Rumor Has It

Laina

I flipped the visor down and used the little mirror to line and fill in my lips with my favorite shade of red. Benji, my older brother, was in the driver’s seat drumming his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the rock song playing through the speakers. His head bobbed to the beat as his dark green eyes scanned the intersection as he waited for our light to change.

            My best friend Ginny Brown was in the back seat of his supercharged coupe. She glanced at me in the mirror and gave me a wide smile.

            “You look excited, Gin,” I said as I screwed the cap back onto my lip color.          

            She nodded eagerly and then disappeared from my view as I flipped the visor back up. I twisted around in my seat to face her.

            “I am excited. I haven’t been to one of these races in months. Maybe even a year. Thank you for inviting me tonight.”

            “Of course,” I said before knuckling Benji’s upper arm. “Benji and I are happy to have you along with us. Besides, if you weren’t tagging along, I’d be standing on the sidelines by myself while the boys race. And that’s no fun at all.”

            Benji pulled away from the line when the light turned green. “I’m still not happy about you being the flag girl,” he muttered before taking a right turn.

            “Flag girl?” Ginny asked.

            I nodded. “Yep. Harley asked me to start the race. I get to wave the flag to let the drivers know the race is on.”

            “Hence the skimpy outfit,” Benji said sourly.

            Ginny giggled in the back seat as I looked down at myself. I wasn’t dressed skimpily. I had on a pair of high-waisted leather leggings, thigh-high black boots, and a black crop top. Only a couple inches of my stomach was showing, and it was above the belly button area. The black denim jacket I had on also hid some of the skin. “This is not a skimpy outfit.”

            Benji looked me over. “No?”

            “No. It’s not. I’ll point out skimpy outfits when we get there. Girls show up in bathing suits to these things, for crying out loud. And look at this weather. It is not swimsuit appropriate.”

            The sky was so heavy with clouds, the stars were impossible to make out as we drove farther to the outskirts of the city down to the docks. I was certain it was going to rain. Hence the boots.

            “I wouldn’t have let you come if you tried to wear a swimsuit,” Benji said.

            I rolled my eyes. “You’re not the boss of me, you know.”

            “On the contrary.”

            “Children,” Ginny piped up from the back. She leaned forward and gripped the sides of mine and Benji’s seats. “Let’s play nice. It’s going to be a fun night. And who knows? Maybe Benji will be first across that finish line, and he’ll be leaving forty grand richer.”

            Benji chuckled and glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “I’m not in this one to win it, Gin. I just want to place in the top half so I have a spot in The Streets next weekend.”

            Ginny pouted. “Oh, come on. You never know. Winning isn’t totally off the table.”

            “A little birdie told me Mason Thomas was racing tonight. So I’m fairly certain I won’t be crossing the line at the front of the pack.”

            I looked sharply at my brother. “Mason is racing?”

            “So I hear.”

            “From who?” I asked.

            He shot me a sheepish smile. “Why so curious, sister?”

            I looked out the passenger window. The first raindrop of the night hit near the top and trickled down. “I’m not. I’m just surprised is all. I haven’t seen him since, well, you know. The whole Evelyn thing.”

            I could smell Ginny’s perfume as she poked her head between Benji and me. “It’s been six months since she left him, right? Maybe he’s finally in the right headspace to get back behind the wheel.”

            “Maybe,” I said.

            “Benji? You see him the most. How’s he been?” Ginny asked.

            Benji shrugged one shoulder as we turned down to one of the lower roads that led down to the docks. I craned my neck to peer down the winding hill. Shipping containers and dark ocean were on my right side as we went beneath an overpass and emerged in an open area filled with cars and people. My stomach rolled with excitement as Benji drove up to a spot with a banner labeled “Drivers.” He put the car in park and looked at me and Ginny. “He’s as good as can be expected. If I were you, I wouldn’t ask him about it. The fact that he’s showing up tonight is enough for me to believe he’s finally got his shit together. Rick was the one who talked him into it, and his own brother wouldn’t push him into this if he didn’t think he was ready.”

            I double-checked my lipstick in the mirror as Ginny and Benji got out of the car. Poor Mason. I’d only seen him a few times after his breakup with Evelyn. If one could call it a breakup. It was more of an explosive, dramatic, heart-wrenching disaster. The first time I saw him was a week and a half later when Benji brought him back to his place after finding him shitfaced at a bar. He’d been so drunk that by the time Benji got him down on the couch, he had passed out right away.

            The two times after that had been much the same, except he was conscious and angry. Very angry.

            For as long as I’d known Mason, which was a good ten years or so, I’d heard rumors that he was a scary dude. I never believed them because what I saw of him was good. He had a big heart and strong morals. He stood up for what was right and fought hard for the people he cared about—like my brother and his own brother, Rick.