Okay, so I'm exhausted, in some pain, and have school tomorrow, so I'm gonna post this without double-checking my errors or anything... So my apologies in advance. Kind of a short chapter anyway, but it does what I need to do and fills time as well. I would like to thank my wonderful readers and reviewers again! Your reviews make writing this seem more worthwhile! I really love the feedback, it helps me out a lot, as well. :) Enjoy!
Georgia passed a few familiar faces on the way down to the practice track.
"Hey, Georgia!" one of her friends called out. She braked and looked over at the car, watching as she drove up to meet her. "Where are you going? You should stay out here and play ball with us." She nudged the ball towards the powder blue car with her tire, smiling. Georgia's tank turned as she thought about skipping practice today to hang out with the other kids. It had been a long while since she'd actually gotten to see them.
"I dunno, Charlotte," Georgia replied apprehensively.
"Aw, c'mon George," another car teased, gesturing with his tire. "Why don't you cut practice for a day?"
"Yeah," Charlotte agreed. "You practice every day, Georgia. Just skip it today. Your dad won't get upset! He never gets upset."
"Char, I can't. I gotta practice... I... It's gotta be perfect."
Charlotte opened her mouth to say something, but the boy stopped her. "Forget about it, Char. She doesn't care about us anymore, anyway."
Something boiled under Georgia's hood as she looked past her friend, but she couldn't say anything. How could she prove him wrong? What was she supposed to say? Instead she returned her eyes to Charlotte, her grill pursed as she tried to hide her emotion. Charlotte's green eyes reflected so much disappointment, as if she was waiting for Georgia to prove him wrong, for her friend to skip practice for one day.
But Georgia didn't say a word.
Charlotte reversed, turned her back on her friend, and drove back over to the others. It was the last time Georgia ever spoke to Charlotte, her best friend.
Georgia woke up with a start, her engine racing as she tried to ger her bearings. It was the type of dream that engages you so much that when you wake up, a feeling of immediate relief washes over you. Georgia exhaled slowly, closing her eyes for a moment as she caught her breath, before opening one eye to peer out the window.
The blinds were cracked a bit, allowing a little bit of light to flood in, but it was enough. The powder blue car took another deep breath as she realized it was morning, and when her tank churned slightly, she felt the first pangs of thirst.
She left the cone shortly thereafter, deciding to head over to Flo's for some oil and breakfast.
King greeted her when she arrived. "Mornin', darlin'."
"Morning," she replied, still half caught in the throes of sleep. "Where's Mama?"
"She's with Flo. They decided to have a girl's day or whatever," he answered, shrugging his tires. "Jus' you and me today."
"What about Tex?" Georgia asked as Tia approached, taking her order for a hot quart of oil.
"The first race of the season is today, so he left a little while ago," Strip told her.
"First race of the season?" Georgia practically had a tractor. "I must have lost track of time... So McQueen and Chick are gone then, huh?" She thought back to the previous night, and the clean slate between her and the Buick. Some part of her hoped that he was coming back after this race, because she wanted to have a chance to really get to know him.
"Mhmm."
"When d'you think they'll be back?" She tried to keep the question casual.
"Probably by tomorrow mornin'. If Chick even comes back, of course."
Her tank dropped at the thought, but she certainly didn't say anything. "Well, it'll be quiet until then, that's for sure."
"You mean boring."
"... Yeah. Probably."
Of course, leaving The King and his daughter to their own devices should have resulted in mass explosions, but thank Chrysler Georgia had some of her mother's oil in her pipes, or else the results would have involved explosions. The pair spent the day goofing off, messing around with the townsfolk and testing out Fillmore's organic oil to the point that the Sheriff had to chase them down a few times.
Strip took to the older pavement that led out to the old dirt roads, and he and Georgia found a spot to take a break and talk for a little while.
"So is that old practice track still out there?"
Georgia looked over at her father. "Yeah, it's still there. Nobody uses it anymore, but it's there."
"I'm sure the neighborhood's changed a lot since we've been gone," Strip commented.
"Yeah. All the old kids that used to live there moved out and their parents did, too. The neighbors are okay, I guess. I only see them every once in a while."
"Nobody that you know is left?"
"Nah. Well," Georgia paused. "Charlotte's family still lives there. She doesn't - last I heard from her brother, she moved up to New York to get a job as a doctor or a lawyer, I can't remember which."
Strip had to think for a second to remember who Charlotte was. "The Chevy?"
"Yeah. The yellow one."
He nodded. "What ever happened to her? I mean, before she moved out."
"We stopped talking," the daughter replied, shrugging. She knew why, of course. She remembered stuff like that.
"How come? I thought you two were glued at the hubcaps."
Georgia smiled and shook her hood. "We were, but I mean, I guess she just played ball all the time, and I practiced... So we stopped talking."
There was a long pause on her father's part, before she felt King nudge her tire. "I'm sorry, JR. I didn't mean to push you so hard when you were a kid."
"No!" She shook her hood again, looking over to see genuine regret in her father's eyes. "No, no. It's all right Daddy, don't apologize. You never pushed me too hard, I was always pushin' myself. If anything, it's my fault."
He rolled his eyes. "Why do you always do that?"
"Do what?"
"Take the blame for it. I know I pushed you too hard," he said to her. She listened without speaking, unable to find any words. "I could see it, but you were always willing to try and I guess I took advantage of that. Sometimes I wonder if I had just let it go, maybe things would be different now."
"What do you mean?"
Strip sighed. "Like maybe you wouldn't still be livin' in that house. You're smart, JR, you coulda gone off to school like Charlotte, and done anythin' that you wanted to do. When you put your mind down to somethin', you got it figured out. I'm proud of you for pullin' through all the practices that you did and never lettin' us down. But baby you coulda done somethin' different, I know it."
Georgia wasn't sure if she had the words - or the voice, at least - to answer him. She waited a little while before reaching out to nudge her father's tire.
"Everything happens for a reason."
"You got that from your mama." When Georgia looked at him funny, he shook his hood. "She said that a lot to me when I was still racin'."
"Never been words truer than those."
Strip cracked a smile and shook his hood again. He had always been proud of Georgia, but it was times like these when he remembered why he had always been.
