Barriers begin to come down.

Seriously, it’s difficult to explain how that felt. We were going so fast, and every time Alice drifted, I was at the edge of believing she’d spin out of control, but she didn’t. Every time she smoothly slid through a corner and exited without any tail wag. I had expected it to be rockier and erratic, but it wasn’t the case. I told Alice as much as we got back in her car to go back to the lookout.

“Thanks,” she grinned. “Part of it is that I’ve practiced a lot, another is that this car is perfectly balanced. It’s part of what makes me love it so much, and every time I work on it or change parts I make sure not to mess up the weight distribution.”

“You clearly know the road,” I told her.

“Oh, like the back of my hand!” She giggled. “I didn’t start drifting and racing the moment I got my car to work, you know? I learned the track, going through it slowly at first and pushing little by little to improve my times.”

“What do you do if a car comes from the other side?” I asked.

“Barely any cars use this road now. I told you, remember? With the new tunnel, you’re saving about 30 minutes worth of travel time. And if some car does come, I can tell ahead of time by the lights. The road has so many corners that it makes it easy to spot another car one or two kilometers away. It also means this is a fairly low-speed track, so there’s plenty of time for adjustments.”

“That was low speed?”

“Well, yes.” Alice giggled. “Comparatively speaking.”

We made it back to the lookout. As expected, there were no other cars. This place, unlike the rest of the road, was lit by a couple of street lights, so we weren’t completely in the dark here.

We got out of the car with the paper bag with our food in it.

“...Please don’t spill anything on the car, okay?” Alice asked.

“And if I do?” I asked teasingly.

Alice smiled sweetly. “No one will ever find your body.”

I shuddered. “I’m just gonna stand here, next to the railing, thank you.”

Alice laughed and moved to stand next to me. We got our food and started eating. I laughed when it was Alice who let a tomato from her hamburger fall to the floor.

“Good thing we’re not eating in the car,” I teased.

“S-Shut up…” she pouted.

I finished my burger faster than her and as I drank my soda, then I decided to ask Alice something else. “Hey, Alice?”

“Hm?”

“Why racing?”

She tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“Why did you start racing and driving like this? Not that I’m judging, but it’s…”

“Weird?”

“I was going to say ‘unusual’, actually. And dangerous.”

She nodded. “I know.” She licked her lips to clean up a bit of mayo. “Why did I start street racing? Too many reasons, really.” She smiled and looked back at the road. “For starters, I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for this road. The last thing I want is to get bystanders involved in our mess, and thanks to this road we don’t have to worry too much. There’s no official track for anyone here to go to. The closest one is like a four-day drive away.”

I understood. “You’d go to an official track instead of here if you could?”

“100%,” she answered with a smile. “My biggest dream is to someday drive the Nurburgring in Germany.”

I kind of wanted to say I knew that track from games, but I didn’t want to interrupt her answer.

“Those are the reasons I race here, at least. Now, as to the reasons I race at all, well…” She smiled shyly. “I understand it’s dangerous, I understand it’s not right… But I have nothing but good memories from working with and racing cars.”

“Sarah said that both your dad and your brother are really into cars. She also said you played with toy cars as a kid.”

Alice blushed and grumbled. “She didn’t need to say that last part.”

“Can you keep a secret?” I asked her with a nervous smile.

“Hm? Of course.”

“I used to play with dolls as a kid.”

Alice blinked. “You’re lying.”

“It’s true. Isabelle and I always played together, but all she ever wanted to do was play with dolls. I… I make it sound like she roped me into it, and she sort of did, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get into it after a while.” I chuckled embarrassedly.

“You’re not saying that just to make me feel better, are you?”

“I wish. Ask my sister. Now you have dirt on me, but I think it’s a fair trade.”

Alice laughed heartily. {No wonder they’re head over heels for him…}

I felt a short, yet sharp headache. It was only for an instant, and thankfully Alice was too busy laughing to see me wince at the sudden pain. I had no doubts now that the mind reading and the headaches were connected, though I still couldn’t predict when the readings would happen.

“So, you were saying?” I said, encouraging her to continue.

“Ah. Right. So… All the memories I have of working on the car are really precious to me. It’s what helped me bond with my dad and my brother. Actually, my brother met his wife at one of these meets. They raced and she kicked his ass so hard that he came back the next month for the salty runback. After he won, it was her turn to want a rematch. That went on until they got married two years later.” Alice giggled, but then her smile turned sour. “Then there’s… They told you, didn’t they? I bet they did. They trust you enough.”

“Told me what?”

“About… what happened in freshman year.”

My chest felt cold. I grimaced. “No details, but yes. They never said your name, but I ended up figuring it out.”

Aliche chuckled weakly. “Well, that saves me time. When… THAT was happening, working on my car was the only thing that took my mind off it. For that year, it was almost the only thing I did, even.” She sighed. Her shoulders dropped and she shivered, biting her lip as she grimaced. “I was so stupid. I believed those stupid lies. He told me he… That I was…” Alice rubbed her eyes and groaned loudly. “Sorry, sorry! That’s not what we’re talking about. I don’t want to think about it. My point is that, during that time, working on my car was the only thing that made me happy.” She looked towards her baby, her RX-7. “Then I finally got it working. It wasn’t perfect, but it ran. I immediately started learning how to drive. I was ecstatic! They’d given me a hunk of junk for my birthday and I got it working with my own hands!” She giggled weakly, her smile slowly becoming genuine again. “I was super scared at first. I drove slowly, to the point it even irritated my dad. Then I grew more confident and I could drive normally. It was two years ago that my brother came up to me and told me to drive him somewhere. We came here, to this very lookout. I drove the pass up and down for hours, not trying for any times, or drifting or anything else. Just driving, enjoying the balance of the car, the sound it made when revving up, all the while talking with my brother about the next car he wanted to build and the parts I should be buying next.”

Alice took a moment to finish her hamburger, as the tomato was dripping juice on her hands. I passed her a napkin and she wiped her mouth and fingers. She asked for another one, and with that one she wiped the few tears threatening her eyes.

“Sorry. I got a little emotional.”

“Thank you for telling me. No wonder this means so much to you.” I smiled at her. “It’s also no wonder Mila calls you a badass.”

Alice snickered. “She called me that?”

“Yeah, and I think I agree.”

“Shut up!” She laughed and gave me a playful shove.

I could help the grin on my face. Not just because of her reaction, but because the more we talked, the more I noticed her barriers coming down. That it was happening for me was flattering.

Patreon.