The sky was cloudy and the ocean breeze filled the car as I pulled into the beach parking lot.
It seemed that Kyle and I had been avoiding each other the entire day because each time we crossed paths, we went the opposite way, without so much as a glance in other's direction. I had decided when I was getting ready, that when I got to the beach tonight, I was going to talk to him. I wasn't about to let our friendship suffer because I freaked out about a simple kiss.
The sand felt soft and cool as it invaded my sandals and squished itself between my toes when I stepped off the sidewalk, making my way towards the firelight and the tiny silhouettes further down the beach. I wrapped my jacket closer to my body as a slight breeze picked up again.
The fire pit was rather big, maybe three or four feet wide, and flames shot up into the sky, as though they were reaching out to touch the few stars that could be seen through the dark clouds. As I got closer, I was able to make out faces.
Most of the Cup drivers were there. Junior and Martin Truex, Jr. were sitting in beach chairs on one side, laughing it up. Ryan and his wife, Krissie Newman were cuddled together on a blanket next to them. On the other side of the fire sat Kevin and DeLana Harvick also in beach chairs, drinking a couple of beers. Tony was a few feet from them, talking and laughing with Denny and another guy whom I had never seen before. Farther away, Kurt Busch and his fiancée, Eva were lying down on a blanket, whispering to each other.
Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle were sitting in beach chairs directly in front of me, playing cards with a small table between them and also taking a swig from their beers every now and then. Chandra and Jimmie Johnson were seated next to them in the sand, wrapped up in a blanket and quietly talking amongst themselves. Matt Kenseth and his girlfriend sat with Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne and his girlfriend, and Casey Mears closest to the fire, most likely enjoying its warmth and a few beers.
When it finally seemed I recognized everyone there, I had yet to spot one specific person. Then, I saw him. He was sitting with Clint Bowyer, whom I had been introduced to earlier in the day, in a chair far off to the right side of the fire, just beyond Tony. I stood there for a few minutes, unable to will myself to walk in his direction, watching him. He had his hat pulled down low over his eyes and he was slumped down in his chair, clearly he was not happy and I had a feeling that I knew why. He made a few comments here and there but he was mostly just listening to Clint and sipping his beer.
Watching him only made my mind replay the previous evening. The warmth of his body, the soft touch of his hands, the way his lips felt on my own, so gentle and caring and... Stop it, Mikaela. I shook my head, bringing myself back to reality.
Finally, I made myself step forward. Kyle looked up as I approached him.
"Can we talk?" I asked.
He nodded as he set his beer down in the sand. I took his hand in mine and led him down the small hill of sand towards the water. There were yells behind us, but I could only make out a few. One of them was Junior.
"Hey you two, don't do anything I wouldn't do," he called.
I let go of Kyle's hand and shot Junior a look before answering. "That doesn't leave a whole lot."
Everyone around us laughed and Junior shook his head, smiling. "Nice one, Mikaela. Touché."
I smiled as we disappeared from their sight. "Boys will be boys," I muttered.
Kyle had left me and walked down to the water. He was staring out over the ocean.
I stood next to him. "Listen, I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to-"
"No, it's okay, I get it. You're not interested. You don't see me like that. I understand."
"Kyle, it's not like that."
He turned to me.
"It's just- well, you surprised me, that's all. I didn't mean to freak out like I did. It was just unexpected, but not necessarily unwanted. I, honestly, had no idea you felt that way."
"How do you feel?"
I shrugged. "I'm not sure. I do know that whatever happens between us, I don't want it to hurt our friendship."
He frowned. "Just being friends is hard for me."
"I know. But rushing into a relationship without knowing how I truly feel isn't good either."
He nodded. We were both quiet; trying to figure out what to say next. Our only sound was the waves crashing in and slowly drifting back out to sea. Laughter from behind us was barely audible.
"How long?" I asked.
"I realized it a few months into last year."
"Wow. Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was afraid," he laughed.
I looked up at him. "Afraid of what, KB?"
"An older brother named Tony."
It was my turn to laugh. "Tony wouldn't have done a thing. My brother can actually be really sweet sometimes, believe it or not. Now, if you broke my heart, that'd be a different story. But I doubt you would, so I think you're safe."
He smiled a little. "So what now?"
"We should go back; I'm in desperate need of alcohol."
He laughed. "Sounds good to me."
As we came back up the hill together, Junior gave me a weird look. "That was fast."
I flipped him off. "Nothing happened."
I grabbed a bottle out of the ice chest and sat down in the sand between Kyle's feet, taking a drink. It didn't take long before we were laughing and joking as if nothing had happened.
When Kyle and I first met at the end of the '04 season, we instantly clicked. Even after just a few months, he was like the younger brother I never had; I felt like I had known him my entire life. We treated each other like brother and sister too; always picking on one another and starting arguments for no apparent reason, just so we could get under each other's skin. But we both knew we never meant the hurtful things we said.
I saw Jeff Gordon and his fiancée, Ingrid, walking up the beach towards the fire.
I tipped my head back and looked up at Kyle. "Oh goody. The Golden Boy and his stick figure have finally arrived."
Kyle and Clint laughed and then Kyle pushed my head forward. "Be nice. After all, he is my teammate."
"Doesn't mean I have to like him," I muttered, taking a swig from the ice cold bottle.
"Hey Jeff," Kyle called.
"Hey Kyle, Clint." He looked down at me. I rolled my eyes and looked away, taking another drink.
"Mikaela? Oh, hey, I didn't know you were here yet. It's nice to see you."
"Whatever."
Kyle's right foot met my side, hard.
"It's nice to see you too, Jeff," I said through gritted teeth, rubbing my side. I then elbowed Kyle's shin.
"Ow. That hurt, doofus," I whined after they walked away.
"I told you to be nice," he smirked.
"You didn't have to kick me." I finished off my beer and stood up. "I'm going to get another."
Kyle eyed me. "You plan on getting drunk tonight?"
"That wasn't my original intention, but I need something to numb the pain in my side."
He rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a girl."
"I am a girl."
"Okay, fine, go get drunk then. I'm guessing, seeing that you are a girl, one more of those and you'll be gone."
"We'll see about that."
As I made my way towards the cooler, I felt as though someone was watching me. When I did reach the ice chest, I saw Denny, out of the corner of my eye, coming towards me.
"Mikaela, right?"
"Yeah," I smiled, burying my hands into my pockets.
"So, how've you been?" he asked.
"Good, I guess." He reached into the cooler and took out two beers, handing one to me. "Thanks. What about you?"
"I'm good," he answered, popping the top off and taking a drink.
"Excited for your first Cup season?"
He smiled. "A little. More nervous than anything."
"Don't want to be the rookie who screws it up for everyone by doing something stupid?"
"Exactly," he laughed.
"Hey Mikaela! Come on over here and tell Martin about the time you and I got stuck in that elevator and Tony had to come get us out."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh great, Junior's telling stories."
Denny laughed and we made our way over to Junior.
"Why are you talking about that? It was a long time ago. And why don't you tell him? You were there," I said, kneeling down in the sand.
"Because you tell it better."
"I'm not sure I even want to know," Martin laughed.
"Nothing dirty happened. I am not that kind of girl."
"Well, we did play a game of 'I've Never'," Junior chuckled.
Denny wrinkled his nose. "With what?"
"Clothes," we said in unison.
Martin and Denny cracked up laughing. I could only imagine the dirty images that were most likely running through their minds at the moment.
"I think I'm good," Denny choked out between laughs.
"How about you tell them about the time you woke up by the side of the road in nothing more than your boxers and I had to come get you," I smirked.
The two of them began to laugh even harder.
"I told you what happened. I was hanging out with a couple of girls at a bar and I got a little drunk," he said.
"Right, a little," I smiled, taking a sip of beer.
"Okay, so maybe it was more than that, but honestly, I don't know what happened after that."
"You're lucky I was there that weekend. You're even more lucky that I decided to stay until that Monday."
"No kidding. I'm not sure what I would have done."
"Called Tony?" I suggested.
"Yeah, like I want to explain that one to him," he laughed.
I started laughing as well, trying to picture my brother's face as Junior told him he needed a ride and some clothes.
A while later, someone busted out some marshmallows and a few cooking rods. I was just about to pull my nice golden brown marshmallow from the fire and over to my hand when Denny tried lighting it on fire with his flaming ball of mush.
"Don't you dare," I warned.
"Or you'll what?" he taunted.
"I'll have to hurt you."
"I'd like to see that happen," he smirked, guiding his marshmallow closer to my own.
"I can be quite violent." I laughed. "After all, I am Tony Stewart's sister."
"You wouldn't." And with that, my marshmallow caught fire. I quickly blew it out and dropped in the sand.
I frowned. "You killed it; I was starting to like the way it was turning out too, you jerk."
He blew out his own but all that was left was a burnt crisp. "You can have mine," he offered, holding his rod out to me.
I scrunched up my nose. "No thanks."
He laughed and bit into it. "It actually tastes really good; you're really missing out."
I rolled my eyes and turned away. Kyle got my gaze across the fire and I smiled at him. He smiled back and turned his attention back to Clint. Was he watching me just now?
"Okay, fine, here," Denny said, breaking my train of thought. He picked up my rod and took off the burnt marshmallow. He added a new marshmallow and put the rod towards the fire, he smiled at me.
"See, I'm not such a bad guy," he said.
"And I'm not four. I'm twenty-five actually and I'm pretty sure I can roast my own marshmallow by now," I smirked.
"Here," he said, pulling his hand back from the fire. He handed the rod over to me and I pulled off a golden brown marshmallow.
"Thanks," I smiled.
"So, am I forgiven yet?"
"I'll have to think about it."
By the end of the night, half of the guys were wasted, including Kyle and Junior. Tony was mostly sober and pretty much every girl there was too.
Denny and I talked for a while about where he was from and how he got to where he is today and what it was like for me, growing up as Tony's sister.
"Tony," I called him over to where Denny and I were sitting.
"What are we going to do with all the drunk people? We can't just leave them here and they certainly can't drive themselves back to the track."
"Carl and Greg came together as it is. Carl's sober, so he's taking Greg and Martin. I'm taking Junior. Jimmie and Chandra are taking Kyle. Kurt and Eva have already left, along with Kevin and DeLana and Jeff and Ingrid. Kahne's taking Mears and Clint. Matt's taking Vickers, Sorenson, and McMurray. I think that about covers everyone."
"What about Elliott?" I asked.
"I can take him," Denny offered.
"No offense but he doesn't really know you. I'll do it."
"Like I said, everyone's covered." Tony walked away to help Junior to the car. I watched Junior stagger for a little bit, trying to walk to the parking lot; though mostly, he was leaning on Tony for support.
I shook my head. "Wow. That's just a little ridiculous."
"What is?"
I wasn't even aware that Denny was still there.
"How people can get so drunk, they have to practically be carried to the car."
Denny laughed. "It happens."
"Can you help me with Sadler in a bit?" I asked, picking up empty beer bottles and other trash people left behind.
"Sure, or I could just take him myself. He's drunk, I doubt he'll remember who drove him back to his RV."
I sighed. "I guess that's fine. I'll see you later." I picked up my bag from the sand where Kyle had been earlier and made my way back towards the parking lot.
I remembered then that it was Friday. Tomorrow was the first race of the season, a non-points race, the Budweiser Shootout. More than half the guys who got drunk tonight would be in it.
I laughed to myself. They'll definitely be feeling the effects of all that beer tomorrow and they're so going to regret it. I just hope they can nurse their hangovers by the time the race starts.
If tonight was any indication of how this season is going to go, we are in for a lot of fun, that I could tell, and I do mean, a lot of fun.
