In previous parts to this story, Amy received her birthday present of DJ Qualls and Jason Mewes from Tasha. In this episode, Tasha gets what, or who, she's always wanted.
IV. Tasha's Interlude
They let her pick the activity for the evening. There was not even a question. She had to get up to Avellea for the races. Tasha was a self-confessed lover of fast cars. Had been for years. There was just something about the power of it, the sheer horsepower under her control, the screaming rpm's, that got her blood hot. She wished she could afford something really fast and EXPENSIVE. But, seeing it up close was sure to be almost as good as driving it, temporarily anyway. DJ was eager to go, he was thinking of buying something; Jay was harder to convince. He just wanted to sleep but she reminded him he could do that on the way up. Amy was no problem. She'd follow any of them anywhere.
The drive was somewhat long, 4 hours from start to finish. They took the main state road to the interstate, followed it for the next 2 hrs, and then had to join a line of cars, mainly new EXPENSIVE ones, Tasha noticed, up the winding road to Avellea. They climbed nearly 4,000 feet via a series of roads that clung to the nearly vertical mountains. Sincerely hoping their guys wouldn't get altitude sickness, Tasha passed around bottles of water and a few pieces of fruit. Amy and DJ were talkative for the first half of the trip, but then got quiet. She didn't have to check her rearview to know what was up. Jay crashed and stayed out most of the way. Even as she slowed her speed to a crawl, having to make a few stops in the village, he barely changed his breathing.
The town, deceptively quaint, occupied one side of its mountain valley and crawled up the evergreen-covered hills. There was still enough snow for the upper third of the peaks to be covered, despite it being nearly 60ยบ on the valley floor. The track was out by itself on the opposite end of the 3 mile vale. As they neared, she could hear some of the enhanced engines roaring. She wished she could gun hers like that. If she had been a man, she would have had a massive hard-on before long.
While Amy and DJ disentangled themselves in the back seat, deceiving no one, Tasha trolled for a parking spot. There was nothing closer than the east forty. So be it. She took a spot toward the end of the rapidly filling lot and shook Jay awake. He looked more than a little out of it. She made him take some water, and they started off slowly on foot. Jay rubbed his forehead like he was hung over and said little.
Paying a decidedly bored attendant the charge to enter, they were admitted, passing under a gate in a long brick wall. It stuck Tasha as castle-like. Inside, huge yellow-and-red striped awnings were strung over stands that went halfway around the oval racetrack. They stood now in a broad alley where concessions rimmed the back wall, and the skeleton of the grandstand looked at them from the other side. That was as far as it went toward "racetrack." Everything else was extremely upscale, from the espresso bars, to the kabobs, shrimp on the Barbie, and energy drinks with ginseng made to order right there. Nowhere did you find "hot dogs and a coke."
The four of them made their way through scattered people to the entrance of the stands, to a point where they could go up, or down. So far neither of the guys had expressed much of any opinion about anything, either being there at all, being her and Amy's company while there, or about where they would stand, sit, eat, drink, anything. It was starting to unnerve her. Jay was simply bored, and after a quick trip to the men's room he was stoned again. She wondered how much of his life he spent that way. DJ seemed rather taken with Amy, which was ironic and slightly morbid, she thought. At least he got her to talk. Well, here they were. She wanted to drool on the engines and DJ had mentioned looking to buy. No time like the present.
Down, she decided. She wanted to be as close to the pits as she could get. That was where you saw the real action. Curiosity about what other famous people might have turned out ate at her too. Never before had she been even vaguely interested in star-gazing. Amy's little fantasy world, as she called it, had merely amused her, more because of Amy's commentary than anything. What did she care what color eyes these people had, or how old they were, how tall, background, filmography, etc.? There was only one she cared about, and she already knew as much as she ever would. She could not deny that their adventure with "the boys" had been interesting so far. Tasha led the way down several more risers and found enough room in a row not too far from the front for them to sit. Jay followed her like a sleepwalker.
It would be a good hour before any races started. She was glad they were early, though, or they'd have had to resort to rather remote seats. Within ten minutes every other spot in the lower section was taken. She made sure to have gotten the aisle seat, just in case she needed to get up and move around. Being surrounded by people made her a little claustrophobic. Especially this kind of people. The sheer number of them didn't bother her. The whole attitude of the place was another thing. It wasn't like she'd never been here before, so she was expecting it and indeed had been raised in it, but the posturing and parading of wealth that went on made her slightly nauseous. All she cared about today was the cars; the majority of these people had to display themselves in every aspect, it seemed. She and her friends looked slightly shabby, she thought to herself. That was exactly the kind of thought she did NOT care to have. It was so snobbish.
Some hawkers were walking up and down the aisles. Tasha realized she'd been driving for a good stretch with no real sustenance. Amy wanted something to eat, too; DJ was craving some kind of herbal concoction she never tried. She flagged one of them, a Scandinavian-looking young woman in braids and bellbottoms, and ordered from a selection similar to what they'd seen behind the stands. Amy forked over a $20 and it was gone with a wave of "keep the change." Finally, it appeared that Jay was coming out his stupor, or whatever that had been. He ordered and paid for himself. Beer. The waitress or whatever she was curled her lip slightly but handed it over, for $7.00. It was some microbrew that Tasha supposed didn't resemble Budweiser much.
She crunched into her jumbo shrimp-on-a-stick, scanning the lower reaches closely. There were so many excellent vehicles today, all looking their best for the pre-race laps. Each entrant had its little crowd of mechanics, owner, driver, and of course, press on a number of them. God, all that horsepower and she without her trust fund. Well, it had been worth it, to actually call her life her own. Strangely, she hadn't seen anyone she recognized, either the old crowd or the Hollywood type. But then her family's cronies had mostly been into the other racing, purebred horses. Just as well. It was making her moody just to think about that mess again. Normally Tasha considered herself an accomplished conversationalist. She didn't have much to work with at present, and she was distracted by her thoughts. And thenโฆ
Tasha's eyes bugged out. She choked and nearly spit out her drink. She couldn't believe her eyes. There HE was, the man who had occupied her fantasies since grade school. There amidst the pricey muscle cars in a tight racing jumpsuit stood John, looking as fine to her as he had twenty-some years ago. Coughing, she turned her back and tried to collect herself. Forget Amy with her gape-mouthed routine. Tasha knew that wouldn't work on someone who'd been 'known' over half his life