The Fast Lane

Chapter 14

The heat from the explosion spread across my face.  My heart was pounding in my head and the blast had numbed my ears to everything.  I held my breath and stood perfectly still as people rushed around me and some ran to try and put the rest of the flames out.  There was no chance that Harry survived that.

 I did the only thing I knew to do.  I promised Harry that if anything happened, I would run to the hotel.  I began to run, dashing through people and over piles of sand.  My flip-flops came off, but I didn’t stop.  Tears were gushing down my face, and I began to sweat as my feet dug into the sand with each step I took.  I sprinted through the lobby and tore up the stairs of the hotel, too excited to wait for the elevator.  I fiddled with the room key as I wiped tears from my face and sniffed hard.  I finally burst into the room and ran to collapse on the bed.

 I felt like I would have a plan when I got to the room, but I had none.   I began to cry harder when I thought about the fact that I had no car and not enough money to get home another way.  And I had no Harry.

He had been my everything for the last two weeks.  I never thought that I could come to be so close to someone so quickly.  I knew that this was going to come to an abrupt and screeching halt.   As soon as I let my guard down, I got hurt.  Harry was-

“TRISTAN.”  I shot up to see Harry standing in the doorway.  I screamed and jumped off the bed as he ran to me and threw my arms around his sweaty neck.  He squeezed me so tightly that I couldn’t breathe but I didn’t care.  I sobbed into his heaving shoulder.  “I love you.  I love you I love you I love you.”  I couldn’t stop saying it.

 He finally pulled me off of him and grabbed my chin to look at me.  He was still breathless from running so hard to find me.  I couldn’t look at him because I was crying so much.  “Love, my god, where did you go? Why did you leave?”

 “You… you… told me to go - *sniff* - back to the hotel if…” I sobbed again, trying to catch my breath so I could speak.  I shook my head and cried harder, and eventually I threw my arms around his neck again and buried my face in his shirt. 

 “I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry,” Harry apologized over and over as he stroked my hair.  He carried me to sit down on the bed and held me in his arms until I calmed down enough to talk.

“Your car… It blew up and you…” I began to cry again.  Harry lifted my chin and wiped the falling tears from my eyes and off my chin. 

“You thought I was dead.” He exhaled hard.

I looked up so confused.  Why was he alive?  “How in the hell…?”

 He picked me up so I was sitting more comfortably on the bed.  “Love, sometimes they do this kind of… car swap.  It’s to keep the races interesting.  I hate it.  They make us switch cars and not tell the crowd and then-“ He stopped when he saw my eyes beginning to water again.  I stuck my bottom lip out and it began to quiver, something that always happened when I was overly upset. “I’m so sorry.” He looked away from me and I could see his eyes beginning to water too.  I didn’t want him to be upset.

“So where were you?” I finally asked, trying to get ahold of myself.  I sniffled again and tried to look like I was calming down.  

He relaxed his face and looked at me.  “I uh… I was in the red car.”

“And who was in yours?”

Harry hesitated for a moment. “Tony.”

 I looked down and nodded.  When I looked back up at Harry, he was staring at me with huge green eyes.  He was so upset, and I could tell.  “I’m so…” He started.  I began to cry again.  “I’m so sorry Tris.”