A matter of time

While I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel, I watched what was happening behind me in the rearview mirror. I felt that I was in a pretty good mood and I wasn't going to spoil it tonight. Even defeat probably wouldn't make my mood worse. This kind of freedom just gave me life. A great motivation to live.

I increased the speed and at that moment it was already a race, as usual, just between me and Anya. Our hovercars flew side by side to the finish line where everyone waited in excitement for the winner. It was only a matter of time who would be there a second earlier.

Out of the corner of my eye, I looked through the side window at the hovercar next to mine. Its driver seemed focused on the route ahead, but at the same time I looked back at her Anya looked over and gave me a competitive look with one raised eyebrow.

Challenge accepted.

With a chuckle, I also looked at the route ahead of us. There were several tens of meters left and the win could have been mine. Or not either. I extended the fingers of my right hand, which was resting on the shift lever, and then I wrapped my hand around the top of the shift lever.

With another song playing from the player, I put it back into gear and stepped on the gas pedal. The hovercrar took off at even greater speed and I saw myself at the destination for a slight moment. However, I wasn't alone, and Anya wasn't planning to lose either.

We were both approaching the finish line at a very high speed. It was only a matter of time. The question of who between us ranked sooner or later. Small unimportant steps at the first glance, but they mattered.

The figurative finish line was within a reach, but I still wasn't the first one to reach it. The winner of the tonight, unfortunately for me, was Anya who finished just a few inches ahead of me. I couldn't be the winner all the time, after all.

After reaching the finish line as the second racer, I parked the hovercar in its original spot and closed my eyes with a sigh as I rested my head on the black seatback. I listened to the music that I had still left on. I wasn't sad because of my defeat but just needed some time to relax, to cool down after the rush of adrenalin, before getting out of the machine into the bunch of human beings.

After a while, I heard a light knock on the window, so I opened my eyes and with a sigh I turned off the music, to which I got out of the racing hovercar, where the whole group was now standing, including Zayd.

I threw the keys to Zayd and then raised my eyebrow at the others: "So what now? I wanna drink."

Mali giggled with suspicious look: "Sure."

I shrugged my shoulders. After all, it was one stupid defeat. It wasn't the last race in my life anyway. Even if it was, it happens and life doesn't always go according to our plans. So I didn't understand that others were expecting some terrible reaction from me. Or actually, I understood, I was very competitive at times and couldn't stop until I got what I wanted.

So we went to one of the drink stalls, where I immediately looked at the menu of alcoholic drinks, because I got a taste for something like that. But I also wanted to buy something to eat so I looked around for food stalls.

"What y'all wanna drink? I'm payin'," came a voice next to me, and I looked with raised eyebrows at Anya, who had just appeared here.

Most of us ended up having a beer and a shot of some alcohol from one of the Shinrin forests. With all of this, we moved a little further to make a room for the people in the line behind us and then I looked at the only person who ordered a soft drink. Mali was holding a cup with some lemonade in her hand.

"Good race," Anya said with a look she gave me as she raised a shot of booze.

I nodded: "Yeah, it was tight."

"I can't always let you win, you know," Anya laughed and I joined her. It was true. Then I would´ve might just get bored and give up.

We clincked our glasses together, after which Ayna left us and I stayed with my group of friends. We stood in our little circle and drank beer from a cups. And that was a great time to ask Mali something.

"Why aren't you drinkin'?"

Mali looked at her drink, and then at mine, then motioned for me to step aside a little and I prepared to listen to her. I wondered what it could be, but I certainly didn't think of what she told me afterwards.

"I'm pregnant," said Mali with a smile, and I widened my eyes at her:

"What? Like- oh..., wow. Congratulations."

I blurted out some nonsense and still couldn't believe what I heard. However, I wasn't going to discuss it in any way, after all it was her business whether she wanted a child or not. Whether it was now or in a few years. And we weren´t kids anymore, anyway.

Mali smiled at my speech and shook her head. She patted me on the shoulder to which we went back to the others who were engrossed in some conversation so I had to wait until they changed the subject so I could join in too.

Then we spent the rest of the evening in the center of the event, drinking, eating, accompanied by music and annoying speeches, which soon ended, because the race was already over. And when the winner was announced, what else would that idiot talk about, right?