I called her and waited through three rings for her to answer.
“Are you all right?” she asked instantly.
“That’s an uplifting way to answer the phone,” I commented.
“I’m sorry. I was worried about you. Hi.”
“Hi,” I said.
“Did you go?” Kira asked.
“I did. It was exactly like I remembered. Right down to the boy who came up to me at the bar.”
5
Darren
Running into Kelly kind of threw off my birthday celebration. After seeing her, it wasn’t like I could just go back to hanging out with everybody and pretend things were the same. I went back to the table and sat down. Almost instantly another drink appeared in front of me, but I’d lost interest. I used the plate of nachos to nudge it away and stuffed my mouth full of chips and cheese so it wouldn’t seem as unusual that I didn’t jump right into the conversation going on around me. Fortunately, my friends and family were more than happy to pick up my slack in the drinking department. They seemed to have gotten through another couple of rounds of shots while I was at the bar and were well on their way to having a very good time.
The drinking helped to distract them from noticing the shift in my mood. It wasn’t that I was upset or angry. I was just taken off guard and didn’t really know what to think. While my brothers and our friends sat around laughing and talking, my mind wandered back to my one night with Kelly. It was by far not the first time I’d thought about that night in the last three years. My thoughts frequently went back to those few hours and the incredible time I’d spent with the unforgettable woman.
Even three years later, I could remember every detail, from the way her hair smelled to the taste of her lips. I could still feel the way she fit in my arms and hear the sounds that poured from her as I brought her body to ecstasy. I couldn’t let go of those memories and didn’t want to. It wasn’t pathetic I told myself. It wasn’t just me clinging to the one-night stand because it was the only thing I had, or that I was so wrapped up in her I hadn’t been able to move forward in my life at all. I’d had sex since my night with Kelly. Good sex. Maybe even great sex. But even then, nothing hit that same connection she and I had. There was something about her I didn’t get enough of, and that was what stayed with me.
I left the bar relatively early and went home to the same house. Taking the plate my mother had given me as I left her house after my also-traditional birthday dinner, I went into my bedroom and stripped down to my boxers. Sitting in the middle of my bed, I turned on my favorite movie and dug into the massive wedge of birthday cake Mom baked for me. That was one thing I could always rely on from my mother. If she was stressed, anxious, or particularly happy, she was in the kitchen baking. The combination of racing season and my birthday meant her house and the kitchen at the racing complex were overrun with goodies. My cake was my favorite rich, fudgy chocolate, and I ate my way through the whole slab before getting ready for bed and falling into a dream-filled sleep.
It might not have been the most raucous of birthday celebrations but stopping after only a couple shots did have a few distinct benefits. One became more obvious Monday morning when I showed up for my workout with Colby and found him still feeling the effects. Usually he was already partway through a workout when I arrived at the studio and used it as a chance to taunt me, but this time I pulled into the parking lot before his car was even there. I checked the time and saw it was a couple of minutes after our normal meeting time. He finally pulled in right as I was about to call him to make sure everything was all right.
Colby parked next to me and got out of the car wearing sunglasses. I laughed.
“Have too much fun?” I asked.
He grunted at me and reached into his back seat to yank out his gym bag.
“I had to make up for you,” he muttered. “Who has a birthday celebration and leaves their guests to do all the drinking for them?”
“I don’t think there’s a quota,” I pointed out.
We went into the gym and got started with our training. I’d been working out hard for the last several months, trying to get into better shape in hopes of upping my racing game even more. Though I’d been successful and was making even more of a name for myself in the circuit, I never wanted to be complacent. It was never lost on me that the other racers were driven to knock me off the top and take over the position. My success was a motivation to them. When I did well, it forced them to work harder so they could try to do better than me the next time. It was my mission to not let that happen. I had my taste of being at the top of the industry, and I wasn’t willing to just let it go.