FIN

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THE COFFEE WHICH JEFFREY had brought me quickly did the trick and after about an hour and a half and three cups of black coffee, I was feeling totally sober and ready for the race.

There was now a large crowd gathered in front of the house and just about everyone at the party was standing outside to see what would happen with the race.

Kelly was standing next to me, encouraging me. But to be honest, I was getting slightly irritated by her possessive attitude toward me whenever it suited her.

She seemed quite happy to leave me on my own when she wanted to mingle with the other guests, but as soon as the spotlight was on me, she was very keen to be right there next to me.

I kept glancing over at Maria and got the feeling that she was slightly uncomfortable standing there with Johnny.

I was glad she was going to be the timekeeper for the race. It felt right to me. I knew that I could trust her to do an honest job.

I realized that the whole thing had gotten slightly out of hand as I looked at the excited crowd which had gathered outside. The whole thing was supposed to have been just an impromptu bit of fun, but now it seemed it had turned into a full-scale cock-measuring contest between Johnny and me.

I realized that it would be difficult for me to ever live down the event if Johnny happened to beat me at a race in my very own driveway.

“Just try to remember how you always used to come through in those high school football matches. You always had a way of making things work out and winning when the chips were down!” Kelly said and even though I knew she was just trying to encourage me, there was something about her words which didn’t quite feel right to me.

I didn’t like to think of this as a situation where ‘the chips were down.’

I was standing outside my multimillion dollar house preparing to take a ride in my Ferrari, for God’s sake!

The way Kelly spoke to me did take me back to my high school days, but not all of the memories which flooded my mind were pleasant.

I was reminded, once again, how Kelly and her parents had abandoned me when I had the injury and for her to pretend that she had always been by my side to support me through everything, made me feel sick.

But I kept a smile on my face and headed toward Johnny and Maria.

“Are you ready?” I asked Johnny.

“Let’s do this! I suggest we flip a coin to see who will go first.”

I took out a coin and Johnny called ‘heads’ as I flipped it up in the air. It was heads and that meant Johnny could decide whether he wanted to go first or second.

“I guess it’s my choice then! Why don’t I go first and set the bar so high that you will never reach it?” Johnny said and I just smiled at his arrogance.

“Ready when you are,” was all I said before I turned around and walked over to where my Ferrari was parked.

Kelly gave me a big hug and when I turned around I noticed Johnny walking over to his BMW.

There was an electric excitement in the air and all of the guests shouted their opinion as to whom they thought would win the race.

Johnny got into his car and started up the engine. The engine roared to life.

Then Johnny drove off and by the way he cornered around the fishpond, I could tell that this was going to be a tight race.

This was not even part of his official run yet as Johnny was still only on his way to my front gate from where he would do his timed run, and already it looked as if he was really into it.

He sped down my driveway and turned his car around to face us.

I looked up at the stairs and saw Maria standing there with a white handkerchief in her hand. She had her cell phone in her other hand and she was clearly ready to start the race with her signal.

She brought down the handkerchief with a sharp move of her left hand and clicked the button on her cell phone to start the stopwatch.

Everyone screamed their approval, as Johnny sped off at lightning speed from my front gate and started racing up the driveway toward the fishpond.

His car had excellent traction and he made it all the way into fifth gear half way through his run. He was driving very fast and for a second I thought he was going to crash right into the fishpond.

Just before he got to the pond, he geared all the way down and took the turn around the pond just like an experienced race car driver. He came to a screeching halt right in front of the house and Maria clicked the button on her cell phone again to stop the clock.

“8.6 seconds!” Maria shouted and everyone cheered as they watched Johnny getting out of his car.

He waved.

I felt a little bead of sweat dripping down the side of my face as I nervously walked over to my Ferrari. There was no point in standing around and getting even more nervous, so I looked at Kelly and Maria one last time before getting into my car and starting up the engine.