Like Old Times, a short story

Finishing Up

We ended up spending the rest of the day in that world. After showing me around the crazy facility he had set up, Shelby brought me through the routine that he normally went through every (in-game) day. He was trying to get enough resources to build a rocket that could take him to Pluto, so there was a lot of repetitive mining for materials. It gets interesting when several of the materials are on different planets, though. According to him we ran into more challenges than usual, because it took a lot longer to get the typical amount of stuff that he likes to obtain every play session. He says he wants to upload the world to a server eventually so other people can enjoy the mods, and so that it doesn't get boring.

I barely even remember eating dinner, I was so wrapped up in how much of an environment he'd set up. I know we had something, but I have absolutely no recollection of what it was, when it was, or how it happened.

It was a bit past 8:00 when I heard a very distinct rumbling outside. "Perfect timing," Shelby remarked, also recognizing it. We had just been finishing up, having done everything there was to do.

I zipped up my hoodie and started to grab the 1660 Ti he'd given me. I was just a bit too slow. Luke was already at the door.

"You always know..." I said. Luke always manages to figure out approximately when I want to be home. Mostly it's just remembering to show up by 8:15, because by that point I usually want to be asleep in bed, but sometimes it feels like he can just sense when I'm not enjoying myself and come to get me.

"It's not hard," he told me. "I know you get tired around now."

"Fair enough."

We headed out the front door. "See you soon, Lu!" Shelby said to me as I reached the car.

"You too, Shelbs!" I called back. I heard a house door closing at the same time a car door opened. It was... actually kind of an odd sound.

I climbed into the passenger seat of Luke's GT350, which, if you hadn't figured it out by now, is pretty much his daily driver.

"How was it?" he asked me. "You don't look about ready to pass out, which means you had fun."

"You know how it is," I replied. "Anytime Shelby makes something new it's always fun. He put the Python in BeamNG, but you probably already know about that since he said you were the one he got the files from."

"It was pretty quick, wasn't it? Shelby tells me that it feels faster from the outside because you can see more of the terrain flying past you."

"Oh, yeah, it was unbelievably quick. I still don't get how you did it."

"Neither do I. It just happened." He paused. I noticed the stop sign in front of us. "This thing isn't exactly a snail either, though."

Even with a manual transmission, he didn't have to shift up as we took a left turn and accelerated to 45. I knew the gearing of the GT350 well enough to know that it was designed to hit 60 MPH in first gear. It makes the 0-60 time faster because you don't have to shift into second, even if you lose some torque at the beginning.

I knew Luke was holding the car back, but I didn't complain. It was late at night and dark, not exactly the best time to be driving fast.

The ride home was really rather uneventful. Almost boring, even. That never happens to me. I find it incredibly hard to be bored in a car. Guess I really was tired...

We were home by 8:30. I headed back to my room, slipped off my socks and shoes, and almost collapsed onto my bed. I was too tired to bother changing clothes. At least I wasn't as stressed as I had been the previous night.