Chapter 8

The days seem to fly by this week leading up to the weekend. I decided to go last minute and now I’m standing in front of my closet filled mostly with scrubs for nursing school.

I decide on wearing dark wash skinny jeans, a plum sweater, and black flats. Simple but it is still stylish. Make up I also keep light and simple. I’m not really trying to stand out. I grad my purse and keys checking the mirror one last time.

The drive was shorter than I had wished it was at a local park that had a gazebo you can rent. It was packed I didn’t realize there were going to be so many people here.

I finally find parking and head towards the loud music in search of Ellie. I scan the large crowd of people and find her having a heated conversation with Ricky. My presence catches there attention and Ellie ditches her brother and comes straight to me.

“You made it” Ellie screeches in my ear while spinning us in a circle. She takes a step back and gives me a once over. “You look amazing Shelbs any one of these idiots would be lucky to have you”

“You look beautiful yourself” I say looking at her. She is dressed in blue jeans and a teal top that make her eyes pop. “Everything okay with you and your brother” I ask cause I can see she is already on the edge.

“Yeah he is just being an idiot. He is already drunk and is acting messy” she sighs. “But let’s forget about him and let me introduce you to some people.

She drags me through the crowd avoiding her brother who is sitting at one of the tables with some blonde sitting on his lap. We bump into Ian by the DJ.

“Hey Ian long time no see” I say giving him a side hug.

“I know right where have you been hiding Shelbs” his southern drawl gets me every time. For a dirt head Ian is a good looking son of a gun.

“I have been busy trying to finish nursing school. All I got left for this part is taking the NCLEX. Then I’ll be a big bad Registered Nurse” I smile talking about this with Ian makes it seem real.

“Well I’m proud of you Shelbs” he says.

“Hey Ian how’s it going” a voice came from behind me and Ellie. “And who are these beautiful ladies you are talking to”

“Hello Logan it’s nice to see you off the track” Ian eyes him. “This here is Shelby Cage” he says gesturing to me. “And this is Ellie Andonite” he says pointing to Ellie. “Ladies this here is Logan Valentine”

The Logan Valentine is here at our small town bbq. He races at our level occasionally but other then a race here or there. He races professionally for a sprint car team and has a lot of wins.

“Hi it’s very nice to meet you” I say extending my hand out for him to shake.

“It’s nice to meet you both” he says nodding to Ellie because she hasn’t made any move to shake his hand. “I was going to go say hello to Ricky but he seems occupied” he laughs nervously I don’t want to even know why he has said it. “Anyway I hope you guys don’t mind I brought a couple of the guys from the circuit to come hang”

“That is no problem there is enough food to feed an army. Well if you will excuse me I need to speak to my brother” Ellie stomps off in Ricky’s direction leaving me with the 2 guys.

“I can already tell I’m going to regret coming to this” I say and turn to try and find a restroom to cry in!