Chapter Nine; Just Hold on to Me. And Try not to Scream.

“There is nothing to be afraid of, I am an extremely responsible driver,” Nick assures me.

Yep. You got it.

Today is the day Nick has talked me into risking death by road rash.

My first motorcycle ride.

Ever.

“Alright,” I announce as I stand in my driveway and prepare to potentially die of a brutal head injury, “but if this is awful, and if I am screaming you have GOT to stop. Seriously. I get motion sickness swinging on a swing. So if you don’t listen? You are risking a barf scarf because I am going to hurl on the back of your neck.”

Nick laughs.

“You think I am kidding?” I challenge, cocking an eyebrow.

He feigns seriousness and begins to instruct me where to put my feet. Not here, not there, but here. And, he explains, if I arch my foot too far forward or backward, I risk burning off the sole of my shoe.

Oh joy.

I just bought these shoes.

Nick laughs and clarifies he is far more concerned about burned rubber on the Harley than my fashionable footwear. And he isn’t kidding. He relays the story of a scorched flip flop incident forever etched on his buddy’s tail pipe. (Or whatever it’s called. That shiny thingamadeal on a motorcycle that gets hot and burns sandals. Yeah. That thing.)

Gee, thanks.

He climbs on and then it’s my turn.

Deep breath. Here I go.

I am a fan of straddling a hot man but there's something about the "certain death" element in this situation that really negates all the positive aspects of said position.

So I put my feet “not here, not there, but here” as instructed.

And Nick roars the engine to life beneath us.

“I don’t wanna do this,” I announce.

“Too late!” Nick yells over the monstrous rumbling as he sets us in motion, "Just hold onto me!"

I cling to him for dear life as my hydrangea bushes lining my driveway hurtle past my peripheral vision in a blur and my heart and stomach switch places. I feel like I am in a falling dream only I am not startling awake in my safe bed, instead, I am on a rocket to Pluto and helpless to stop it.

I lean instinctively into the turn as Nick takes us out of my driveway and launches us down my street and into the golden sunlight.

And yep. You got it.

I scream.

For about fifty feet.

The plan was Nick was just going to take me around the block first. See if I hurl. Fall off. Die. One or all of the above.

But quickly, I settle into the momentum of the motorcycle and yell into his ear, “Hey, this is kinda fun!”

“You like it?” he shouts.

“Yeah!” I exclaim, “Yeah, I do!”

And before I know it, the mundane and predictable backdrop of this town that has been my life for almost twenty years, takes on a whole new meaning from the back of a motorcycle. As we head south down University drive, my hair twists in the wind and assails my sunglasses, the still July day suddenly blanketed in the cool breeze that the motorcycle invents as we speed past the same old unsurprising people, places and things. But now, they all look so different.

I can smell the air, feel the wind, and everything is sharper and crisper without a windshield in front of me.

The atmosphere is intoxicating.

The motion beneath us.

Liberating.

I hang onto Nick but not because I am afraid.

Because.

I am free.
*****************************

Dear DL fans,
I guess I am going to have to quit doing the teasers for the next chapters . . . here I think I know exactly what is coming next, but I guess writing is just like life: unpredictable. Most of you realize that the blog is not real time, so of course, I wrote this chapter several weeks ago. I had planned for it to appear slightly later in the story, but it called to me to throw it in now.

Tonight was a beautiful fall night and I found myself thinking back to this Harley ride with Nick this summer. So I followed that inspiration and thought today would be the perfect day to relive that moment on Dating Land. . . I hope you feel as free as I did on that perfect July day.

Thanks for reading and tune in Thursday . . . because this ride is soon going to take an unexpected turn. So hold on. And try not to scream.

Muah!
~Audra