Red And Blue

Real Friends

For the past few months, the new couple, plus Pickle, did their best to try to hide their relationship from the rest of their friends.

Crusher and Pickle had no trouble hiding it. Crusher wasn't really close to the other racers, after all. He mostly had only Pickle for a friend.

Blaze had a lot of trouble hiding it. Not only did he have to hide it from his closest friends ever but he also had to hide it from his best friend AJ, who he was living with. It was really difficult to do so, especially whenever he snuck out to go on a date with Crusher.

What made things worse was that the red truck wasn't as subtle as he had hoped to be...

.

.

.

"Hey, guys," AJ spoke as he entered Gabby's pit in the Monster Dome, where the rest of their racer friends were gathered.

"Hey, AJ, what's up?" Stripes asked, seeing the frown on the boy's face.

"It's Blaze... I think something's wrong with him," AJ admitted. "He's been acting really strange,"

"Now that ya mentioned it, Blaze HAS been acting strange these past few months," Starla agreed. "Like, how he doesn't win every race anymore,"

"And how he seemed a little flustered around Crusher sometimes," Watts pointed out. "Looking almost afraid,"

"Huh, that IS pretty weird," Darington admitted with a nod.

"What friends think wrong with Blaze?" Zeg asked.

"I don't know, but I've got a theory," Stripes told them. "Have any of you noticed Blaze sneaking out of the Monster Dome after races with Crusher?"

"Yeah, we have," Starla nodded. "What about it?"

"This might sound crazy but what if Crusher is blackmailing him to go with him?" Stripes thought out loud.

"What?" Darington stared at the tiger truck in disbelief. "That's not crazy, that's insane!"

"Crusher cheat, but Crusher not go that low, right?" Zeg agreed with the stunt truck with a nod.

"Maybe he did," AJ seemed to catch onto Stripes's theory. "He's not just sneaking out of the Monster Dome after races, you know. I see him sometimes try to sneak out of the house when he thinks that I don't see him,"

"Could Crusher REALLY be blackmailing him THAT badly?" Watts frowned.

"But with what exactly?" Gabby questioned. "And why? Blaze is still racing--"

"But he doesn't win!" Starla gasped. "I might not know what Crusher's usin' against Blaze, but one thing's for sure; it's keeping Blaze from beating him all the time!"

"You're right!" AJ let out a gasp. "We've got to tell Blaze and--"

"Tell me what?" Blaze asked as he came in the last minute. "What's going on, guys?"

"Just... talking, that's all!" Stripes drove forward with a forced grin. "Nothing that important, nope!"

"O... okay..." Blaze looked confused but shrugged it off as he backed up to drive off. "AJ, it's almost time for the race. We've, uh, gotta get to the starting line,"

"Meet you there, Blaze," AJ assured him. "I just need to finish up here,"

"Okay then," Blaze nodded and turned away to leave.

Just as he did, the boy turned back to the tiger truck in confusion.

"What was that for, Stripes?"