We got situated in the karts and Rob gave us a rundown on the rules of the track and how to operate the car. He was pretty much just talking to me, but would glance back at Sean every once in a while, but it seemed like Sean knew all this already.
Rob stepped back from the karts and went over to a small box that was attached to the cabinet. He flipped it open and pushed a button. I heard a short buzz and looked forward to see a red light had turned on. Another buzz sounded and it turned to yellow. There were two more yellow lights and then a green one to go. It reminded me of the races with North. I watched it go through to the last yellow light and when it started to blink off I took my foot off the break, moving it to hover over the gas. At the first glimpse of a green light I slammed my foot down and jolted back as the go-kart took off. I heard Sean yell something, but I couldn't fully make it out over the noise of the karts. The first part of the track was pretty straight so I moved the wheel back and forth to get a feel for how much I have to turn it once I got to the first turn.
The first turn was coming up and I pulled the wheel to the right. I turned it too much and started to head for the side wall, I slammed the wheel back to the left and started to spin. I saw a blur go by me and assumed it was Sean. I released the gas and waited for the car to stop moving. I took a deep breath and pushed the gas pedal, lighter this time, to straighten myself out. Once I was facing the right way I pushed my foot all the way down and took off again. At the next turn I took it slower and started out tight to the wall, moving to the outer edge. The track started doing some zig zags and I saw Sean coming out of a turn to now face me. I smiled and waved at him, hoping to show him I was having fun. I was still going pretty fast so with only one hand on the wheel, the car started to drift. My eyes grew wide and I threw my hand back to the wheel.
When I came around the next turn, Sean was a lot closer to me than I thought he would be. He was slowing down a lot more at the turns so I kept up my speed, taking the turns as fast I could. We were taking the last turn together, Sean slowed down and kept to the inside. I pushed on the gas and started on the inside right behind him, but then eased out towards the outer edge, passing him as he was almost stopping around the turn. I glanced at him, smiling, but keeping my hands on the wheel this time. I saw his eyes pop open and his bottom lip drop down. I could only imagine it was because he didn't expect me to pass him. The last part of the track was straight and I took my foot off the gas pedal slightly, only to slam back down. I am not sure if it actually made me go faster, but it felt like it did. Rob was standing to the side, thumbs up in the air and smiling. As soon as I crossed the line I let off the gas and immediately started to slow down. I was tapping the break, trying to get the kart to stop where the other ones were parked. I overshot it a little but eventually stopped. I scrambled out of the kart and shot my hands in the air. Sean pulled his kart right next to the others and hopped out. He ran up to me, taking of his helmet as he neared. He swung his arm around my waist and spun me around. After placing me back on the ground I saw that he was smiling just as wide as he was before. Losing didn't make him mad, he seemed genuinely happy for me. He unhooked the helmet and slid it off my head. "Well done Pookie. Where did that come from? You were amazing."
"Thanks Dr. Sean! I don't know, I tried to remember what the guys told me about racing on the video games."
He threw his head back and laughed. "You continue to surprise me Sang. Let's go again!"
We raced five more times. Sean won the next two races, and then I won again tying us up 2-2. Sean won the last race to make it 3-2. It was really close though and when we both got out of the karts after the last race I said "I thought guys were supposed to let girl's win." I didn't really believe that, and I remembered Kota getting in trouble with his mom when she found out that he let me win on the Xbox. Sean laughed and said "a real gentleman doesn't let a lady win, he pushes her to do her very best while he shows her respect by doing his best as well." I had to think about that for a second, but it sounded good, it sounded like something I wanted the guys to do. I wanted them to push me to be the best I could be and I already felt like they were.
We got back in the car and Sean pulled out onto the street. "Where are we going to dinner?"
"Well Sang, I am pretty sure Gabe will flip out if he finds out that I took you out to dinner with your helmet hair." I tried to tilt my head so I could see my reflection in the side mirror. Did my hair look that bad? Sean started laughing. "It doesn't look bad Pookie, I promise. But it is enough that Gabe would never let me live it down. Let's order in and watch a movie."
We drove for about 10 minutes before things started to look familiar. I had only been to Sean's condo one other time. We parked and after Sean opened my door for me, he opened the back door and took out my bags. I forgot about my overnight bag, Gabriel must have given it right to Sean.
We walked into the condo, dropping our stuff on the couch and moving into the kitchen. "My take out menu collection is in here." He went to a drawer and pulled out a stack of papers. I wasn't looking at him though, I was looking at the giant bouquet of flowers on the table. There had to be at least 25 flowers, stuffed into a tall vase. They were mostly white with hot pink running through the petals, matching the pink water at the bottom of the vase. I tilted my trying to figure out why the water was pink. I felt Sean move closer to me and I looked over at him.
"I dyed the water pink so the flowers would turn pink." He was smiling softly now, his eyes sparkling, and he looked proud of his effort.
"You dyed the flowers pink? Don't they sell pink ones?"
He scowled at my reaction. "Of course they do, but I thought what is the fun in buying pink carnations when I can make them pink? So I bought two dozen white carnations and stuck them in water with a little bit of food coloring this morning. The carnations sucked up the pink water it is spreading out through the petals. Pretty cool huh?"
I realized that questioning his method sounded mean, and I didn't mean it that way. It was really cool that he did that. "It's awesome Dr. Sean! I have never seen that before. Thank you!" I smiled up at him, hopefully showing how much I meant it.
We ordered a few different entrees from an Italian restaurant. While we were waiting for it to arrive, I went to use the bathroom. I used the one in Sean's room and turned to head back into the living room, but was distracted by another open door. I peeked my head in and saw it was the guest room. A large bed was situated in the middle of the room, with a dresser up against the far wall. Turning my head more I saw a folding table set up to the side of the bed. A puzzle was in process on the table. The border and a few patches were completed, but most of it was still unfinished. The remaining pieces were scattered around the table and I couldn't help but step closer to look. The box was sitting on the bed and I saw the picture was of a three fluffy dogs in a basket.
I felt the air shift and the door move open more. I turned to see Sean standing in the doorway. He lifted his hand up to the back of his neck and rubbed it back and forth. "Sometimes I come home from a long day and I'm too wired to sleep. I found out a long time ago that puzzles calmed my mind down better than anything else. Do you like puzzles?"
I was nodding before I answered him. I knew exactly what he meant. "I used to always do puzzles in Illinois. I would spend most of my free time either walking around or hiding in my room. I would read a lot, but I didn't have a huge supply of books, so I found puzzles. Sometimes I would start one after I had a bad dream and couldn't get back to sleep. It distracted me enough to forget what the dream was about. I would do them on a piece of cardboard I found in the garage, so that I could slid it under my bed if I heard someone coming into the room." I realized that I told him more than I planned. I just had to say that I liked them, I didn't have to tell him a whole story, but he just made it so easy.
"Do you want to work on it with me? We have some time before the food gets here. We can hold off on the movie until we start eating." He left the room and came back with a chair from the dining table. We both settled into a chair on opposite sides of the table and got to work. Sean was silent, looking at the pieces with his eyebrows furrowed. He would pick up a piece, try to stick it in the puzzle, put it down when it didn't fit and do it again with another piece.
I was looking over the pieces, trying to visualize where they would go. I finally found one that I thought would fit into the corner closest to me. I picked it up and stuck it in, perfect fit. I went back to staring at the pieces. I was leaning over the table a little, trying to see the pieces closer to Sean. I found one that I thought would fit next to my first and reached for it. Sean followed my hand and lifted his head to watch me. I put the piece next to my first and it fit right in. I smiled to myself and started looking around for another one. I felt weird, like someone was watching me, so I looked up. Sean was still staring at me.
"How many pieces have you put in so far Sang?"
"Two."
"How many pieces have you picked up and tried to put in?"
"Two?" I made it sound like a question because I was confused. Why was he asking?
"I have picked up about fifteen pieces and none of them have fit in yet. Mind telling me your secret?"
"Secret? I just look at the pieces and try to visualize where they fit."
Sean smiled at me. "You're just full of surprises Pookster."
