Submitted by Carol:

Kyle introduced himself to me over a dating site.  In it, he confessed to an interest in cars, among other things.  He insisted on picking me up, and he did so in the most tricked out muscle car that I've ever seen.  It was polished to perfection, and was black and had a blue flame design.  Its blasting engine must have woken up the entire town.

From the moment I stepped into his car, he would not shut up about street racing.  How it was in his blood, his brother's blood, the blood of his sister, who painstakingly washed his cars...

He must have gone double every speed limit and took the longest way to get to our destination.  Some of the curves he took so fast I was sure that we'd go flying off the road.

"Jesus, relax!" he admonished me, "It's not like I haven't been doing this for years."

I asked him if he'd drive any differently if he had a kid in the car.  To that, he asked, "My kid or someone else's?  Someone else's, of course not.  My own, hell yes.  I'd want him to learn the trade from a young age."

My heart pounding out of my chest, we made it to a restaurant.  When he ordered his dinner, he asked that the check be brought along with the food, and winked at me.  I asked him what that was about, and he said he wanted to fit in as much driving time as possible that night.

There are professional street drivers, yes, but this guy was a reckless driver, plain and simple.  I asked him if we could do something else.  He said, "What, like tiddly-winks?  I'm a real street driver.  You'd better start getting used to that."

I asked him if he'd just drive me home after dinner, and he seemed disappointed, although I had a feeling that he'd take out his frustration on me by driving like a crazed baboon.

My feeling was right.  I'm sure that that night took a few years off my life.

Posted in: Stories,Written by a Girl