Page 7 of The Road Ahead
I removed my hand, cursing myself internally for such a casual but intimate touch, and groped for a change of subject. “So, ah, did you also look into that car club I told you about?”
“Yeah, I reached out to them as well before I left. They sent me an application pack, and I paid my fees online, so I should hear from them soon. They said they might do a cruise this week.”
“Cruise? What’s that?”
“Just a group drive, really,” Rio explained. “We all meet up and then drive around to different locations in a kind of convoy. At the final destination, everyone usually hangs out and we check out each other’s cars and stuff. Sometimes there'll be a cookout, or an impromptu party.”
“That’ll be a good way to meet people,” I said, trying to sound enthusiastic while inside I was chanting,invite me along, invite me along.
“And yes, I’m dragging you along with me,” Rio replied to my unspoken plea.
I laughed. “Was my desperation that obvious?”
Rio grinned and held up their thumb and pointer finger, pinching them together. “Yeah, li’l bit.”
“So, Rio,” Brad asked from the back seat. “What’s so special about your car? I asked Cooper earlier but he never got a chance to tell me.”
Rio twisted in their seat so they could face Brad. I held my breath, a little worried that Brad would say something rude.
“Do you know much about drifting?” Rio asked.
I saw Brad shrug in the rearview mirror. “I don’t have a particular interest in cars or racing, but I’ve heard of it,” he said. “I’ve seen a few episodes ofFormula Drift.”
“Well, my baby might not look like much, but AE86s are really popular drift and rally cars. When they were first released, they were really affordable and very easy to modify. They have the engine at the front but are rear-wheel drive, so the balance makes them perfect for drifting.”
“Are they rare now or something?” Brad asked. I felt the tension easing from my shoulders as Brad sounded interested and not at all antagonistic. Maybe I’d been overreacting earlier?
Rio grimaced. “They have a cult following, so it’s not that they’re rare so much as people tend to get one and hold onto it because they’re so expensive now. The demand totally outweighs the supply, especially here in the States. Even parts to modify them can be a pain to find.”
“What modifications have you done exactly?” I asked Rio, eager to know. “Did you do them all yourself?”
“One of my friends, Trevor, is a mechanic, and we worked on her together,” Rio told us. “She’d already come with some modifications, including shocks, springs, sway bars, a half cage, and an upgraded exhaust,so we didn’t have to do much. I had aftermarket carbon-fiber bucket seats imported as well that we installed, and upgraded to a diff with LSD. Then it was just a matter of tuning and tweaking her.”
I whistled. “She’s got a lot going on under the hood.”
“Did you find it hard to drive her?” Teresa asked Rio. “My friend Kate went to England on a vacation and hired a car there. She said she kept turning on the windshield wipers instead of the blinker because it’s all different.”
Rio chuckled. “Yeah, I did that too. Getting used to a right-hand drive is really hard. Like, I’d driven a shift before, but using my left hand to change gears took a lot of getting used to. Then of course I had to actuallylearnhow to drift. I joined a car club, did some track days, and spent as much time as I could practicing.”
“Sounds like it’s paid off,” Teresa said.
Rio’s smile was glorious. “Yeah, it has.”
We reached the outskirts of town and were soon pulling into the large gravel parking lot of For Pete’s Sake Saloon. It was absolutely packed, and even though it was just after seven and the band didn’t start until nine, we had to park at the very back of the lot.
“It’s busy,” Teresa commented as we started the trek across to the bar. “I wonder if we’ll get a table? I didn’t even think to book.”
It was a close thing. The harried-looking server checked over her booking sheet twice before telling us she could squeeze us in at a table in the rear courtyard. It was originally only meant for two people—a tiny little square of a thing—but she rustled up some extra chairs from somewhere and we were soon seated and perusing the menus.
Rio glanced at theirs and then put it back on the table. “I’m sorted,” they announced.
I nudged their right knee with my own. It wasn’t hard to do as there was hardly any room for my stupidly long legs and all four of us were all tangled up together. “Ribs?”
“Fuck yeah.”
“I think I’ll do the same,” I replied.
Of course, I hadn’t thought about exactly what Rio eating ribs would entail. There were some porn-esque moans, but worse than that was the way they constantly slipped their long delicate fingers between their lips to suck off the sauce. I was in a constant state of semi-arousal and it was beginning to get awkward.
