Race 17. Chatting
Drifting HeartsL.Joe tapped his fingers nervously, he was still anxious over the fact that he was getting to see the inner sanctum of the legendary Aria.
She had invited him to stay over, that was not part of the plan at all. He watched as they pulled up to one of the nicer condos in Seoul, a high rise with lots of windows.
She parked her car in the garage and they both got out at the same time. "Is this close to Hyeongkon hyung's garage?" He asked her.
"It's close enough." She answered. She coolly walked towards the elevator and L.Joe stumbled to keep up.
She used her key to beep inside and to press the floor she was on, 7th, to be exact.
"Are you freaking out right now?" She asked him as she noticed how tense he was. He wasn't the only one that was freaking out. Aria was too, she had never invited anyone over before, ever. She never trusted them.
But with him, she had to. She had to trust him, if she didn't trust him, then what would all of it mean? She had to see just who this guy was.
How his family found the midnight circuit to get money. And why they needed the money in the first place. This was a chance to learn more about him and Aria wasn't about to pass that up.
The elevator doors opened and they walked out into the hallway and she opened the door to her apartment. L.Joe froze for one moment and Aria had to push him inside.
"It's not that big of a deal, L.Joe." She told him, walking straight to her fridge and getting him a coke.
He looked at how clean it was, the modern furniture, surround sound system, nice kitchen. Everything was from a higher class life, a life he had forgotten how to live.
"Your place is nice." He commented as he took the coke and slowly sat down on the couch.
"Thanks, it's the product of the races," she said. "What time do you want to wake up for your lesson tomorrow?"
"What is the lesson about?" He asked back.
"How to use your NOS properly. You used it just a bit too early last night.” Aria told him.
“We have to practice that?” He raised an eyebrow at her. He didn’t think there was a good way of practicing that with wasting NOS.
“No, you just need to know when to press it. 3/4 of the way is too early, the boost is only good for 3/16th of a mile. So you need to pass the 3/4 mark and then press it.” She told him, taking a sip from her soda as well.
“So do we have to practice tomorrow morning?” He asked her again.
She pursed her lips together, “I guess not. But I signed you up for another race, it will be against Eunkwang, he likes to think he can drift but he can’t. So I went with a two-lap track like your practice run.” She told him, as they both got a bit more relaxed.
“So it’ll be easier then?” He joked. “How did you get here?”
“Don’t even think about it. You still have to work hard and I have to make sure you don’t slip. And what do you mean how did I get here?” She asked back.
“What brought you to racing?” He asked. “Money? Need?”
Aria frowned slightly, “What brought YOU to racing?” She asked back. “You can’t make this about me.”
“Why not? We obviously both keep secrets. But you have a bigger secret than I do.” L.Joe told her. “So gonna share it with me?”
She smirked, “No, I won’t. You can have a guess, though. Do you want to try?” She asked him confidently. There was no way he was going to guess right. Her past was too horrible for him to see it just from her current appearance.
“Does it have something to do with the fact that you don’t have a boyfriend?” He asked her. “Because something happened to you in the past?”
She froze as her entire being remembered what actually happened. He was close, he might not have guessed specifically but he knew it had something to do with that.
"You don't have to tell me if it hurts you, I just took a guess." He said, dismissing the topic entirely.
"What about you? You need the money to pay back loan sharks or something?" She replied back.
He shrugged his shoulders, he didn't seem defensive with her guess so maybe she was wrong. "Something like that." He told her. "Anyway, I'm pooped. Where can I sleep tonight?" He asked.
She frowned again, so that's how this was going to go, no sharing unless she shared to.. "You can sleep on the couch, it pulls out. But do you want to watch a movie first?" She asked him.
He smiled, "Sure, can we pull out the bed first though?" He asked back.
"Yup, I'll do it." She stood up and moved all the cushions and pulled the bed out with ease. She handed the remote to L.Joe, "You pick." She told him.
He browsed through the titles before picking something of interest and laid down on the bed as Aria got comfortable. They got through the title sequence and she laughed a little. "Princess Mononoke?" She asked him, "You watch anime?"
"Sometimes." He shrugged. "It's more interesting to me."
"Whatever. I like this movie anyway." She said, and cozied up with a pillow.
They barely made it through the death of the giant boar before they both fell asleep. Her head on his chest, breathing in sync.
Author's Note;;
Update! hehe :3
So I'm gonna try and finish this one and the Kiki one ASAP :o
then maybe Joong Ki. and Yonghwa? :o since I just posted Kris. LOL.
Enjoy! ^-^
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