Going Down In Flames

“Ally” I heard a whisper though my slumber. I didn’t reply though, my brain was sort of awake but my body surely wasn’t.

I felt a soft tug on my arm that hung limply out of the side of the bed. The tugs became stronger and more frequent.

“Ally! Wake the fuck up!” I recognised Denae’s frustrated voice.

“What do you want?! Can’t you see I’m sleeping?” I said in a harsh tone, shooting my eyes open.

“I need to talk to you, like now!”

“Well talk!”

“Get your ass out of bed, I’m making breakfast. I expect you to be out in the kitchen in 10 minutes” she ordered before walking out of the bedroom.

I rolled my eyes and flipped my body over so I was now facing a sleeping Travis. I smiled as I watched his nose twitch singularly. I shifted my body so I was right beside him now; my index finger traced over his bare chest. He had such an extensive set of muscles that showed fluently even though he was in a deep state of pure relaxation.

Travis deeply inhaled as his eyes slowly fluttered opened; opening and closing repeatedly before settling open. I inhaled his sweet scent as I rested my head on his chest; I felt his fingertips brushing my loose strands of hair delicately off my face.

“Good morning” he whispered, touching his lips to my forehead.

“Morning” I smiled into his chest.

“Who was yelling before?”

“Denae, she said she needs to talk to me about something and she’s making brecky. I’m guessing it’s probably to do with Greg” I giggled lightly.

“I don’t know what else there is for her to tell! We heard most of it last night!” he laughed, his chest pulsating with laughter.

“Shh…” I said though laughs; placing a single finger over my lip “She’ll hear you!”

“Oh well” he sighed.

“Get up soon and come get food. I better go talk to Denae before she rips my head off” I laughed lightly and rolled myself out of bed.

My body was bare except for my privates being covered by a thin layer of black lace. I picked up one of Travis’s shirts I found on the floor and pulled it over my head; deciding not to bother with pants as his shirt covered my bottom half anyway. I kissed Travis’s cheek quickly before following the scent of whatever Denae was cooking that lead towards the kitchen.

“What do you need to talk about?” I asked sitting onto the stool facing her.

“You are Travis are in trouble! You two totally set me up!”

I giggled to myself “Really?! I didn’t notice” I said sarcastically.

“Not funny”

“Your right, it’s really funny”

“It’s really not” she argued “Anyway, I have no idea what the hell got into me last night!” she said bluntly.

“Go on” I nodded.

“Like, first we were just kissing because well… I don’t know why. And then we came back here with you and Travis and somehow we ended up in the shower together and then in my bed. Like fuck. I don’t usually do this type of stuff, his going to think I’m some tramp that sleeps with people on the first time meeting each other!” she said loudly throwing her hands around as she spoke.

“Denae, chill… You’re over reacting. For one, it’s good that you loosened up a bit from all the stress of work and had a bit of fun. And anyway Greg is not like that, he knows that you’re not that type of girl.”

“How do you know his not like that!?” she objected.

“If you don’t remember I did spend and extensive amount of time in Maryland with him and the Nitro Circus crew! And evidently you did come into some conversations at times.”

“Oh yeah” she laughed “I don’t know if I even like the idea of me and Greg, you know…” she paused “doing the nasty” she thrusted her hips lightly; I giggled at her.

“Well it sure sounded like you enjoyed it last night!” Travis interrupted, entering the room wearing a pair of track pants and his top half bare.

Denae gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.

“You have got to be kidding me right?” she said softly through the cup of her hand.

“Nope” I laughed, shaking my head.

“You sounded very pleased with what was happening” Travis grinned.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fucking, fuck!” Denae cursed profusely.

“Babe, it’s okay” I said sympathetically with a small laugh behind my tone.

“I’m so embarrassed” she face palmed herself before turning around and continued cooking pancakes.

Just after breakfast was served, Greg emerged from Denae’s bedroom into the kitchen. He awkwardly smiled and scratched the back of his neck. Travis asked him to stay for breakfast whilst Denae glared holes in Travis’s forehead.

Denae quickly demolished her food before chucking her plate in the dishwasher and walking up to my side. I stuffed a piece of pancake in my mouth and looked up at her.

“I’m going to go get ready, I have some things to do before this afternoon” she stated “Oh and don’t forget that you and Travis both have a practice race this afternoon” she added.

“Yeah we know” I smiled; I was beyond excited to get behind the wheel again.

“Okay” she nodded before heading for her room.

After we had finished our food and Denae had left Travis set to sussing out all the details of Denae and his night; some of which I really did not want to find out! After I had heard way more then I wanted to I headed upstairs and grabbed out my laptop. I jumped on the internet and headed to the NASCAR homepage. On the front page featured a picture of myself and my beautiful number 66 car. There was a small article featuring news about my come back to NASCAR after the incident that resulted in my coma. I was beyond excited to get behind the wheel of my baby and show everyone that just because I have been out of the game for a little while it doesn’t mean that I won’t win another championship.

I wasted time in every way I could think of, the anticipation was killing me. As the clock striked 4pm I knew I could start of get ready. I showered and wrapped one of my towels around my naked body. Casually, I strolled out into my room Travis was laying down on my our bed gazing up at his phone which he held above him.

He turned and smiled at me quickly; not taking much notice. He repeated his look once again and stared endlessly at my barely covered body.

“Shit!” he winched as he dropped his phone fair on his face.

“Aw” I cooed.

“So your fault!” he protested with an adorable pout.

“My fault!” I retorted “How is it my fault that you dropped your phone on your head?!”

“You’re too sexy” he stuck his tongue out.

I laughed and headed over to my chest of draws, pulling out some comfortable clothes and a matching set of underwear and a bra. I slipped them on without a concern of Travis’s watching eyes I could feel lingering over my body.

I shooed him to get ready and soon we were both ready and so was Greg. I quickly grabbed my essentials as my gear was already down at the track and raced outside with Greg and Travis hot on my tail. I insisted on driving and soon we were off heading to the track.

“Ally, you do know you’re not on the track yet!” Travis laughed lightly from the passenger seat.

I looked at him bluntly for a moment before concentrating back on the road with a roll of my eyes.

“Looks like you’re going to have some stiff competition Trav if this is how she drives normally on the road!” Greg laughed.

“Don’t worry special, I can take her!” Travis said confidently.

I scoffed dramatically “Have you ever seen me race?”

“A few times”

“And what happened those few times?”

“You raced?” he questioned confused.

“Where did I place in those races?”

“You came first”

“That should give you a pretty good example of where you’re going to end up”

“And where would that be exactly?” Travis said in a sort of annoyed tone.

“Looking at the behind of my car”

“Whatever” he silenced and gazed out the window.

After another 10 minutes of driving we pulled up to the track. I drove around the back to the area designated for the drivers to park their road approved vehicles before jumping out. I smiled seeing Denae walking up to us with a warm, welcoming smile. Well… that was until she seen Greg exit my car.

“Before you say anything” I butted in before she could spit her words out “Greg is going to helping you out today kind of like Travis’s personal version of you. So, that means you’ll be together, for the rest of the day which will be hours” I smiled mischievously.

“Fine” she groaned.

“Where’s my baby?!” I asked excitedly.

“Come on” she grinned and wrapped her arm around my shoulder “Boys follow us” Denae ordered to Travis and Greg.

Denae led us to the pit area were a few of the other drivers were situated, not many though probably around 2 or 3. Most of the people in the pits were friends, family, team members or worked at the track or for a company.

“Travis, the Waltrip tent is over there” Denae pointed “If you want to go down there your car and team is down there waiting for your arrival. Greg, if you want to go down there too ill come get you once were all sorted here.”

“Okay” Greg nodded.

“Thanks” Travis said and walked away without acknowledging me.

“What’s wrong with Travis?” Denae asked immediately.

“We gave each other a bit of a serving in the car regarding what the results would be of today. He defiantly underestimates my capabilities. Probably because I’m a girl” I scoffed.

“Don’t let him get under your skin. You know what you can do. You destroy this track and everyone else on it every time your tyre hits the ground. You have nothing to worry about”

“I know I don’t” I reassured her “It’s just he is so used to winning everything I don’t think he understands that his not going to beat me at this and I’m not going to go easy on him just because we have a thing going on. This is my life, racing is my life and no guy is going to get in the way of me doing what I love” I said confidently.

“This is going to be interesting” she said to herself “Look, as long as you don’t let your feelings get in the way then everything you have worked for over the years is going to continue paying off in your favour” she smiled embracing you.

“Thanks babe”

“No problem, go get dressed and then you can take your baby out for a few laps” she smiled.

I squealed in excitement and grabbed my bag of racing gear off the bench under the tent. I quickly opened up my little dressing area and zipped down the opening. I threw off my clothes and put on my multiple layers including my red, black and white racing suit. With my clothes placed into the bag I stuffed my gloves into my helmet and proudly walked back to Denae whom was chatting with one of the mechanical members of my team.

“Doesn’t someone look sexy” she grinned.

“It feels amazing to be back in this” I smiled uncontrollably.

“Get in there” she nudged me towards my car.

I smiled and walked over to it. I slipped my gloves on before pulling my helmet over my head and securing it tightly. I strategically glided into my seat and ignited the engine. My world roared to life with a sudden instant, I gently hovered my foot on and off the accelerator to warm up the engine. Denae gave me the thumbs up and I smiled through my helmet before putting my car into gear and rolling out of the pits onto the track.

Taking it easy around the first few laps I gradually built up my speed and momentum. It came so naturally and fluently; it felt like it hadn’t been weeks since I had been behind the wheel of my car. I noticed another car coming up behind me, I didn’t care though because I was just warming up.

I recognised the familiar colours and recognisable number 199 plastered on the side of the car. Like the rookie Travis was he sped off like an idiot. I knew he hadn’t warmed up his engine properly by the way the car was sounding. I understand these cars beyond belief and I can tell when someone isn’t doing something right by just a simple difference in the sound and clarity.

I heated up my tyres in a zigzagged motion as Travis continued to race around and around the track at quiet a speed. I rolled my eyes and shook my head as he passed me another time; I don’t think he understands the concept of warm up laps. I was soon content with the sounding of my engine, my tyre temperature and the overall mechanics of the car.

The orange light flashed on the various lights surrounding the track indicating that our practice race would soon begin. I pushed my foot down gradually and sliced through the gears coming to a steady stop right on the starting line. Travis eventually pulled his brown and yellow 199 up beside me.

I kept my eyes glued to the track ahead of me; zoning into my element. Within a quick flash the lights turned green. Travis sped off at a quicker speed almost immediately whereas I took my time to gain as much ground as possible at a slower speed. Within the first lap, I effortlessly caught up and passed Travis with no trouble.

The rest of the race was a piece of cake, I lapped Travis twice and there was no sign of competition anywhere in the horizon from him. After I had finished my set laps and raced over the finished line I pulled off the track with a mighty grin as my crew and Denae applauded and cheered. I parked up the car and jumped out wrapping my arms immediately around Denae before hugging each and every individual person of my crew. In all honestly, without the crew I have I would not be as successful as I am, they’re purely amazing and are basically my family.

For the rest of the day Denae was apparently helping Greg out while I did multiple interviews and some more testing on the car as my team tweaked things slightly. I didn’t see Travis for the rest of the day, even when I went to his tent to find him his team said he went to the bathroom. I searched for him but he was nowhere to be found when I was looking for him. It was like everywhere I was told he was, he disappeared.

Once we were all completely satisfied with how the car was running we packed up for the day and began to head our separate ways. Denae wasn’t at our tent so I headed over to the Pastrana Waltrip tent to see if I could find her. As I arrived I didn’t find the person I was intending to, but I did find someone I was previously looking for.

“What?” Travis said rudely as he looked up at me from taking off his boots.

“I was just looking for Denae, were finished with everything and wanted to see if she was too”

“If you can’t see for yourself, she isn’t here!”

“Really? I didn’t realised” I scoffed.

“Just go away Ally, seriously”

“What the hell Travis? What’s stuck up your ass!” I retaliated.

He stood up and faced me “You’re the one who had to go and show off about how bloody amazing you are at racing. Lapping my multiple times, you’re just ravishing in the attention!” He said speaking the word ‘amazing’ in a sarcastic tone.

“Grow up Travis, stop being such a sore looser”

“Fuck off” he growled.

“Excuse me?” I said surprised “What did you just say?”

“I said fuck off!” he yelled.

“You know what Travis, fuck you! Maybe if you had listened to me all those times I told you about the importance of warming up your car then I wouldn’t have kicked your ass so bad. You need to learn that you’re not always going to be number 1 at a sport Travis, you have to accept that I’m better than you at racing NASCAR and there’s nothing you can do about it. I have done nothing but help you and your acting like a 4 year old. Grow the fuck up Travis” I yelled viciously at him before storming away.

I was absolutely furious, my hands were trembling I was so irritated. As I stormed back to my car I noticed Denae and Greg. Denae’s back was pressed against her car as Greg’s lips tangled with her own. I couldn’t even stop and smile at their happy moment.

“Denae!” I yelled “Catch!” I threw my car keys at her.

She giggled at Greg and fixed herself up quickly “Where are you going? What’s wrong?” she yelled back.

“I need to clear my head, I’m walking home”

“What’s wrong?” she repeated.

“Fucking Travis”