Aerodynamic {Racing One Shots}

secret • ryan blaney

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"ready?" tay watched as her boyfriend zipped up his firesuit.

the daytona 500 had always been exciting to tay but never compared to the excitement that she was feeling right now.

this wasn't the first 500 she had watched ryan race but it was the first one where she was watching him as his girlfriend and not just a fan.

they had met at a fan event last season. she had been bold enough to scribble her instagram handle down and much to her surprise and delight, he had followed her and struck up a conversation.

"what are you doing?" ryan's brow furrowed, like he had no idea what she was doing.

"i'm coming to pit lane with you?" tay had been looking forward to it.

ryan was a private person so he had asked her to keep everything about their relationship private — going so far to ask her to not say a word to any of her friends about him.

it was weird, but tay brushed it off — figured he'd loosen up once they were seen together on pit road, an easy and natural way to let the whole world know that they were a couple.

ryan shook his head. "i think it's best you stay in the motorhome for the race." ryan pressed a kiss to her cheek before brushing past her — conversation over.

tears welled in tay's eyes as she plopped down on the couch. the excitement had passed, now she just felt shaky at what had just happened.

tay tried her hardest to brush it off, sure that there was some sort of explanation. but she just felt hurt and confused by what was becoming a common theme — ryan's refusal to acknowledge that they were a couple.

it was like she was his secret — but tay didn't understand why. was he ashamed that he had done the one thing that was a no-no for nascar drivers — dating a fan?

he had never seemed ashamed, never had even made any mention that he cared about how they had met but as tay searched for some sort of explanation — this was the only one she could come up with.

tay knew she'd have to decide if she was okay with being ryan's secret but she shook that off — now she was going to watch the daytona 500 and she was going to enjoy it -- she'd always be a fan first and foremost.

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tay's stomach clinched as the white flag waved.

ryan was leading the pack but tay knew how quickly that should change. she just hoped that he could get a big enough run off the last turn to block whoever would try to challenge him.

squeezing her eyes shut, she listened to the excitement in the announcer's voice. her eyes flew open just in time to watch ryan cross the finish line ahead of everybody else.

excitement pulsed through tay's body as she grabbed her credentials. what happened earlier had been forgotten -- she needed to be in victory lane.

she practically ran to victory lane, showing her credentials. she pushed her way through the crowd in time to see ryan's car pull into victory lane.