It's Time For Me To Look Forward

Saturday morning, teens scattered throughout the city with nothing better to do. Some teens weren’t even teenagers anymore, but still spent their weekends like they did while they were in high school. In this city, weekends belonged to the teenaged and teenaged-at-heart.

On a street corner in the industrial district sat two of the twenty-somethings that acted as if they were in school still. Tattooed and pierced, these two looked the part of a trouble making couple to anybody that was not native to the city. These kinds of kids (and barely-adults) ran the city, unofficially of course. The two were not actually making or even planning on making any sort of trouble. They were simply enjoying a day out with each other, as any normal couple does.

“Chelsea, you got something on your mouth,” the boy said, a small smirk lining his face.

“What is it?” she asked, touching her hand to her lips quickly.

“My lips,” he chuckled, leaning in and placing a chaste kiss on her lips, his hand cupping her cheek.

“You’re too cute, Tony,” the girl giggled.

An old muscle car rolled passed a warehouse nearby, four of the tattooed and pierced sitting in the front and back seats. Two couples all together were in that car with the men in the driver’s and passenger’s seats and the women in the back seats. They looked almost as if they were up to no good, but upon closer inspection, they were merely laughing and having a good time with each other.

“Did she seriously say that to you?” the blonde in the back seat asked the driver.

“Yeah Genna, she did; it was pretty crazy,”

“I don’t believe you, Matt,” the brunette girl shook her head.

“He’s telling the truth. I was there, I’d know,” the other male nodded. The girl looked at him like he was spouting the biggest lie of his life. “Oh come on, Bobby. How don’t you believe your own boyfriend?”

“Because, Corey,” she spat jokingly. “There’s no way that some chick came up to him in the middle of a convenience store and asked him to ‘suck her non-existent dick’, or whatever you guys say she said.”

“That’s exactly what happened!” Matt laughed, throwing his hands up in the air.

“Whoa, watch the road, dumb-ass,” the blonde smiled, hitting him on the shoulder.

Down the road there was yet another twenty-something, hoodlum-looking boy, leaning against a fence. His mind wasn’t with the rest of his body and was in fact traveling into his past. This time the previous year, his girlfriend was with him in the exact same place. He was chasing after her as she slinked away from him playfully, teasing him with the way her body moved and the look in her eyes. The boy was laughing slightly as he followed her, his long hair blowing in the wind. Again, to anyone not native to the city, it would almost look like this tattooed and pierced man was chasing this girl as if to cause her harm.

“Come on Danny, keep up,” the girl called out, walking backwards as she looked at her boyfriend.

“Then stop running, Erika,” he chuckled.

“Nuh-uh,” she shook her head, her wavy locks swirling around her head. “You have to catch me first.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” she smirked, turning back around and sliding along the fence again.

He picked up his pace and caught up to her, placing his hands on either side of her head on the fence. “It looks like I caught you,” he smirked, leaning down to place a soft kiss on her lips.

She giggled and slid her hands up his arms, trying to get him to let off the fence so they could hold hands. “It looks like you did. Oh darn.”

“Is that sarcasm I detect?” Danny laughed, lacing his fingers in hers.

“No,” she scoffed jokingly. “Of course not.”

“Ooh, saucy,”

“You know that’s how I roll,” she giggled, partially removing her hands from his only to twirl her finger tips around his. Her eyes glanced past the tattooed name on the side of his hand and laughed again. “Do you remember the first time I ever saw this tattoo?” she asked, her mind fluttering to a day, months ago.

“You freaked out on me for it,” he laughed heartily.

“Well I thought you were stupid enough to get the name of an ex on your hand,” Erika shrugged, smiling at the memory of his face as she yelled at him.

“And then you wouldn’t even let me talk when I was trying to tell you that it’s my daughter’s name,”

“I thought you were making excuses,”

“You’re just too cute,” he cooed, leaning forward again to kiss her properly.

Three months later, he had found out that the girl he thought he loved was having an affair with his most bitter rival of high school. The man’s name was Theo and he always had it out for Danny, even though he could never figure out why. The boy had lost so many girlfriends to Theo over the years, because he was more of a “bad-boy” than Danny. He was sick of it and so-help-him-God, he was going to get this girl back.

He shifted his body and pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket. His fingers moved swiftly across the keypad and sent the same message to two people.

Chasm @ 2. Will be race. Shits goin down. Be there.

Around the corner in the vintage car, Matt felt and heard his phone go off in his pocket and pulled to a stop along the back road to answer it. Finding that it was a text from Danny, he flipped open his phone and read it out loud.

“That sounds serious,” Genna said, biting her lip slightly. “Ask him what’s going on.”

The driver shot back a simple what’s going down?

I’m getting Erika back

“He says he’s getting Erika back,”

“Ah hell no,” Corey sighed. “The fuck is he up to?”

“He’s racing Theo. And I’ll bet you he wants to use my car,”

“You’re not gonna let him, are you?” Bobby asked her boyfriend, leaning forward to look at him incredulously.

“I think I have to. He deserves Erika and I want to see Theo’s ass kicked just as bad as he does. My car will beat his. I’ve gotta let Danny use it. Come on, let’s go,”

They pulled away and headed for what everyone called “the chasm”. Nobody really knew why it was called that, but nobody ever questioned it either. It was one of those things passed along through the ages from one group of racers to the next. Races were held there all the time, but seeing as how they never involved any real roads, the races couldn’t be considered illegal.

Back in the industrial district, Tony’s cell phone went off as well. “Oh man,” he muttered as he read the text message. “Shit’s going down at the Chasm at two. Danny says there’s going to be a race.”

“What’s he doing now?” Chelsea sighed, rolling her eyes a bit.

“I don’t know, but I think we better be heading over there. Text says two and it’s a quarter till. Come on, Babe.” He stood up and helped his girlfriend up as well, taking her hand in his as they walked down the street.

At the Chasm, cars were in place for the race and everyone was being briefed on exactly what was going down. Danny and Theo would race a quarter mile. The one to finish first would get the girl. Everyone was all for it. Theo didn’t think he’d ever lose. Danny felt he had nothing left to lose. Erika was the kind of girl that went with the toughest man, and this race - to her - would prove which is the toughest.

Tony and Chelsea finally showed up with five minutes to spare and heard what was happening as they got out of Tony’s car. He immediately found Danny and reassuring slap on the back in the midst of a friendly hug.

“You can do it, man. You deserve her a lot more than that douche,” he told him, leading him away from where he was standing by himself. Danny was standing by the front of the cars that were lined up, ready to race, in order to scope everything out. Of course, that also gave Theo and his cronies plenty of opportunities to make fun of him. Tony led Danny back to where Matt, Corey, Chelsea, Genna and Bobby were standing, everybody waiting eagerly for the start of the race. Being within minutes of the actual thing, the girls had loosened up and were just as excited as the men.

“Danny,” a terribly familiar voice rang out beside him. He turned and saw Erika walking up to him, a sort of shy look on her face. “Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“You’ve been a little preoccupied, haven’t you?” he asked sarcastically, in a nearly monotone voice.

“I never meant to hurt you, Danny. I really didn’t,”

“Well you did,”

“If you’re so mad at me, then why are you trying to get me back?”

“Because I wasn’t ready to let you go. I love you, Erika. And I do want you back,”

“Well you ain’t getting her back, Danny,” Theo spat, walking in between him and Erika. He put his face really close to Danny‘s, as if to intimidate him. “Because I’m winning this race.”

“Hey, no, don’t get in his face Theo,” Erika defended, pulling Theo back from Danny.

“Keep back or I swear to god, I’ll break your face. We’re not in high school anymore man; I’m not worried about suspension or expulsion now,” Tony fumed, inching closer to Theo.

“These guys are such pussies, Erika. Why would you ever go for any of them?”

“They have better personalities than any of your friends. You guys are dicks. Why would I ever go for any of you, is the better question.”

“Let the racing settle this,” Theo spat, pushing everyone away from him so he could get into his car. “You coming?” he yelled to Danny. “Or are you too weak?”

“Oh we’ll see who’s weak,” Danny seethed, walking through the aisle of people that was formed when everyone anticipated his move to Matt’s car.

The cars started, the onlookers moved far out of the way and Erika took her place in between the two cars with a handkerchief, ready to start the race. The men scoped each other out through the open window in their cars and waited for Erika to drop the cloth and start the race for her heart.

Erika’s own heart was racing in her chest as she thought of the outcome. In less than a minute, she would either stay with Theo or go back to Danny. To be honest, she couldn’t decide fast enough who she would rather be with, and she just hoped with all her being that he won.

Her hand dropped and the cars were off, speeding past her, the wind whipping her hair around her head. She turned around to watch them speed away and heard everyone behind her, cheering and yelling for the man they were rooting for to win. The calls were split almost evenly between Theo and Danny, but everybody was running in one large blob of people as if they could catch up to the racers, caught up in everything.

Theo got a small head start on Danny and therefore was beating him at the beginning of the race. Danny had a trick up his sleeve, though, and knew not to get discouraged at this point in the game. He could see Theo laughing about what he thought was his obvious upcoming win and just shook his head. “Rule number one asshole, don’t let your ego get to you before the race is even started,” Danny said under his breath as he really hit the gas. They were back and forth for a little while, one beating the other at one point and switching positions the next.

Danny started falling behind farther than normal and knew it was time to kick in his trick. Matt had been supping that car up since he got the thing, and just recently put in what he called “the mother of all kick-asses”. Danny was the only other person that knew about it and had Matt’s permission to use it for this race.

”I want you to win this, man. Erika doesn’t deserve you, but Theo doesn’t deserve her. Plus, you really love her, right?”

“Of course,”

“Then use it. You need her back. You’re not the same without her. Win this things for me, Danny,”

Danny smirked to himself as he kicked in “the mother of all kick-asses” and picked up speed. He looked behind him and saw Theo fading away, banging his fist on the steering wheel as he realized that he wasn’t winning the race. The farther he got from Theo’s car, however, the more he realized something. Did he really want to be with a girl that decided who she was with based off of who wins a race?

By the time Theo made it to the finish line, everyone was already congratulating Danny on his win. He got out of his car and leaned against the roof, his face soaked in defeat.

Even with all the claps on the back and congratulations, Danny couldn’t help feeling a bit down about the entire situation. Erika caught up with everybody and made her way happily through the crowd. She threw her arms around Danny’s shoulders and gave him a hug, whispering into his ear.

“I hoped you would win,”

“I was afraid of that,”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not going to be with you anymore,” he said, shaking his head.

“W-why not? You won,”

“And that’s exactly why. If you’re shallow enough to chose your boyfriend by who wins a race, you’re way too shallow for me. I’m sorry, I loved you, but I can’t be with you Erika.” He backed away from her slightly and then walked right past her, a satisfied smile lining his lips.