Princess Ch. 02 Interlude

I drove to the south end of town. When I just drove by I saw Stevie's car parked at Johnny's so I did a loop through the super market parking lot and pulled into Johnny's. As I was getting out of my car I saw Stevie and another guy get into their cars and head to the traffic light and turn west. I saw Shelby going towards a car with Don Reed. Don was Wendy's uncle, and had really taken Stevie under his wing when Stevie had needed love and support the most.

I was taken aback to see Shelby running with this crowd. She was a cheerleader and more likely to be with the guys that cruised downtown, except for the occasional guy, who's ego got the best of him and talked him into coming south do get beat down, figuratively, by the "gear heads" at Johnny's. I assumed then that Shelby's new guy was in the other car and was about to race my brother.

"Maddie! Hiya girlfriend!"

"Hi Shel, whats happening?"

"Geoff Mandrel bought a new car last week and thinks he's fast enough to beat these guys. Stevie drew the high card and is racing him for $1000. Jump in, we're going to the finish line to watch."

"Hi Maddie," said Don, "Yes, please join us." Shelby, Don and I got into Don's car. It rumbled and shook as bad as Stevie's did and felt like it was a fast car. We headed for the traffic light and turned east. We went past the super market and out to the Bluff's Road intersection where there is a parking lot for hikers. We pulled into the lot and waited.

"Bluff's Road is exactly a quarter mile from the pedestrian light between the super market and the low income housing complex," Don explained. "One of our guys will trip that light to red and it will start the race. Winner gets a cool grand tonight."

"Do you think Stevie will win?" I asked Don.

"Oh yeah he will. A lot of guys underestimate just how nasty that nova is."

From where we were we could see two pairs of headlights at the crosswalk. When the light turned green I could tell which car was Steve because the car pulled a wheelie. When they were about half way to us Stevie was far ahead of Geoff. Then the sound from Stevie's car changed and it seemed to leap forward harder than it had before.

As he passed by the intersection where we were waiting, Don said, "Damn it! I've told him not to juice that car unless he had to!"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He installed a multi stage nitrous oxide system a week ago. There was no need for him to use it tonight, he had the race won. It keeps his car at high speed for too long on this road. I need to have a word with him."

We got back into Don's car and headed back to Johnny's. "Your little brother scares me sometimes Maddie. He takes chances that he really shouldn't."

When we got back to Johnny's Shelby asks me, "So, why did I hear secondhand that you are getting hitched?"

"It's just a rumor. I don't even know how that one got started. So who's your new guy? Charlotte told me "Manda is pissed you stole him from her."

She opened her mouth to answer when Stevie and a couple other cars reappeared at Johnny's and we got separated in the commotion. I saw Stevie collect a wad of bills from Don and another wad from some stringy haired brunette. I saw the brunette get into the other car and they left. That blew my theory of Shelby dating the race's loser. Stevie saw me and made a bee line for me. My heart and stomach fluttered at his approach. He didn't look terribly happy to see me, in spite of the big smile I wore on my face.

"Meet me in Wal Mart's parking lot in twenty minutes." He said as he walked past me to where a couple of his other buddies sat. I got into my car as I saw him shaking hands, slapping five, and fist bumping his cronies. I was pulling out of the lot when I saw Shelby approach him and give him a soul kiss that should have buckled his knees. She grabbed his ass and I am sure he did the same to her.

I felt like I had been punched in the gut. I got to Wal Mart and parked. Tears flowed easily. How could he? How could she? I had only been gone for three weeks and he had to find someone else to bide the time? My best friend of all people. I'd deal with her tomorrow. I didn't figure Stevie had plans of standing me up, and I was proved correct when his car pulled next to mine. He motioned for me to get in his car. I got in and he hardly looked at me. The stereo was too loud to make conversation possible, but I didn't have to wait for long.

We drove to the alley behind Charley's and parked. He got out and opened the back door to the store, and motioned for me to follow. I followed him down a hallway into an office. He turned on the light, and sat behind the desk. He motioned for me to sit and offered me a tissue. He pulled a bottle of vodka out of the desk and took a healthy pull from it.

"Please let me say my piece before you say anything Maddie."

I nodded and wondered exactly where this was going.

"You know you could have left that Saturday morning, never having worked over my heart, and never seen me again? I have been spending the past two weeks trying to figure out why you just didn't leave me be. Why did I have to get my heart crushed in all of this? The worst part is I can't talk to anyone about this."

He pulled out his cell phone and began scanning through the messages until t appeared he found the one he wanted. He was silent so I spoke, "I never did anything to break your heart dear. But you broke mine by taking up with my best friend. I ask you why? Why couldn't you wait til I was home?"

He looked at me through tear filled eyes; I could see the hurt inside him and didn't understand. He slid the phone across the desk to me. As I opened the text, that was from my phone, and read it. I looked up at him. A sob racked him hard as croaked out "Why?"

*

There are two more chapters planned for this tale. Not being named King, Koontz or Rowling I have to work for a living. But one advantage of spending 11 hour work days with mainly my thoughts to entertain me, shit like this is born. Chapter 3 has grown exponentially over the past couple weeks from my original plan for it. Thanks for the votes and thanks for reading my stuff........

SH