Page 28 of Homecoming

I missed her too much-reporters be damned.

After I felt that I could survive another hour without mauling her again, I lifted my head, smiled, and said, “You’re here.”

“I’m here,” she matched my smile. Her lips were red and puffy, and I had to kiss her again.

So I did.

She didn’t say a thing as her eyes darted around checking to see if people were staring. No one took notice of what happened.

“Relax,” I breathed into her hair.

She chuckled and looked up at me, “Easy for you to say. You’re not the one that will be dissected once this thing between us becomes public knowledge.”

“Firstly, it’s not a thing between us, You’re my girl. Second, if I even hear or see a smidge of someone tearing you apart, I’m coming after them.”

“You can’t censor the news-or the internet.”

“Sure, I can,” I shrugged. “Besides, it’s not anybody’s business who I’m with or not.”

“Ian,” she started to say something.

“No”, I interrupted her. “No one is getting the chance to say or do anything that might hurt you. If that means I become a dick to everybody else,” I shrugged. “I don’t give a fuck. What matters is you, and what I am to you. And I promise, Lola, I’ll always do my best to prevent anything bad happening.”

She looked at me curiously before she said softly, “Okay.”

"Who would have thought that the famous Ian Williams, a two-time Formula One champion," she gave me a coy look under her lashes, "is driving like an old lady. And in a semi-regular car, no less!"

"Semi-regular?" I grunted, focusing back on the road.

"Well," she looked around the interior before she finished, "Yeah."

"You call Bugatti Veyron, the most perfect car in all history, semi-regular?"

"Umm…" she hummed, a look of guilt on her face. She had no idea what I was talking about.

A look both adorable and hilarious, my abs hurt with the effort of swallowing down laughter.

“God, you’re cute,” I muttered.

As to not get tangled up in a topic that I could talk about for days, the vexing poetry of the fact that the car was a thing of both beauty and engender masterpiece, I told her something that struck me when I heard it months after Mr. Kendrick started me on a path of a lifetime. Months I spent agonizing over whether I should ever drive again outside of the race track. Hearing those words made something in me settle, and they stayed with me ever since.

I just wished I heard them sooner, so maybe Landon and Lucas would still be alive.

"No matter what, it's better to get where you're going 30 minutes late than leave 30 years too early."

"What?"

“We drive at a blistering pace, there’s no room for error. One single stray thought, one distraction-and you’re on the wall.”

The memory of the wrecked car, of two white caskets, and of a destroyed father flashed in my mind.

I swallowed the bile that climbed up my throat and concluded, “It never hurts to be careful while you’re behind a wheel. All it takes is a second, and everything’s lost”.

I looked at Lola from the corner of my eye. She appeared deep in thought, her eyes fixed on my profile.

I experienced a momentary panic thinking I gave away too much, and that she was going to ask. But, thankfully, she stayed quiet.

One thing I knew though, my time was coming to an end.