It was hard to believe our time in South Carolina was already over. Kira and I had come down to stay for just a couple of months as a new experience, and I never thought I would get as attached to the place as I did. The time flew by, and now it was time to climb into the bus again for the incredibly long ride back home.
“Next time,” I muttered to her hours later as we were trying to get comfortable in our seats, “we’re taking the train.”
“I’ll send you on the train with our stuff. Next time, I’m flying,” she answered.
3 Darren - Three Years Later
“Happy Birthday, Darren!” the bartender shouted out as I walked into the bar.
People throughout the bar cheered and shouted out the same greeting. I waved, offering a slightly tense smile. I appreciated the sentiment but having such a fuss made over me wasn’t my favorite thing in the world. I would much rather have just been able to kind of slide in under the radar and celebrate with my friends and family instead of having all the attention immediately called to me as soon as I stepped inside. But I shouldn’t have been surprised. This was now the fourth birthday spent at the bar after my introduction to it on my twenty-first birthday three years ago. And every time I arrived for my celebration, the bartender or the owner made a huge announcement.
They knew it made me uncomfortable. In all honesty, I think that was part of why they did it. They liked giving me a hard time, just like my brothers. It was all in good fun, so I never got angry about it. I understood the desire to rib me a little bit. These were the people who knew both sides of me well and could see the stark contrast between them. When I was out on the track, I was nothing even close to reserved or hesitant. I raced with intensity and boldness. Even more now that I had a few years and a good number of wins behind me. After those wins, I was always up for a celebration. If I was partying down on the track or coming to the bar for a couple of rounds, I didn’t shy away from the glory of bringing home a title.
Not so much when it didn’t have to do with racing. But this was one night of the year I didn’t have a choice but to be at the center of the celebration. There was a bit of déjà vu the whole time. It was the same bar, and all my brothers were there. This time the group of family and friends had grown a bit, but we sat at the same table and ordered the same drinks. It became a tradition without me even meaning it to, and for the most part I really did enjoy it. My favorite part was seeing everybody so happy and having a good time together.
Molly, now at the head of the waitstaff, came by with the round of shots she always bought me as soon as I walked in on my birthday. Everybody raised their glasses to me and knocked back the shot. As they fell into different conversations and some jumped up to dance, I looked around the bar to take in my surroundings. Everything seemed pretty much the way it always did until my eyes fell on the stools at the bar.
Holy hell. Speaking of déjà vu. Same bar, same brothers, same drinks. Same gorgeous girl sitting by herself at the bar. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. After waking up without her the day after my twenty-first birthday, I thought I’d never see Kelly again. She didn’t leave any type of contact information and telling me she was leaving the country seemed like a pretty clear indication a reunion wasn’t in the cards. Yet, there she was, sitting at the bar just like she was the first time I saw her.
I resisted the urge to move my hand to my wallet. It might seem pathetic to anyone who found out, but I’d kept the note after I found it and still had it in my wallet. It was sort of a good-luck charm now. I didn’t even remember why I put it in there to begin with. A soft let down note from a one-night stand wasn’t exactly a souvenir most people would want to hang on to for years. But there was something about it that made me want to keep it. It found its way into my wallet, and I found it again a week later after winning the next race. It was my best performance of my career so far, and from that night, I never left it behind.
Even my brothers didn’t know it was there, and I didn’t really have the intention of telling anybody about it. But now that I was seeing Kelly again, the piece of paper, softened by being folded and unfolded countless times over the last three years, felt almost heavy in my pocket, like it could somehow sense she was close by.
“Right, Darren?”
I heard Quentin’s voice and knew he’d said something to me, but his actual words had totally gone over my head.
“What?” I asked.
My oldest brother looked at me strangely.
“You all right?” he asked. “That one shot didn’t hit you too hard already, did it?”
“Huh?” I looked down at the empty shot glass on the table in front of me. “Oh. No. I’m fine.” I glanced over at the bar again. “I’m actually going to go grab another drink. Maybe order some food. Anybody need
