Tattoo | Ryan Blaney

Chapter 1 | familiar faces

McKayla's POV:

"Finally here." I sigh watching the plane touch down in sunny Florida. A few moments passed before finally the fight attendants allowed us to gather our things and start to file out of the plane. I rushed to be the first one out and went straight to grab my suitcase. As I grab my luggage off the carousel, a pair of arms wrapped around me.

"Hey Mac," Chase says behind me.

My name is McKayla Elliott. My last name sound familiar. I'm the older sister of NASCAR star, Chase Elliott, and daughter of Bill Elliott and Cindy Elliott. I'm twenty-one years old and finishing up my senior year in college in public relations.

"Hey lil bro," I reply hugging him back. We began to catch up as we walked towards his truck.

This week NASCAR was at Richmond International Speedway. I never really get to see my brother race, because school has always kept me busy plus internships, but every now and then I come out and support him. Chase being in his rookie year in the Cup Series, needed all the support he could get. Despite being born and growing up in a NASCAR family, I never was up to date with the sport.

||Track||

When we got out to the track, Chase took  me straight to his motor home to get situated in his guest bedroom. Chase ends up leaving for final practice. I get unpacked and took a pair of clothes with me to the bathroom. I changed into some jean shorts and my Chase Elliott shirt.

I looked down and noticed one of my tattoos showed from wearing shorts. I've never liked tattoos, but I got them because they always meant something to me. I had a total of three tattoos, and that was all I was planning on getting.

The two I got recently, was printed on the side of my upper arm, and across my thigh. The one on the inner, upper part of my arm said 'Maybe one day we will meet again when we're different people. Maybe then we'll be better for each other', and one on my leg said 'I will always hold onto you'. Two tattoos with a meaningful stories behind them.

The first tattoo I had ever gotten was on the side of my middle finger. Back in high school, I got it with my now ex-boyfriend. We both got tattoos of each other's names as a reminder that we will always belong to each other. I've regretted this tattoo ever since my heart was broken. The 'Ryan' tattoo had to go, but the thought of it getting removed seemed too painful.

I never knew where Ryan went after we broke up. I would assume he'd be in racing, he was obsessed with racing since we were kids. I never saw him again after I left... And I was kinda happy that I didn't know. The things he did to me and put me through? They were horrible. I never will be able to forgive him. Sometimes I wondered if he had changed or if he was the same self-centered, drunk guy I last knew.

"Shake it off," I whispered to myself. I grabbed my hat, phone, and sunglasses off the table, and started heading towards the garages. After wandering around for ten minutes, I finally find the 24 garage. "Is it bad I think my own brother looks good in a fire suit?" I joke walking in.

"See, I'm not the one who says that," Kaylie says to Chase. Kaylie was a close friend of mine, her and Chase have been dating for about three years now. They were absolutely perfect for each other and made for each other.

"Sure." Chase rolls his eyes. I start to look around, and my eye instantly caught a glimpse of someone... Down a few stalls was a tall, thin, curly brown-haired guy. He was pretty cute, but something almost seemed familiar about him. It was like I'd seen him somewhere before. It was weird. "Alright, I have to get out on the track. You two are welcome to go to my pit box and watch from there. Scanners are up there and everything." Chase comments slipping into his 24 car.

Kaylie and I started heading towards the 24 pit box. Mostly catching up on everything, and talking about college life. As we talked, two girls caught my eye. One with brown hair, and blonde hair. The two almost looked like Erin and Emma Blaney...

"No, it couldn't be," I told myself. "What would they be doing here anyway? You're just imagining it." I told myself again as Kaylie and I climbed up into Chase's pit box.

Ryan's POV:

"Hey Ry." Emma and Erin greeted walking into the garage.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I ask them before taking my helmet out of the car. They both looked at each other kinda hesitant to say what was on their minds. "You're scaring me. What's wrong?" I ask again.

"Um well, as we were walking over here-" Emma pauses pointing off in the distance. "We kinda saw a girl that maybe, sorta looked a lot like McKayla." Emma finishes.

My heart stopped when her name came out of my sister's mouth... Did she just say McKayla was here? As in McKayla Elliott?

"Umm Ryan? Are you okay?" Erin asks waving her hand in front of my frozen expression.

"Oh um yeah, I'm fine." I lied.

"Okay, if you say so. Emma and I are going to get lunch. We'll see you later." Erin waved walking off with Emma by her side.

McKayla Elliott... Damn. I haven't heard that name in four long years. I haven't seen her since high school.

'You broke her heart Ryan' I scolded my own self. I was so stupid. How could I have been so stupid? The things I did to her... She meant everything to me, and I let her down multiple times... I let her go and so slip easily right from my hands... All the harsh things I did to her, all the lies, and words I told her. They haunted me every day.

Trust me, I've changed. I changed, ever since I lost the best thing that I had ever had. The drinking, the smoking, the addiction all of it, all of it was in my past. I've been sober for about four years now. I've always wondered what had happened to McKayla. Of course, I knew she was Chase's older sister. But I would never ask Chase about her, for obvious reasons.

"Ryan!" My crew chief says snapping me out of my deep thoughts. "The transmission change is gonna take longer than we expected. You're good to go for the day." He says.

"Okay thanks Jeremy." I smiled walking out of the garage. I put my hands in my firesuit's pockets and started wandering around the track's infield. I was kinda hoping I would run into McKayla or least see her. I glance down at my finger tattoo. 'McKayla' it was written in beautiful black inked cursive which was slowly fading.

'You had your shot Ryan, and you blew it. She probably already has a boyfriend.' My mind said. I push it aside and continued my walk. As I drew closer to the 24 pit box, something stopped me. 'That's her Ryan' I said to myself.

"Wow," I said in complete amazement. Her beautiful brown eyes still sparkled, her smile still beautiful, and her dimples still as cute as they could possibly have been. As I walked slowly past the pit box, I could hear her laugh. A smile slowly crept on my face once I heard that. Her laugh always made you feel better. It was the best sound in the world.

"Hey man!" Bubba calls out behind me. "Wanna hang out before the Xfinity race?" He asks.

"Sure, why not?" I shrugged. I take one last glance over and McKayla one last time and walked away with Bubba...