The Crew: A New Beginning

Chapter 7

Later that day, after CeeCee had shown him around her big and spacious apartment, Josh went back to his dad's to collect his things. As he packed stuff in boxes that he had kept from when they had moved into the apartment, something didn't seem right. It wasn't the fact that his dad was secretly seeing another woman, it was the fact of how comfortable he was with this girl, as if he knew her from another life or something. He scratched his head, trying to think, but nothing came to him, even though something about her or her story was familiar. As they had lunch earlier that day, she had told him she had grown up in Brisbane, went to 2 different private schools and used to have a big group of friends til they dispersed. She had told him she never kept in touch with any of them anymore except for "Annie". The way she described her old best friend sounded like someone he knew, or someone he was trying to remember, but he couldn't put his finger on it. After awhile he got so frustrated, he decided to shrug it off and focus on packing. Finally, by late afternoon, he had everything carted and unpacked in CeeCee's penthouse. He knew by the time his father got home, he'd find an empty nest, but Josh wasn't caring anymore. He already sent a resignation to the law firm, and then applied for a few other jobs around town. CeeCee also made it her duty to help him and together that moment they sat at her dining room table with her laptop, scrolling through potential jobs.

"There's a meet on tonight, up at HotShots Cafe at EagleFarm, you up for it?" CeeCee asked suddenly, looking down at her phone. Josh leaned back in his chair and nodded eagerly. "Heck yes! You don't know how much I miss getting back out there. At least my dad didn't throw out my photography equipment, that would've been a disaster," he replied hastily. CeeCee giggled and looked at him with intriguing eyes. "You seem to love this car photography stuff? Was this what you were doing back at the GC? How'd you get into it?" She asked, interested. Josh looked taken back. No one had ever been really interested in his work. Except for Ella that is. He bit his lip and kind of shyly smiled. "My friend Tom and I got into it when we both got our licences in high school. We tried to set up a crew but there was these group of guys, who were like, popular or whatever. They gave us a hard time. My dad gave me my first camera when I was 16 and then upgraded when I was 18. I got so into it that I turned into a business.........which was ruined 2 years ago," Josh lowered his eyes. He didn't want to think about the past. CeeCee recognised the heaviness and slid her hand over his. "Hey, it's okay, I understand. Sometimes old dreams gotta die so that you can make new dreams, or better ones. I could ring around for you, my friend Annie actually is into that stuff, she's coming back into town this weekend to take me to SummerFest, I could get her to talk to you bout some of that," CeeCee said. And there was that name again. Josh wrinkled his nose. He was still trying to remember but he couldn't think, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was up either. He was about to say something when his phone started ringing. "Hold on, I have to take this," he said, abruptly moving his hand from underneath hers. CeeCee looked a bit disappointed that the moment had been ruined by a phone call. Josh got up and made his way out on to the rooftop balcony.

"Hello?" He answered, hesitantly. He did not know the number that was calling and was surprised. Only his dad, Tom and Ash, and his mother and sister Lizzie knew his new number. "You do not know who I am but I'd be aware of who you are hanging out with, the past come right behind and bite you in the back, you wouldn't like what you find." Whoever it was on the other line had disguised their voice before abruptly hanging up. Josh frowned at his phone and pressed redial. This time the number was disconnected. "Is something wrong?" CeeCee asked, when he came back inside. He scratched his head. "Uhh no, must've been a prank caller," he responded with a shrug as he sat back down. But he still couldn't shrug off that feeling that he couldn't put his finger on.

That night, Josh and CeeCee went with his car to HotShots Cafe. He had heard about it before, a few guys from his old crew used to make their way up to Brisbane and hoped that he might see them. The turn out was pretty amazing, JDM stock cars, luxurious high performance vehicles, even some of the Supercars were lined up in the car park as he pulled his Honda Civic into a spot. CeeCee had his camera gear. She took a look at him and grinned, snapping a photo with his camera. "Look at you! Like a kid in a candy store," she said with a giggle. Josh pulled a face and took his camera from her. "Yeah, now this, makes me feel like home," he said, grinning back as they got out of the car. As they walked around and chatted with people, he heard the word "SummerFest" being thrown around a lot. Finally he asked CeeCee. "Ok, seriously, what is this SummerFest thing and why haven't I heard of it before?" CeeCee laughed and Josh found out he could be at ease with her, and there was no drama attached. So far. "It's a big car event at the Raceway, they started doing it last year, it's similar to DriftMasters," she explained. Josh's eyes lit up at the sound of QLD Raceway. He hadn't been to the track in forever and he hoped Tommy still worked there. "My best mate.......I don't speak to him that much anymore, but he works there, or used to, I'm not too sure now," Josh responded. CeeCee smiled. "Cool, well then if he's there, you should introduce me," she reached up and brushed the side of his hair before skipping off to chat to someone she'd recognise. Now Josh knew that there was some flirting going on, but he didn't think it was that serious and harmful, yet he didn't want to think about relationships again so soon. He sighed and headed into the crowd, continuing to take photos of the throngs of people and the pimped out cars.