“Too much?”
“Just for tonight, yeah.” I was already pushing the door open, nearly falling out as he tried to help me. “Don’t be mad.”
The words were a plea, and my chest tightened. I turned back, grabbing my bag and meeting his eye. “I told you I won’t like being rejected, but I understand why you need to take it slow.”
“I told you it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me.”
I shook my head, but I smiled. “Goodnight, Kye. I’ll talk to you later.”
The door to Kye’s car shut as I turned onto my dad’s road. I could already hear the idle of his car, and was surprised when he turned onto my dad’s road behind me.
My phone buzzed, and I read it as I walked inside.
Kye
Goodnight, Daze.
EIGHTEENKYE
My body buzzed as I pulled up, Daisy already waiting at the curb for me.
“You came,” she said, slipping into the passenger seat.
“I said I would be here.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t know after how you left things.”
“Left things? What does that mean?” I asked, pulling into the street and spinning the car back around to head to the races.
“It means you told me to kiss you and then begged me to stop. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to follow that up with.”
“Do you have to follow it up with anything? We’re not actually dating, right? And I’ve said a hundred times I’m not good at the touching stuff. You wanted to go out tonight, and I have an open seat. There’s nothing to follow it up with.”
“Oh,” she said. “Okay, then. I guess that’s an easy way to solve that problem, then.”
I shifted again, pushing the car faster as we got further from town. I glanced over, surprised to see her calm. She had her blonde hair pulled back into a messy bun at her shoulders, and it was just messy enough to make me wonder if she tried to make it look like that. I had told her not to wear one of her dresses tonight and was glad to see she listened. The hoodie and jeans were better for the races anyway, and better for me not having to wonder what every other guy would be thinking about her.
I didn’t know what happened. One minute, I had my perfectly normal life, and the next, I was obsessing over other guys, thinking they had a chance at my fake girlfriend.
If I wasn’t thinking about that, I was thinking about her.
Just her.
When I looked back at her again, she smiled, but it quickly faded when she glanced at the dash and back to me.
“Kye, the road!”
“What about it?”
“Look at it, not me. You’re speeding.”
“The road isn’t going to disappear.”
“But we will if you launch us into the forest!”
“I can do it with my eyes closed, Daze.”
“Don’t you dare.”
I laughed, looking back at the road but not slowing down. “Fine, but I’m going to try it out next time I’m by myself.”
“That is the dumbest thing you could try to do.”
“I promise it isn’t the dumbest thing I could do. I could think of at least ten other things I could try that would be dumber.”
I turned into the lot of the races, and couldn’t help but glance over to watch as she took in the sight.
Race night was always hit or miss on the turnout, but tonight was busy. There were at least fifty other cars already pulled up next to the makeshift track, and I angled us through the crowd to find the rest of the crew.
“Wow,” she said, pulling off the harness as she looked over the crowd and cars. “This is what you do every week?”
“Close to it, yeah. We go out looking for races instead sometimes. Just depends on our mood, or how much money we need.”
“What am I supposed to do here?” she asked as I parked.
“What do you mean?”
“Am I supposed to do something? Should I just be around you all night?”
