Played By Riggs

27

Money couldn't buy happiness. It also couldn't make your fears disappear, but with it I could pay out for the best driving instructor to teach me, steering me half way to overcoming it anyway. First, I just had to get in the car.

"We can reschedule, if you need more time," Tyler said. He sounded sympathetic, and normally hearing strangers voice their concern provided levels of motivation. In this case, it made me silently torment myself.

I didn't need time. I needed a pair of balls. A big pair, hung low between my thighs. With balls came confidence, right? I had boobs, two soft bubblies on my chest, so they would have to do. Boobs knocked balls out the park, anyway.

"Just never thought I'd be here, doing this, you know?" I puffed out a breath and stared out across the open space, not a living thing or building or other car in sight. I had clearly instructed that my first time behind the wheel would occur somewhere desert, on a piece of land where I couldn't run someone over or crash into a letter box. This all goes without saying I actually get in the car. "You'll have control, too? In case I..." I paused, "can't do it."

Negative Nelly. Who invited her to this shindig?

Since school, when my English teacher, Mr Geller, told me that the word 'can't' should not hold any place in my list of vocabulary. Forget it, he always said. Kelsey Rigsby can. She always can. I fancied the suit pants off him, partly because he always let me leave ten minutes early to catch the first bus home, also those brown eyes, but those words stuck with me.

Until today.

"I will," Tyler agreed. "But I'm sure I won't need to interject."

"Well, we'll see." I forced a smile and took another peak inside the car. What I saw confirmed that Tyler would in fact be able to interject if he had to, to save the day if I swerved us off the edge of the earth, or... hit a cone.

"I'm gonna go sit in the passenger seat. You get in when you're ready, okay? Remember, we can take this as slow as you want," Tyler smiled. "Really. Cause you're paying me a heck load for this hour, so if we over run, it's alright."

I laughed and my mood shifted. "Thanks. I needed that. Okay, let's do this."

My stomach churned as I shut the door, it span and jumped and felt like it was going to grow legs and crawl out of my mouth, then summersault out of the car into safety. I pressed my lips together, tight, placed both hands on the wheel. Ten and two.

"Good," Tyler grinned. "You got the clock down. How about clutch?"

I nodded slowly. "First gear, moving from stationary position. Second slow speeds. Third for increasing and so on. Or has the book, driving for dummies, got that completely wrong?"

For my sake, he simply shook his head. "You've got the gist. Have you looked in your mirrors?"

"Yeah. I look fine," I snorted. "Sorry, that was lame. I'm stalling I guess..." I paused, "that was lame, too. You know what, I think I'll take you up on that reschedule."

"Kelsey," Tyler said. "Just breathe for a second, and calm down."

I tried. "Okay. Mirrors? Yeah. Rear shows me my rear." I couldn't stop the jokes. Negative Nelly had some one star humour. "Wing shows horizon."

"I want you to adjust them if need be."

I checked the mirrors once more, slightly tilting the rear.

"The breaks. Most people find themselves a little heavy footed on the pedal at first. It will take practice to get the initial pressure down, but again it will depend on the car. I want you to try progressive breaking today, all about starting light, pressure and finishing light. It's the safest."