Make Me (Editing)

thirty two

"Hey, Al," Jake came over to give me a hug as we arrived at the racetrack.

"Yo bro," I grinned back.

"What's up man!" My brother turned his attention to Tyler who was stood beside me, giving him a passionate bro-hug which was majorly reciprocated.

"That's a sick car you've got there," Tyler commented, gesturing towards the white Subaru parked behind him. "Impreza STI?"

"Yep," Jake confirmed the car's make. "2006 model, so it's classic."

It may have been 'classic', but it certainly wasn't stock off the assembly line. The amount of money he must have spent on modifications over the years was more than he'd care to admit. But, the end result was something that even I could admit looked pretty cool.

"God, I bet it flies round the track too," Tyler continued, appearing to know a thing or two about cars and racing.

"It hits one fifty miles on the straight," Jake nodded. "So yeah, it's not too bad."

As the guys continued to chat away, I headed over to see Maddi, who was sitting in Jake's private track-side garage. Like me, she wasn't all that crazy about motorsports, but would show up anyway to support her partner.

"Oh thank god you're here," she got up to hug me. "All this car-talk is making me crazy."

"Well I can assure you that you won't be getting any of that with me," I laughed. "I wouldn't know where to start."

The two of us talked for a good while as we waited for Jake's car to be scrutineered and approved for racing. The whole process took a good hour, which allowed Maddi and I some quality time to catch up after the rush of the wedding that had happened just yesterday.

"It already feels like forever ago," she chuckled. "It's like this massive build-up to the big day, then you blink and it's all over."

"Well if it counts for anything," I replied, "the whole thing was beautiful, and everyone seemed to have a really great time. It was so worth travelling across the world for."

"Well that means a lot," she smiled. "I know that Jake was really thrilled to have you around again, even if it's only for the week."

"It's certainly nice to be back in Australia," I nodded. "But yeah, I think I know that it's not where I was ever meant to end up. There's so much for me in New York at the moment, and I'm really loving it there."

"And would the handsome man of yours have something to do with that?" Maddi smiled knowingly, looking over to where Tyler was standing with Jake at his car. "He certainly turned a few heads at the wedding; I had women of all ages asking how he was related to the party."

"Really?" I laughed. "He's pretty legit, isn't he."

"I mean, from what I've seen of him so far, he's a real keeper."

"I guess time will tell," I smiled warmly, not really wanting to go into depth about the negatives.

Soon enough, the examinations were complete and Jake's car had the tick of approval. As he got geared up in his suit and helmet, Tyler joined the two of us girls in finding a seat in the spectator stands. The whole event was pretty chill, and was made up of car enthusiasts and hobby-racers. It was also organised a little different to standard car racing, with each driver having a staggered start and relying on lap times to determine a winner.

Not long after we'd secured our view for the day, the cars started to take their warmup laps. My brother's Impreza had it's initial run amongst the first group, which got Tyler on the edge of his seat. He was actually getting really into it, which made me smile.