Social Experiment

15 | Unsuccessful Disappearing

do you ship naren? (pretty lame ship name... but kinda cute couple, right?)

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My eyes widened when I saw him standing by his car. Despite the fact there was a row of cars and a partition between us, I could still see how angry he looked. I knew for a fact he was remembering our conversation in his car after the last time I came here and he made me promise not to come back. 

Luckily, some sort of Gods were in my favor, because when Nathan took a few steps toward me, I saw a burly man that I presumed to be Cotter stop him. They spoke briefly and Nathan's frown only deepened as he listened before Cotter walked off and Nathan turned back to his car. When he climbs in and turns the Mustang on, I realize that he had to race.

And then I realized that I had to disappear.

I wasn't in the mood for the earful that I was sure he would give me about coming here, so I didn't plan on staying. Instead, I turned back to look at Stephanie, who was in a conversation with Justin, and tug her sleeve to grab her attention. She looks at me and her expression contorts into that of confusion when she sees my wide eyes.

"What?" Stephanie questions in a quiet voice as she leans toward me. "What's going on?"

I glance back at Justin, who was looking at me weirdly, and flash him a fake smile. "Excuse us a second," I mutter before dragging Steph a few yards away. Once we were a safe distance from the boys, I hiss, "Nathan is here!"

She mimics my surprised and slightly panic stricken expression as she darts her head around. "Did he see you? Where is he?"

"He's about to race," I tell her in a quiet voice. "But he saw me. We have to go."

I look over my shoulder to glance at the racetrack and see the cars revving their engines by the starting line. I glare at Nathan's car because, well, I had a lot that I wanted to find out tonight and barely made a dent in my questions. 

"Now is not the time to watch him race," Steph advises me as she tugs my hand. "Now is the time to get the hell out of here before it ends and he comes looking for you."

I tear my gaze away from the cars right before their engines rev one final time and they begin racing. I look at Stephanie instead and nod begrudgingly. "You're right. Let's get out of here."

We walk back to the boys as Nathan drifts around the second corner and goes onto his next lap. Brett is giving me a weird look when we return to the group and Justin's eyes are glued to Stephanie while Joe grabs another beer. It was kind of cute how Justin still seemed to have a thing for Steph despite the time she's been at college, but now wasn't the time to think about that.

"Is everything okay?" Brett inquires first as he studies my reaction.

I fake another smile expertly. "Yeah, everything's fine." I glance at Stephanie and then back to Brett and frown. "I just don't feel that well. Stephanie and I are going to head home."

Brett frowns in concern as he sympathizes, "That sucks, I'm sorry." His gaze shifts to Stephanie as he says slowly, "I can take you home if Stephanie wants to stay?"

"I don't mind," Steph answers immediately as she gives him an equally as fake smile. "Really."

Justin frowns at Stephanie's reply and she shoots him an apologetic look.