Short Track Lovin' ✅

Chapter 42: The Waiting Game

Saturday, July 1

Alan walks into the waiting room with the team in toe. He stops as he sees Bill and Cindy there, taking a glance back at the team with a nod, before continuing to move forward.

The team recognizes the gesture immediately, each taking a respective seat as they give Alan and the parents their distance. They were each worried about their driver, but knew the worry of a parent went further than that. They weren't about to breach the rules of respect.

"Hey," Alan says quietly, catching their attention. "Any update?" Bill shakes his head no as he rubs Cindy's shoulders, who sat in the chair by him. Alan could see the worry on his face, which just sunk him lower in his own worries. Normally they were the calm, cool, collected pair.

"They said they brought him in and took him to a room, and for us to wait here for when they had something to say," Bill replies as Alan could only shake his head. Typically a motion like that meant it was severe, something he wasn't wanting to hear with the worry already.

"I'm sure they'll have something to tell you soon. I can tell you that we caught it relatively quickly, so that's always a good thing. Greg mentioned he was pretty sure he'd be okay." Bill shakes his head, accepting, but knew he nor Cindy would be relaxed till they saw that for themselves.

"How'd it happen? I mean, I thought Chris was the cause and he was arrested today." Alan hated to bring up the explanation, and knew once thought about, Chase would probably kick himself in the ass for drinking the bottle. Though he was going to bite the bullet here, knowing the parents deserved an explanation.

"Chase normally brings a drink with him outta the motorcoach and sticks it in the trailer fridge till he wants it. The bottle he grabbed was something that he brought out Friday." Bill shakes his head in disbelief, knowing what that meant.

"So is there enough evidence to keep Chris locked up this time?" Cindy questions, having grown frustrated with him and wanting to give Chris a piece of her own mind. The timing also couldn't have come any worse, either, given she had just started to warm up to Sarina some. Whether that would happen moving forward was yet to be seen.

"I don't know," Alan comments. "Chase was waiting to hear from Sarina on some sor-"

"He still has a thing for her?" Alan stops immediately, having grown used to Cindy's complaints. In his mind, he wished she could separate the thoughts of Chris and Sarina from each other. However, he also understood the comments with the parental nerves mixed in.

"Yeah, he does. He was hanging in the lounge, putting off leaving, in hopes of some message in return." Cindy could only roll her eyes, but wasn't about to worry about that right now. There were bigger fish to fry, anyway. "Listen, if you guys need anything, we're all here for you. We'll give you the space you need, but the second you need something just ask. We care about him and believe me – he's going to be okay."

"Thanks Alan," Bill says as he gives the crew chief a quick hug before Alan heads over to where the team was sitting, taking a seat of his own.

It felt like forever as they sat there waiting for an update of any kind from the doctors in how Chase was doing. The room only stirred when they saw the door open, with Ryan Blaney entering with Darrell, Erin and Emma in toe.

"You didn't need to come," Alan states as he looks towards the young driver. "You should be resting..." He had heard about what happened to Ryan, and knew the instructions given as to what to do having been through similar with Jared.

"He stayed all Friday night for me, Alan," Ryan comments as he takes a seat beside the crew chief. "I owe it back to him to do the same. Besides, I'm worried and I couldn't relax no matter how hard I tried. You can ask the girls." Alan shook his head, understanding, knowing how close Ryan and Chase were as friends.