Taming the Street Racer ✔️

06 | fast n very furious

By the time my eyes clear and the pain in my head and chest have dulled, I'm far from the stuck-up suburbs that I yearned to escape. When I finally stop and take in my surroundings, nothing looks familiar. For the first time in hours, I feel a calmness roll over me. A relief from being far away from the wide streets and wraparound porches that only remind me of the suffocating lives my parents led.

I have no time to admire the unfamiliarity of the bright downtown lights and tall buildings before the deafening roar of a car's exhaust breaks through the night's silence. As the car approaches, growing louder and louder, I realize it's not one car coming toward me - but several roaring down the narrow downtown streets.

I step backward into the shadows of the parking garage next to me, pulling my Adidas hood up and watching the intimidating parade of cars approach. I find myself holding my breath, waiting for them to pass, but they never do. One by one, they swing wildly into the tight parking garage and speed up the ramp.

Just my luck.

I'm preparing to cross the street and get as far away from whatever is happening in the parking garage when the last few cars roll past. The last one catches my eye: a blacked-out Audi with chrome rims. Grayson's car, undoubtedly.

In this situation, I know the stupid decision and the smart decision. I think back to the cold, unfeeling way Grayson treated me earlier, his short fuse that I always seem to set off. I know all this but I can't seem to stop the stupid, optimistic part of me from moving my feet in the direction of the parking garage entrance.

I run through the eerily dark first floor and take the stairs up in the upward direction of the noise. When I reach the third floor, I take an involuntary step back, mesmerized by the sight of thirty sports cars parked randomly throughout the floor. People are leaned up against hoods and weaving between cars together, talking and laughing.

It feels like a dangerous, weirdly timed tailgate party for...what? I stay on the stairwell platform and continue observing them, not admitting to myself that I'm scanning the crowd for Grayson's messy brown hair.

After a few minutes of absolutely no sign of Grayson or anything important happening, I'm about to head back down the stairwell and call this a bust. That's when I see a very attractive girl being helped onto the top of a very expensive-looking car. She situates herself and a guy hands her a megaphone.

"Okay everyone! Who's ready to get this shit on the road? Start in 10 minutes and, by now, you better know where! Let's see who takes home the big bucks to their mommy tonight. See you fuckers there!" She yells into the megaphone, earning whoops and cheers from everyone. She gets down and into the car she was standing on.

It takes no time at all before everyone is sliding into their vehicles, blasting all different types of hype music, and peeling out of the garage just as fast as they came. Suddenly, Grayson's car speeds past out of nowhere, his face blurred behind the tinted windows. I step out of the shadows, suddenly afraid that I'll miss whatever is going on.

I'm about to start back down the stairwell, emotionally deflated, when one of the last cars stops abruptly in front of me. The back window rolls down and a young redhead sticks her head out.

"You coming or what, Adidas? You ain't gonna see the action from this pathetic hiding spot." She tucks her voluminous hair behind gauged ears. "Hop in, baby."

Again, I know the stupid decision and the smart decision. I loosen up and choose, opening the door and sliding in. Redhead cheers and whoops, leaning over me to close the door as the car speeds after the others.