Chapter Four: Life in the Fast Lane
I headed back towards the stage where I had left Cameron and Ryan.
"Where ya been, Speedster? The fun's about to start!" Said a rather enthusiastic Cam.
"Just witnessing the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, Knight getting a slap to the face. I'll introduce you two to the woman who did it later." I explained.
Ryan took his opportunity to shove me in the general direction of the stairs leading up to the stage where Clutch Knight and another driver were waiting for the ceremony to begin.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" boomed the announcer, "It is my pleasure to introduce to you the three lucky winners of today's rally. These drivers will be moving on to the Golden Tournament in three days."
I took a breath to calm the butterflies in my stomach and continued watching the fellow on stage for my cue.
"In third place, we have number 17; Connor Henderson, !"
Applause erupted from the crowd as the blue and white clad driver went up on stage.
"In second place we have number 54; Clutch Knight!"
More raucous cheering and applause from the crowd as Knight went up on stage.
"And now ladies and gents, I am proud to introduce you to this rally's winner. Winning the race by a full lap and a half, number 83; Jesse Cervera!"
I took a deep breath and hopped up the steps onto the massive stage. An excited crowd cheered and the familiar chant of "Speed Force, Speed Force" rose up. The announcer gave Henderson and Knight the bronze and silver trophies. When my turn came to receive a trophy I was in an almost drunken stupor, I took another breath, one of many it seemed, and walked forward with a confident grin on my face.
"Congratulations Speedster." said the man, using my media nickname.
"Thanks man, but it's not over yet." I said.
"Too right, go win it for the Force." of course he was referring to my own fan-base.
"Will do." I shook his hand and waved a farewell to the clamoring crowd as I made my way off stage back to my friends.
"Nicely done out there Jess." Ryan said warmly.
"Woo hoo! Golden Tournament here we come!" whooped Cameron.
The two girls, Hannah and Cassidy, who I had met earlier had made their way over to us. Cassidy was of course bursting with excitement as Knight came off the stage. I'm sure Hannah could have cared less. It was at this moment I remembered the celebratory party that was happening later tonight. All the crews and drivers were invited, an added bonus was the plus one drivers were given. I figured since the plus one got a plus one, it wouldn't hurt to ask Cassidy if she wanted to go. Knight was most certainly not going to ask any girl, aside from maybe Hannah. In any case, it was going to be interesting to see how the evening played out.
"Hey Cassidy, there's a party at the Theater Globe tonight, Knight'll probably be there and you can bring Hannah with you, wanna come?" I asked casually.
"Oh, I am so ready for this!" she squealed excitedly. "Hannah, remember when I went shopping right before we left?"
"Yeah, why?" Hannah sounded like she really didn't want to know the answer but she knew it was coming anyway.
"I bought us a couple of party essentials while I was out." Cassidy continued, "Come on, let's go get ready!"
The sky was darkening when Ryan, Cameron and I finally started to make our way back to the hotel.
"You guys go on ahead, I'll meet up with you later." I called as I made my way to the garage.
"See ya there J!" called Cam with a wave.
I chuckled and started walking towards the garage again. Some of the docks were open and I passed some pretty good looking vehicles. I paused when I passed the number 15 dock. Now that was a pretty sweet ride. A red and white Toyota Camry was parked in the dock. Decals reflected the overhead lights and I couldn't help but slip in to check it out.
"Wow, props to whoever drives this beauty." I said softly.
As I edged around the Camry I accidentally bumped into a workbench and knocked off a couple of wrenches, they landed with a metallic clang and I heard someone jump and bump their head against the car. I finally noticed the pair of legs sticking out from underneath the car.
"Oops, sorry. You okay?" I asked as whoever it was slid out from under the Camry.
"Yeah, ow. Sorry, I didn't notice you were here." the voice belonged to a lanky guy with messy blonde hair and a race suit with colors matching the Camry.
"Heh, it's a bad habit." I said sheepishly.
He chuckled as his fingers gingerly explored his skull to make sure nothing was seriously injured.
"Hey, you're that Speed Force kid aren't you?" he asked after a moment.
"The one and only." I replied. "You're, Rail Rider, right?
"Yeah, huh," he seemed lost in thought, although he did flinch when his fingers rubbed up against the bump on his head.
"I should probably let you get back to, whatever it was you were doing.." I said halfheartedly.
"Yeah, when I have the chance I'm usually in here." he said. "Chief is a bit overbearing so it's nice to get away from him once in awhile."
My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out to eye who had texted me. It was Cam.
Where are ya?
I sighed and thumbed back a quick reply, I'm talking with Rail Rider.
"I've gotta go, the guys are waiting for me." I felt lame for having to bail, but there was no way Cam was gonna let me not go.
"Okay then." said Rail Rider. "I'm Thomas Mathews by the way."
"Jesse Cervera."
I stopped briefly to check up on my Mazda, then made my way to the meeting place in the parking lot where Cameron and Ryan were waiting for me.
"Hey Speedy, what took so long?" Asked Ryan raising and eyebrow.
"Two words," interrupted Cam, "Rail. Rider."
I glared at him and he stuck his tongue out at me.
Ryan sighed, "Kids."
We walked back to the hotel and made our way up to our room.
"Dudes, I just realized how many cute girls are gonna be there." Cam exclaimed.
Ryan gave Cam the most unreadable look ever and I smirked. A ten minute visit to the bathroom to shower and change later, I returned to find Ryan and Cam in their suits and ready to go.
"Dude, what are you wearing?" Asked Cam incredulously, gesturing to my casual jeans, t-shirt and racing jacket.
"A) I'm too tired. B) I'm too lazy. C) I can't pull off a suit like you guys. D) you can stop me any time now." I said listing off the reasons on my fingers.
Cameron shook his head, "Last time I tried arguing with you, I ended up with a black eye for a week."
Ryan laughed outright at that and I couldn't suppress a grin.
"Come on the guys, lets not keep Hannah and Cassidy waiting." I chuckled.
We walked out of the room and down to meet Cassidy and Hannah outside the hotel. Cameron wolf whistled to be funny as we approached them. Cassidy was wearing a curvy black dress the skirt of which was split up to the middle of her thigh and she wore matching heels. Hannah was dressed in a cute blue and black dress, pumps, her signature book-bag and some adorable wide rimmed glasses completed her look.
"Hey ladies." Ryan drawled.
"Hiya!" chirped Cassidy.
"You girls ready to go?" I asked.
"The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get back to reading." said Hannah dryly.
"I remember you walking out with a book Hannah." said Cassidy.
"You know what I meant Cassius." rolling her eyes, Hannah started walking towards the Theater Globe, and the rest of us followed her, chatting amiably.
The Theater Globe was one huge party. Flashing colored lights, loud music, people talking, and laughing. The atmosphere was buzzing. I was a little in awe of just how huge the place was. Sure, I'd seen it in pictures and stuff but being here in person was a whole different story.
"Dudes! This party be happening." said Cam in his terrible, terrible gangster impression.
"Give it a rest Williamson." laughed Ryan.
"Why don't you go find us some drinks Cam." I suggested.
With an enthusiastic wave Cam darted off into the crowd.
"And that's the last we'll see of him for a while." I noted.
"Yeah, place like this, Cameron would be lost within seconds." Ryan sounded amused at the prospect of having to chase Cam down when it was time to leave.
Cassidy squealed, I turned to look and see what it was she was so excited about my eyebrow quirked when I saw who it was. Heading in our direction, confident smirk in place, was Clutch Knight. Hannah hadn't noticed him yet as she had her nose in a book. Sidling up next to her I gave her a nudge in the ribs.
"All that glitters is not gold." I said softly.
Hannah looked up and groaned when she saw Knight heading towards us.
"I'm gonna go find something to drink." she said shortly.
I chuckled with Ryan as we watched Hannah stalk off. Cassidy was having a moment of extreme fangirlism as Knight approached the three of us. Seeing that Hannah was no longer with us, he glared at Ryan, then at me.
"Did you say anything?" He growled.
"Nope, not me. Woman's intuition." I said holding up my hands.
He gave Ryan and I another glare for good measure before walking off to try and find Hannah.
"Well, that was somewhat unpleasant." said Ryan.
"Yeah. Hey, let's go find Hannah before Knight does." I said looking around.
"Lead the way Speedster." Ryan replied.
By the time we found Hannah, she was about three sheets to the wind and probably wasn't sure which way was up. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones who had found Hannah. Knight was there, trying, and failing (miserably) at using smooth one liners on her. What did amuse me, and Ryan as well I assumed, was the fact that even though she was far more buzzed than any of us had probably ever been, she was still herself enough to brush Knight off when he tried to sweet talk her.
It was around this time that Cameron showed up and Cassidy, whose attentions seemed to be focused on something else other than Knight, slipped off.
"Hi guys!" Cam called as he came up to us.
"Hey Cam." greeted Ryan. "Enjoy yourself did ya?"
"You bet." came the cheeky reply.
"Oh buzz off Knight!" said Hannah swiping at Clutch who just barely dodged the blow.
"Tell me angel, did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" Clutch was not the least bit phased by Hannah's violent attempts to disfigure his face. Which honestly would have done him a favor, in my opinion.
"Knight be failing at da smooth, yo." commented Cameron.
"Ya don't say." Ryan was in a fine mood, if the wide grin on his face was any indication.
"Has anyone ever noticed how much of a goddess Cassidy is?" asked Cam.
I quirked a brow at him, "Say what now?"
"Those legs though. Not to mention her fine taste in food, chicken nuggets for the win dudes."
"I think it's time we went home, ey Ryan?" I said giving Ryan a look.
Ryan opened his mouth as if he were gonna argue, then closed his mouth and nodded.
"Yo Cassidy!" I called, "Time to go lady!"
"Comin'!" I heard her reply.
By the time we made it back to the hotel, it was well after 1 o'clock in the morning.
"Come on Hannah, this way." said Cassidy as she coaxed her friend into their room.
"Night girls." Ryan said and we made our way back to our own room.
"I get the feeling we're gonna be feeling the effects of tonight in the morning." I mused.
"Hannah will, for sure." said Cam, unaware of just how close he was to my fist. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Just shut up and go to bed Cam." Ryan intervened.
"Fine."
It was sometime after 2:30 that I fell into a dreamless sleep.