Don't You Ever Fear I'm Always Near

Ah! I won! I couldn’t believe it! It was Tanner and I in the finals and I thought for sure the judges would pick him… but they ddin’t! I’m so on cloud nine right now. I have my amazing family here and my luscious boyfriend… who I beat. and I won! Nothing can bring me down right now… or so I thought.

“AAAHHHH!” Kirstie yelled as I came walking over with the biggest smile on my face.

“I WON!” I couldn’t help but boast.

“I KNOW!” she replied before running over to tackle me in a big hug… that made us fall to the ground.

We ended up just laughing at how way too excited each of us got. I bet the photographers were having a hay day though. I caught a few of them snapping pictures, but I didn’t care. I’m with my sister… and we’re both happy right now!

After our laughter died down, Josh reached his hand out for Kirstie. Once she got to her feet, he held his hand out for me. Um… no.

“Ew! I’m not touching your greasy hand,” I told him, scrunching my face up in disgust.

“Fine, don’t take my help then,” Josh replied, pointing his nose in the air, making me roll my eyes.

“I won’t,” I smirked while pushing myself to my feet… and then I saw my Tanny coming with a big smile on his face.

“Good job, baby,” he said while pulling me against him.

“You did good too… I was just better,” I smirked at him, making his bright smile come over him before he pressed his lips against mine so that we could share a yummy, loving,heated kiss.

“Break it up,” Josh said, ruining our amazing moment.

I shot back with a few witty comments before Kirstie gave me her little present. It was cute. She gave me a Barbie doll. It made me smile and think back to our little movie night. It was sweet of her.

After that little sisterly moment, I noticed Tanner and Kirstie eyeing each other oddly. Um… awkward? But thankfully Tanner broke. Should I really be saying thankfully though?

“Kirstie, are you still mad at me?” he asked her.

“Yep,” she simply replied.

“Why?” Tanner shot back.

“Because I really didn’t appreciate what you said to me. I thought it was jerky,” Kirstie bickered back.

“Well, you were being selfish,” Tanner said… um… what?

Everything else that they said was just background noise. I totally missed something here. What exactly did Tanner say to her when they had this little ‘chat’. I seemed to be lost in my thoughts until Tanner stormed off. Just great!

“I think he’s just in a bad mood. I should go talk to him,” I sighed before jogging after him.

By the time I had caught up to him, he was already at his pit. He knew I was behind him, but he didn’t stop. So, I followed him into his trailer.

“Will you stop and talk to me?” I asked him as he started to unzip his suit.

He took his arms out and put them on his waist while turning around to face me.God, that was sexy. I would love to just go over and make out with him right now, but… we have some stuff to talk about.

“What exactly happened with you and Kirstie?” I asked while crossing my arms.

“I called her selfish,” he shot back.

“Can I ask why?” I questioned, really annoyed with him at the moment.

“She was making such a big deal about you doing what you want to do. It was upsetting you. So, I went and talked to her about it. She may not have liked what I had to say, but I told her she’d get over it,” he shrugged like it was no big deal.

“Tanner, you can’t just talk to my sister that way,” I sighed while running my hand through my hair.

“But letting her have an effect on you the way she does is ok?” he snapped.

“You have no idea how this affects her. She’s an emotional person. And we happened to be so close when we were little. My Rally career made us lose almost all of what we had… and now all you can say to her is that she’s selfish?” I tried so hard not to lose it on him right now.

He seemed speechless right now. All he did was stare back at me. We’re having this argument after my first win… at my first drifting event. We should be making out right now, but we’re having this huge disagreement!

“What do we do then?” he asked after a few seconds of us holding each other’s gaze.

“I don’t even know,” I replied, sighing while taking my hat off to run my hand through my hair again.

“Well, then… maybe we should just… take a break,” he pushed out, dropping his eyes to the floor.

But I don’t want that! I frickin’ love you, Tanner!

“If that’s what you want,” I told him before turning to head back to my pit.

I walked as quickly as I could since I didn’t have any sunglasses. Tears threatened to fall past my eyes more and more with every step I took. I was hoping no one was back at my pit yet, but… what do you know? Everyone was back there. They started smiling and saying congratulations. There were even a few reporters and crap ton of fans. I couldn’t see anyone now though.I wanted to go cry my eyes out!

Leaving everyone behind, I went into my trailer, claiming that I needed to change. No one bothered me. After I did change, I sat down and put my head in my hands, finally letting my tears fall.

Once people started knocking to check on me, I hurried to wipe my tears away and shove my sunglasses over my eyes. Before walking back out, I sucked in a big breath and… walked straight to my parents.

I came here with Tanner… I’m sharing a room with Tanner. I’m not about to stay in the same room and drive back home with Tanner. I didn’t exactly tell my parents what was wrong. I think they got an idea and said they’d gladly take me home. I was so ready to get out of here. I don’t care about interviews right now. I just want to get away and go home.

Before we started for home though, I had my dad stop by the hotel so I could get my stuff. I hurried around the room, collecting all of my thingsand one of Tanner’s hoodies. It was probably the wrong thing to do, but it was comfort right now. Kirstie rode here with Josh so there was no talking to her. I just had an hour drive home with my parents… and my thoughts that are very unpleasant right now.