Girl on Track

14| Time to unwind

The track comes alive the moment it hits six. I finish my shift and sit over by Alex, watching the racers hit the circuit.

It's nice spending time with Alex outside of working hours. She becomes more talkative–not so stressed–and she smiles more, too. It's the smile of someone who, for a brief second, has remembered what it's like to be happy. I imagine it must be hard having to balance college, the bar and looking after her father; I want to do something to help.

"I can take on more shifts if it helps you out," I say, but the patio is loud tonight and filled with chatter, so she doesn't quite hear me. She leans in closer and I try again before adding, "I mean, I could do with the extra money, anyway. I'm saving for a bike."

She frowns and downs the rest of her beer. "Just use mine, I'm fine with it. I never have much time to ride these days, anyway."

"I know, but I think I'd just rather have my own bike."

The current circuit finishes, and the patio breaks out into a chorus of cheers. Alex turns to face me still wearing that smile. "Look, I don't get paid for most of my shifts, I just do it to help out my dad."

I shrug and say, "Then I'll take some of your unpaid ones."

She tilts her head, searching my face for some kind of catch. "Why would you do that? You're not getting anything out of it."

"No," I say, "but you are."

She frowns as if she doesn't understand. "Why would you work for free for my benefit? You hardly even know me."

I sip my coke before looking at the track. "You agreed to train me when you hardly even knew me," I say, "and I know what it feels like to see your family suffer. I just want to help."

She's about to speak, but I've rendered her speechless. "I don't know what to say."

I smile. "Most people settle on thank you, Alex."

She laughs and gently hits my arm. "Thank you. You're something else, you know that?"

I flick back my hair and pretend to be all coy. "Well, you know, it's not the first time I've heard that."

She laughs and says something, but I don't quite catch it over the chatter. I'm about to ask her to say it again when Tyler runs up the patio steps.

There's this second where I see him and my heart does this flip. I hadn't noticed it before–it was only ever fleeting–but the more time I spend with him, the longer it seems to last.

He grins at me before scanning the bar. I expect him to come over, but he finds his friends in the corner and takes a seat between Sam and a beautiful blonde. Sam passes Tyler a coke while the blonde scoots up next to him. She whispers something into his ear, and Tyler grins.

Alex follows my gaze and freezes. "It's just training with you two, right? I mean, you don't like him or anything, do you?"

I let out a laugh. "Of course not. Why?"

She sighs before biting her lip. "He has this habit of going after my friends. It ends up making things pretty awkward when it doesn't last. I just wanted to check–"

"It's not like that," I say. "He's just training me."

She looks relieved. "Good. You wanna get out of here? Most people are heading to Mojack's tonight."

I glance at Tyler, who is still preoccupied with his friends, and nod. "Okay."

Alex insists on walking to Mojack's. It's drier than earlier and relatively warm, so I don't really mind. It gives me some time to talk to Alex without all of the background noise.