Ele's breath was shaky, but once Tyler stepped away she did as he said,after she secured the helmet on her head. When the tires were good, Ele rolled forward and soon she was keeping an eye on the light next to her. Her left foot kept the brake down, right her right pushed the accelerator and as soon as she registered the light change, Ele released the brake and shot forward.

It was an adrenaline rush, flying forward and shooting past the Toyota, Ele couldn't help but let out a laugh and excited cheer. Passing the end of the track, Ele slowed the van down and circled it to go back to Tyler.

Seeing her win he pumped his first.

"HELLCAT KILLER DID WORK!"

He yelled out as she is rolling back. When she stops by him he walks up to her and says.

"The hellcat killer did work!"

He smiles and watches as the guy rolls back to his parking spot. He sighs visibly from across the way, walking over with the money in hand. With a bewildered look on his face he says.

"That is not a typical mini van."

Tyler shakes his head and says.

"No it isn't."

He hands her the $100 bill and shakes his head.

"Well, it is amazing, when I instantly got gapped I knew you were fishing."

"You got hooked."

The guy laughs.

"I definitely did, that thing is a rocket."

He looks at Ele.

"Good race, hope we see you again, that was fun to watch even if I did lose by bus lengths."

He walks off to his car again. Tyler smiles big at Ele and gives her an approving nod.

Accepting the money, Ele nodded and as the guy walked away, Ele beamed a bright smile at Tyler. It had been a long time since someone had looked at her approvingly, and it warmed Ele from the inside out.

Throwing her arms around Tyler's middle, Ele breathed out a sigh to release her nerves,

"That was intense!"

"Just imagine if you could race something with like 4 times the power."

He smiles at her.

"I think I am ready for my race, gonna go grab the truck."

He chuckles and walks over to the truck. He gets behind the seat and starts checking the pressure on the bottle. He opens the valve up on it and fires the truck up, rolling up to find the guy that challenged him earlier in the night. He finds him and asks.

"Hey, you still up for that hundo?"

"Yeah, lets get lined up."

Tyler rolls up and waits for the guy to get pulled up. The guy does his burnout first and get staged. Tyler sitting there roasts the tires down the track. He backs up and gets ready to stage, suddenly purging the nitrous into the air. The crowd not expecting it start talking, the guy he was going to race looks over with worry plastered all over his face. Tyler smirks beneath his helmet and stages. The flagman flashes his light and Tyler gets launched on. He takes off attempting to catch up, getting about 100 feet down the track the Hellcat starts slowing down and Tyler begins reeling him in. Tyler hits the nitrous and the truck squats down taking off and filling the gap, passing the guy at half track and gapping the hellcat by 2 lengths as he runs through the finish line. Tyler honks several times as he wins. He rolls back to the party and parks the truck. As he waits there, the event organizer walks over with a hundred dollar bill. He hands it over.

"Dude left, he didn't want to face you because he lost so bad."

Tyler laughs.

"He got the jump but still got gapped."

Tyler says with a big smile, accepting the money.

"I thought this was a supercharged mud truck, not nitrous."

"It is a supercharged mud truck just running nitrous as well now. I just stuck the drag radials on for tonight to hurt some feelings."

The event organizer laughs and fist bumps Tyler.

"You definitely hurt some feelings man. Keep it up."

Tyler hops out of the truck pulling off his helmet.

"Good luck!"

Ele called waving Tyler off and going to where she could see the race best. A few of the others there nodded and greeted her kindly, congratulating her on her win. Smiling and thanking them, Ele felt happy even as she came to realize how she was also feeling accepted here.

As Tyler easily took the race, which she had never doubted he would, Ele cheered and put her fists in the air, jumping up and down,

"Go Tyler! Wooo!"

She cheered, running back to where Tyler was parked. Seeing him take off his helmet, Ele laughed and surprised herself by jumping up and hugging Tyler with her arms around his neck, her feet dangling a couple inches off the ground,

"Congratulations! You did it!"

He holds her up and smiles.

"That nitrous got me the win."

He holds her for a minute before putting her back down.

"Looks like we are both up a hundred tonight."

He holds onto her and watches other races go down. He then notices a Toyota Supra and Mazda rx7 roll up.

"Oh shit, we got a monster race going down right now. Lets get up there and see this go down."

He walks up with her, standing between them on the road and back a few feet. The 2 begin burning out with a roar. They both get ready to race, the supra begins spooling up first then fully stages. Giving it full throttle the car starts popping and banging, sending fire out the muffler, the rx7 doing the same except out the hood directly from the turbo on the rotary in it. The sounds high pitch and loud as they get ready for the light. They get lit to go and both take off wheels up. Both vehicles would have wiped out the mud truck in just a few feet at the start of the race. Both cars running above 150 miles per hour down the cold street.

"Ohhh! I hope the Mazda wins!"

Ele said hopefully, bouncing on her toes as she excitedly watched the cars spool up. Standing close to Tyler, Ele rubbed her arms as the night turned colder. She'd forgotten her jacket in her haste to change, and now she was regretting it, but the excitement of the race kept her attention on what was happening in front of her.

Over the walkie talkie the guy at the end says.

"Supra crossed first but I think he might have crossed the center line. I gotta go check it out, I will let you know."

The walkie talkie goes silent before a beep comes in.

"I can confirm, the supra crossed. Win goes to the rx7."

Tyler looks at Ele with a smile.

"You got your wish."

He says to her squeezing her with a sideways hug.

Holding her breath and waiting to hear the results, Ele couldn't help but smile and clap when she heard the Mazda won,

"Bummer it was because of a penalty though."

She said, putting her arm around Tyler's waist and looking up at him,

"Thank you for bringing me here tonight. I'm having a lot of fun."

"It happens, but a wins a win."

Feeling her hold onto him he smiles.

"You are very welcome sweetie. It is always fun out here."

He stands by his truck relaxing.

"Just a little bit longer then we can head back. The cops give is a little leeway with racing out here but they will crack down if we get too loud and rowdy."

Watching the others and relaxing with Tyler, Ele smiled contentedly and wished that time would slow down. What struck Ele as interesting was the behavior of the other people, some were still racing, but most were just having a good time hanging out and talking.

"These things can be more of a social event, can't they?"

Ele asked, looking up at Tyler.

"Absolutely. If I couldn't meet other people and have fun I wouldn't be doing this."

As he is standing there somebody hollers out.

"Cops are coming!"

Tyler looks at Ele and smiles.

"And that is our cue."

He hops in the truck and takes off quickly, watching for Ele.

Laughing and racing for the van, Ele jumped in and went after Tyler. Catching a glimpse of herself in the rearview, Ele almost didn't recognize the girl there. Bright-eyed, cheeks flushed, hair a mess, and a happy smile on her face, the reflection was a stark contrast to the girl Ele knew. The one who was always serious, impeccably maintained, and in control. Admitting to herself as they drove back towards Tyler's house, Ele liked this change in her.

They roll around for a while. As they reach a main road 2 cops roll by. He watches the cops and they don't even as much as flash a look his way. He smirks knowing he dodged being caught. He keeps rolling normally until they get back to his place. He pulls into the garage with the truck and hops right out with a smile.

Turning off the van, Ele hopped out of the car and laughed, throwing her hands up in the air and dancing in a circle, the moonlight shining down and lighting up Ele's smiling face,

"That was amazing! Tonight was amazing!"

She cheered, getting dizzy and stumbling, still laughing as she came to a stop and put her hands on her knees to steady herself.

"I don't think I have ever had so much fun!"

"You aren't excited at all are you?"

He smiles at her. He looks at the camaro and smirks.

"This saturday is the first official list race of the year, I am gonna plow this car up the field to number 1."

"Not at all, not even a tiny bit!"

Ele giggled, going over to Tyler and looking at the camaro as well,

"I think you can do it."

She said with a smile,

"I believe in you."

"I am sure I can. I have more power and less weight than the number 1 car, though that means I might break the tires loose more easily. I am gonna have to be careful on the launch."

He puts his arm behind her and smiles.

"Gonna have some fun shopping tomorrow."

Teasingly, Ele started speaking with a heavy stereotypical Valley Girl accent,

"Like, Ohemgee! I totes know! We're gonna have like, soooo much fun shopping! Eeek!"

She gave a big, cheesy grin at Tyler, then her expression changed to something soft and genuine,

"You're bringing out a different side of me, one that I forgot I had."

He laughs at her valley girl accent.

"I will bring it all out of you hun."

Smiling her says.

"Let's get inside, do a little looking on the computer to find some places to get parts for the car."

He starts heading inside.