A Chance Encounter

Chapter 1

As I opened my eyes, blinking from the sudden brightness, I felt a wave of excitement come over me. Today was the day. Today I was going to see supercross for the first time in person! I was beyond excited; I have been dreaming of this day for years!

"Olivia! Wake up! We only have four hours to get ready!" my best friend Aria shouts from the hotel bathroom. I had finally been able to convince her to come with me when I showed her a photos of a couple riders. I mean they're undeniably attractive, what girl in her right mind could possibly resist? My parents had been nice enough to fly us out to Anaheim and get us amazing tickets for my Christmas present. Originally, my dad had wanted to come as well, but lucky for me, my mom convinced him otherwise. It was my first solo trip without a parental figure- and I was ecstatic.

"Earth to Liv?" I snapped out of my thoughts to see Aria standing at the foot of my bed.

"Sorry Ari, I was just thinking about tonight!" How can she blame me though, tonight was A1! The first supercross of 2021. The best possible way to start the new year.

"Come on, you need to get ready! Its already 11 and we still need to get food before the meet thingy starts." Aria was right, almost. Fanfest started in a couple of hours and I needed to look my absolute best. I was determined to meet the one and only Chase Sexton today. He was one of my favourite riders, not to mention the fact that he was insanely cute.

"I'm up! I'm up! No need for the death glare." I quickly got up before she did anything rash. In the past she had been known to use cold water and other tactics. "I need coffee before I can do anything though Ari." I truly wasn't able to function until I had some caffeine in my system. I looked up to see her disappointed gaze fixated on me. "I saw a coffee shop downstairs; I'll be quick I promise!"

"I swear Liv, if you aren't back in less than 15 minutes, I am going to come find you and drag your ass back here, coffee or not!" She paused for a moment before adding "But can you please get me an iced coffee and a muffin?"

I just laughed while slipping on my runners. "Of course!" I swiped my room key off the nightstand and ran out the door, literally. By the time I made it to the elevators, I was out of breath. I really do need to workout more I thought to myself. The elevator seemed to take forever and I was fully zoned out thinking about Chase and what I was going to say to him when the doors finally opened. I stepped into the elevator and went to push the lobby button when I realized it was already triggered. I frantically looked up, only to gasp.

I was in the elevator with Adam fucking Cianciarulo! I tried to say something, anything, but nothing would come out. I was just standing there, staring, at Adam Cianciarulo!

"Uh hey?" He said, finally putting me out of my misery.

"Hi!" I said way too excitedly. But at least I snapped out of my gawking. Think Liv, say something cool and cute I thought, but could not come up with anything once again. Wait a minute... What was he doing here in the first place? Shouldn't he be at the arena? I was about to say something before the ding of the elevator sounded. We had made it to the lobby and I also managed to make a complete fool out of myself.

"Well... This is my stop... Nice meeting you?" He said with awkwardness dripping from his voice. All I could muster was a wave. I couldn't believe it. I had a chance encounter with Adam and I completely blew it! I mean sure, he wasn't my all-time favourite rider, but he was pretty damn cool... Unlike myself.

I raced over to the coffee bar and ordered myself an extra-large espresso, a bagel, and then Ari's stuff. Thanking the barista who handed me my order, I raced back up to our room. If I didn't hurry, I knew Aria would literally come get me.

"ARIA!" I screamed as soon as I opened our door. "ARIAAAA!" I screamed again; I couldn't wait to tell her about my elevator ride.

"What is so important you needed to scream about?" She finally called from the bathroom.

"I JUST MET ADAM CIANCIARULO" I screamed yet again.

"Who?" She asked. Which in turn, made me roll my eyes and let out a huge sigh.

"I just met the cute guy who rides a green bike!" I told her in terms she would understand.

"No way!! The one who is so cute I followed him on Instagram?" She said excitedly.

"ARIA! That's Austin Forkner, not Adam Cianciarulo..." I knew she didn't know much about the sport, but c'mon, she should know the name of the guy she followed. "I'm talking about the one that I follow!!".

"No way Liv! That's so sick! I know you like him! What happened? Did you guys have a meet-cute and it was love at first sight?" Aria rambled on. "Did you exchange numbers? Did you kiss? Are you going to see each other again?"

"Woah Ari! Calm down!" I started. "I just stood there like an idiot and said hi... Plus if I wanted to have a meet-cute with anyone, it would be Chase Sexton".

"Are you kidding me? That's all you did? Ugh... Whatever hurry up and get ready. Maybe you'll get a shot with the Sexton guy you keep talking about" And with that, I finally began getting ready.

Three hours later we were both ready. I was ready to meet my favourite rider, and Aria was ready to meet any cute guy she came across, rider or not. We quickly grabbed lunch from the coffee place downstairs before calling an Uber.

"Aria, does my makeup look ok?" I asked for the millionth time. I was just so nervous. This was my dream come true, and even if I didn't meet Chase, I wanted to take as many pictures as possible to document every moment.

"You look hot Liv, I promise" She reassured me once again. Before I could protest, our Uber drove up. We both hopped into the backseat and made small talk with our driver. When he finally dropped us off, I was almost shaking with excitement. I was here, at A1, the same place as the guy I had a crush on for over a year. "Let's do this!" Aria said breaking me out of my thoughts.

"I just can't believe I'm actually here!" With that we joined the nearest line and went through security. After accidently setting the metal detector off with my cellphone, we were finally in the arena. "Lets go find FanFest before anything else!" I knew there was still hours before anything even started, but I couldn't wait any longer.

"Oooh I bet there's lots of hotties over there" Aria said

"Well duh!" With that, we made our way back outside to the place I was most excited for- FanFest. Before I could even start to look for the Honda pit, and more importantly Chase, I ran into something. Or someone rather. "I am so sorry!" I said before looking up.

"No worries! A cutie like you can run into me any time" He said with a wink. "But seriously its okay, I'm Austin by the way" No fucking way! I had another encounter with a Kawasaki rider, yet this time I literally ran into them.

"Oh my god, hi!" I squeaked out, nervous and shocked at the same time. Wait a minute, did Austin Forkner just call me cute?

"Can I get your name by chance?" He asked. He was even more attractive in person. In fact, I didn't know it was even possible to be this good-looking. "Are you okay?" He asked again. Oh shit! I still hadn't told him my name.

"I'm Olivia... and yes I'm fine" I said at no more than a whisper. To my left Aria laughed and then promptly excused herself.

"Well Olivia, I am sorry for running into you like that" He paused with a smile. "I'm not sorry it caused us to meet though" Instantly a blush crept on to my face and broke into a grin.

"Well Austin, I'm sure you have important stuff to do to get ready for the race. I'll be cheering for you in the crowd" I don't know where my sudden confidence came from but then I leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Good luck" I whispered into his ear and then walked away. This time he was in shock.