Misguided Emotions Chapter 10: Things in Common, a speed racer fanfic

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Chapter 10: Things In Common

Still at the track after the fight, Speed could only just stand and watch while feeling sorry for himself as Trixie and Jessie walked back to her helicopter. Trixie had her arm around Jessie and a bag of ice in her other hand, not knowing that Speed was watching from a distance. Once to the helicopter, Trixie began to help Jessie into it, while Speed began to shake his head in disgust at knowing that Jessie was going try to get as much sympathy from Trixie as he could. However, the disgust Speed felt quickly turned into hurt again as he watched Trixie lean into the helicopter to put the ice on Jessie's eye. With a pain in his heart, Speed remembered the times that Trixie had taken care of him after a fight, and now there she was taking care of the enemy.

An hour later, Trixie and Jessie were at John's house alone, where Jessie had been staying while in town since John had insisted. Trixie was kneeling down beside her new boyfriend, who was spread out across the sofa as she tended to the cuts and bruises on his face. He told her that he would have fought better against Speed, but admitted that he wasn't feeling well from the helicopter ride. He also told her over and over that his face ached hoping she would feel sorry for him. As she continued to clean his cuts, he noticed that she was being rather quiet - only saying she was sorry a few times. In fact, she had been that way since flying away from the track. "Honey. Are you okay?" he asked afraid that she had her mind on her ex.

Trixie began to think about what she should say. She couldn't tell Jessie that Speed had told her that he wanted her back, because she was having a hard enough time trying to digest that herself. The week Speed broke up with her, she knew she would have taken him back, even after saying she wouldn't. Now it was different since she had time to convince herself that she could make it with out him. Just this past week, she had been certain that it was for the best that they were apart. So if it was for the best, why did she still care for Speed? Why didn't she hate him for what he had done to Jessie?

"Trixie," Jessie said as he slowly sat up and put his feet on the floor. "Come here," he softly commanded as he pulled her up to sit beside him. He then put his arm around her. "Tell me what's on your mind. You're barely talking."

Hating to lie, she looked away from him and said, "I'm just worried about you."

"I'll be okay," he said and added a smile when she turned to him.

Trixie smiled back at the man who had been so very nice to her this past week. She knew she didn't have to wonder how he felt about her, because he had made it clear only in a week's time that he was crazy about her. "I think you need to rest," she said knowing that Speed had really hurt him.

"I want to talk to you first," he said putting a small space between them on the sofa so that they could look at each other better.

"Okay," she said uneasily as she continued to look up into Jessie's face, afraid of what he wanted to talk about.

"Well...you know that I spoke to that...strange man in the mask."

"Racer X," Trixie said as if it was completely normal for someone to be running around with a mask on.

"Yes," Jessie said reaching for her hand and then taking it. "That man said that you and Speed have quite a history together."

"Please, Jessie. I don't want to talk about Speed with you," she said turning away from him once again.

"I don't want to talk about him either," Jessie agreed as his free hand gently turned her face back to his. "I just want to tell you that I don't care about what happened between you and Speed. I'm only concerned about the history that we make together. The past week with you has been the best ever."

Trixie looked into Jessie's eyes knowing that she couldn't handle another heartache. The pain Speed had caused her when he broke up with her had been almost unbearable. If she went back to him now, she couldn't be sure that he wouldn't break her heart once more and she knew she just couldn't handle that. Determined not to go back to that part of her life, Trixie squeezed Jessie's hand and said, "Jessie. I do want to spend more time with you and get to know you better."

The singer looked relieved and took Trixie into his arms. "I'll make you forget all about Speed Racer."

I hope so, she thought hugging Jessie as a single tear rolled out of her eye and down her cheek. She was convinced Speed really didn't know what he wanted anymore and she couldn't allow herself to get hurt again, even if he was still very much in her heart.

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Speed was quite depressed and not adjusting well to Trixie being someone else's girlfriend. He had been tempted to go to her apartment a number of times to beg her to come back to him. However, he decided that Racer X had been right about her needing some time to have her freedom. While she was getting that freedom, Speed constantly recalled the scene when he told her that he wanted her back. The expression on her face had said how much she had doubted what he said. He could still hear the anguish in her voice when she said she didn't want to hear it. He wasn't sure if it was because she just didn't believe him or if because she was really falling for Jessie.

By the end of the next week late one afternoon, Speed was even more depressed because he hadn't gotten the phone call he so desperately had been hoping to get. He stared at the phone in his room, cursing it for not ringing as he lay across his bed. He had hoped that Trixie would call and tell him that she had to see him as soon as possible, because she too wanted to be back with him. "She's over me," he said sadly as he pushed off his bed. Suddenly the phone rang and Speed looked at it in disbelief. He couldn't get to it fast enough as he dove to it and grabbed it before it could ring again. "Trixie!" he cried into the receiver.

"Sorry, Speed," Sparky said knowing he disappointed his friend.

"Damn it!" Speed exclaimed wanting to punch a hole clear through the wall.

"You make me feel so loved," Sparky joked, glad that Speed couldn't pull him through the phone.

"What do you want?" Speed asked bluntly.

"Speed. You told me that you wanted me to go to the mall with you to find a present for your Mom's Birthday."

"Oh, yeah," Speed said not wanting to go by himself. Trixie had been the one before to help him pick out presents.

"Well do you still want me to go with you?" Sparky asked hoping Speed would treat for dinner.

"I'd rather Trixie go with me," Speed mumbled.

Sparky heard, but being patient with his friend, he said, "Do you want me to go with you or not?"

"I'm leaving my house now to come pick you up," Speed said just before hanging up the phone.

"This will be fun," Sparky said sarcastically after he hung up the phone.

Speed was about to leave his room, but found himself dialing Trixie's number. After the last number was dialed, he listened as the phone began to ring. His heart was beating like crazy as he waited for her to answer. The first three rings she didn't answer, so he assumed she wasn't there until...

"Hello," she said in her soft, sweet voice.

Speed smiled and listened to her say hello a few more times because he had no intention of answering her. She would have called him if she really wanted to speak to him. Suddenly in the background a male voice was heard saying, "If no one is answering just hang up, Honey."

Rage grew in Speed as he recognized the voice as being Jessie's and he slammed down the phone just after hearing Trixie hang up. "She probably hates me anyway," Speed said beyond upset.

After getting in the Mach 5, Sparky looked at Speed and asked, "Are you okay, Buddy?" Speed's gloomy mood had been obvious on the phone and it still seemed to be taking him over.

"No! I'm not okay!" Speed yelled as he peeled off from Sparky's place.

"Take it easy, Speed! You're going to get a ticket and Pops will freak out if you do!" Sparky said buckling his seat belt.

"Good," Speed said depressed. "Then maybe he'll kill me and put me out of my misery."

"Speed. Stop it!" the mechanic exclaimed tired of his friend's mind-set. Poor Sparky had already listened to Trixie being depressed and now it seemed Speed would never stop being depressed. Though Sparky hadn't minded listening to Trixie, he didn't know how much more he could take of Speed. Speed had been totally obsessed with wanting Trixie back, and didn't even seem to care about racing anymore.

"I know what you are thinking," Speed said thinking that now both Trixie and Sparky hated him. "You're thinking that this whole thing is my fault."

Sparky didn't say anything since he couldn't deny it, and had thought that numerous times.

As Speed began to slow the Mach 5 down, he said wretchedly, "Please don't hate me and just help me to forget about her. Will ya?"

Sparky looked at his friend, never remembering him looking so helpless and rundown before. Putting a hand on Speed's shoulder, Sparky said, "Speed. I could never hate you, and yes I'll help you anyway I can."

"Maybe you can help me see that I don't need Trixie," Speed said sounding as if he was finally trying to lift his spirits.

"Yeah," Sparky said even though he had thought at one time that Speed and Trixie fit together like a hand in a glove.

Jessie and Trixie had already been at the mall for a few minutes walking around after he insisted on buying Trixie something special. The singer had on a hat and sunglasses to disguise himself and to humor him, Trixie put on a pair of sunglasses as well. She had told him that they were making themselves more obvious to people with their shades on, but he laughed it off even though he knew she was probably right.

During the past two weeks, Jessie had taken Trixie to some very expensive restaurants and he knew she had been having a problem trying to keep up with having enough nice dresses to wear. "Come on, Trixie. I want to buy you a dress."

"Jessie," she said holding his hand as they walked through the mall. "I told you that I can buy my own clothes."

"Not today. I want to buy you an expensive dress," he said willing to do anything to hold on to her. She was like no one he had ever met before and he didn't know yet that she didn't crave to have to the best of things. She was very far from being materialistic.

"Since you're so persistent, I'll let you buy me something just this one time," she said leaning her head on his shoulder for a brief second. She had lifted it when a huge rock of some sort caught her attention. It was there in the middle of the mall. People were actually paying to climb the rock to see how high they could get. It was like something you'd see at a theme park, rather than in the middle of the mall.

"Can you believe that people are climbing that thing?" Jessie asked like it was the craziest thing he had ever seen. He turned to see Trixie taking her sunglasses off so she could get a closer look. He saw stars in her eyes and he couldn't believe that she was more interested in rock climbing than in buying clothes. She truly was different.

"Wow!" she exclaimed smiling as she watched someone get to the top.

"You really are an adventurous little thing," Jessie said smiling at her in amazement. "Would you like to climb that rock?"

"It looks like it would be fun," she replied still staring at it.

"Well come on," Jessie said starting to pull her to the rock.

"Really!" she said excitedly as they headed to it.

"If it makes you happy. Yes," Jessie said having no desire himself to climb it.

Once there, Trixie didn't have to wait to climb, because hardly anyone else seemed brave enough to climb it.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Bill, the older man working at the rock asked.

"Humph. Of course," Trixie said offended that the man thought she couldn't. She wasn't scared at all.

Bill smiled and said, "Okay. Lets get the safety harness around you."

"I don't need that," Trixie said making Jessie smile at this side of her.

"Please put it on for me," Jessie said giving her a sad smile.

"Only for you," she said smiling back at Jessie.

Bill took the money from Jessie so Trixie could climb and said, "I'm glad you agreed to wear the harness missy, because it's the only way you can climb the rock."

"I understand," she said lifting her arms so the safety harness could be put on her. Once on, she asked, "What's the fastest anyone ever got to the top?"

"Thirty seconds," Bill said still sounding shocked at that.

"Okay, I'll get up there in...28," she said confidently.

"Let's see you do it then," Bill said wanting her to prove it, but not really believing for a second that she could.

Jessie just shrugged his shoulders as he looked at Bill, not about to tell Trixie that she couldn't do it.

The two men had no idea of the adventurous things Trixie had done during some races with Speed and while helping Inspector Detector.

"Alright," Bill said picking up his timer as Trixie got in position and looked up at the rock, "Go!"

Trixie lifted her right foot up and pushed herself up as her left hand grabbed part of the rock that was sticking out to pull herself up.

Jessie and Bill were shocked to see her climbing the rock like a pro, as if she had done it a hundred times before.

"I can't believe it," Jessie said watching how fast she was doing it.

"Me either," Bill said loving it because people were gathering around, which might make them want to spend their money to climb the rock too. "I'll be damned," he said when she reached the top making him glance at his timer.

"How fast was she?" Jessie asked, his voice filled with excitement.

"Just like she said! Twenty-eight seconds!" Bill exclaimed happy that people were holding out their money to him wanting to beat the twenty-eight second climb.

"You did it, Honey!" Jessie screamed up to Trixie who was already headed back down.

When she was back down on the ground, she said, "Not bad for a girl, huh?"

"You are just too much," Jessie said hugging her, glad that he had his sunglasses on because of the amount people watching them. At least one person out of the bunch had to be a fan of his.

"Wait, Miss," Bill said. "Let me get your name before you leave."

Trixie proudly told Bill her name and he wrote it down next to twenty-eight seconds on his note pad.

There was a restaurant attached to the mall where Speed and Sparky were having a meal. Sparky was happy because Speed had offered to pay.

Throughout the meal, Speed went on and on about how he and Trixie might not be meant to be after all. It was like he was trying to convince himself that he could go on without her.

Sparky didn't say too much, because he was too busy eating his food and the food that Speed was ignoring on his plate.

"Maybe Trixie and I are more different than I even realized," Speed said staring off into space.

"Yeah. Can I have that hamburger that you're not touching?" Sparky asked already shoving one of Speed's fries into his mouth as he pointed to the burger.

"Whatever," Speed said clearly having his mind on his social life.

"The food here is so good," Sparky said taking Speed's hamburger.

"I mean. Are people really meant to be together?" Speed asked concentrating very hard on that question.

"We have to come eat here again," Sparky only said before drinking some of his soft drink.

"I wish I had a sign of some sort of whether Trixie and I are really compatible."

"My stomach is liking this," Sparky said shoving the rest of the hamburger into his mouth.

"Sparky," Speed said looking back at his friend. "Let's eat and get out of here."

Sparky stared at Speed after swallowing the last of the hamburger.

"Where's my hamburger?" Speed asked looking at his empty plate, then at Sparky.

"Oops," Sparky said with an innocent smile.

After forgiving Sparky and saying he wasn't that hungry anyway, Speed began to walk with his mechanic friend through the mall in search of a gift for Mom Racer.

It wasn't long till Speed spotted the rock.

"Man, Speed," Sparky said ready to help his friend feel better. "Just from the way you're looking at that rock, I know you want to climb it."

"Damn right!" Speed exclaimed as they started to head to it.

They had to wait for four people ahead of them to climb.

Sparky didn't want to climb and when it was Speed's turn, the racer insisted that he didn't need the safety harness.

Bill smiled and said, "You sound just like the little lady who climbed up this rock about an hour ago. She climbed it in twenty-eight seconds, the fastest yet."

"A girl?" Sparky asked in disbelief.

"Don't be such a jerk," Speed said shaking his head at Sparky.

"Sorry," Sparky said hoping any near by girl who may have heard him didn't want to choke him.

"I can do it in 28 seconds," Speed said confidently.

Sparky was relieved that Speed finally had his mind on something else rather than Trixie.

"Maybe you can," Bill said doubting it. "But, we must follow the safety rules."

Speed put on the safety harness as Bill got the timer ready and then Speed was off climbing.

Bill felt excitement again as he watched Speed quickly make his way to the top. All keyed up, Bill called out, "You did it! You tied with the little lady! Another twenty-eight second's person!"

When Speed came down, he was proud to hear that he had tied with the fastest climber.

"Let me get your name," Bill said ready to add Speed's name to the list of the fastest climbers. After Speed gave him his name, Bill said, "I wrote your name right next to the pretty girl who climbed up it in twenty-eight seconds as well."

Bill then said Trixie's name making Speed think he was hearing things. He looked at Bill's note pad and sure enough there was Trixie's whole name.

"Speed," Sparky said not thinking. "There's your sign! Here you were trying to convince yourself that you and Trixie have nothing in common and look what the two of you did! Looks like you and Trixie are very compatible!"

Looking at Bill, Speed demanded, "You said she climbed this about an hour ago?"

"Yes," Bill answered, and before he could say more, Speed was off, with Sparky quickly following behind him.

"Speed. Where are you going?" Sparky called out.

"If she's still here, I've got to find her," Speed said determined as he began to look through the windows of the stores one by one. His search ended when he saw a beautiful vision. The sight before Speed's eyes was Trixie in a black, strapless, elegant dress that just barely touched the floor. "She looks so beautiful," Speed whispered as he leaned against the window and watched her spin around in the dress as if she was a princess. "She's my princess," he whispered trying to decide what to say to her before he walked into the store.

Suddenly making Speed feel sick, Jessie appeared next to Trixie. "I'm buying the dress for you, Honey," Jessie said as his eyes traveled over Trixie's body.

Speed watched as Trixie looked up at the tall man, batting her eyes at him as she said, "Oh...thank you, Jessie."

Slowly and with his head down, Speed started to walk away from the store.

Sparky felt so very badly for his friend as he realized that Trixie was breaking Speed's heart and she didn't even know it. "Come on, Buddy," Sparky said putting a hand on his shoulder. "Let's get your Mom a present and get out of here."

Speed only nodded his head okay just before walking into the closest store, to a shirt on display, and said, "Buy this one for her."

Not knowing much about women's clothes, Sparky just agreed and picked the shirt up. Speed usually put much more thought into his mother's birthday presents, but this time he just couldn't. He then took out his wallet from his back pocket and handed it to Sparky.

Sparky took the wallet and paid for the shirt and then waited for it to be put in a box and wrapped.

Later, when Trixie and Jessie were leaving the mall, they had to pass the rock again.

Bill saw them and called, "Hey, uh...Trixie. Come here!"

Smiling at each other, Jessie and Trixie both went over to Bill.

Still keyed up, Bill said, "Someone else climbed the rock in just twenty-eight seconds about an hour after you did."

"Really?" Trixie asked surprised.

"A guy or a girl?" Jessie asked curiously.

"A race car driver named Speed Racer," Bill said not knowing that he had made Trixie feel as if her heart had stopped beating.

Jessie now wished they hadn't stopped to see Bill. Though Trixie smiled back at Bill, Jessie saw right through it and knew that hearing Speed's name alone had done something to her.

Trixie hoped Speed wasn't still at the mall, because here it was another week later, and she still didn't know if she could handle seeing him again.

Bill went on happily. "Speed Racer's friend said that the two of you are very compatible."

As Jessie began to gently pull Trixie away, he said, "We have to go. Thanks, Bill." He held her dress in a bag over his shoulder while he put his other arm around Trixie's shoulders as if hiding her. He too knew there was a chance of them running into Speed and the last thing he needed now was another fight. The press would surely go crazy over that. The singer looked straight ahead as he headed them towards the doors to exit the mall.

Trixie was looking straight ahead as well till white and blue caught the corner of her eye.

She turned her head and sure enough it was Speed walking slowly with his head down, and it appeared that Sparky seemed to be trying to cheer him up. Trixie wondered what happened to make Speed look so down and she couldn't help but find herself wanting to go to him. However, she knew it wouldn't be the right thing to do while with Jessie, besides the fact that Speed wasn't her boyfriend any longer.