full throttle || h.s. ||

forty-one || shut up and drive

the song for this chapter is "Shut Up and Drive," by Rihanna :)

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Finley

   I walked over to the car with my embarrassment dissipating in a thin trail behind me. I twirled the keys on my fingers and felt the itch in my bones begin to take over the closer that I got to the car.

   I opened the door gently, as every aspect of this car was specifically designed and manufactured to be as light as humanly possible. It's part of the reason that the engine of the car was put in the back, visible from within the car. They wanted to make the front of the car lighter, making everything as compact as they could, and eliminating any aspect that they could afford to cut out.

   The aerodynamics of the car were top tier, as both Carol Shelby and his driver, Ken Miles, spent endless hours fine-tuning the car down to the most seemingly insignificant component. They were the kind of people that I aspired to be like when behind the wheel.

   They didn't just drive the car, they became melded into it. They became one with it.

   It was a skill set that not many drivers could say that they had, as it was much easier to jump behind the wheel and slam on the gas instantly, being too impatient to listen to the car, as they would much prefer just to see the power that it held.

   But just like the tortoise and the hare, in racing, slow and steady could also very well win the race. You had to be quick in thought, but slow and considerate when executing your actions.

   I slipped into the small seating area of the car. There was hardly any room to move my elbows in here, and I was a fairly small human being.

   I placed the key into the ignition, taking in a large breath of air as I stepped on the gas and turned the key, my whole body being filled with the vibrations of the car coming to life in a ferocious manner.

   I adjusted my seat and tested out each of the settings until I finally decided on a comfortable distance from the wheel. Then, keeping the car in park, I began to press on the gas. Even though Harry had warmed the car up on the drive here, I intended to drive this car like it was meant to be driven, on a track, and for that, I needed to make sure that the engine was warm enough to have everything run smoothly.

   The hiss and high pitch shrill of the air escaping the exhaust pipes could be heard plenty loud enough from inside the car, and I could only begin to imagine the volume of it from outside of the car.

   I glanced up at Alex and Tommy through the window, who were smiling at me proudly and shaking their heads in amazement.

   I myself was amazed. Never in a million years did I think that I would be driving the car that I had only ever heard stories about, let alone racing it.