Bending Under Pressure (8 page)

Keelan: Two hours. I’ll text you when I get there.

Me: Can’t wait! :D

Keelan: Me either.

Keelan: Don’t wear a VT shirt, or you can’t ride. ;)

Me: Haha, deal!

I set my phone aside. I have two hours to put myself back together. First, I hop in the shower, taking nearly forty-five minutes as I quadruple check there’s not a hair left on my legs. Then I spend way too long shifting through the shirts in my closet for something to wear. There’s a knock on my door right when I find a cute red top. Thankfully, I haven’t changed yet.

“Who is it?” I call.

“Mom,” she replies.

I tighten my hold on my towel, take a step toward my dresser where my pjs are stored, and say, “Come in.”

She opens the door with a soft smile. “Getting ready for bed?” I nod. “Us too. We’re more tired than we thought. I wanted to check on you and make sure you’re still doing okay.”

“Yeah, Mom. I’m fine. His loss, right?”

I regret my words the moment she tilts her head at me with a touch of pity and sadness. “Exactly.” Mom comes over and hugs me tightly. “We love you.” I want to roll my eyes at how even now, when she’s telling me she loves me, she has to include Walter.

“I love you too, Mom.”

She leaves and I change into a pair of shorts and the red top. I lotion my legs, and then I mutter, “Crap.” If I blow dry my hair this late, Mom will hear it. She might get suspicious. I don’t usually dry it if I take a shower at night. Dang it. Thinking quickly, I run my brush through it before running my fingers through it in an effort to give it more body. My hair retains water, I swear, so it’s like deadweight until it starts drying. I grab a hairband to help as well.

I debate applying makeup, but figure it’s already obvious I’ve taken a shower. I don’t want to look like I’m trying to impress Keelan, which I’m totally not, so I decide against it. For the remaining time, I read until Keelan texts me.

Sneaking out my window is as easy as before, but my heart is hammering twice as much this time. It picks up speed when I see Keelan at the end of my driveway, leaning against the passenger door of his car. God, the boy is hot. He’s not even trying either. He’s wearing a regular t-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoe, yet, I still want to kiss him as if he was standing before me in a suit.

His grin sets my blood on fire and his eyes run up and down my body as he blindly reaches out for the door handle. “Hey, Hales.”

“Hey,” I smile. “Do you need help?” I perk an eyebrow as he snaps out of it and looks for the handle.

“You got jokes tonight, huh?”

I giggle softly before getting in, and I have to remind myself we need to get out of here as soon as possible.

“Are you ready for this?” Keelan asks once he’s in the driver’s seat.

“So, so ready.”

I
park on the left side of the road since Alan, the guy I’m racing, is on the right. The moon is full and bright tonight, allowing Haley to see the scene. There isn’t a shoulder, so it’s not like those who came to watch can park off to the side. Instead, they are piled into the bed of trucks, like Cam’s, which are parked where the tractors can turn into the fields. There are some in intervals, all the way to the imaginary finish line.

“Will we get caught?” she asks, her head turning so her eyes land on me.

“It’s unlikely. This road is barely used as it is and we’re so close to the county line, we could cross over and the cops would be out of luck. No one has ever been caught before. C’mon.”

We get out of the car, and I walk around to the front.

“What’s this?” Alan asks. “Does Keelan Moore have a chick riding with him? I don’t believe it.”

I laugh and playfully shove his shoulder. “Shut up.” Alan is from a neighboring high school, so I introduce him to Haley. “This is Haley, and yeah, she’s riding with me.”

Alan sweeps his eyes over her as she softly tells him hello. “When Keelan loses, you’re free to ride with me,” he grins at her. She only raises an eyebrow at him.

“All right, let’s stop with the chit chat and get this going,” Cam says.

The few people hanging around begin walking down to where they’ll watch, and we get back in our cars. There’s only one guy left, Tom, as Cameron heads to the finish line where he’ll record a video on his phone in case he needs help judging who wins. We buckle up and start the engines. I glance at Haley to see her grinning.

“Excited, Hales?”

“Oh my God, yes.”

I laugh. Tom makes sure our cars are relatively even and lined up. He checks his phone, which is likely a text from Cam, saying he’s ready.

“Three!” Tom begins to shout. “Two! One!”

We take off as I smoothly shift gears. We can hear the cheer of people as we zoom by them. Alan and I are neck in neck. My stomach bottoms out when we go over the first hill. Part of me wants to close my eyes and relish in the feel of the engine, the steering wheel, the gearshift underneath my hand, and the sensation of going so fast over these hills. I don’t, of course.

We’re approaching the curve and the invisible finish line fifty feet ahead of it. I press harder on the gas, wanting to secure the win, especially in front of Haley, and take a deep breath as I pass where Cam is recording on his phone. I think I won, but I was focused on staying on my side of the road, so I’m not confident yet. I immediately downshift and hit the brakes, making it where we’ll stop just before we reach the deadly curve.

As soon as I shift into park, I glance at Haley. My eyes widen as she leans over, grabs my face, and kisses me.
She’s kissing me.
My surprise wears off quickly when her tongue traces my lips, begging for entrance. Our mouths part and this is the best kiss of my entire life. I knew kissing Haley would be mind blowing, but she’s shattered the world. She pulls away, resting her forehead on mine, and we stare at each other, breathing heavily.

“Oh,” she breathes like she’s realizing what she did.

Before she can pull away, I slip a hand underneath the hair at her neck and kiss her again. The sigh that falls from her lips nearly undoes me. A pounding on my window pulls us apart.

“Come on,” I tell her, my voice low with need. I try to get rid of the urge to rip all her clothes off with a shake of my head. Two kisses. Two kisses from this girl and I’m already losing my mind.

Cameron slaps me on the shoulder. “Congratulations, man!” I grin, especially when he hands me a small wad of cash. We don’t always take wagers, but when we do, Cam is in charge of it. It’s not a lot, I mean, we are kids in high school, but when a bunch of us get together, it’s a nice little chunk of change. I shove the cash into my pocket before Haley comes around to stand next to me.

A crowd has gathered and they begin to congratulate me. My mind is still on the kiss though, so I wrap my arm around Haley’s shoulders, tucking her into my side. Once things start to slow down a bit, I glance down at Haley, who smiles back at me.

“Amazing,” she says simply. “I was completely mesmerized, especially with how little space was between y’all,” and this is when I realize she isn’t talking about the kiss. “That was the best thing I’ve ever experienced.” She falters for a moment, her cheeks reddening with a blush. “I couldn’t help what happened afterward.”

“Want to do it?” Her brows wrinkle and I add, “Racing, I mean.”

“I can’t drive a stick.”

Alan has finally made his way to him. “Good race, Keelan. I almost had you.”

I laugh. “Sure you did.” Really, I have no clue. “Let’s go again. This time, Haley is driving. We can circle around.”

Alan’s eyebrows disappear underneath his hair hanging over his forehead. “Seriously?”

“What are you talking about?” Haley adds. “I just said—”

“I was listening. Trust me for a second.” I turn to Alan. “You up for it?”

“Hell, yeah. We’re going again, folks!” he shouts, going over to his car.

I open the door and slide into the driver’s seat. I lift the steering wheel and move my seat back a bit. I hold my hand out to her. “Come sit in my lap, Hales.” She hesitates for a moment before getting in. I want to groan at having her in my lap, but I manage to refrain.

“What are we doing?” she asks.

Ignoring her for the moment, I tell her where to put her legs so they aren’t in my way. I pull the seatbelt around us and buckle us in. With my lips brushing her ear, I explain, “You’re going to steer and I’m going to do everything else. It’ll do until I can teach you how to drive stick.”

“Seriously? You’re crazy. This is insane,” she objects.

“Better steer because we’re about to move.”

Her hands leap to the steering wheel. If we can make it back to the starting place, then we can easily do the race.

“I don’t even know how to get back!”

I laugh and give her directions. Every few seconds, she mutters under her breath about how crazy this is. When we stop next to Alan’s car, I ask, “Still want to do this?”

She glances at me from over her shoulder. There’s a spark in her eye. “Absolutely.”

And so, we’re counted down and we take off. It’s odd to drive like this, but it gives me an opportunity to keep a better eye on Alan. “A little to the left, Hales. Getting too close to him,” I tell her calmly. The last thing we need is for her to panic and overcorrect.

“Sorry,” she mutters.

Alan ends up winning, but Haley doesn’t care. The moment we’re fully stopped, she unbuckles us and turns in my lap to kiss me like she needs to breathe and kissing me is the only way she can get air. Could she be any more perfect? She’s an amazing kisser and on top of that, she likes fast cars and I’m pretty sure they turn her on. This kiss doesn’t last long unfortunately.

My door opens and we hear, “You were driving, Haley?”

We turn to see Jess. She tugs on Haley’s hand, pulling her out of the car, and I follow. Jess leads Haley away from me, causing me to frown. Where do they think they’re going?

“You let her drive?”

I swivel to face Cameron. “She steered.” I shrug.

“It took a year for you to let me drive the car and within two weeks, you let her.”

“Are you going to cry to Mom now?”

He glares at me, and I laugh. Cam glances at his phone and calls out toward the girls, “Jess, let’s go!” To me, he says, “How am I supposed to make out with her before I take her home if she has to have girly gossip with Haley?” He shakes his head.

“You need it too. All you’ve done today is complain.”

He glares, but doesn’t get the chance to say anything before Jess and Haley appear. He grabs her hand and starts walking off.

“Well, bye,” Jess laughs.

The crowd is starting to thin, so I take Haley’s hand and pull her to me with a lazy grin. “Ready to go?”

“Yep.”

I walk her around to open the door for her and then we are on our way. As usual, I kill the lights as I pull far enough into her driveway that I’m not in the road. “Did you have fun?”

“Yes, thanks for inviting me, Keelan.” Her hand moves to the door. “It was a long day, but that was a good way to end it.” She isn’t going to leave without kissing me again, is she?

“Hales,” I say as she pulls on the handle. She faces me again and I lean over, surprising us both when I rest my forehead against hers. I’m addicted to her already. It’s insane. Her eyes are curious and her shallow breath teases my lips. Quickly, I press one kiss to her lips before pulling away. “I’ll see you at school.”

She nods before getting out of my car. She flashes a grin over her shoulder and then she takes off running. The grin makes my heart beat erratically. That girl is going to drive me crazy.

“D
o you think it’s too late to cancel?” I ask.

Mom gives me a reassuring smile. “It’ll be fine.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Yes, it’s too late.”

“We can hang out in another booth if you want,” Cameron offers.

I shake my head. “No, that’s okay. Thanks though.”

Dad squeezes my shoulder as he places his bowl in the sink. “It’ll be fine,” he echoes Mom’s words.

Today, after football practice, I’m meeting Natalie at Elsie’s. To say I’m nervous about meeting my birth mom is a massive understatement. My cereal has gotten all soft and gross where I’ve been pushing my spoon around. Sighing, I stand, empty the contents, and grab my book bag. Cam does the same. I’m almost to the door when Mom calls my name.