"Okay, so this week I need a song written and produced only by you and your partner. Tyler, you got lucky." He nods. "I always do."
I really just wanted to be home. Or somewhere dark and quiet. "You feeling okay?" He asks, walking beside me. "I'll take the silence as a no and ask you if there's anything I can do."
"No." Louis stops us both in the hallway. "Do either of you happen to know how to sew?"
"Hero does." Tyler answered. "Oh thank god, I have a hole on my shirt and it's stressing me out." I had one headphone in but apparently it was enough to completely zone out.
"He's on autopilot." Hero said, holding her hand on my shoulder. "Ah, why?"
"Sometimes you just need to. Hey," Hero grabs my face. "We're going to get food. Okay? We're taking you with us. Don't be surprised when you find yourself in a diner."
"Okay." I wasn't surprised, but I was confused. I didn't know how she'd known. Maybe she's down the same? "Do you have any dietary restrictions?" Louis asked. "Uh, mustard and- uhm, eggs- meat, I don't like chicken or, anything else."
"Okay." Louis stood up from the table, I watched him walk into the back of the kitchen, they didn't seem as confused about this as they should. "Can he do that?"
"Yeah he's been doing that in pretty much every place we go. Apparently he's just really good at it. Knows a lot of people or whatever." Hero rambles, Tyler just watching her with a smile. "Do you know him pretty well?"
"I mean, we all talk a lot. Like a lot a lot. He's just interested in everything, Tyler's surfing, my car- oh god he was so interested in my car it was fucking great."
"What car do you drive?" Tyler drops his head back scoffing at her. "R35, gtr."
"Oh my god, I drive the r33 skyline. Do you race?" She looks up at me from her sauce with a smile. "Do you want to? I know a place." She nods. "I do but-"
"No come on. You can't chicken out." She huffs. "Dude i literally just cannot, i want to, but I can't." I turned to face Tyler. He had this smug look on his face. "Why won't she race me?"
"Her dad's a cop. The second he heard her license plate she'd be done. Locked away in his house like Cinderella." I drop my hands onto the table. "Why buy a race car if you're not going to drive the race car?"
"Because- it looks pretty. Plus I get to change it around like a little doll. It was purple last week. Now it's like a midnight blue. It's so pretty." Louis stops at the end of the table.
"This is what you can eat." This was probably the most perfect food I've ever seen. "I thought you said you couldn't cook." Tyler laughs. "I can't cook for shit no. I just tell people things and then boom, here it is."
They all got theirs a couple minutes after I got mine. Louis just sat there rambling about fucking, god knows what. I wasn't really listening. He could've drugged this food and I wouldn't even mind because it tastes so much better than anything I've had recently.
I ate it slowly because I didn't want to end up with nothing. But I knew I would end up hungry again in about ten minutes. "Harry, I'm sorry if this is rude and you can ignore me if you please, but how did you get the scars?"
She sure does like to prolong her questions. "Oh uh- skateboarding, surfing- running from, people. Fences, fixing things. You know, normal people stuff."
"What's the one on your face from?" Tyler asked. "That's from a glass bottle that m- somebody hit me with. Drunk people are a little crazy."
"Right." They were judging me. I could see it. "What happened to the person that did that?" Hero asked. "Oh, she died like last year. Yeah, so—" I clear my throat. "Anyway. We're gonna race, tonight. I know a place."
"If I get caught-" I cut her off. "You won't. They won't get to you in time. Promise."
"Okay. That's all I'm worried about." I nod. "I get it. But you'll be fine. Did you two wanna go with us?" Tyler almost jumped out of his seat. "Tyler's going, Louis?" I turned to watch him almost try to tuck himself away. "I can't."
"You can. You don't have to race, you can just sit there and watch. If we get caught, you can just pretend and keep walking. Never run. Unless you've been caught."
"If my parents found out, I'd never hear the end of it and they'd make me pay for it." I hold my hand on his shoulder. "Live a little." I whispered. "Fine." He sighed. "Atta boy."
**
"Okay, first back here gets..." Tyler hums a little. "Louis? Help me out."
"I will give you- whatever I have in my back pocket. Hold up." He reaches into his pocket. Both of us shaking our heads at him. "What you got pretty boy?"
"10k." I didn't need it. But I was not letting her win just because she needed it. She can win fair or she can lose fair. "Why are you just carrying 10k?"
"Because I can. Why the fuck else? Okay, 10k. It's on the table- metaphorically." I knew he had money, but that much? In his pocket? Just because he could? "Okay. Ready?"
"Ready?" I asked. Hero nodding, her smile only widening. "Let's go then."
Turning my music up, I close my windows. Watching the smoke build up. His arms drop and we were off.
I haven't raced anybody in a few months. I forget how fun it was.
Drifting was a lot more fun when you had somebody else around to follow.
She was good, she's definitely better than most of the guys I've raced before. I wouldn't have expected her to be good but this was a lot more fun than the last times I'd done this.
She was really fucking good. I would've been happy to let her win. But she didn't need my help with it. She turned corners so clean it made me jealous.
I'd tried for years to perfect it and she did it with so much ease. I was close to beating her, I was about three seconds away. But she'd of course had to show me up.
Driving backwards as she passed the line. She was laughing at me, parking beside her was something some would call humbling.
"Holy shit! I've never won anything in my life!" Wiping the exhaust from her face, I rest my hands on her shoulders. "That was the most fun I've had in months." I yelled, shaking her.
"You're not mad?" She laughs. "No, are you kidding. That was so fucking cool, you have to teach me that shit. I mean I can drive backwards but the corners? You turned so fucking smooth it was crazy."
"Here's your money, as promised." Louis smacks the money into her hands. "Okay we gotta go. Pretty boy, you go with me."
"Oh my god, I'm flattered." Louis makes his way over. Smiling like he wanted something. "Can I drive?" He tilts his head. "Funny. No. Get in the car or walk back."
"Please." He pouts. "I'm gonna take Tyler to get food. We'll see you guys later."
"Right, yeah whatever." Louis smacks my arm. "Bye. Why are you being so rude?" I hold the keys up between us. "Now you've got no chance. Get in the fucking car."
"I'm gonna grope you." He whispered. "Do it." Tapping his cheek. I push him back towards the passengers side. "You do not get to drive my car. Ever."
"Oh come on- why are your hands so fucking big?" Pushing him down into the seat, I grab the front of his face. "To do that."
"Sexy." I slam the door. Pushing my chest trying to get my heartbeat back to normal, I sat down. Catching my breath for a second. "If you die I hope you know I've been banned from driving."
"If I die. Bury me somewhere cold." He pats my thigh. "Your heart is probably the coldest place you'll ever be."
"Are you cold? Cause I'm still trying to fix the heating in here." He shrugs. "I'll survive."
Reaching into the back, I hand him the jumper I'd left in there yesterday. "Here." Driving back was about to be the worst time of my life.
There was more traffic than I'd expected. "You know. Funny thing is that it would probably be quicker if you did walk." He didn't laugh.
Daisy would've laughed at that. What a bore Louis was.
I should really listen to her voicemail. Fuck, no. No I can't do that. "Fuck sake."
