Bad Things

Chapter 6

Six
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Eyes bulging in horror, my lungs expanded inside as I sucked in a humongous breath. My eyes stayed glued to the rocks on the opposite side of the cliff, watching it get closer to us and I was certain that my face would soon slam straight into it. I tried but I could barely move a finger, benumbed by the impending accident. My body sat immobile on the bike and my hands seemed to have decided never to let go of the clutch for this lifetime. Gripping it as firm as I could, I screamed and went straight for the rocks.

Jay quickly reached over from behind, grabbed the handles over my hands, and quickly applied the brake. With a little screech and maneuvering a quick stoppage that lurched me forward, we came to a halt just in front of the rocks. My forehead lightly touched the cold rock before the rear end of the machine reached down to the ground and pulled me back.

Amazed as my fingers went up to touch the spot on my forehead where I had touched the rock, I gasped out loudly, "Oh my God! That was so close!"

"Was that revenge?" Jay joked from my back and the relevance of the idea made me crack up laughing.

"Yeah. Maybe."

He followed it with a low chuckle.

"Let's try again, shall we?"

"Alright."

Jay maneuvered the bike out of the corner and slowly steered us to the middle of the road, his hands over mine on the grip.

"Just like this," said he. "Slowly. Be gentle with the grip and don't freak out. Just steer wherever you wanna go. Easy."

"Okay."

"Try again."

He let go of my hands and moved back to let me handle the machine once more. This time, I looked ahead at the long, dark road like it was the greatest foe and I was determined to conquer it. With Jay's help, of course. But, this time, I wasn't going to screw it up. With every fiber in my body, I was so up for this shit and I wasn't going to rock it. Cautiously and very gently, I twisted the grip and slowly rolled ahead. The feeling of victory they surged throughout my body after that was immense. I had conquered one new thing I couldn't do.

"Okay?" I glanced at my side, asking for his feedback.

"Yeah. You're doing good."

Encouraged by his remark, I revved up the engine a little bit, ever with caution, and sailed into the night, the breeze stroking past my face. I couldn't keep myself away from squealing in celebration. I had never felt this cool and thrilled about something I'd done. For me, this was so badass.

Way to go, Lola!

When we finally decided to give it a rest, after a series of rounds, up and down, around and about, I was sure my face was flooded with joy and possibly illuminating rays of exhilaration.

"Whooo!" I tossed my hair back and fanned my face after I dismounted from the bike. "That felt great."

Jay gave a calm smile. "We could do this again if you're up for it."

"Really?!"

"Yeah. Why not?"

"That sounds nice. Thanks."

We sat down at the edge for a while again, finishing the rest of the drinks, before we headed for the ghetto where his crowd was. Vanessa and Carli, in fact, all of them, obviously, hadn't expected to see me arrive that the sight of me at the fishing port with Jay had their jaws dropping south. We parked the bike by the road, joining a long stretch of motorbikes, and climbed up the wide deck.