Chapter 37: Speed.

Chapter 37: Speed.

I kissed Ashton McCain.

I guess you can say it was a heat of the moment thing but why did I feel something when we kissed?

Did I kiss him out of love?

Nope.

Passion perhaps?

I have no idea.

I walk to the room in my own company and when I walk in all eyes are on me.

"Valarie dear, when last did you sleep? You look tired." Mrs. McCain tells me.

It's probably because I've been crying my eyes out all day.

"I am." I tell her.

"You should go home then." My father insists.

"No, I just got here." I tell him.

Ashton walks inside the room and I scratch the back of my neck.

"You good?" Alicia asks, leaning close to me.

"Yup." I quip.

"What did he want to talk about?" She asks me.

"Normal stuff." I say, shifting weight from my left leg to my right.

"Like?" She asks.

Can she just back off?

"How I'm doing and stuff." I say, shrugging.

"Hmm." Alicia hums beside me.

I roll my eyes at her.

I look around the room and I see Ashton staring straight at me, giving me the most intense stare ever.

I gulp and I turn away.

"What is this boy doing?" I ask myself.

***

"I got us tickets to see Keith Yarander." Alicia tells me and I stare at her in disbelief.

"No way. That show is sold out." I say folding my arms.

"That's why your best friend hooked you up." Alicia says, showing me the two tickets in her hand.

"You did not?" I squeal.

"Yes I did." She says with a coy smile.

"What did you do for these tickets?" I ask her.

"Nothing." She says, looking away.

"Who did you screw?" I ask her, folding my arms.

"No one. Technically." She says and I stare at her.

"Okay fine. I met this guy at the gas station two weeks ago and he said that he would give me these tickets if I gave him a handy. I knew I was going to be in Langston by the time Keith was going to be here. So, I thought why not." Alicia says, shrugging.

"You gave a random guy a handy for these?" I ask her, disgusted by the fact that she did a dirty deed for the tickets.

"Yeah. And we're going there tonight, so thank me later." She says putting the tickets back in her purse.

"You're incorrigible." I tell her, chuckling.

This isn't the first time Alicia has done something questionable for some concert tickets. When I lived in Ravenswood, Alicia wanted to go see Drake so bad that she slept with the principal's son. He was a senior who definitely made his way around the school's roster and had slept with almost every girl in school. He ended up giving her crabs, so she got sick and couldn't go.

But guess who went on her behalf?

You got that right. It was me. I had the time of my life at that concert. It was by far the best one I had ever been to. Thanks, Alicia.

"What are you wearing tonight?" She asks me.

"I don't know. I'll figure it out." I say, letting out a sigh.

"You good?" She asks me.

"Yeah." I say, sitting down on my bed.

"You've been acting weird since your talk with Ashton yesterday. Did he say something to you?" She asks me and I laugh at her serious tone.

"No." I sigh. "We kissed." I reveal.

"Bitch, what?" Alicia says with wide eyes.

I nod, looking at her.

"Well, was it good?" She asks me.

"It was...good, I guess." I say, leaning on my headboard.

"You don't look too happy about it." She tells me.

"Because I don't know if I did the right thing." I tell her.

"Who cares? This is the age where we're allowed to do a lot of wrong things. We don't have to have our feelings all figured out and our affairs in order. We're only young for so long, Vee. Live a little. Do things you will and won't regret. You don't need to understand everything, not right now." She tells me.

"I guess you're right." I say in thought.

"Of course, I'm right, bitch. Now let's get ready. We leave at eight." She informs me.

I love this girl so much.

***

The line at the door of the venue where the show is being held at is longer than Rapunzel's hair. And that's pretty fucking long.

"We've been standing here for hours. I gotta pee." Alicia complains.

"First of all, we've only been in the line for ten minutes, and second, use this cup." I say, handing her a disposable cup.

She hesitates but collects the cup from my hand before she leaves the line and heads towards the back of the building.

Five minutes later, Alicia comes back with a huge grin on her face.

"What are you smiling about?" I ask her as the line starts moving.

"I just did some coke at the back." She tells me and I gasp.

"You were gone for five minutes." I whisper.

"Five minutes too long." She says, laughing.

This bitch is crazy.

"You wanna try some?" She asks me, fiddling through her purse.

"What?" I ask her, laughing at her.

Is she high already?

"Imma let you have some but don't finish it, okay." She tells me as she takes out a tiny bag with white powder in it from her purse.

"Put that down." I whisper, smacking her hand. The packet falls on the floor and Alicia stylishly picks it up.

"You ain't getting none." She says, stuffing the packet selfishly inside her purse.

This girl is something else.

We eventually get into the venue and I have to say, not bad. Lights of different colors hang from the ceiling as they dance around in different directions.

"I'm gonna go pee." Alicia tells me.

"Nah uh." I say, grabbing her hand.

"You're staying with me before you go and come back looking like a chicken high off steroids." I tell her.

"Why I gotta be a chicken though?" She asks, pouting.

"Shut up." I tell her as I pull her towards the stage.

Keith Yarander mounts the stage and I literally scream into Alicia's ears. It's really him. All this time I thought Alicia was bluffing. It's really him, right on that stage.

He performs two of his biggest hits, "Giver." and "Solace." I sing along until he finally says "I'm gonna need one of my fans on the stage."

"ME!!! PICK ME!!!" I yell out.

I was in the front row, so I knew he was going to notice me. As expected he picks me and I climb the stage.

I can't believe this is happening.

This is by far, the highlight of my summer.

Keith starts performing again and he takes my hand in his. He pulls me closer to his body. He starts dancing as he sings and I sing along, dancing with him. He spins me around and I twirl, giggling like a little girl.

A stagehand brings a chair to the stage and Keith tells me to sit on it. I do as I am told. As I sit on the chair, Keith starts giving me a lap dance and I shriek. The crowd starts cheering immediately.

This is wild.

I look at the crowd and I see that they've been recording the whole thing. I'll be a hit by tomorrow. The headlines are going to read "Keith Yarander gives mystery girl a lap dance, could she be the one?"

"Well, that headline sounds stupid." My subconscious tells me.

What does she know?

Keith grabs my hand, gently pulling me off the chair. I'm so telling my grandkids about this. I stand up from the chair and Keith kisses me on the cheeks.

"What's your name, sweetie?" He says in my ear and I blush.

"Valarie." I whisper back.

"Give it up for Valarie, y'all." Keith says into the mic, making the crowd cheer louder than before.

Keith hugs me before I leave the stage. When I get back to the front row, Alicia is nowhere to be found. I swear if I catch this girl doing cocaine.

I head to the girl's bathroom and I see Alicia fixing her makeup by the mirror.

"Hey, I thought you left.", I say, relieved that I found her.

"Well, someone punched me in the face." She tells me, showing me the black eye she was trying to cover up with foundation.

"What the hell? Who did this?" I ask her.

"Some drunk dude." She tells me, patting the makeup brush on her eyelid.

"We have to find him." I tell her.

"No, we don't." She says with a scoff.

"What? Why?" I ask her.

"I kicked him in the nuts and a couple of guys helped me beat him up. Let's just say, he'll be walking funny tomorrow." She says, closing her bottle of foundation.

"Well, he's an asshole for putting his hands on you." I say, walking towards her to give her a hug.

"You looked cool up there." She tells me and I shrug.

"What can I say?" I gloat.

"You're now dancing with the stars, huh." She says, folding her arms.

"He honestly just made my summer." I tell her.

"You wanna head back to the concert or leave?" Alicia asks me.

"Let's head back, can't let our tickets go to waste." I say pulling her with me, back to the stage area.

At the end of the concert, Keith sent this bodyguard to ask Alicia and I if we wanted to hang out with him. We said yes, obviously. Alicia and I met Keith's whole crew and we took some pictures too. Alicia and I had to head home because it was getting late. Before I left, Keith gave me his number and I gave him mine. It's not like he'll call me anyway.

André parks the car in the driveway and Alicia and I get down. We head into the house and Alicia goes up the stairs immediately and I trail behind her.

"What a night." I think to myself

***

"I can't believe you're leaving already." I pout as I help Alicia pack.

"And it's off to college from here." Alicia says as she zips her backpack.

"I hate you." I tell her with a frown on my face.

"I love you more, Vee." She says, ruffling my hair.

"Get off me." I shove her playfully.

"It literally feels so surreal. I'm going off to college. Just a year ago, I was going shopping for senior year with Riley." She says, shaking her head before she laughs.

"By the way, how is she?" I ask her.

I haven't seen Riley Stewart since the tenth grade.

Riley, Alicia, and I were all best friends. When I moved away Riley and I stopped talking for some reason.

"She's good. She got into Howard University." Alicia tells me.

"Well, that's great." I say, happy at the fact that she even got into college because Riley was a party girl who hardly cracked open her books.

"All done." I tell Alicia as I zip up her suitcase.

"I'm gonna miss you." Alicia tells me as she pulls me in for a hug.

"I'm going to miss you too, Al." I say, patting her back.

We pull away from each other and I help Alicia roll her suitcase out of the room.

The drive to the airport is long and slow. We're currently stuck in a traffic jam.

"I really don't understand why there are so many cars on the road. This town is literally so small." I say, leaning into my seat.

"It's going to take forever before we reach the airport." Alicia complains.

"I have an idea." I tell her and she just stares at me wondering what I'm cooking up in my head.

I open my door and get out of the car which causes a lot of people to blare their horns at me.

"Oh, fight me." I say, sticking my tongue out at them.

I walk over to the trunk and I open it. I take out Alicia's backpack and suitcase and I sling her backpack over my shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Alicia asks me with wild eyes.

"We're going to get you to the airport." I tell her.

"How? There's miles of traffic." She says, rolling her eyes at me.

"And there's also a motorcycle over there." I tell her and she looks across the street, staring at the black motorcycle that's parked on the sidewalk.

"Can you even drive that thing?" She asks me as I walk towards it.

"Watch me." I tell her.

I place Alicia's suitcase on the back of the motorcycle, securing it tightly with some rope that I found.

Okay, I didn't find the rope, I took the leash off a dog that was tied to a tree. It ran away after that, but that goes to show you that animals shouldn't be chained in the first place.

Alicia just stares at me, stunned.

"Get over here. Your flight leaves in thirty minutes." I yell at her as I turn in the motorcycle.

Alicia walks towards me and climbs the motorcycle, sitting behind me.

"How did you even get the keys?" She asks me.

"They were tied to it." I say shrugging. "And don't worry I'll return it as soon as I drop you off." I add.

"You're crazy." Alicia tells me.

I start driving at a reasonable speed before speeding up.

"Slow down." Alicia yelled in my ear.

"Do you want to get there fast or not?" I ask her and she keeps quiet.

Thought so?

Ten minutes later, I pull over in front of the airport.

"Thank God we didn't die." Alicia sighs in relief as I turn off the motorcycle.

"Why did you think we'd die?" I ask her, chuckling as I get down from the motorcycle. Alicia does the same.

"You almost hit a truck on the way here." She says, yelling at me.

"And?" I ask her, folding my arms. "We're here now aren't we? So, you're welcome." I tell her as I untie her suitcase from the back of the motorcycle.

"Thanks." She says as she collects her suitcase from me and starts rolling it towards the entrance of the airport.

I stand beside the motorcycle, watching her walk away.

"Aren't you coming?" She asks me, turning back.

I shake my head.

"I can't." I say with tears in my eyes. "I can't see you walk away, knowing that I'm not gonna see you for a whole year or more." I say, wiping my wet eyes.

"Oh, Vee." Alicia says with a sad face. She rushes over to me and envelopes me in a warm hug. I cry into her shoulder, ruining her shirt.

I'm really going to miss her.

"It'll be fine, Val." She tells me.

"No, it won't." I say, wiping my nose with my hand.

"It will. I'll try and visit you, I promise." She assures me.

"That's what you'll say till we're six months into college and we're surrounded by new people and we forget about each other because we'll be too busy living our new lives." I say, tucking my hand in the back pockets of my jeans.

"That's not gonna happen. You're stuck with me." She says, hugging me again before she pulls away.

"Go forth, my child." I tell her as she starts rolling her suitcase towards the entrance.

"I'll see you later, Vee." She says, waving me goodbye.

I wave back at her and she flashes me a small smile. And with that she enters the airport, catching a flight to her new life.

I drive back to where I left Andrè. I return the motorcycle back to the sidewalk I found it on. I tie the leash back on the tree. The traffic was completely cleared out when I got back to where I left Andrè. I get inside the car and Andrè drives off. I can't believe I pulled that off.

The things we do for love.

I take out my phone from my purse and I scroll through Instagram and I see a picture of Zachary and Sierra at the theme park.

He captioned it "Hers." And she replied under the post with "Mine." with a heart emoji.

So, they've made it Instagram official now?

This is about to be good. I'm gonna grab my popcorn as I watch this crash and burn. And no, I'm not, bitter I'm just waiting for history to repeat itself.

The moment Andrè pulls into the driveway, I hop out of the car literally running towards the door. I need to get some sleep. I head upstairs and I fall flat on my face as I open my door. I don't even know if I tripped on something but I'm too lazy to stand up. I just fall asleep on the wooden floor.