Presley

 

“First off, what kind of dress is that? And second, no, you aren’t coming with me if you wear that! It’s a drag race, not a bull fight in Spain, for God sakes, Jodi!”

“What? I like it, it adds drama.”

“Sure, if you were the Chiquita banana lady it would be perfect, but you aren’t. Jeans and a t-shirt or you are staying here.”

“You are such a party pooper!”

“Yep, that’s me. He just texted me the address, and according to GPS, it’s going to take about thirty minutes to get there, so hurry up. His brother is saving us a seat, so that should be nice and awkward.”

Jody emerges from the bathroom with a ponytail, one of my vintage Beatles tees, and her tight red jeans. Of course, she looks fabulous and not at all like she just threw it on.

“Nah, it won’t be awkward. I know Codi a bit, he’s Brian’s friend and a cool kid. Okay, I’m done here, let’s go. I promised Dee we would swing by and get her on our way.”

“Zeek isn’t coming?” Jodi half laughs, half scoffs.

“Yeah right. Even the best nachos in the world couldn’t temp him to go to a car race of any kind. Dee’s dad use to race, so she loves it and is a fountain of knowledge on the subject. I figured it wouldn’t hurt for you to have someone who actually knew the rules and not just “fast one wins.”

“Excellent point! I knew there was a reason why I kept you around.”

We swing by the Kappa house to pick her up and we are on our way. Once we make it to the race track, we park in the lot and jump out. Dee takes a deep breath and smiles.

“You smell that, ladies? There’s nothing like race day.”

“She’s joking, right?” I whisper to Jodi.

“Nope, I wish she was. Racing is in her blood. Lord, I hope you get used to the smell.”

Once we get in, the excitement in the air is catching. As we walk, I can feel the rumble all the way up my legs. No wonder Barrett loves this so much. The entire place comes alive and it must put him on even playing ground, since nobody can hear a thing. My eyes scan the crowd, stopping on a good-looking kid waving with both hands. He has a wide smile and friendly eyes and I feel bad for thinking it, but there’s no way this is the brother of Broody Barrett.

“That’s not Barrett’s little brother, is it?” I ask Jodi, nodding over to the kid.

“Yep, sure is.” She takes the lead and heads straight for him with Dee on her heels. I take my time following, so I can get a good look at him. He is so opposite from his brother that I almost laugh. They have a similar build, but Barrett has a few inches on him. Other than that, he is all light to his brother’s dark. He radiates happiness that I can see even from this distance.

“Pres, this is Barrett’s younger brother, Codi.”

“Younger and better looking, right, Jodi?” He jokes with a wide grin and puts his hand out to shake.

“It’s nice to meet you, Codi,” I say, taking his hand.

“Oh, the pleasure is all mine. Three beautiful ladies all to myself for the afternoon, it looks like Christmas has come early this year.” Jodi rolls her eyes but Dee and I can’t help but chuckle.

“Can I get you ladies anything to eat or drink before the races start?”

“I think we’re good, thanks.”

“You sure?”

“Yep, I’m sure we’ll want a break in a bit, so we can get something then.”

“Okay, I’ll be back. I’m going to check in with the guys and make sure they’re good to go, and then I’ll be back to explain everything.”

“We’re good, take your time. Apparently, Dee here is an expert.”

“Oh, be still my heart.” He dramatically clutches his chest, pretending to swoon.

“Get out of here, you goon, we’re fine.” He sends Jodi a mock salute and then he’s off.

“You didn’t tell me what a character he is. He’s nothing at all like his brother.”

“He’s a good kid. I don’t know much about his brother, but you’re right—they’re like night and day.”

“Shhh, the first pass is starting,” Dee chides. Sure enough, the rumble starts in my toes and leaves my teeth shaking.

“This is just the burn out. They are warming up the cars and tires. See how they are coming back to the starting line now?”

I nod, watching as the cars reverse right to the line. The smell of burned rubber is in the air and I watch with more excitement than I thought I’d have as these two strangers line up to race.

“Do you see that there in the middle?” Dee point to the lights up ahead. “That’s called the Christmas tree, it counts down the race by color. Obviously green means go.” As soon as she says it, the two cars are off.

“Wow, they go so fast!” Two parachutes pop out, scaring the life out of me. Both Dee and Jodi laugh as I jump.

“Oops, sorry girl, I guess I should have warned you. That’s to help slow the car down since they’re going so fast for only such a short distance of sixty-sixty feet. Those screens right there are the drivers’ times.”

“So now what happens?”

“The winner goes on to the next bracket. The winners of each race are bracketed against the other winners.”

“Oh, very cool. Geez, you really do know all about this stuff, don’t you?”

“Yeah, my dad has been racing for years. I’ve done his pit crew a few times when I’m free. It’s so much fun, but exhausting work. It’s so much pressure on you, if anything goes wrong with the car, it all lands on the pit’s shoulders.”

“Um yeah, no thank you.”

“You do pit too, huh?” Codi snuck up on us without us even noticing since it’s so loud here.

“Yep. Why aren’t you down there now?”

“B wanted to make sure you girls were good. They have plenty of guys down there today anyway. We have about fifteen guys total on his pit and usually we have about eight per race. He’s covered, I just went down to make sure they didn’t need an interp.”

“If he needs you to interpret for him, please go. We are totally fine, Codi.” He smiles wide and shakes his head.

“Not for B. He’s good. Once he’s in the car, it’s just him and the road. I mean for a few of the other pit guys.”

“He has deaf guys on pit?” Dee asks, looking impressed.

“Yeah, about six total, but only four today. I like to make sure there is someone at all times who can interpret just in case, but Casen and Randy are there today, so they’re good. I’ll go back down in a bit, but it’s kind of nice to be able to watch him from the stands. I don’t think I’ve ever not been with the crew. Randy said to tell you hi. He’s going to come around after the race to see you.”

“Awesome. Dee was just explaining some of the rules to me. It’s pretty interesting. So how long has your brother been doing this?”

“Oh geez, years. He started out as a little guy doing go-karts and then just progressed from there. He’s always loved driving, I’ve never seen him more alive than when he’s behind the wheel of a car. Just wait until you see him, he’s like an extension of the car itself. It’s beautiful to watch.” He beams when he talks about his brother, you can’t hide that kind of pride.

“There’s B, he’s up.” I can’t help but smile. He goes to all of his races and yet he still manages to get this excited at the sight of his brother.

“Now watch the Christmas Tree carefully, er, the lights.”

“Yeah, I know all about the tree, old pro filled me in.”

“A lot of the guys tend to peel out, or swerve just a bit when they take off. The really seasoned ones are smooth, though. But Barrett, man, the guy is butter.”

I watch the lights, and right as they turn green, my eyes are riveted on the cars ahead. Sure enough, the car on the left guns it. He is the first to pull ahead but in a blink of an eye Barrett is far ahead of him and done with the race a good few car lengths before the other guy.

“Smooth, right?”

“That was amazing. How does he go that fast that smoothly? I remember from the street race he never jerked either.”

“I’ve asked him that many times, but he just shakes his head. It’s hard for him to explain, but the best he could say was that he thinks he can feel the vibrations before everyone else. He’s so trained in them and is so sensitive that he lets them guide him. The other drivers are so used to going off of sight and sound that they see green and it’s instantly go. Barrett lets the car move him, not the other way around.”

“Man, that’s amazing!”

“Yeah, he’s going to go far, that’s for sure. Once he’s out of high school he’ll be able to race full time and—”

“Excuse me?”

“High school?”

“He’s what?”

All three of us cut him off with our own surprised statement at this realization.

“Hold up, your brother is in high school?” I’m floored by this! He doesn’t look a day under twenty.

“Coo-coo-ca-choo, Mrs. Robinson,” Jodi chirps beside me, earning her an elbow to the ribs. Codi looks stunned as well, but guilt creeps into his face.

“Um, you guys didn’t know that?”

“No, I didn’t.” I shoot Jodi a scowl.

“Hey, don’t look at me. I only knew he was Codi’s older brother, I didn’t know anything else, and the guy does not look young enough to be in high school.”

“Well, he’s eighteen, so he’s totally legal,” Codi adds looking proud.

I hide the groan wanting to escape. Nothing is going on with us, we’ve hardly even talked, but just the idea that I was digging a guy in high school makes me feel like a creeper.

“See, Pres, he’s two years younger…that’s not too bad.”

“First of all, there’s nothing going on with us, and second, two years younger maybe, but it’s three grades.” I skipped seventh grade, so for the past several years I’ve been a year younger than most of my friends, although once you hit college that tends to not matter.

“Like that matters.” Jodi tosses her hair and twerks an eyebrow at me.

“I’m going to go congratulate B and make sure he doesn’t need anything. I’ll check back with you ladies in a bit.” It’s hardly out of his mouth before Codi bolts off.

“I wouldn’t worry about it, girl. Hot is hot, and he can drive like the wind,” Dee adds, like either of those things matter to me. Oh well, I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

 

 

Barrett: TY come race. Have fun?

I look down at my screen and smile. We bowed out as soon as it was over, telling Codi we had a ton of studying to do, but I’m pretty sure he saw right through that. The age difference doesn’t really bother me, but the guy is in high school. It makes me feel a bit weird.

Presley: We had a great time! Thanks so much for inviting us, I learned so much.

Barrett: Codi say you freak find out I’m in H.S.

Well crap. There goes the whole just ignore it thing. It’s not like we were anything but strangers, so I don’t know why It should be weird. So what if I’m attracted to him? He’s an attractive guy. And legal, that doesn’t make me Mrs. Robinson…right?

Presley: I wouldn’t say freaked out. I was surprised you were only in high school is all, you look much older.

I leave out the ‘and it made me feel like a creepy old perv’ part because that’s just sort of implied.

Barrett: How old u?

Presley: Don’t you know it’s rude to ask a lady her age?

Barrett: That old huh?

He follows up with a gif image of Dorothy from The Golden Girls and I can’t help but burst out laughing. The kid is pretty funny, something I didn’t pick up on before.

Presley: Geez, at least let me be Blanche.

Although he totally hit the nail on the head. I’m Dorothy through and through. If anyone was Blanche, it’d be Jodi, but a girl can dream in her fake texts to her high school…well, we aren’t really even friends, so I’m not sure what he is. Text pal? He sends over another gif this time the image is of Blanche looking scandalous with a much younger man and I laugh again.

Presley: You are getting delirious. Go to bed you little whipper snapper.

Barrett: LOL! You really are old. Had to look up on Wikipedia.;)

Presley: Hey, don’t sass your elders.

Barrett: Good night Presley. Don’t forget take out teeth before bed.

I send him my own gif that wasn’t exactly lady-like, but it keeps the smile on my face until I fall asleep. We text back and forth random little messages the rest of the week. Mostly him mocking me for my “old age” since I finally broke down and told him I’m only two years older. He then started snapping random pictures of things at his high school and sending them to me. Things like a lunch tray, juice box, I’m pretty sure the monkey bars weren’t actually from his school but they made me smile, which is something I find myself doing a lot lately.