Love in Victory Lane (A Chase Elliott FanFic)

Chapter Ten

*Chase's POV*

We finally reached Pit Road with five minutes to spare before practice began. I was still holding Hunter's hand, and it was the best feeling in the world. She was an amazing girl, and from what I had seen so far, she was perfect. We stood at the entrance from Pit Road to the garage and waited for practice to begin.

Hunter would look at me often and smile that beautiful smile. My heart would jump forward, almost as if it was trying to escape from my chest. I felt something with her I had never felt with anyone else. It was strange; I only knew her for a very short time, but it felt like I had known her forever.

Next thing I knew, I heard the sound of engines being fired up. Good God I loved that sound. With every engine that was fired, a fire was lit inside of me, and I wanted to be the one in the car. The sound of the engines made my heart beat faster.

As they exited pit road and made their way down the backstretch, the drivers would begin applying more throttle to the car. The cars began speeding up, and the noise became louder. The cars were at full speed by the time they came into view at turn four. They sped by at almost 200 miles per hour, causing the ground to vibrate under our feet. Moments like that took my breath away.

As practice began, Hunter's excitement grew too. She gripped my hand tighter, closed her eyes, and soaked up the sound of the engines. She craned her neck to see the cars, and when Dale came onto the track she couldn't resist letting go of my hand to clap and scream for him.

"GO DALE!" she would scream. After Dale's last practice lap, he sat at number one on the leaderboard. Hunter noticed this and screamed and jumped and clapped for her favorite driver. Seeing her so happy made me even more happy than I already was.

Practice was over, and we all wanted to congratulate Dale on his fantastic practice laps. He looked like a strong contender to win this race, and we wanted to build his confidence even more. We started walking towards Dale's garage bay, and we talked about different racers, their practice sessions, and who we thought was the best and worst. Emily and Ryan were waking and talking together, and eventually, I noticed that Ryan had slipped his hand into Emily's.

Emily was clearly liking the attention Ryan was giving her, and Ryan was enjoying Emily's flirting. It was obvious that they liked each other as much as I liked Hunter.

At the same time as I noticed Ryan's hand in Emily's, Dylan spoke. "Alright, guys, I will catch up with y'all later. I need to go. I have things to do." He sounded almost angry when he said it.

What's his problem, I thought to myself. Attitude much? I wondered what was wrong with him, but I decided to just leave it alone. Dylan walked away, and we continued walking to the garage.