heart racer ; xiao

• the bard

After the race a week ago, I felt the joy and excitement all over again with racing. It was an experience only a few get to get.

Hu Tao continued to pester about the no named racer if he smelt good, if I found him attractive, if I'd ever date him, blah blah blah.

I got up out of my bed and stumbled my way to the kitchen to make some lemon water and get on with my day.

I have to head out later to meet with someone Childe suggested to me. This is probably not a great idea, but if it helps towards my racing then I'm fine.

I forgot his name, but I'll find out when I get there. All I remember is that he's shorter than me, which is kinda funny, but I cannot laugh when I see him.

My phone started going off and I looked to see Hu Tao was calling me. I reluctantly answered, knowing she might be calling for something stupid.

"Heyyyy y/nnnn." Hu Tao dragged on my name. This was already going in a bad direction and I just knew it.

"Get to the point Tao.." I was sarcastically annoyed with her, considering this is either about a guy or you know who.

"CAN I PLEASE COME WITH YOU TO MEET THAT GUY?!" She shouted through the phone. I had to pull it away from my ear to keep my hearing safe, yeesh...

"Why do you want to come?" I asked her back, genuinely curious why she would want to go anywhere far from home.

"Well for starters, you have a nice car and I'm bored and want to do something with my best friend!" I can just hear the smile on her face right now.

"Hmm.. fine, you can come! Under one condition!" I put my finger up in the air as if she could see it.

"No flirting with ANYONE!!" I shouted the last word to get it across her mind and through her skull. It won't stay but it's worth a shot.

"Okay deal! I'm packing right now. Come pick me up on your way!" She ended the call and I got back to my room to finish my packing. I'd be out for the weekend up State for the meeting.

After a few moments of packing, I got everything ready and made my way to my car. I said my goodbyes to my apartment for now and made my way to Hu Tao's.

I called her to let her know I was outside, but she was already outside the door and running up to my car.

"This is gonna be so much fun! I promise I won't be any trouble!" She threw her bag in the backseat and buckled herself up in the passenger.

"You better not! This could be important for me." I handed her the aux cord for her phone and she started playing her playlist.

The entire car ride was filled with singing, stopping for food and bathroom breaks, and Hu Tao thinking she saw a ghost. It took a good 2 hours to get to the destination.

We were staying at a hotel for now. Considering the meeting is tomorrow and we're here for an extra two days, we'll need to kill some time.

By the time we got to the hotel, it was around 5 PM. We checked in and made our way to the room to get our bags down and settle ourselves in.

Hu Tao immediately went to sleep on her bed after she just jumped on it. Doesn't surprise me considering it's her after all.

I went out to walk around the hotel and familiarize myself with some areas.

I guess I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings enough when I bumped into somebody. He was small and had braids. A hippie?

He turned around and looked at me. "Oh, hello!" He waves his hand ecstatically and put his hand out to help me back up.