing all of them, and Shawn is just rolling his eyes at her "We let you win, you know that right?" He asks her and she firmly says "Whatever Shawn! You wish!" and she flips her head around at me. "About time slow poke!"
My goodness, you put that girl in a go kart and she gets really cocky. "Hey! I've never ridden one before." she just slaps my back as I walk to the circle.
Aiden elbows me. "I think you did awesome." he says and Scarlett says from my other side "Yeah, I mean you did okay. But hey, there's always next time!" and they all laugh at her again.
"Are you ready Scarlett?" I ask her. "Sure, if you are." I look at Shawn, and Josh "It was fun hanging out. We'll have to do this again." and they both lean in and give Scarlett and I side hugs. "Hell yeah! Next time I'm not letting anyone win. F. Y. I." Josh says slowly, and Scarlett just grunts.
"I'll walk you guys to your car." Aiden says to us. All three of us stay quiet until we're in my car. Aiden waves bye to Scarlett once she gets in the car, then walks me to the driver door. He walks up to me and gives me a hug, and whispers in my ear. "Thanks for texting me Andrews."
My heart rate accelerates. "Thanks for inviting me." I whisper back. "Be careful going home." he says to me as he's holding my door open. "You too."
As I pull out of the parking lot, Scarlett turns down the knob of the radio, and squeals really loud. "Mora, he likes you!"
"You think so?" I can't help but feed into her right now.
"I know so! He isn't the type to waste his time inviting a girl and walking her to her car unless he likes her!"
"I don't know."
"I know. He's different then guys like Ross, and Zach and all those guys. He's not friend material really."
"Well how do you know that? Neither of us really know him, Scarlett. We've always just been consumed with our little group of friends. Conroe is a big school."
Scarlett just pushes up her shoulders, and say's "I could be wrong, but I do know one thing... he likes you." and we both laugh. "And you like him too!" she says loudly.
"Guilty." I finally admit to her. She turns up the music dial again yelling over the music "I love when I'm right!"
We ride back home with the windows down, and our hair blowing in the breeze.
We get home around ten, and dad is already in bed. I go to his room and knock quietly cracking the door open "Dad we're home." and all I hear is "Okay" before closing the door back shut.
I run back downstairs and Scarlett is already in the freezer pulling out ice cream. "I had a lot more fun tonight then I thought I would." she says as I set down two bowels for her to scoop the ice cream in.
"Me too. Why is this the first time we ever did that?" I ask her and she looks at me with sad eyes. "Conner and I went a lot. That's how I got so good." I knew they went, but honestly didn't think about Conner tonight. "Ahh. I'm sorry Scarlett. I didn't even think about that."
"Oh it's okay Mora. I wanted to go. It was so much fun, but I do need to call him because I already have two miss calls from him."
"I understand." I smile at her.
While she's on the phone with my brother, I start getting ready for bed, when I hear my phone go off. I go over to my end table to get my phone off the charger. It's Aiden.
You make it home ok?
Yea.
I had a lot of fun tonight.
Me too! Thanks for inviting us and thank you for being such a great go kart teacher. :)
What are you doing tomorrow?
I have to go to work from one to five, but then I have no plans.
Are you going to the fish fry out at Zachs house?
Zoe told me something about it last week but I haven't put much thought into it.
Well if u decide u want to go, I don't mind picking u up if u don't want to drive.
Ok. I'll let you know once I'm off?
K.
What time does it start?
Four, but I can wait on u, or leave there to pick u up if you want.
Ok. I'll talk to you tomorrow then.
K. G-night. :)
Good night! :)
Scarlett finally comes back inside but she's been crying.
"Oh Scar. What's wrong." I ask her concerned.
"He's upset that I didn't answer my phone. I think he's just missing us more than he thought he would. It makes me sad. I just wish I could hold him right now." It upsets me that my brother is already having a hard time.
"Do I need to call him?" I ask her.
"No. He's going to sleep."
"He'll be okay, and you will be too. It's just really fresh right now." I smile at her and she falls into the other side of my bed. "I know." she sighs.
I thought about telling her that Aiden text me, but decided against it. She's missing Conner right now, and I don't want to upset her even more.