If Normal Was a Thing

Dirty Racing

I woke up sometime later to rain hitting my face, and wind tickling my ears. It wasn't cold though, surprisingly the rain was nice and warm, but I wasn't going to stick around and let myself get all wet. Inside my room, fell on top of the bed and pulled the throw blanket over my body. It wasn't long until the sound of the rain lulled me back into a peaceful slumber.

I didn't wake up until Oakley plopped onto the bed, making it jostle around, and me fall down. I landed on the floor with a thunk, and Oakley's giggles rang out, breaking any sort of peace that my morning could have potentially held. The dream that I'd been having dissolved away as mild irritation replaced it.

"Sang, lazy bones, get off the ground, mom's made breakfast and we've got to runs some errands!"

I groaned and rolled under the bed, springing up on the other side, grinning wildly, "What kind of errands?" I asked, while walking to the closet.

"I don't know, mom wants us to go to somewhere or something," she waved her hand. Oakley was dressed up in a pair of black skinny jeans with a light spring green blouse with ruffles all over the front, and a leather jacket, with her ankle boots.

I raised an eyebrow at her outfit, "Bikes?"

She grinned, simply replying with a wink. I smiled in return, and looked at the closet. It was full of things I would wear, and then some. Stuff for every occasion, season, and .. even theme parties. I turned to look at Oakley, frowning softly as I fingered the material of a satin shirt.

Oakley swung her eyes my direction and then she gave a small laugh, "You know mom," she shrugged softly, "just smile and thank her."

I looked back at the closet. The room alone was something I had been blown away by, but to have a closet full of clothes that were nothing but mine, and not hand me downs or thrift shop finds. I bit my inner cheek and found a pair of black leggings and paired them with a light pink button down shirt, and laced up my tennis shoes.

Oakley made me braid her hair, while I left mine in simple waves. Together we ran down stairs and into the kitchen where the smell of french toast clung to every surface, and the maple syrup made your mouth water at the sight. We sat down at the table, and Mom sat down across from us.

She started to eat, and I paused looking around, "Where's dad?" I asked, hesitantly grabbing some food.

Mom smiled, covering her french toast in whip cream, "He had to run an errand," she shrugged, eyes flickering up to me and then lighting up, "How do you like the closet? And the room," her eyes got a little wide with worry, "They're good right? I mean, I know you didn't have a lot of input-"

I put my hand up to cut off her worry-ramble fest, "No, it's wonderful, better than perfection. Thank you so much, for everything," I said, and ducked my head, stuffing a big bite of food into my mouth.

"So, mom, what all are we doing for you today?" Oakley asked, steering the conversation away from me.

"Well," she started, "first off I seemed to have forgotten some basic female products, and if you could also bring home some cookie dough, that would be lovely," she said, finishing her food and picking up the plate.

"We were going to watch movies all day, was there something you wanted us to rent?" Oakley said, grabbing my plate as she followed her mother to the kitchen.

I brushed my hands against my pants and threw my hair up into a messy bun, knowing it would get tangled if I let it blow free in the wind.. even with the helmet. With a yawn, I made my way back upstairs to grab a backpack, and my cellphone. When I had everything I needed, I decided to back up and throw some eyeliner on.

I'm not a make up girl, nor would I really ever be. But sometimes putting a little bit on just felt like I was putting on battle armor. But for what I needed to be protected from today, I hadn't the slightest idea.

In the garage, I pulled out both of our motorcycles, and made sure they were in top notch shape before climbing onto mine and pulling my helmet down. The one thing mom made us promise when we got these, was that we'd wear helmets and our leather jackets. She didn't exactly like the idea of us riding around on them, but these things were a precautionary that could potentially save us from quite a lot of damage.

Oakley ran out just as I was firing up my bike and she gave me a warm smile. Our helmets had a small microphone in it, and a single ear piece that made it so that we could talk while we were riding, which came in handy more than we originally thought it would.

I waited until she was on her bike and ready to go, before zooming down the road. I love the bronco, don't get me wrong. But something about the way your body controls the bike, the way it feels like you're floating down the road... not to mention what Oakley likes to call aftershocks.

"Sang, do you want to pick up Chinese take out while we're at it?"

I glanced in my mirror, Oakley was behind me, but not too far, "Sure, we just have to make sure we have room, I mean, you forgot a backpack to carry anything," I said, letting my voice be playful yet accusing.

"Ugh, I'll carry it home, I didn't even think about that part," she said, and I could tell she was being sincere.

"It's fine."

We drove in mutual silence for a little bit. There weren't a lot of cars out, and it was a nice day, the sun was out, and while it was a little too hot for the leather jacket, the wind made it a little more bearable. Someone pulled up next to me, in the other lane. When I looked over, expecting to see Oakley revving her engine and silently asking for a race, I saw what looked like a guy, in some nice jeans and his own leather jacket, helmet combo. He revved his engine, and I couldn't help but laugh.

Oakley pulled up next to me as well and tilted her head in questioning. I could almost imagine her pouting her lip and giving me the best puppy dog beg one had ever seen, but she and I both know it's unnecessary, because I, admittedly, have a very bad addiction to dares and races and competition of any kind.

As if yesterday's dare wasn't proof enough.

I nodded at Oakley and revved my engine at the stranger. He tilted his head and then sped off, thinking he had us with a surprise. But what he didn't know, and what he was about to learn, is Oakley and I never lose.. well without one hell of a fight.

Which probably makes it a little entertaining on one of those rare occasions when we fight.

We sped off after the guy, and I worked my way until we were sandwiching him between us, at which point he sped up even more.

"Oakley," I said, frustrated that his bike seemed to have just as much torque as ours, "do the thing," I said.

There was a huff, and then her bike started to wobble as if she was losing control. We both let off the gas, and the guy noticed her predicament as well. He let off the gas, and pressed the breaks, putting a nice skid mark on the pavement. At this time, when he was breaking too much to let go and get some good speed, we sped up, Oakley's bike "miraculously" righted itself no problem. The guy, who was probably a really nice person if he was willing to stop racing to make sure his opponent wasn't about to die, was left in our dust.